So, I had Friday off yesterday and decided to do a bit of shopping. AND I had coupons, peeps! One of my stops was Borders, that flailing and floundering bookseller. I don't expect they'll be in business for many more years. Anyway, they emailed me a 30% off one item $10 or more in the hopes that it would attract some business. Lucky for them I was in a "let's stimulate the economy!" type of mood today.
After browsing the newsstand and bargain racks, I moved on to the "buy one, get the second half off" table and spied My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ. It's a spiritual memoir by a Jesuit priest. Riffling through some of the chapters, I immediately felt this would be a warm read. Although I'm not Catholic, I am Christian and find the lives of many of the saints discussed in this book compelling. Especially Joan of Arc. I'll be interested to see what Martin has to say about her, specifically. Also, Therese of Lisieux. I'm always looking for books that might provide some spiritual tools as I continue along my faith journey. As I type this, I have put it on top of my "to be read" pile next to my bed, but there are several titles already battling for top spot. I need to finish a couple before I start another. But I do look forward to getting started on this one very soon. Hopefully Borders won't send me anymore coupons...because I'm so very weak. ;)
November 15, 2008
November 14, 2008
History will not be kind...
To this book. And neither will I. I usually inhale this type of history, but after 100 pages I found myself reaching for a pencil to stick in my eye. My main reading time is in bed before a night of restful slumber. Most of the time, the history titles I read keep me turning page after page as I feel my mind light up like a switchboard. This book has the effect of a Xanax and I'm drooling and jerking awake after reading only three pages. Not good. History should be interesting and readable. Well-written history, I daresay, can read even better than a tightly-plotted novel.
Unfortunately, not so with Barbarian to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S. Wells. It's one of those revisionist types of histories; this one aims to refute the widely held belief that the Dark Ages were truly "dark," as compared to the glorious age of Rome immediately preceding it. I'm all about being swayed, but this book is poorly formed. The author says he's going to show us that the so-called "Dark Ages" were really a time of innovation and invention, this time using "newfound" archaeological evidence to buttress this argument. First of all, archaeological evidence can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and secondly, his ordering of the evidence at hand lacks any type of context or explication. We're told of the contents of gravesites and learn that people between 400-800 A.D. ate legumes based on the examination of their bones. And this tells us...?? While Wells announces his theme in the beginning of the book, we're not treated to it ever again. He never raises the theme again and lets the reader drift out to sea, wondering what it is exactly they are supposed to be learning.
In the end, it's just a poorly put-together piece of history. Perhaps the professor felt like he didn't need to abide by the rules of proper paper-writing. It would've helped his general audience if he had.
Unfortunately, not so with Barbarian to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S. Wells. It's one of those revisionist types of histories; this one aims to refute the widely held belief that the Dark Ages were truly "dark," as compared to the glorious age of Rome immediately preceding it. I'm all about being swayed, but this book is poorly formed. The author says he's going to show us that the so-called "Dark Ages" were really a time of innovation and invention, this time using "newfound" archaeological evidence to buttress this argument. First of all, archaeological evidence can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and secondly, his ordering of the evidence at hand lacks any type of context or explication. We're told of the contents of gravesites and learn that people between 400-800 A.D. ate legumes based on the examination of their bones. And this tells us...?? While Wells announces his theme in the beginning of the book, we're not treated to it ever again. He never raises the theme again and lets the reader drift out to sea, wondering what it is exactly they are supposed to be learning.
In the end, it's just a poorly put-together piece of history. Perhaps the professor felt like he didn't need to abide by the rules of proper paper-writing. It would've helped his general audience if he had.
November 12, 2008
I Have a Problem
I read too much. Or, rather, I buy books faster than I can read them. Actually, that's only part of the problem. I don't have enough space for all the books I've bought...plus, I'm still trying to read them. I don't really want an intervention, so I thought writing about it might help. Ergo, this blog. Seriously, if this is my only vice, people...
Another interesting tidbit about my reading habits (which I find fascinating in other people, too), is that I read at least four books at the same time. Not in one sitting, obvs, but alternating each time I sit down to read. I usually have one history, one non-fiction, one fiction, and one type of spiritual growth book going on at the same time. Sometimes more or less, depending on how massive the book is. Like, for instance, I'm 150 pages into Ian Kershaw's Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. It's the first volume of two. It's so freaking huge and I have it in hardcover, which gives me a wicked hand cramp when reading in bed at night. So far, Hitler has just learned he has a knack for speaking to crowds and he's stumbled upon the German Worker's Party.
My fiction title at the current moment is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. It's not rocking my socks off, but it's a fairly smooth read thus far. Not sure what to pick up next. I tend to read more history and non-fiction than fiction, but I've also got a huge collection of classics which I keep meaning to dive into. Tolstoy keeps shouting at me from my bookshelf. But it's in Russian so I don't understand him entirely. I think he's saying he wants me to start reading Anna Karenina already. We'll see, Leo...keep your ushanka on your head.
So, yes, I have a problem. But, in the grand scheme of things I suppose it's a pleasant problem. So I'll keep recording here the extent of my malaise with each new book I buy and each new stack that spills onto the floor.
Another interesting tidbit about my reading habits (which I find fascinating in other people, too), is that I read at least four books at the same time. Not in one sitting, obvs, but alternating each time I sit down to read. I usually have one history, one non-fiction, one fiction, and one type of spiritual growth book going on at the same time. Sometimes more or less, depending on how massive the book is. Like, for instance, I'm 150 pages into Ian Kershaw's Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. It's the first volume of two. It's so freaking huge and I have it in hardcover, which gives me a wicked hand cramp when reading in bed at night. So far, Hitler has just learned he has a knack for speaking to crowds and he's stumbled upon the German Worker's Party.
My fiction title at the current moment is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. It's not rocking my socks off, but it's a fairly smooth read thus far. Not sure what to pick up next. I tend to read more history and non-fiction than fiction, but I've also got a huge collection of classics which I keep meaning to dive into. Tolstoy keeps shouting at me from my bookshelf. But it's in Russian so I don't understand him entirely. I think he's saying he wants me to start reading Anna Karenina already. We'll see, Leo...keep your ushanka on your head.
So, yes, I have a problem. But, in the grand scheme of things I suppose it's a pleasant problem. So I'll keep recording here the extent of my malaise with each new book I buy and each new stack that spills onto the floor.
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