Tuesday, June 14, 2011
What Denise is reading this week...
Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. Pretty darn good. The author seems to have a touch of hero worship, which is never ideal in a biographer, but considering Hamilton's reputation, perhaps having a biography like this a cosmic justice. Anyway, Hamilton was a fascinating person. Contradictory (yet principled), loyal (but instigator of the first great American s*x scandal), brilliant (but got himself killed in a duel, of all things). Alexander Hamilton is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and makes you see current politics in a completely different light-- as, really, all books on the Founders and early America should. If for no other reason than perspective.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Alaska!
Apparently it IS possible to forget just how beautiful Alaska is. It reminds you quickly, though. We went up for a week, during which time I got absolutely covered in mosquito bites, slightly tanned (yes, I'm telling the truth), and thoroughly relaxed. We saw some old friends, and it was wonderful to see James' family-- we had a lot of fun, even though I think Ralph underestimated the amount of chaos two hyper little boys could cause:).
Alaska is QUIET. And it has a way of reminding you what's important and what's not. Life readjustment is now commencing:)
Alaska is QUIET. And it has a way of reminding you what's important and what's not. Life readjustment is now commencing:)
Friday, May 27, 2011
What Denise read LAST week
We were in Alaska last week, which meant plenty of fun time, family, mosquitoes, and Kindle time, but no internet. So here's what I read/ am reading.
Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. This is the sequel to Ender's Game, which I have never read (too much CIP-- Children In Peril-- to make comfortable reading for yours truly), but which James assures me is fantastic. Speaker for the Dead is quite readable on its own, but then, James had already told me what happened in Ender's Game. Either reading EG or giving its Wikipedia page a read is recommended. Speaker is a murder mystery/sci-fi/xenoanthropology study all in one-- and it's very very good. A+!
Xenocide is the next book in the series. It's also good, but I'm not very far into it yet.
I'm also working on What Would the Founders Do, by Richard Brookhiser. He writes for National Review, one of my long-time favorites, so I had high hopes for this one. The fact that I'm still trying to get through it should tell you guys something. I was hoping for a fair bit of Constitutional analysis combined with Founder-lore... but this is not it. There were what, 70-odd founders? The book's title is a faulty premise-- about the ONLY thing that the Founders agreed on were the two documents they signed-- the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Everything else is up for grabs, and good heavens, they grabbed. To my mind, the only way to answer any question like "what would they do?" is to go back to the Declaration and Constitution and what they said about, and work from there. But Brookhiser (who had listed something like 30 questions so far) simply takes anecdotes from a Founder or two's lives which purportedly answer the question (sometimes this works, sometimes not). That answers what a given Founder would have done (maybe), but it can hardly be said to answer what the group as a whole would have done. Some of the stories are neat, and I'm glad to have read them, buuuut... WWFD earns a solid C.
Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card. This is the sequel to Ender's Game, which I have never read (too much CIP-- Children In Peril-- to make comfortable reading for yours truly), but which James assures me is fantastic. Speaker for the Dead is quite readable on its own, but then, James had already told me what happened in Ender's Game. Either reading EG or giving its Wikipedia page a read is recommended. Speaker is a murder mystery/sci-fi/xenoanthropology study all in one-- and it's very very good. A+!
Xenocide is the next book in the series. It's also good, but I'm not very far into it yet.
I'm also working on What Would the Founders Do, by Richard Brookhiser. He writes for National Review, one of my long-time favorites, so I had high hopes for this one. The fact that I'm still trying to get through it should tell you guys something. I was hoping for a fair bit of Constitutional analysis combined with Founder-lore... but this is not it. There were what, 70-odd founders? The book's title is a faulty premise-- about the ONLY thing that the Founders agreed on were the two documents they signed-- the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Everything else is up for grabs, and good heavens, they grabbed. To my mind, the only way to answer any question like "what would they do?" is to go back to the Declaration and Constitution and what they said about, and work from there. But Brookhiser (who had listed something like 30 questions so far) simply takes anecdotes from a Founder or two's lives which purportedly answer the question (sometimes this works, sometimes not). That answers what a given Founder would have done (maybe), but it can hardly be said to answer what the group as a whole would have done. Some of the stories are neat, and I'm glad to have read them, buuuut... WWFD earns a solid C.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
What Denise is reading this week...
More Sherlock Holmes! His Last Bow, to be precise. I'd seen that earlier and mistaken it for the story in which Sherlock "dies",so I didn't bother to get it as I'd already read it not long ago. Serves me right-- there's some neat stories in there. Incidentally, Arthur Conan Doyle grew to hate writing Sherlock Holmes stories-- hence him killing Sherlock by having Moriarty dump him over the edge of Reichenbach Falls. Sherlock was so popular that Doyle was forced to bring him back in not just one, but four volumes. Two were collections of short stories, and I believe the last two novels were written post-Reichenbach as well, including my favorite Sherlock story of all, The Hound of the Baskervilles. There's no beating The Hound for sheer creepiness in the Holmes canon.
I also read Do the Work-- an interesting (and, be warned, occasionally profane) treatise on just getting something done. I quite enjoyed the read-- and if I had a smidgen of artistic talent, I'd draw/paint/pastel the opening image and hang it on my fridge for motivation. Maybe I'll commission Amanda...
I also read Do the Work-- an interesting (and, be warned, occasionally profane) treatise on just getting something done. I quite enjoyed the read-- and if I had a smidgen of artistic talent, I'd draw/paint/pastel the opening image and hang it on my fridge for motivation. Maybe I'll commission Amanda...
Friday, April 22, 2011
What Denise is reading this week...
And a follow-up! I'm currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne. I'm not far enough in it to offer any opinion other than I like the character names.
Follow-up: With Malice Toward None is great. As was Lincoln. The poor man was out of his depth-- but he pulled himself together, pulled it off, and saved a nation. Bravo, Mr. President.
Follow-up: With Malice Toward None is great. As was Lincoln. The poor man was out of his depth-- but he pulled himself together, pulled it off, and saved a nation. Bravo, Mr. President.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What Denise is reading this week...
With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Stephen B. Oates. It's very good. And instructional. If there's one thing that everyone who knew Abraham Lincoln agreed on, it's that his integrity was unimpeachable. Ah, for a politician that couldn't be bought! It's interesting to see, though, that Lincoln really was a politician. He was, at times, a partisan hack. Just an honest partisan hack. That makes all the difference. Also, for all the weirdness you hear about Abraham Lincoln's marriage, they evidently loved each other very much (so far anyway. I'm only to 1860). And Lincoln was a slob. He kept documents for his law practice in drawers, on tables, in boxes, in his stovepipe hat (apparently all kinds of stuff got stashed up there-- his partner said it was "[Lincoln's] desk and memorandum book), and in a little packet on his desk marked "when you can't find it anywhere else look into this". Neither he nor his partner Herndon ever bothered sweeping, and Lincoln liked to eat fruit like oranges and cherries for lunch and then spit the seeds on the floor. One law student who had been in their office said that the floor was so literally dirty that some of the seeds actually sprouted.
Politics right before the Civil War were explosive. Congressmen were duking it out on the House floor in Congress, showing up drunk for votes, and threatening the opposite sides with predictions of the end of American civilization if what they wanted to happen concerning slavery failed to come to pass. Probably not too different from now, other than I don't recall a recent fist fight.
Politics right before the Civil War were explosive. Congressmen were duking it out on the House floor in Congress, showing up drunk for votes, and threatening the opposite sides with predictions of the end of American civilization if what they wanted to happen concerning slavery failed to come to pass. Probably not too different from now, other than I don't recall a recent fist fight.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
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