The Newsless Courier: Copycat, Copycat: Now It's Chicago

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_The Thirteenth Tale_by Diane Setterfield--B: For Jane Eyre addicts; a good read but occasionally the "girl in the mist" becomes the reader's fog
_The Yiddish Policemen's Union_ by Michael Chabon--A: Needed, a good on-line Yiddish dictionary and a passing acquaintance with Jewish sects; takes the reader on a wild ride, often surprising in its gemlike constructions. Not surprising that Nabokov is a friend of the author.
_Tambourines to Glory_by Langston Hughes--B+: Religion as a moneymaker in 1950s Harlem; perhaps stereotyped female characters; shows its origin as a play while exploring the excesses of religion as entertainment
_Last Seen Wearing_ by Colin Dexter--B: Inspector Morse a bit younger than on TV with a very convoluted plot
_The Children_by Edith Wharton--B: A far cry from _Ethan Frome_, a 1928 bestseller, an unusual exploration of the vagaries of the Roaring Twenties
_The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them_by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.--A: want to know why American schools are worst at compensating for disadvantaged backgrounds? the theory behind "teach the child, not the subject"? why schools haven't improved despite massive influxes of money? You've come to the right place.
_The Tenderness of Wolves_by Stef Penney--B: mystery in the COLD Canadian frontier with interesting characters; falls a bit short
_Atonement_by Ian McEwan--B: Is the first section meant to be annoying, almost camp in its approach? Thanks to verbose internal monologues I almost quit; for those of you making the journey, it does get better
_The Good Husband of Zebra Drive_ by Alexander McCall Smith--A: always a pleasant excursion to Botswana
_Captain John Smith: Jamestown & the Birth of the American Dream_by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler--A: The more I know about Smith, the more I like him; maybe he DID invent the American Dream.
_The Third Man_by Graham Greene--B: Interesting for variations from the screenplay
_Thunderstruck_by Eric Larson--B+:Marconi's winning the Nobel for Physics without knowing much is a story any tinkerer would like; interspersed with the notorious Dr. Crippen; occasionally tedious
_The March_ by E.L. Doctorow--This won the praise of critics and book awards? Wooden and unbelievable characters; maybe evokes some brief flashes of insight into the mayhem
_The Sun Also Rises_ by Ernest Hemingway--B: I try and try but still think Hemingway is highly overrated
_1776_ by David McCullough--B+: puts the pieces together for those of us still trying for a coherent picture
_A Crack in the Edge of the World_ by Simon Winchester--B: even includes analysis of Charleston's earthquake & also makes you glad you don't live in CA
_Shame of a Nation_ by Jonathan Kozol--B+: factual analysis & anecdotes are excellent but watch out when he gets into how-to-fix
_Pictures of Perfection_by Reginald Hill--B: a bit sillier than most Brit mysteries
_In Dubious Battle_ by John Steinbeck--B+: at his socialist best, apple pickers in CA mowed down by capitalist thugs
_Apex Hides the Hurt_ by Colson Whitehead--A: I don't usually like books recommended by the New York Times but this is excellent
_Come Back to Afghanistan_ by Said Hyder Akbar--B: interesting for inside view of politics but not particularly insightful
_Not Without Laughter_by Langston Hughes--A: if you haven't experienced Hughes's prose, you should
_The Last Bus to Woodstock_ by Colin Dexter--B+: early mystery in series; good stuff
_A Study in Scarlet_ by Arthur Conan Doyle--B: Mormon villains for Holmes? Who would've thunk it?
_Mayflower_ by Nathaniel Philbrick--B: well, I learned much not taught in history class
_The Working Poor_by David K. Shipler--C-: sorry this one got into print
_John James Audubon_ by Richard Rhodes--A: part of my lifelong fascination with the bird prints; didn't know how far people walked in those days
_The 8:55 to Baghdad_ by Andrew Eames--B-: good travelogue but somewhat superficial
_Dark Voyage_ by Alan Furst--B: WWII mystery; good for change of pace
_Labyrinths_ by Jorge Luis Borges--A-: puts all of your brain cells to work and exhausts them
_Mad Mary Lamb_ by Susan Tyler Hitchcock--C: a strange life that either got boring towards the end or the book did
_Talk, Talk_ by T.C. Boyle--B+: all you did or didn't want to know about identity theft with his usual strange characters
_The Lovely Bones_ by Alice Sebold--B: yes, I know it was a best-seller; well-written but very non-Christian
_Mr. Arkadin_ by Orson Welles--B+: did you like The Third Man?
_The Ways of White Folks_ by Langston Hughes--A--Really worth reading for an inside look at the early 20th century

The Newsless Courier

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Copycat, Copycat: Now It's Chicago

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