Entertainment
The Literarea Book List: What I’ve Read Thus Far in 2013
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- Published on Tuesday, 16 July 2013 11:46
- Written by Kevin Kizer
Since we have just passed the halfway point in 2013 and I am the literary guy around here, now is the perfect time to share with you the books I’ve read thus far. As a hardcore lit nerd, there’s something satisfying about keeping track of the books you’ve read. I’ve been doing it now for five years and every time I look at one of my lists I think, “Good god, Kizer, you’ve GOT to get out more.” Anyway, here is my list of the books I’ve read thus far (in chronological order) with my patented* one-sentence** reviews. As always, an (R) means it’s a book I’ve read more than once. Enjoy!
* They're not patented
** Admittedly, a few strain the definition of “a sentence” and one is a paragraph.
1) “Ashoka: India’s Lost Emperor”
Charles Allen, 460pg.
There are many mysteries about this ancient Indian emperor who helped transform Buddhism from a minor sect to a major world religion – especially how one particularly gory battle turned him from a man who governed by physical force into one who governed by moral force.
2) “Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World’s Most Ancient Pleasures”
Paul Lukas, 350pg.
If there’s one thing to take away from this book it’s this: Until Pasteur discovered that yeast aids fermentation and bacteria causes spoilage, the vast majority of wine throughout the ages would have tasted god-awful unless it was very, very fresh.
3) “The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America”
Bernard Bailyn, 640pg.
Now, there are many history books out there that cover America in the 1700s, but there aren’t that many covering the century beforehand when the real “founders” came over and sure, some came to escape religious oppression, but the vast majority came over for another very American reason: to make a buck.
4) “The Great Pearl Heist: London’s Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Necklace”
Molly Caldwell Crosby, 304pg.
A fascinating tale of Joseph Grizzard, a wealthy man who, instead of playing the horses or dogs, passionately pursued the sport of crime, and his theft of an exquisite string of pearls worth more than the Hope Diamond.
5) “P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters”
Sophie Ratcliffe, 602pg.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: P.G. Wodehouse was the funniest writer in 20th century literature – and it shows in his letters, which also show he was fond of soap operas and Dick Van Dyke but did not care for Sinatra (“the world’s premiere louse”), the writing of Jane Austin (“bored stiff”), “Gone With the Wind” (“these people have no idea of construction and selection!”) nor the music of Cole Porter (“he has no power of self-criticism”).
6) “Libra” (R)
Don DeLillo, 480pg.
“Libra”, which is DeLillo at his best and a great entry point to the author, is a dazzling fictional account of JFK’s assassination (before that became a thing), spanning the life of Lee Harvey Oswald.
7) “Gravity's Rainbow” (R)
Thomas Pynchon, 776pg.
While the previous book is a great entry point to a great author, the same cannot be said about this mammoth masterpiece, which many call the equivalent to Joyce’s “Ulysses” (they are definitely in the same ballpark).
8) “Go” (R)
John Clellon Holmes, 352pg.
Before “On The Road” there was “Go”, a lightly fictionalized look at those who formed the core of the Beat Generation – Kerouac, Cassady, Ginsberg, Burroughs, et al – by one of their close friends, John Clellon Holmes.
9) “Paris is a Nice Dish: Its Recipes and Restaurants”
Osbourne Putnam Stearnes, 157pg.
This book, published in 1952, was found on the shelves of the Pettengill-Morron Home and was used as a guidebook for Miss Morron on her trips to France.
10) “Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital”
Sylvia Shults, 222pg.
While the supposed hauntings of the hospital are interesting, I found the history behind what was a progressive model for modern mental health care much more fascinating.
11) “Wedlocked”
Jay Ponteri, 150pg.
I can’t say enough about this incredibly personal and unvarnished prose memoir which ruminates on the meaning of marriage (and was written by one of my best friends, Jay Ponteri).
12) “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” (R)
Christopher Hitchens, 307pg.
Ah Hitch, you shuffled off your mortal coil too soon!
13) “The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Free Thought”
Susan Jacoby, 256pg.
Speaking of Hitchens, here is another wonderful book about an unbeliever, this one Peoria’s own and the man who wrote, “Religion has not civilized man – man has civilized religion. God improves as man advances.”
14) “Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace” (R)
DT Max, 356pg.
It’s really gut-wrenching to read about the sad end of someone who was one of only a handful of truly great modern writers, and a native central Illinois-ean.
15) “The Western Canon: The Books and Schools of the Ages" (R)
Harold Bloom, 560pg.
One of my favorite books, not only because it introduced me to several writers I'd never read before, but because of Bloom’s style it makes me want to read them all; challenge accepted!
16) “The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England”
Dan Jones, 560pgs.
Favorite anecdote: at some point, a commoner came forth claiming to be the actual king and being switched at birth. Well, after a little parent-torture, the authorities found the story to be false and sentenced the man in question to death. In his defense, the man blamed his cat which he said was possessed and convinced him that he was the real king. So the authorities did what was only fair: they hung the cat before hanging the man. Evil kitteh!
17) “Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnston and the Atlanta Campaign”
Earl J. Hess, 322pg.
Again, another book that just goes to show how brutal mankind can be: this being the story of the Union’s attempt to overrun a heavily fortified Confederate mountain position and the massive casualties that resulted.
18) “Onward Toward What We're Going Toward”
Ryan Bartelmay, 350pg.
Look for a review of this one soon: a story about a family trying to carve a life out in Peoria, Ill., covering a roughly 40-year time period, from the late ‘50s through the turn of the century.
19) “Edmund Burke: The First Conservative”
Jesse Norman, 336pg.
It should be noted that Burke is far from a modern-day American Conservative and right-wingers will be sorely disappointed to find he was against consolidation of power and wealth, against opportunistic war and felt the rich had a duty to use their finances to support the society which made their largess possible.
20) “Goodbye Again: The Definitive Peter Cook and Dudley Moore”
William Cook, 383pg.
Before there was Monty Python, there was Peter and Dudley and it’s interesting to look back at their sketches to see how many were “bit” by the Pythonites, e.g “The Most Boring Man in the World Competition” (Pete/Dud) vs. “The Upper Class Twist of the Year Award” (Python).
