Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Books on the shelf

The start of the new semester put a real crimp in my summer reading schedule. For awhile there I was cranking out a book review a week, and I read some absolutely beautiful books -- The Story of Edward Sawtelle and The Condition chief among them.

While I'm teaching, it's hard for me to finish a single book in a month. But I'm going to have some concentrated reading time coming up during my late October trips. I probably can't haul hardbacks to Denmark, but the publisher was thoughtful enough to send a paperback advance reading copy of Malcolm Gladwell's latest, Outliers: The Story Of Success. Ditto for 2666 by Roberto Bolano, a posthumous publication by a cult Chilean-Mexican author.

I'm about halfway through the terrifying yet completely addictive Death From The Skies, a series of lessons in astrophysics, chemistry, and meteorology disguised as discussions of various apocalyptic scenarios (asteroid hitting the earth, massive solar flare, nearby supernova, etc.). And today Amitav Ghosh's Sea Of Poppies hit the mailbox.

I'm set through Thanksgiving at least. What's on your to-read shelf?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What am I reading? Go look for yourself; I friended you.

Adam Villani said...

Hey Doaf, that shouldn't preclude discussion!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having the time to read Donald Shoup's "The High Cost of Free Parking" and finishing Thomas Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon."

Eric Grubbs said...

I plan to read Goodbye 21st Century and The Chris Farley Show once I'm done with Right of the Dial.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't trying to stifle discussion, I was just poorly saying, "hey, I friended you now."

Anyway, I'm still finishing the "Buttercup's Baby" addition to _The Princess Bride_, and I'm planning on rereading _The Big Over-Easy_ soon so that I can write a test on it. I'm also hoping to get back to _How to Read Literature Like A Professor_, which I've read chapters of; it is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Also in the middle of _Just So Stories_ for the first time. I'm reading it out loud to my Juniors, elementary school style.