LES LIVRES EN FRANÇAIS
I'm not sure I'll understand L'écume des jours. I just read the first paragraph and it sounds like the man has taken a fingernail cutter to his eyelids. So I looked up the phrase and the line turns out to be a famous "contrepèterie"--a spoonerism. Better watch the movie first.
NON FICTION
Are you ready for the next challenge? I haven't read a lot of non-fiction since my two Poli Sci degrees--I was in a department that assigned a LOT of reading. And when I read non-fiction, it's usually research for my novels.
So... which one would you make me read this year? Vote! Vote! Vote! You know you want to.
The Evolutionists: The Struggle for Darwin's Soul
The debates, not over whether evolution happened, but how it happened--from within the field of evolutionary biology.
Why I Bought It: Read part of it on loan from work, and just found it to be an entertaining primer on evolution.
Three generations of Chinese women--an American, her Revolutionary mother, and her concubine grandmother.
Why I Bought It: Just sounded interesting.
Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance
Guy created the first bubble and bust in France. Topical non?
Why I Bought It: The dude sounds funny. And I enjoy economics, but have to read pop books cause I don't have the math mind.
Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French
Why I Bought It: I've never been to France, and I don't hate the French. But the book looked entertaining.
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
Why I Bought It: Stats is like economics--I enjoy it, but can only grasp the frothy stuff.
"Mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his
bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France."
Why I Bought It: Cause he's popular.
A year in the life of an inner-city neighborhood. The show The Wire is based on it.
Why I Bought It: Recommended by FriendPaul in the late 90s.
A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis
"how humanitarian organizations are often betrayed and misused, and have increasingly lost sight of their purpose."
Why I Bought It: Also recommended by FriendPaul. Yeah he's a cheerful guy. I think the dissertation he's writing is about western media coverage of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia. Should be vair interesting.
"insider's account of global economic policy"
Why I Bought It: Recommended by my East Asian Politics prof--Stiglitz worked for the World Bank and is supposed to be one of the better critics of how US-led global organizations fuck around with other people's economies.
When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda
"He coaxes to the
surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it
possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors."
Why I Bought It: For school. But I was always speed-reading, so I want to re-read both this and Mamdani's other work. Super interesting descriptions of how ethnic identities are created.
The extra fun about this quest is that I'll feel obligated to read the books I bring with me. You can hold me to it!
8 comments:
I must admit none of them appeal to me. You are interested in different things, though.
I voted for the evolution one just because I am often in the position to defend evolution here in the bible belt.
Hmm...This is a toughie. I think the two that draw me the most are Wild Swans and The Corner. I'd probably go for The Corner first, though. In fact, I may have to get a copy for myself. That stuff if fascinating to me. Wild Swans, on the other hand, looks like a real life hybrid of The Good Earth and The Joy Luck Club, which is also fascinating. Jeepers, I don't know. One of those two. :)
I haven't read any of these but The Wild Swans sound interesting as does The Corner.
When I first read the title: The Evolutionists - The struggle for Darwin's Soul. I thought it was a fiction novel. ahahah But I saw it as the whole devil/angel thing with a twist.
Wild Swans, and The Drunkards Walk. Just 'cos!
I'm going to vote for the evolutionists out of professional duty, but millionaire looks great.
for whatever it's worth, drunkards walk looked like a wannabe of black swan and fooled by randomness. both of those are very highly recommended.
@JJJ I appreciate your support ma'am. I just can't face these books alone. Have you ever seen the pbs documentary in the Snopes trial? Soooo good. I'll find it online.
@Delia The world is so interesting! How to keep up??
@Judie omd let's hope someone sees your comment and writes that book. Awesomeness.
@widders Thanks cos!
@JB I associate that kind of book with you. But at the time I was shopping (employee sale with extra discount) I may not have remembered which titles you liked. Or maybe Black Swan was still in hard cover.
Thanks all!
I'm not too late, am I? My aunt bought me Wild Swans once because she said she loved it, but I never read it. It sits on my bookshelf and haunts me.
The Corner sounds really good.
Also, I'm sure Eyal would recommend the David Sedaris because he loves him.
Not too late! Looks like Wild Swans will be the clear winner, just gotta figure out the runners up. Corner's doing well too.
Thanks!
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