Items about books I want to read #7
Posted on: June 28, 2010
It seems that these small compilations could become a semi-regular feature of this small blog. As the old saying goes, so many books, so little time. But I am trying to keep track of things I would like to read. I hope that my three readers out there might find some of these links useful. If you do, and if you do read one of the books on these lists I keep compiling, drop me a comment or a line (e-mail is on the right hand side links). I would love to hear if you read one of the books and what you thought of it. The other thing I often add to these posts are links to bibliographies and book lists I find elsewhere. I may not want to read every item on a given list, but such lists may have a book or two I do want to read. Plus the lists make a good reference resource for readers' advisory.
In the meantime, here are my selections for this week:
- The Daily Beast has an interview with Anthony Bourdain, who is highlighting his new book Medium Raw.
- AlterNet has an article on Janet Poppendieck's book about school lunches. The book is Free For All: Fixing School Food in America.
- Everyone seems to know Adam Smith's book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The New Statesman has an article discussing Smith's first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which provides a framework for the other book and may be very relevant to today's economic discussions.
- This review from Barnes and Noble's BNR blog makes The Letters of Pliny the Younger sound like it might be an interesting book to read. The author compares Pliny the Younger to a Beltway insider Washingtonian.
- This looks like the kind of book more people should read, especially the ignorant asshats who insist on blaming immigrants for every other social ill. The book is Moving Millions: How Coyote Capitalism Fuels Global Immigration. Jesus' General reports on the book here.
- The book is The Icarus Syndrome: a History of American Hubris by Peter Beinart. Here is the review from The New Yorker that gave me the suggestion. I wonder if it is similar to books like Crossing the Rubicon by Michael C. Ruppert (my booknote on it here). It does sound like it might be better. We'll just have to wait and see.
- Via Crooks and Liars, a post on the book Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane.
Bibliographies and book lists:
- The website WorldHum has a list of "The 100 Most Celebrated Travel Books of All Time." I am not too big on reading travel books, but one or two on this list does sound interesting. I am going to highlight this link on my library's Facebook page for our patrons. This list has a lot of good stuff that would make good summer reading. That is something that I always find interesting about being a librarian and our role in finding books for others. As reader advisors, we often become knowledgeable in reading genres we ourselves may not favor as much. It is all in the interest of bringing together readers and books. I think that is a beautiful thing. A hat tip to The Millions.
- The Arabic Literature (in English) blog is presenting an Arabic Summer Reading Challenge. They are offering prizes, which is nice. For me, the incentive would be just to read in a genre that I am not very familiar with. Plus, the post does offer a list of selections to choose from. I may try the challenge depending on my time. Also, I may need to look over their blog a bit more, see if I want to add it to my list of book blogs or not.
- From Library Journal, and very timely for June, which is LGBT Pride Month, we get a list of LGBT themed graphic novels.
