false 33 357 294 true 5712380 read 1 true 167229 currently-reading 62 true 167228 to-read 42 false 5524186 history 41 false 167343 personal-perennial-classics 27 false 2417582 dime-novel-spooks-and-gumshoes 16 false 167415 how-to 10 false 167408 beach-reading 10 false 2449920 too-boring-to-continue 7 false 652927 need-to-read-again 5 false 646292 current-favorites http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76540298 Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller (Hardcover) by Steve Weinberg
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1165372 to: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Paperback) by Haruki Murakami
bookshelves: too-boring-to-continue
***update: reading again in '09*



08 review:
Sigh. I give up, Haruki. I know you're a genius and all, but I can't figure out why I'm suppoed to care about your unpleasant hero and his small life by Chapter 3. I'm a busy girl. I'm moving on. But we can go out again some time ...? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41620789 to: Gilead: A Novel (Paperback) by Marilynne Robinson
Oh, it was so beautiful. Just ... I immediately began to read it again. The plot doesn't even matter, really. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75039427 A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages (Hardcover) by Kristin Chenoweth
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73578217 to: The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications (Paperback) by Amy Einsohn
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70459445 to: Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (Paperback) by Helen Fielding
Fun, fast read. Looking forward to further Olivia Joules books. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21745014 to: Castle (Hardcover) by David Macaulay
bookshelves: history
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73068636 The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) by Robert A. Caro
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65004076 to: From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse, #8) by Charlaine Harris
bookshelves: dime-novel-spooks-and-gumshoes
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65004129 to: Theodore Rex (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Edmund Morris
bookshelves: beach-reading, history
So, I have finally finished this tome. So no matter what complaining I'm about to do, I didn't put it into the "too boring to continue" category....

However. !

Here are my two main complaints:

1. Fawning. Seriously, the author wants to have TR's wee tubby babies. There isn't a critical sentence in the entire book. In my opinion, part of what's fascinating about TR is the way that he exemplified some of the best of his time (engaging with John Muir and Booker T. Washington) and the worst of his class (that mioptic paternalism of his). Morris seems determined to gloss over any contradictions in TR's character, but I think futher exploration of criticisms of TR's policies would have helped me learn a lot more about America at the time.

2. Cummberbunds. Reading this book made me feel like I was being told a story by Horace Slughorn: "By jove, he was a grand chap, that Arthur! He wore a paisley cummerbund to the [important international summit you actually want to know about:]. I remember clearly what a penchant he had for paisley cummerbunds. Why there was a time..."
Urgh! I don't care about the horses! I want to know what the Nicaraguan opposition thought of him! Or the black press. Or women, considering the fact that the push for women's suffrage was really taking off during his time in office.


Other than these two issues, I did enjoy many parts of the book. Particularly fun to read were the letters and observations of Archie Butt. Morris does, of course, describe his dressing habits, but Archie does a much better job of giving us a sense of the space around the Roosevelts.

And certainly the book did an excellent job of piquing my interest in a president who had such wide interests and a lot of wisdom to go with his great energy. I'll have to read more about him; it's hard to see very clearly with the bright light of Morris's love shining fully on TR's face. ]]>