false 11 556 553 true 5657991 read 3 true 407333 currently-reading 0 true 407332 to-read 14 false 419451 reallygoodbooks http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79326625 Back (Paperback) by Henry Green
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79040794 to: Look how the fish live (Unknown Binding) by J.F. Powers
Powers is the author of the Morte D'Urban, a National Book Award winner. This is a series of short stories, but most focus on clergymen. Powers is not a seminarian, but spent time at a pastoral retreat. The author lived in Minnesota and most of the stories are set there. The stories don't deal much with religion per se, but with the interactions between clerics, bishops and Monsignors, priests and curates. They are generally very funny, although there is a touch of lonely sadness to them as well. The look at day to day concerns of priests, their competition for power, was as interesting as it was numerous. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77537922 to: Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie (Perennial Classics) by Ole Edvart Rølvaag
This book, translated from Norwegian, is a classic of pioneer life by an author from my home state of Minnesota. It is considered a minor classic of American literature, and I see why. In the story we follow a young family Per Hansa, his wife Beret, and their children. With a handful of other Norwegians they make their way from Filmore county Minnesota to a homestead just north of Sioux Falls South Dakota. This is a story of the stuggle to live on a treeless prairie that gives a much harder efge than the Little House books. It is also the story of persoanl disintegration as the lonelyness and isolation lead to Beret's increasing madness, and how the isolated little community struggles to cope. She ultimately recovers her ability to act, but becomes a religious zealot that the community can not bear and her neurosis ultimately leads to tragedy in the famous winter of 1880-81. This book is evocatively written, and it is a powerful story for America and humanity. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78841746 Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories (Paperback) by Elizabeth Strout
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78841666 The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (Hardcover) by Richard Dawkins
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]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77537802 to: Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (Paperback) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson spends about two weeks driving a stubborn donkey through east central France. This is a wry, often hilarious narrative, but also has a marvelous description of a way of life that is now gone. This book is a real jewel. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77128978 to: Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire (Paperback) by William Rosen
This is a well written history of the Roman empire, centered in Constantinople, in late antiquity. Justinian is the last competent emperor, and his machinations make the term Byzantine understandable. This emperor rewrote Roman law, reunited the Western empire, using his brilliant general Balisarius, and took a great interest in the most bizarre religious hair splitting of the Aryan and related heresies. The inter-relations with Persia, various barbarians (Huns, Goths, Slavs, Franks etc) and even the Chinese are described in an engaging manner. Shot through this is the plague. The author has a pretty rigorous biological discussion of the bacteria, flea, rat and other hosts showing why the plague is so caprious. The unbelievable devastation caused by the plague sapped the strength of the reformed Roman empire and finished it off, opening the door for the rise of the modern Western state, although that would be many years off. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72331316 to: Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique (Hardcover) by Michael S. Gazzaniga
Gazzaniga is a famous cognitive scientist, and he takes a contemporary view of the subject. I have read widely in this field, so there was not much new here, but if one were new to the area, this would be a good overview of the science; he does review the main ideas of many heavy hitters like Damasio and Pinker. I did enjoy his review of the left brain "interpreter" and how it may underlie a sense of self. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3746718 to: Pride and Prejudice (Paperback) by Jane Austen
What can I say? This is one of the classic novels of manners ever written. Witty, insightful, and a good story to boot. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75991058 to: The Leopard (Paperback) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
I read this slim, but powerful, novel some years back. It tells the story of an historically powerful family as they decline in the face of rising modernity. The writing is very strong and evocative of the Sicilian land and people. ]]>