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April 23
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Kathleen
gave
 
to:
Defenders of the Text: The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science, 1450-1800 (Hardcover)
by Anthony Grafton
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Helden Wie Wir (Paperback)
by Thomas Brussig
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in March, 2008
Kathleen said:
"The wittiest, dirtiest, and most original retelling of the collapse of East Germany. The only thing slowing my progress through it is the cover of my edition, a close-up photograph of a sculpture's genitalia, which has made me a little too embarrass...more
The wittiest, dirtiest, and most original retelling of the collapse of East Germany. The only thing slowing my progress through it is the cover of my edition, a close-up photograph of a sculpture's genitalia, which has made me a little too embarrassed to break it out on the subway. For the most part I prefer strangers on the train not think I might be reading German pornography in public, but perhaps I am just being paranoid....less
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Kathleen
gave
to:
The Queen's Conjurer: The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Advisor to Queen Elizabeth I (Hardcover)
by Benjamin Woolley
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Kathleen said:
"Yes, this is a bit of a fluffy piece of pop history writing by a journalist and not a *ahem* professional historian, but John Dee is the kind of character whose thoroughly eccentric real life suits this entertaining genre of history writing perfectly...more
Yes, this is a bit of a fluffy piece of pop history writing by a journalist and not a *ahem* professional historian, but John Dee is the kind of character whose thoroughly eccentric real life suits this entertaining genre of history writing perfectly. Dee, astrologer, mystic, scientist, was simultaneously an utterly idiosyncratic mind and a perfect representation of early modern thought, which was as fascinated by occultism as its was by scientific observation and more often than not tried to integrate the two. Honestly though the book is enjoyable above all for the delightfully odd anecdotes known from Dee's life (his bizarre angelic conversations, his faith in his completely fraudulent assistant Edward Kelly), which are enhanced by the fact that in all of his seemingly absurd endeavors Dee was entirely, and rather endearingly, sincere....less
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Morality and Architecture: The Development of a Theme in Architectural History and Theory from the Gothic Revival to the Modern Movement (Paperback)
by David Watkin
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Kathleen said:
"The claim that a style can be evaluated in moral terms has played a significant role in modern architectural history. Watkin's book is a classic work on this theme, tracing the history of moral arguments in architecture beginning in the 19th century ...more
The claim that a style can be evaluated in moral terms has played a significant role in modern architectural history. Watkin's book is a classic work on this theme, tracing the history of moral arguments in architecture beginning in the 19th century and critiquing the justification of stylistic choice based on moral criteria. The book certainly has a polemical tinge to it, rather than being a scholarly tome, which invites one to agree or disagree with Watkin's ideas. The book's central thesis, which basically argues that architectural style involves personal choice by the designer rather than only some sort of historical zeitgeist and always involves ornamentation regardless of claims to pure rationalism/functionalism, challenges a long tradition of architectural theory. Like it or not (for the most part I personally am with Watkin) this critique of a major impulse in modern architectural theory helped open up a healthy debate, which continues to shape how architecture is designed and understood today, and for that reason this short book is decidedly worth reading....less
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January 27
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Elizabeth Costello (Paperback)
by J.M. Coetzee
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2006
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Waiting for the Barbarians (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
by J.M. Coetzee
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my rating:
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read in January, 2006
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Underworld (Paperback)
by Don DeLillo
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in February, 2007
Kathleen said:
"White Noise is a bit of a disappointment. Underworld however is spot on.
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Kathleen
gave
to:
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (Paperback)
by Cormac McCarthy
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my rating:
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read in August, 2007
Kathleen said:
"Absolutely the best novel I read this past year. I have been putting off reading McCarthy forever and now sorely regret it. The stark biblical language and archetypal characters are perfectly infused with inventive poetic twists of language, which ...more
Absolutely the best novel I read this past year. I have been putting off reading McCarthy forever and now sorely regret it. The stark biblical language and archetypal characters are perfectly infused with inventive poetic twists of language, which elevate the prose to a perfect pitch. Not for the faint of heart, with its gruesome vision of violence which completely subverts the genre of the Western, Blood Meridian burned an indelible impression on my mind. Could I be more superlative about a book? I think not....less
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Kathleen
marked as to-read:
The Logic of Sense (Paperback)
by Gilles Deleuze
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathleen
gave
to:
No Place Like Utopia: Modern Architecture and the Company We Kept (Paperback)
by Peter Blake
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my rating:
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read in April, 2007
Kathleen said:
"Wonderful anecdotes from Blake about all of the masters of modern architecture with whom he interacted in his days at the Architectural Review and in his early career. Still, I wish it read less like a light memoir and more like a critical assessmen...more
Wonderful anecdotes from Blake about all of the masters of modern architecture with whom he interacted in his days at the Architectural Review and in his early career. Still, I wish it read less like a light memoir and more like a critical assessment on modernism....less
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