Three Simple Lines: A Writer's Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, which I picked up at the library thinking it was a how to guide that might come in handy since I'm teaching a summer writing camp for junior high kids this summer and need some material, but it's actually a travel book, and not that bad, though there are times when Natalie Goldberg does some cringy things that one shouldn't do as a guest in Japan. Nothing that should have her wind up in jail, but just some things that I wanted want to be associated with as a fellow American. I mean, really, if the sign says, even in English, do not pick the fruit, then DO NOT pick the ********ing fruit and eat it. That's just rude.
Just got started on this one: Neo-noir set in Los Angeles. Saw some blurbs liken it to James Ellroy but honestly not yet far enough in it to know if that is warranted.
In the new forward in this edition the author regrets that it happened and and believes that Clinton used the book as an excuse for this. What probably a bigger reason for Clinton not helping Bosnia was Somalia.
Oh, absolutely--the book was likely more of an excuse than anything else. The rancor it inspires among many scholars of the region as well as many Muslims has way more to do with the content and many of the implicit assumptions Kaplan relied on for his interpretation than actually holding him and him book responsible for Clinton's amoral fecklessness. Also, I would agree that taking the book as a subjective travelogue rather than an authoritative analysis is probably the best way to read it. I used to be more plugged into the Balkan wars blogosphere than I am now, but here's a couple of articles which cover some of the primary objections; Malcom and Hoare speak for many others. Seeing Ghosts by Noel Malcolm Malcolm--probably best known to Americans as the author of Bosnia: A Short History*, and Kosovo: A Short History--zeroed in on Kaplan's anti-Turkish bias and his tendency to accept Serb & Greek perspectives on places like Bosnia and Albania over the perspectives of the locals, and also that Kaplan mistook his own impressionistic experiences as being objective analysis. He notes how frequently Kaplan gets translations incorrect, among other factual errors. And he also makes some reference to the Orientalism many critics of the book called out. He does note that Kaplan knows Greece and Greek politics very well, and states that the chapter on Greece has much more merit than the rest of the book. "Ancient Ethnic Hatreds" is Poor Shorthand and Dangerous by Marko Attila Hoare [Full disclosure: Marko & I are friends--or at least respectful acquaintances--although we've lost touch in recent years due to my refusal to remain on social media outside BS.] Hoare is a British scholar and journalist; he currently is a professor at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. He's authored several books on the region, worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and even participated in drafting the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic. Like many scholars and activists, he was dismayed by Kaplan's reliance on tired, prejudiced, historically ill-founded tropes about "ancient hatreds" in the Balkans. And he does believe that Kaplan's flawed analysis played a role in the failure of US policy in Bosnia. Just as a postscript, here's a Bosnian blogger reacting to a (then-recent; the blog entry is from 2017) work by a Western academic which regurgitates many of the Balkanist tropes Malcolm and Hoare called out; note that in the first paragraph "Ledenik1" refers to Balkan Ghosts as the first example of the sort of proudly ignorant and arrogant Western "experts" they are calling out. *One of the themes in Malcolm's history of Bosnia is that--compared to much of the rest of Europe--Bosnia's history was remarkable for how little internal strife or sectarian violence there was for most of its existence. Most of the bloody periods in Bosnia's history were driven by outside actors; when left to themselves, Bosnians of all faiths generally got along with each rather well. This underscores what many scholars and activists were arguing at the time--to the degree that the 1990s conflict in Bosnia was driven by internal conflicts and grievances, they largely stemmed from suppressed and un-addressed atrocities and injustices from World War II, not "ancient ethnic hatreds."
I feel like I've listened to NT Wright speak a few dozen times but somehow never read his books. He's probably the most popular but least controversial of the "New Perspectives on Paul" writers. While this is fairly accessible for someone unfamiliar with the basics of Christianity, it's also pretty evident that Wright lives in a world of high art and very high reading levels. I don't recall a single example given that involved sports, popular music, or even film. Even so, the snootiness doesn't take away from the overall content.
Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball – Donald Hall with Dock Ellis "I said something you're not supposed to say. That seems to be the case all the time!" - Dock Ellis
There are a small handful of American poets who were/are alive during my adult life who would have been great to watch a baseball game with. Donald Hall would be near the top of the list. Speaking of lists. . . A New England Girlhood Outlined from Memory by a writer who just moved into second place (tied) on my list of favorite writers from Lowell, Massachusetts , Lucy Larcom
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. It's a novel about the forbidden love between a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot. It's in Reese Witherspoon's book club. Seems interesting.
Just finished this one I enjoyed it. Similar vein to The Martian, thought it was better than his last novel called Artemis. However, it does have the same problem as The Martian (at least in my mind) that the main character seems to be the smartest person on Earth. I was able to get past that in both instances so enjoyed the books, but there were some major eye rolls.
Dead Wake by Erik Larson. It's a true tale of the fateful voyage of the Lusitania during WWI. The author tells interesting stories. I expect to enjoy this.
Tokyo Boogie-Woogie and D. T. Suzuki a scholarly biography that explores the connection between a popular post WWII song (that still rakes in huge royalties today, because nearly everyone has a cover of it) and the guy who is credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the U.S. (at least the members of the Beat Generation who read his books and hung out with him, D.T. Suzuki. The connection is that the lyrics to Tokyo Boogie Woogie were written by Suzuki's disinherited, dissolute son, Alan Suzuki. I got the book because of the chapters on the Beat Generation, but Shoji Yamada's tale had me sticking around for the duration.
Quinn - Seamus Smyth Irish crime novel that is sort of opposite to a police procedural. Enabler plots hitman crimes so that all the clues make them look like accidents or suicides. Strange, but entertaining.
The Butcher of the Forest ~ Premee Mohamed A horror/fantasy novella about a woman forced to enter a dangerous forest to save a tyrant's children. Good tension and world-building in a concise 150 pgs.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene. This is a novel about Vietnam, from a British Catholic perspective. The title is a joke, as the title character is anything but quiet. Some critics have accused this book of being anti-American. This is my first dive into Greene. This book could be interesting.
Undercover - Gerard Brennan Crime thriller with undercover Belfast cop. Bonus - one main character is a striker from Belfast who was recently sold by Chelsea to Manchester City for a record transfer fee.
Rejected Princesses -- Jason Porath OMG, this was a great book. We've all heard the aphorism, well-behaved seldom make history. Well, this book is about the non-behaved women of history. There are some familiar names here -- Harriet Tubman, Ida B Wells, Boudica -- as well as some mythic -- Elisabeth Bathory, one of the inspirations of Dracula, and Khutulun, who inspired Turandot. It's young-adult, but nevertheless makes for a very enjoyable couple of evenings. Olga of Kiev is da bomb!
Deus Irae -- Philip K Dick and Roger Zelazny And this was utter crap. I actually returned it to the used book store I bought it from. God apparently exists on this world and one Tibor McMasters, who as you can see from the book cover, is a half-human, half-cyborg life form, is tasked with painting God. So, he has to go find him. Ugh. The very worst road trip book ever. Dick started the book, realized he didn't know enough about Christianity to finish it, asked someone to help him, forgot about the book, got Zelazny interested, both forgot about the book again, they started writing, forgot about it again. At one point, someone's cat apparently peed on the manuscript. The book reads about as well as that last paragraph makes it sound.
The Spy and the Traitor – Ben Macintyre While working for MI6, a KGB agent rises all the way to chief of KGB London station. Moscow Center begins to suspect that something is not right, and calls him back to Moscow. MI6 exfiltrates him over the border to Finland in the trunk of a car in 1985. Excellent read.
Sweet Songs of Zion: Selected Radio Talks a collection of radio talks by one-time English poet laureate John Betjamin focusing on the history of British hymn writing, from Isaac Watts, William Cowper, and the Wesley brothers to the early 20th century. It would be more interesting as a re-published podcast than a book, since the audio of these songs are kind of important, but his point about hymns as a form of "people's poetry" is a good one (which is probably why many of the legendary terrace chants from days of old are re-worked hymns.
Little Girl Lost – Brian McGilloway Crime novel with Detective Sergeant Lucy Black in Derry, Northern Ireland