Second Verse, Same as the First: The Book List
Before I head off to Utah on vacation, I need to update the book list. It’s been nearly two months since I’ve done so, and rest assured, I have been reading during that time. I’ve just been lazy. Well, busy, let’s say. This summer was extremely hectic, and the end of Friday marked the beginning of a relatively calm period for me at work. I ended the day by dramatically lip-synching to Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” for my co-workers, who promptly burst into gales of laughter. I have heard that goddamn song more in the past week than I ever did when it was on heavy rotation on 96.3 FM in Detroit. Unfortunately, today was a day that required open ears, so the iPod couldn’t save me. Anyway, that’s enough about that. Books! So many books, so little time!
In the time the book list has not been updated, I’ve read four books and started another (and no, I have NOT finished Don Quixote–the day I do, I’m buying myself a Coke!). All have been fast reads, and only one can be considered a classic. As I said in my last posting, my next subject of interested would be The Golden Ass, translated by Robert Graves (whose daughter translated my last, gushing book list subject). I then attempted to read some Kate Chopin, and was disappointed to discover that her writing didn’t captivate me as much as it used to when I was an undergrad (but this is B.M.R–Before Medieval/Renassaince). I dropped Kate, then moved onto Stephen King for a bit; I really enjoyed Night Shift (goddamn those vampires from ‘Salems Lot, they scare the shit out of me for some reason), but was meh on Cell. That’s it. Meh. I then read the new Christopher Moore after my weekend in Chicago; not as good as Lamb or Practical Demonkeeping, but still good in its own right. It’s very touching at times, mixed in with Moore’s typical hilarity. I am now currently reading a Margaret George novel on Henry VIII (note how Barnes & Noble lists Will Somers as an actual author–hah!); I read her novel on Mary Mag, and was thrilled at her portrait of a woman who was not a whore–here, she makes Anne Boleyn to be the Great Whore and Witch, which everyone know pisses me the hell off–what the fuck was the poor woman supposed to do!?! Ahem. Anyway, not liking this novel, but plowing through it anyway. It will be added shortly.
Anyway, enough about poor Anne Boleyn. Onto the book list:
Finished:
1) The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracy, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant by Robert Hutchinson
2) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
3) Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
4) Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
5) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
7) The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
8) Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman
9) Saving the World by Julia Alvarez
10) The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
11) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Translated by Lucia Graves)
12) The Golden Ass by Apuleius (Translated by Robert Graves)
13) Night Shift by Stephen King
14) Cell by Stephen King
15) A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Re-read:
1) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
Currently Reading:
1) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Translation by Edith Grossman)
2) Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George
Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Boyfriend, or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):
1) Lost for Words: Hidden History of Oxford English Dictionary by Lynda Mugglestone
2) Whose Bible Is It?: A History of the Scripture through the Ages by Jaroslav Pelikan
3) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
