Recently Mentioned Books
Showing 25 of 6685 mentions, ordered by most recent.
3. Alyn Shipton, Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter . Very good for fans .
2. John le Carré, The Naive and Sentimental Lover . This is supposed to be one of his failed works, and it should have been much shorter, but at least half of it is pretty damned good. It’s also a classic literary text on attitudes toward business and commerce. No spies.
1. Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger . It is an above-average Booker Prize winner and probably her best novel. She remains undervalued in the United States.
The story is here , and here is a good geopolitical analysis of the film. I actually preferred the often unheralded Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II , and no sequels are not always worse. Just ask Cervantes.
The author is Angus Deaton and the subtitle is Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality . It is a very good book, as you might expect. Here are two bits I found especially interesting:
3. Mark Leibovich, This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!, in America’s Gilded Capital . I feared this would bore me with atheoretical mud-slinging and gossip, but it is actually an astute look at “behavioral public choice” and how a lot of D.C. politics actually operates. If you think you might want to read it, you should, although you can stop somewhere in the middle just fine. My main objection is the subtitle.
2. David Soll, Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York City Water Supply . A good overview of the history, plus it makes it clear just how much the growth of the City required somewhat rapacious behavior with respect to the water rights of upper New York State. The early history of the Groton Reservoir is interesting too.
1. The Childhood of Jesus , by J.M. Coetzee. Two-thirds of this is superb, although as a whole it doesn’t quite hang together. It’s still much better than most of what is published.
The author is Mohsin Hamid and you can order the book here .
Interior design seems to be their area of greatest accomplishment . The relevant sites are numerous but spread out.
3. Author : Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka, I like but do not love his work. Two quite recent Sri Lankan novels are Michelle de Kretser, Questions of Travel , and Ru Freeman, On Sal Mal Lane , both noteworthy.
3. Author : Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka, I like but do not love his work. Two quite recent Sri Lankan novels are Michelle de Kretser, Questions of Travel , and Ru Freeman, On Sal Mal Lane , both noteworthy.
1. Popular music : M.I.A. , with Arular and then Kala being my favorite works by her.
1. Popular music : M.I.A. , with Arular and then Kala being my favorite works by her.
The author is Michael Axworthy and the subtitle is History of the Islamic Republic . It is already out in the UK . This is one of the few must-read books of this year ( How Asia Works and China’s War With Japan are the other two, plus Knausgaard), excellent and insightful from beginning to end.
The author is Michael Axworthy and the subtitle is History of the Islamic Republic . It is already out in the UK . This is one of the few must-read books of this year ( How Asia Works and China’s War With Japan are the other two, plus Knausgaard), excellent and insightful from beginning to end.
The author is James Astill and the subtitle is Cricket, Corruption, and the Spectacular Rise of Modern India . This is an excellent book on India even if you, like I, have no real understanding of cricket. Here are a few bits:
3. Rana Mitter, China’s War With Japan 1937-1945 , the US edition has the sillier title Forgotten Ally . Let’s hope there won’t be a rerun of this show, in any case the return to knowing some background on this conflict is rising. I count this as by far my favorite history book of the year, splendid content and writing both.
3. Rana Mitter, China’s War With Japan 1937-1945 , the US edition has the sillier title Forgotten Ally . Let’s hope there won’t be a rerun of this show, in any case the return to knowing some background on this conflict is rising. I count this as by far my favorite history book of the year, splendid content and writing both.
1. Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism . Way, way better than that dog in the nighttime stuff. Update: The correct link is here .
1. Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism . Way, way better than that dog in the nighttime stuff. Update: The correct link is here .
That is from Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter, The Norm Chronicles: Stories and Numbers About Danger , which is an interesting book about the proper framing and communication of risk.
The UK edition is out August 1st, the US edition is out in January 2014.
9. Popular music : David Byrne was born in Scotland. I know the Cocteau Twins, Boards of Canada, Franz Ferdinand, and others, they are OK but I do not love them. Dire Straits and Annie Lennox deserve mention, but overall I suspect many of you rate this group higher than I do. Jesus and Mary Chain? While we’re at it, there is Ewan McLennan and Bert Jansch , both of whom I enjoy.
8. Movie, set in Scotland : The Queen .