Since Camille’s arrival, I’ve been going to the public library quite a lot … and I’m once again reminded at how nice our library system is here. South-Central Wisconsin has a great system where I can go online to search the catalog - and request books to be sent to my local library for pickup. Once in, I get an email and can zip in and out of the library in 5 minutes to pick them up. Books, CD’s … it’s all there for pickup ten minutes from home. Couldn’t be easier, especially as you can also renew books you have out online.
So I’ve requested a few cookbooks, some music books, CD’s, books on infants … and a number of fiction and non-fiction books that I manage to get at early in the morning, during Camille’s 10 minute cat-naps, and in evenings. Suprisingly, I’ve gotten through a number of books.
From now on, I’m going to periodically post my opinions on what I’m reading. If you have suggestions, read the same thing … feel free to chime in. Once past this initial post, I’ll probably put one book per post - keeps more up-to-date, and is much more searchable.
But since Camille’s birth I’ve been reading:
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
All in all, pretty interesting book. Got a lot of press, and it deals with a difficult subject [the perspective of a Pakistani immigrant towards 9-11 in light of his schooling and work as investment banker].Â
I would say, I prefered his first book Moth Smoke more - it’s depiction of social injustices, and capture of the fatalism I glimpsed at times in Pakistan was interesting. Certainly not for everyone, but as I read Moth Smoke a few years ago and remember it more - I enjoyed that more, while people who haven’t visited Pakistan may prefer this book.
- Midnight Riders [Allman Brothers Biography]
 A really nice bio of the Allman Brothers Band, especially of Duane and Greg Allman. Shed a lot more light on their career, including Duane’s pre-Allmans work at the FAME recording studios in Muscle Shoals, AL where Aretha Franklin and others recorded some classic tracks.
For musician biographies, an interesting one - helped partly by Duane’s early death and Greg’s Cher and substance problems. Combined with CD’s from the library - it made a nice week of music and stories.
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
A friend recommended this book to me - and I found it enjoyable and diverting. A sci-fi somewhat futuristic book [from the early 90's] - it’s aged well, and had a novel twist by equating this computer virus with Babylonian religion. I know that sounds odd, but he managed to make it work. If you’ve read one of his other books [Cryptonomicon] … I found it’s enjoyment to be comparable.Â
- Empire Falls by Richard Russo
I don’t think I’ve read Richard Russo before, but I’m sure I will in the future.
This book tells the tale of Empire Falls, a down-on-it’s-luck town in Maine. It ranges over a couple generations, detailing the town’s past as a prosperous textile mill town which has fallen into hard times after the plant’s closure. It’s a nice depiction of a variety of characters.
Best of all, for winning the Pulitzer, it’s a good read. So often award winning books can be overimportant and like the author just wants to hear himself speak [see: Rushdie, Salman] … or just don’t make a nice diverting fiction. This book breaks that perception and is a good read as well as award winning.
One phrase that came right near the end resonated with me - given my long days spent with Camille.
Thankfully, seeing Tick alive and well was enough to confirm his sense that his best destiny in life was as this child’s father.
Russo has some great sentences and thoughts as he details the story and the people, and while it’s not `showstopper’ language or turns of phrase - he still manages to provide insights without making it slow, onerous reading.
- I know there’s another book or two … forgettable I guess compared to these others.
Recent Comments