false 1 102 92 true 5822715 read 1 true 4712607 currently-reading 9 true 4712606 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75964297 Spooner (Hardcover) by Pete Dexter
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75964165 Tried by War : Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief (Hardcover) by James M. McPherson
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66246830 to: The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 (Hardcover) by Bob Woodward
I picked this up in an airport, and had a few uninterupted hours to get interested. So at this point, I'm reading the book as a history of recently unfolded events, which is actually how Woodward intended. Even though I knew how things were going to turn out, the glimpse of the behind the scenes machinations was fascinating on several levels.
Whatever opinion you might have had about the war itself, you had to just shake your head at some of the scenarios Woodward describes going on in the assorted agencies charged with the formulation of plans and strategies, and the ridiculous internecine back-biting that all but makes sure they fail. If this were just some game, where egos and ambitions were ultimately harmless, it could stand as a lesson in selfish personal agrandizement. But, when you consider that these decisions were being bounced around the halls of almost every agency, bureau, and department in government while an actual WAR was going on, seems almost criminal.
The access Woodward was granted to the players involved here was especially interesting. There were insights presented by key participants, and not always in a way that flattered themselves. I learned about people that nobody ever hears about, that had an importance in the outcome, far beyond what you might consider appropriate to their position.
All in all, I found the book very interesting, even while it was scaring the hell out of me. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62570726 to: The Last Lecture (Hardcover) by Randy Pausch
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62570360 to: Chronicles: Volume One (Paperback) by Bob Dylan
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60253884 to: Twelve Bar Blues (Paperback) by Patrick Neate
This one took me a long time. I'm not saying that the myriad scene shifts, location jumps, and time travels had anything to do with that, but it didn't make it seem essential to keep focused on the finale, if there was ever really going to be one, that is.
New Orleans, Africa, Chicago, London, all in different times, all with a continuous meta-physical, mystical thread that keep Sylvia di Napolli, trying to find out why she's, well, black. Her family isn't black. At least the ones she knows about. Ah, introducing the African zakulu (witch doctor) who is going to tell her everything she wants/doesn't want to know about her past/destiny.
The narrative jumps back and forth between a very gritty New Orleans, when it was busiest giving birth to, even grittier, jazz. Lick Holden, the best horn man you never heard of, might just be in Sylvie's past, he might just be her destiny. Or, the skinny white guy that helps take Sylvie from walking London's streets (literally) to uncovering her future as the daughter of... well.. you'll see.
As I mentioned, it's a little hard to focus, when there are some really severe shifts in the basic structure of the narrative. Others have mentioned the sudden change to a jive-like tone, without a real reason. The African settings were told in a way that you weren't quite sure, at first, when they were happening, and then they were almost dismissed.
All of that being said, I guess the fact that I kept coming back, says something. There were passages, especially the descriptions of the New Orleans of that time, that were riveting. Nuance, might have been a little overdone, but some scenes were set very nicely. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62090556 The Human Condition (Paperback) by Hannah Arendt
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62089983 to: Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports (Paperback) by S.L. Price
A fascinating behind the scenes look at a part of sports we know very little about, beyond what the Cuban sport/govt. machine wants us to know. The author is very familiar with the sports scene in Florida, and by extension, Cuba. The seeming contradictions between the Cuban ideal of amateurs, playing their sports for the pure love of the game.. and the lure of the money available if they would only defect. Along the way, we learn more about life in the real Cuba.
Very well written, and relayed almost as a disappointed fan. The episode with boxer Teofilo Stevenson, still reliving his long ago Olympic heroics, are especially riveting. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62089911 to: Carter Beats the Devil (Paperback) by Glen David Gold
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