Thursday, April 28, 2011

4-28-11

Fiction/Biography
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Theology/Philosophy
  • Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom by Karl Barth (edited by Clifford Green)
  • The Monstrosity of Christ by Slavoj Zizek and John Milbank
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  • The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Monday, April 25, 2011

4-25-11

Fiction/Biography
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
  • Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Theology/Philosophy
  • Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom by Karl Barth (edited by Clifford Green)
  • The Monstrosity of Christ by Slavoj Zizek and John Milbank
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Thursday, April 21, 2011

4-21-11

Fiction
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
  • Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Theology
  • Being Reconciled by John Milbank
  • Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom by Karl Barth (edited by Clifford Green)
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

4-19-11

Fiction
  • Flashback by Dan Simmons
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • A Moment In The Sun by John Sayles
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
  • Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Theology
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • Our Sound Is Our Wound by Lucy Winkett
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Thursday, April 14, 2011

4-14-11

Fiction
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • A Moment In The Sun by John Sayles
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
  • Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Theology
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • Our Sound Is Our Wound by Lucy Winkett
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Monday, April 11, 2011

4-11-11

Fiction
  • Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Luminarium by Alex Shakar
  • A Moment In The Sun by John Sayles
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
Theology
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • Our Sound Is Our Wound by Lucy Winkett
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Saturday, April 9, 2011

4-9-11

Fiction
  • Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
  • A Moment In The Sun by John Sayles
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
Theology
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Thursday, April 7, 2011

4-7-11

Fiction
  • Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
  • A Moment In The Sun by John Sayles
  • A Perfect Spy by John le Carre
Theology
  • Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
  • A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  • The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
  • Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

St. George and The Plot Against America

    Book nerd that I am, it wasn't until a few years ago that I became aware of St. George's Day. Celebrated on April 23rd, St. George's Day is known in Catalan as La Diada de Sant Jordi and it is traditional, on this day, to gift a loved one with a book and a rose. This day has since been declared International Day of the Book, since St. George's Day also coincides with the dates of death for both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.
    For the past 3 years, BookPeople has celebrated St. George's Day by laying out a table of staff recommendations from various booksellers. These are old favorites that have inexplicably sold less than five copies in the previous year.
    I was stunned to discover that Philip Roth's The Plot Against America was on this year's list of candidates. Whether you're a fan of Roth's work or not, this should be on anyone's list of must reads. Roth readers will discover what I consider to be Roth's best work. Those who haven't read Roth, for one reason or another, should take Plot Against America as a reason to begin. 
    The plot of The Plot involves fiction jumping off of fact. First, the facts; famed aviator and explorer Charles Lindbergh was involved in politics and considered a run for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh took an isolationist approach to WWII and gave speeches that featured anti-semitic rhetoric. Roth imagines an America in which Charles Lindbergh runs against and defeats Franklin Roosevelt for the Presidential election of 1940. He imagines the America we would be today. 
    The New York Times review described the book as "a terrific political novel" as well as "sinister, vivid, dreamlike, preposterous and, at the same time, creepily plausible."
    If you haven't read The Plot Against America, you should drop by BookPeople and pick one up. If you have read it, you should come pick one up and give it to a friend in honor of St. George's Day. And if The Plot Against America doesn't sound like your thing or something any of your circle would enjoy, you should still come check out our display and grab something off the table. 
    Whether your tastes run the way of Gail Caldwell, Richard Russo, or Kurt Vonnegut; we have something for you. If you like war memoirs like If I Die In A Combat Zone, horror classics like Frankenstein, the philosophy of Walden, or the pulp adventures featured in The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane; you can find them all there. I have read and can recommend all of them. And there are even more staff favorites that I haven't read, but that others can recommend.
    Come by the store, come by the table, pick up a book, and celebrate St. George. Buy The Plot Against America. And, if you don't, buy something. These books are too good to miss. This celebration is too good an excuse. It's Valentine's Day for the literate. Give a book you love to someone you love. Or a book you hate to someone you hate. Either way, what a day.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Bossypants

    Here's the deal; Tina Fey is hilarious. Really, really funny. I'm a fan. So, I expected this book to be a ton of fun.
    And sometimes it is. Sometimes the observations are exactly what we want from Fey; sharp and witty and yet still warm. But, more often than I'd hoped, it is a collection of stories that will only appeal to people who know/knew Fey personally, work in television, or are beyond rabid fans of SNL/30 Rock.
    Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of 30 Rock. But I don't care to know every behind the scenes "how the series of meetings went that led to me playing Sarah Palin/getting Oprah on the show" anecdote. The parts of this book that are a larger comment on society's problems and quirks are Fey at her best. But when the book gets more memoir (particularly those parts that focus on her growing up years) the stories just aren't that interesting/funny. I listened to this on audio, narrated by Fey, and Fey helps make this personal history funnier. But not that much. It's not that bad. It's just not that good, either. Which is a shame.
    It's also worth mentioning that this book is snarkier than necessary. That may seem like a weird thing to say about any book written by a comedian, particularly one that I have already described as "sharp and witty." Isn't snark just a part of that? But one of the great things about Fey is how she walks snark up to the line of outright meanness, but rarely crosses it. And that still happens here...sometimes. Unfortunately, too many times, that's not the case at all. When the people she's lampooning/belittling are former classmates/teachers/acquaintances/etc. who cannot defend themselves/may have become better people in the past 20-25 years it feels a bit too personal in the sense that she still seems to be taking some past stuff too personally. Other times she turns her targets too easily into stereotypes, even though she often objects to others who do the same.
    I wanted this book to be nicer. Not sappy and not trite, but kind. Winsome. Wise. My sense is that Fey is all of these things. And sometimes her book reflects that. But not enough of the time. Too much of the time it feels like a book written by Liz Lemon that Tina Fey would reference to show us how Lemon still has some growing to do. Remember that episode of 30 Rock when Liz Lemon attends a reunion and discovers that she wasn't the bullied, but the bully? This book needs to watch that episode.
    Listen, there's stuff in here worth reading and I had moments when I laughed out loud. But I also had moments when I cringed at what came off like the smart kid picking on the dumb kid simply because the dumb kid is sometimes mean. It doesn't make it feel any better and Fey strikes me as better than that.