What I read in August 2010

[madrano]

Here 'tis, my list of the books i set apart from the others on the shelves recently. I'm not stating that i'll read them all, only that they will be starting points when i am deciding on what to read next. These are mostly nonfiction.


The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture by Ruth Benedict

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History by Richard Shenkman

The Frigates: An Account of the Lesser Warships of the Wars from 1793 to 1815 by James Henderson

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Education of Henry Adams by
Henry Adams

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

The Cowboy Way: An Exploration of History and Culture by Paul Howard Carlson

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

The Trojan War: A New History by Barry Strauss (Earlier this year i read his The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization, which i found well written, so look forward to this one.)

The Mirror of the Gods: How the Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods by Malcolm Bull

Dawn of the Gods: Minoan and Mycenaean Origins of Greece by Jacquetta Hawkes

PLUS the autobiographies of Ulysses Grant and the one by his wife Julia Dent. The Autobiography of General Ulysses S Grant: Memoirs of the Civil WarThe Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant: Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant

Plus these three novels, one of which was inspired by our recent posts.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Ugly American by William J. Lederer andEugene BurdickI also entertain hopes of reading Lederer's A Nation of Sheep soon, too.

[Alias Reader]

Jorge, I hope that happens long after I am gone from this big blue planet. :(

Maybe independent bookstores will make a comeback. Dreaming, I know. Though I was at one for my F2F book club last night and it was well attended.

[madrano]

Jorge wrote: "-Sigh- I have a fear that with kindle and the other electronic readers, as well as Amazon and the other online bookstores that one day actual physical bookstores will be a thing of the past. I guess that will happen to librarys as well. I guess I'm getting old. :| ..."

I hear ya! I was heartened recently when a totally new independent bookstore opened in Dallas. There were several problems with it, location being a huge one. It closed before i even had an opportunity to go there. As i understand it, they constructed and ran it too much like a chain, so customers opted to go to more easily-accessible chains. However, they claim they've learned lessons from this & intend to give it another try. I'll make a Point of getting there soon after they open, buying often.

I forgot to mention that they invested in building their own structure and it was 3 floors tall! Reviews stated it was more cold than warm, as we expect independents to be. I suppose that didn't help, either.

My point is, i still hope there can be a resurgence but they may take new forms. Fine by me.

deborah

[Alias Reader]

The problem i have with Independent bookstores is two fold.

First, I usually have to order the book, as I tend to read books that are a bit off the beaten track. Though I did think they might have Nixonland but they did not. So, If I have to wait for a book to be shipped, why not just go with Amazon?

Second, is price. The only discount this particular indie gives is 10% for the book club selection.

I purchased Nixonland for the full $20 price, but Amazon is selling it for $14.27.

And for this particular book, Amazon was the provider that gave me everything I needed. Reviews, synopsis etc. The indie didn't provide anything.

[madrano]

There's a reason Amazon is so popular and you've named many, Alias. I find the ease with which i can make informed book purchases through them remarkable. Having lived in rural areas (and find myself again doing), i know how valuable they are to many of us, too. And the prices help, too.

I recall a great book board exchange several years ago which pointed out the positives of having the options of independent stores, even though they are pricier and less convenient than Amazon and other online services. One obvious positive is for the community. Economically, the money spent stays in the community longer. Secondly, there is a meeting ground for like-minded people. Third, particularly for procrastinators like myself, there is an immediate place to buy gifts i like giving.

So, i've tempered my Amazon-buying, despite the higher costs, by deciding whether the book(s) i want to purchase are worth the savings. If it's only a dollar or two, i'll go local, if i can. I guess i have come to see it as worth it.

HOWever, i am like you, Alias, in that my tastes are often off the beaten track, so much so that even libraries fail me. And i love that i can often locate the books i want, usually at a price i'm willing to pay, online. This is a big, big benefit for a reader such as myself.

For my money, where Amazon really shines is their review department. Not only do they have "professional" reviews/comments but also customers can add to the mix. If you didn't know what you were getting into when you order a book from Amazon, it's probably because either no one posted about it or you decided not to read the comments (which i often do, lest spoilers occur).

deb

[Mike]

That's all the same for me, I use amazon everytime I'm curious about a book. And so often I am looking for hard to find books. I can almost always find what I'm looking for there.

[NancyInWI]

Mike wrote: "That's all the same for me, I use amazon everytime I'm curious about a book. And so often I am looking for hard to find books. I can almost always find what I'm looking for there."

For reviews of a book, I most often choose Goodreads, but also have checked out Amazon.

For buying books? Definitely Amazon. My daughter needed a book for her Philosophy class and the University bookstore was out. However, the price there was $30. I found it on Amazon for $12.27 and free 2 day delivery. How can you beat that?

I found another source for books too: www.rentscouter.com Clark Howard talked about it on his show. It's not just book rental, but finds the book at MANY different websites so you can shop for the best price.

[Mike]

I agree about that too, GoodReads is a great resource. The sense of community makes it good too.

[madrano]

Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "I found another source for books too: www.rentscouter.com Clark Howard talked about it on his show. It's not just book rental, but finds the book at MANY different websites so you can shop for the best price. "..."

