I am starting this thread to accompany the "what are you watching" thread. My wife got me the Bourdain book "A Cook's Tour" for our anniversary. Can't finish it. Too derivative or too pretentious or both or something. I have a love/hate relationship with that guy. I loathe his persona yet religiously watch his show. I picked up the book Outcasts United yesterday. Bill Archer wrote a little synopsis on his blog about it which got my attention THEN I remembered a piece or sample of it in the NYT (which I think lead to the book itself) written by the author. THus far, I've only made it through the introduction. However, there has already been one "tear welling" passage involving a referee's praise. Other than that, I am making my way through an article in Vanity Fair (the Gisele issue) about Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, it is in the bathroom.
I just finished reading "E=mc2: A biography of the World's Most Famous Equation" by David Bodanis. Now I'm working through "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen Ambrose which one of my brother-in-law's gave me. After that, I need to get back into some fiction... I've been reading too much non-fiction in a row.
I'm reading two books right now. First is Vroom by the Sea by Peter Moore. Moore takes a bright orange Vespa named Marcello through the sunnier parts of Italy. It's brilliant, combining two of my greatest loves (Vespa riding, and Italy). The other is an old book called "The Man Who Walked Through Time" by Colin Fletcher, which is a chronology of Fletcher's of the length of the Grand Canyon below the rim. It occured back in the early-mid 60s, before the tourism is what it is today. Amazing, amazing book.
Reading everyday for my Masters Thesis (Rawls, Plato, Dworkin, Singer). I would like to find some time for light reading, so I picked up "The Big Sleep." What is the "Outcast United" all about?
I'm reading "The Lost City of Z" by David Grann. The wikipedia write-up: The Lost City of Z is the name given by Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, a British surveyor, to a city that he allegedly saw in the jungle of the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. This mysterious city is referenced in the Royal Archives of Portugal by a man who said that he visited the city in the mid-1700s. The city was described in great detail, but no firm location was given except the Mato Grosso. Fawcett allegedly heard about this city in the early 1900s and went to Lisbon to learn more, and came across the earlier report. He was about to go in search of the city when World War I intervened. In 1925, Fawcett and his son Jack disappeared in the Mato Grosso.
Outcast United, straight from the book jacket: The extraordinary tale of a refugee youth soccer team and the transformation of a small American town... "Clarkston, Georgia wasa a typical southern town until it was designated a refugee settlement center in the 1990's, becoming the first American home for scores of families in flight from the world's war zones--from Liberia and Sudan to Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly Clarkston's streets were filled with women wearing the hijab, the smells of cumin and curry, and kids of all colors playing soccer in any open space they could find. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to unify Clarkston's refugee children. THese kids named themselves the Fugees. Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents this diverse group of young people as they coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accomdate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives--and the lives of their families--in the face of daunting challenges." Also, regarding Singer. I heard a really amazing interview with him on NPR about three weeks ago. His analogy was one of "If you saw a child drowning in a fountain, but you had a really nice new pair of shoes on, and you could save the child, and you're the only one around so it would be up to you, but you would ruin your brand new expensive shoes, would you? Shouldn't you? The clear answer is yes, but why don't we do the very same thing for children we cannot see with our own eyes?
The Rational Voter by Samuel Popkin Unequal Democracy by Larry Bartels The American Voter Revisited by Lewis-Beck, Norpoth, Jacoby, and Weisberg Elections and the Political Order by Campbell, Converse, Miller, and Stokes
I typed out another verbose Singer scenario that sparked a two week discussion from back in college and made a mom of two (continuing education) cry. Then I realized I would get no reading/book tips as this thread would be officially jacked so I deleted it.
Double fisting with: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/N-Out-Burger-Behind-Counter-Fast-Food/dp/0061346713"]In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules[/ame] and [ame="http://www.amazon.com/1421-Year-China-Discovered-America/dp/0061564893/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242931034&sr=1-1"]1421: The Year China Discovered America[/ame] Up next is the The Game of Thrones series.
Regarding your 1421 book: The amateur historian's lightly footnoted, heavily speculative re-creation of little-known voyages made by Chinese ships in the early 1400s goes far beyond what most experts in and outside of China are willing to assert and will surely set tongues wagging. According to Menzies's brazen but dull account of the Middle Kingdom's exploits at sea, Magellan, Dias, da Gama, Cabral and Cook only "discovered" lands the Chinese had already visited, and they sailed with maps drawn from Chinese charts. Menzies alleges that the Chinese not only discovered America, but also established colonies here long before Columbus set out to sea. Because China burned the records of its historic expeditions led by Zheng He, the famed eunuch admiral and the focus of this account, Menzies is forced to defend his argument by compiling a tedious package of circumstantial evidence that ranges from reasonable to ridiculous.---Publisher's Weekly What a glowing review.
I have false started on this series three times... I get about 100 pages into the first book and then something always pops up and distracts me for an extended period and I never go back to it. What I've read is good, I just get sidetracked everytime. Someday...
Yea it's an assumption based on an assumption based on speculation. It's an interesting theory and I'm a sucker for anything Ancient Chinese.
Oh and I read the first few chapters of Enemies & Allies at Barnes & Noble and got hooked. Any Batman/Superman fan out there needs to look at that one.
David Eddings the Malloreon Series for some lite unwind at the end of the day and the Kevin Trudeau Natural Cures they don't want you to know about
I've been doing too much writing and not enough reading. I look forward to restoring the balance at some point this summer. That said, I am in the middle of two books that I have barely touched recently (through no fault of their own)....Nothing Like It in the World, which is Stephen Ambrose's history of the construction of the transcontinental railroad, and My Bass and Other Animals by Guy Pratt, which is a highly amusing memoir from a man who has played bass for everyone from Michael Jackson to Pink Floyd. I am also looking forward to P.J. O'Rourke's new book about cars, which comes out next month, and Joe Posnanski's book about the Big Red Machine, which comes out in September.
Similar thread in the Books section, but here works also. Just finished Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, and have now started The Inquest by Stephen Dando-Collins.
Still try to read Berlin,Alexanderplatz by Doblin. Not having much luck with it. Just finished. "Perfect from Now On. How Indie Rock Saved my Life" Good read.
