Now that I have read about all there is about Robert Moses I have finally started reading Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities. Its pretty accurate, although she does idealize street life in the city a little too much for my taste. Her idea of utopia is a busy, dirty street with kids playing on the sidewalk, storekeepers watching them and TV's plugged in through long extension cords broadcasting Yankees games.
I just finished Unaccustimed Earth, and now I am on to my third Jhumpa Lahiri book, The Namesake.
After that, I may need to start breaking out the technical and planning-specific books. Both to refresh my memory on theory and practice and also to begin studying for the May '09 AICP exam.
"That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!" ~Calvin and Hobbes
Picking up this weekend - Naked Economics: Understanding the Dismal Science
People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor
I am re-reading Joseph Cambell's, 'The Power of Myth'. This guy was an interesting thinker. The book is as good as I rember it from 10 yrs ago.
What’s in a name? – Your reputation….:)
HEAR HEAR!!! I was skimming through this thread thinking the same exact thing. As an English major, I've read my share of serious literature. Now all I read is pure, escapist trash, and I LOVE IT!!!Originally posted by Zoning Goddess
"A witty woman is a treasure, a witty beauty is a power!"
I decided to change up my selections. Waiting on Unaccustomed Earth, and I'm instead going to read Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx. Looking forward to it.
"That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!" ~Calvin and Hobbes
Herman Melville's "The Piazza Tales", contained in a slim volume along with "Billy Bud". As part of my propaganda campaign to introduce what I call "real" literature to my teenaged daughters, I have a running joke with one where I regularly threaten to make her listen to my reading Billy Bud aloud. Repeated empty threats made me finally sit down with the Piazza Tales myself.
Melville is a great sampler of rich English vocabulary and syntax.
I just finished "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson about the meteorologist assigned to Galveston during the hurricane of 1900. A good read.
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
Always wanted to read that...heard its really good.
Right now I'm reading "The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton as I'm trying to get more serious about my finances and "The Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster for a Sunday school class my wife and I have been attended. The jury's still out on that last one.
Currently, I am reading Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life by John Sellers. It chronicles his growing up in a boring suburban town and then (many years too late) being exposed to good music and his growing obsession with a particular band.
The book may as well be about my life instead of John Sellers right down to his Michigan childhood and his fascination with the playcounts on his iTunes.
"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." - 1980 Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan
Earlier this year I discovered Paul Doherty at the library. I'm currently reading another of his Hugh Corbett mysteries, and I also like his Amoerotke (not sure on the spelling) Ancient Egyptian mysteries.
Recently finished another Nora Roberts novel, and am on the waiting list for some other romance/mystery/suspense authors at the library. Sometimes I just wander the shelves, looking for something to jump out at me. That's how I discovered C.E. Murphy.
My library is small, but it's very convenient. I could get a library card for Big D, but there's none close to my work - except downtown, where I would have to pay for parking. No thanks.
"We do not need any other Tutankhamun's tomb with all its treasures. We need context. We need understanding. We need knowledge of historical events to tie them together. We don't know much. Of course we know a lot, but it is context that's missing, not treasures." - Werner Herzog, in Archaeology, March/April 2011
I am reading In Open Spaces, by Russell Rowland, a Montana author. I recently was in a class he held on fiction writing and was impressed by him. The novel is about a Montana ranch family in the first decades of the 20th century. What is most impressive is how Rowland writes compellingly about ordinary incidents that shape this family's life - a local baseball game, getting a cow unstuck from a bog, deaths in the family and so on.
Montana writing almost always has the land as a major character and Rowland eloquently describes the open spaces of eastern Montana and its effect on the people who live there.
Good stuff.
PLANERELLA and ZONING GODDESS: I just got back from a three-book spree of low-brow readings. My name is Otterpop. I like to read Max Brand westerns!
"I am very good at reading women, but I get into trouble for using the Braille method."
~ Otterpop ~
Currently reading There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz (http://www.amazon.com/There-Are-No-C...5169958&sr=8-1). Book is about life in the projects, gang culture, violence, poverty, etc. Not the most upbeat book (obviously) but an interesting insight into an all too integral part of urban culture.
I found this interesting thing called bookmooch.com. LINK
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" Jeremiah 22:16
On the recommendation of my grandmother, I'm reading Fearless Fourteen, by Janet Evanovich. She said it was funny, so I said I'd check it out. I'm not sure if my grandmother and I have the same sense of humor.
I'm in the process of reading This Noble Land: My Vision for America by the late James Michener. I've always been a big fan of his historical novels but this one is a series of his reflections on different aspects of the United States. Published in 1996, he analyzed the trends that he saw happening in our culture and offered his recommendations for making course corrections. Twelve years later, it is still a sobering read that doesn't spare anyone of their responsibilities.
“Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future.”
Titanic's Last Secrets by Brad Matsen.
interesting background on the White Star Line, and Harland & Wolff (ship builder).
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
currently I am working on all the Tintin series of books/adventures with my kids
http://www.tintin.com/
I finally finished The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Epstein last week. Excellent book, just too heavy (500+ pgs) to carry around during all of my recent travels, so it took me awhile to get through it.
I'd really like to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Lincoln and his cabinet - Team of Rivals - but it's another 500+ pager - I can't commit to it right now!
I just read Cormac McCarthy's The Road in one sitting.
It was an absolutely amazing story - one that had me genuinely concerned for the characters throughout (I guess that's what made it so hard to put it down).
"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." - 1980 Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan
THAT IS AWESOME!
I have wanted to expand my Tintin collection for a while. Did yo know that they are planning a movie? I think Spielberg was tapped to produce/direct. Sometime in 2009 we have more news.
Right now, I am finishing a couple library books about travel in Siberia. I started World Made By Hand on Google Books, but ran out of pages. Now I want to read more, but it is checked out at the library. I may just have to buy it.
I've also thought about picking up some Cormac McCarthy as well.
You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart
Currently reading Downhill Lie by Carl Haissen - a very good and funny writer out of Florida, in this book he decribes how he is brought back to playing golf after a 32 year hiatus. Doesn't follow his previous books, but just as funny.In one of his lines he talks about getting a new set of clubs and they were so nice he hesitated to throw them the first time.
"Whatever beer I'm drinking, is better than the one I'm not." DMLW
Recently read that book and thought it was great. I like all of Hiassen's work and this was good.
You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart
Just found that book in a used book place - started it last night as I sat through a long meeting waiting for an agenda item that never came up.
I'm re-reading Ferrol Sams book 'Run with the Horsemen' -- it's the funniest thing I've read in a while and I need the laughs.
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