Good idea, particularly for textbooks. I'll pass that along to the students i know. Thanks, Nancy.

deborah

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

I read reviews on GR and Amazon, but I really like GR better. On Amazon, some people tend to get into attack mode when they disagree with a review. I disliked a popular book and gave my reasons for my opinion, and got a cadre of people who would follow all my reviews and give them a thumbs down, no matter what the book or rating. I eventually deleted my reviews and didn't post any for quite awhile. Still, I think Amazon is a terrific resource for finding great reads. But you can't beat the Goodreads community - I love it here.

[Mike]

Wikipedia is another source I use for book info. A lot of the entries have really in-depth info on the plot, characters and all that. And the entry pages are always well linked to other info about the author, book and specific things in the story like the history of whatever it is. And usually at the bottom they have a good list of references and outside link.
The Oliver Twist entry is a good example of this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_T...

[Debbie]

Where can you find a listing, by date, when a new book is to be published. Fantastic Fiction has a lot of them pubished, but I want them in date order. Bookreporter.com has them also, but not necesarrily all of them and of course not in date order. Maybe I am asking to much.

[Mike]

Richiesheff wrote: "Where can you find a listing, by date, when a new book is to be published. Fantastic Fiction has a lot of them pubished, but I want them in date order. Bookreporter.com has them also, but not nec..."

I can't find them listed in order so far searching google but I'm sure there's one out similar to DVD releases or whatever. I'd like to find this too and will look around on different search engines and of course post it when I come up with one.

[Mike]

This is the closest thing I can find right now... http://www.barnesandnoble.com/booksto... ...I can't believe Amazon has none that I can find with filtered parameters of this. They have one but it's all "hot new releases" and not in order.

[Shomeret]

Nancy/nanckopf wrote: "Mike wrote: "That's all the same for me, I use amazon everytime I'm curious about a book. And so often I am looking for hard to find books. I can almost always find what I'm looking for there."

..."

I resort to Amazon reviews when the ones on Goodreads don't tell me anything about the book and there isn't a description. This can happen with older books.

[Debbie]

Bookreporter.com did have the books for October listed in order. They had a few tradebacks. M ayb they only do it closer to the new month. They had a brief synopsis of the book too.

[Mike]

Richiesheff wrote: "Bookreporter.com did have the books for October listed in order. They had a few tradebacks. M ayb they only do it closer to the new month. They had a brief synopsis of the book too."

That's a neat website. Thanks for sharing it.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

Mike wrote: "This is the closest thing I can find right now... http://www.barnesandnoble.com/booksto... ...I can't believe Amazon has none that I can find with filtered parameters of this. ..."

I have often wondered about this too....seems a niche that Amazon could fill. I also would like to find the highest-ranked books at Amazon, not the ones that sell the best. There is no way to get that info.

[Mike]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I have often wondered about this too....seems a niche that Amazon could fill. I also would like to find the highest-ranked books at Amazon, not the ones that sell the best. There is no way to get that info. "

No doubt. Somehow I don't like or am never interested on anything that's on current bestseller lists. I'm like that with almost everything, music and all that.

[NancyInWI]

Mike wrote: "Wikipedia is another source I use for book info. A lot of the entries have really in-depth info on the plot, characters and all that. And the entry pages are always well linked to other info about ..."

When I can't remember what a book was about that I've read, I go to wikipedia! It's hell to get old!!!

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

Mike wrote: "Somehow I don't like or am never interested on anything that's on current bestseller lists. I'm like that with almost everything, music and all that. ."

Many of the 5-star books at Amazon never get anywhere near the best-seller list, which is why I would like to see a list of those highly-rated books.

[madrano]

"Mike wrote: "Wikipedia is another source I use for book info. A lot of the entries have really in-depth info on the plot, characters and all that. And the entry pages are always well linked to other info about..."

NANCY REPLIED: When I can't remember what a book was about that I've read, I go to wikipedia! It's hell to get old!!!

LOL! I agree, Nancy. I use Wiki for that. If i'm looking up a book i haven't read, i am careful not to read the synopsis, as that'll spoil the reading for me.

And thanks to folks sharing websites. Fantastic Fiction usually answers my questions but it's great to have more resources.

deborah

[Fiona (Titch)]

Here are what I read:

Scream Street:- The Skull of the Skeleton - Tommy Donbavand (9/10)

Scream Street:- The Claw of the Werewolf - Tommy Donbavand (9/10)

Scream Street:- Invasion of the Normals - Tommy Donbavand (9/10)

Scream Street:- Attack of the Trolls - Tommy Donbavand (9/10)

Private - James Patterson (10/10)

[madrano]

Tommy Donbavand is an author about whom i've heard nothing. Clearly you enjoy his stories, Fiona. Happy for you...and thanks for sharing.

deborah

[Fiona (Titch)]

I was lookin for books that I could read asap and saw his books in library lol

[madrano]

Sometimes it's as simple as that. And then you are off reading a series of enjoyable books!

deb

[Fiona (Titch)]

He is the 2nd author I read for this year lol.