Total Number of Ratings: 6
My Stack (January 2010)
First Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 1:24 AM
Last Saved: Thursday, January 28, 2010 2:44 PM
I read a lot. I mean, a lot. Books, magazines, comic books, newspapers -- if it's got pages and words printed on them I will read it. I've always been this way, and I don't know why. Sure, I come from a well-read family of (mostly) journalists who value the written word, but my siblings are certainly not the compulsive readers that I am. They don't have The Bookstore Problem, as I like to refer to it, wherein I cannot go into a bookstore and come out empty handed. They also don't have the Amazon Problem which has led to me becoming friends with my UPS guy.
Some might call my compulsive reading a problem and I would be hard pressed to disagree with them, but it is what it is, and as problems go there are certainly worse ones to have.
As a result of my problem, I accumulate a lot of books. Here are the books that currently occupy my "to-read" stack:
The Beatles by Bob Spitz
This book is both my secret shame and the reason why having a dedicated stack is so important. This book came out in November of 2005 and I received it for Christmas that year. That was over four years ago. What was the problem? I love The Beatles. I love biographies. Word is that this is supposed to be a really good biography. Well, the problem was that instead of putting it into a stack, I put it right onto one of my many bookshelves, where it was promptly forgotten about. For four years. A few months ago I was overcome with the urge to make sure that there weren't any books in any of my bookcases that I had left unread. This was probably due to my finally reading the Harry Potter books this year, which was a few years after I bought them. When I looked through all my bookshelves for unread books this was the big one that stood out. I'm going to get to it, eventually. The only problem is that I know so much about The Beatles already that other books with newer subject matter is more enticing.
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman
I remember hearing these authors interviewed on the radio when this book first came out. I made a mental note to check this book out because to me, Houdini has been a fascinating person. Just about everyone knows his name and knows that he is associated with magic, but beyond that what do most people know? Hell, I don't know a whole hell of a lot about Houdini myself. I do know that at an old job they used to have hanging on the wall a big print photograph of Houdini performing one of his tricks and I used to spend a lot of time studying it. And I know that Houdini made a brief appearance in a book that I read last year, Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. And I also know that Houdini has taught me to watch out for sucker punches. I hope that when I'm through with this book I'll know a lot more.
Truman by David McCullough
Glory be, this book might be bigger than Anathem!
John Adams by David McCullough
Something about Paul Giamatti.
1776 by David McCullough
For Christmas this year somehow I received three David McCullough books. That's whole lot of history right there. It's a good thing I like history and it's a good thing that David McCullough is one of the most revered history writers ever. Truman might be McCullough's most famous book and John Adams and 1776 focus on one of my favorite eras: The American Revolution. I saw the HBO mini-series adaptation of John Adams and I loved that. It might be my favorite thing that HBO has done since The Wire. 1776 seems to be a more general view of the year we broke away from England, and it comes with a strong recommendation from my buddy and fellow history buff Josh Flanagan. Truman is interesting because this gift was a surprise. I had specifically put the other two books on my Christmas list, but not this one. Truman himself is a very interesting figure in history. He might well be the most wholly and truly decent man that ever occupied the Oval Office. I remember watching the HBO movie adaptation of Truman (HBO has been very, very good to David McCullough) and feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness. I felt sad for Truman himself and sad for a world in which truly decent people don't seem to go into elected office very much anymore, and when they do they don't seem to get very far. I just hope that I don't finish reading this book and then get all depressed about the state of the world.
Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance by Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger
Bait and switch! This book is published by Top Shelf Productions, whose primary business it is to publish graphic novels. I saw the title and read the description and thought, "Awesome! A (hopefully) funny graphic novel chronicling the Vice Presidents though out history!" When I opened it up I found myself faced with endless blocks of prose where I was expecting art. Now, obviously, I have no problem reading prose books it's just that I was expecting something else when I bought this book. That's probably why I haven't read it yet, and why every time I look at it I feel a little bit disappointed.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain's television work (No Reservations is one of my favorite shows on TV) but I have never read his famous book about life in the restaurant kitchen. This book was actually a gift that I got for my sister last year, as she too enjoys both cooking and Anthony Bourdain. Well, she read it last year and when she was done I reacquired it for myself. I've skimmed a few pages here and there and I know I'm going to love this.
Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
I love inside Hollywood books and I've read a bunch of them. But for some reason I haven't gotten around to this, one of the most famous inside Hollywood books of all. Part chronicling of his career, part Hollywood survival guide, part screen writing tutorial, this book is apparently a culmination of everything that screenwriter William Goldman knows about Hollywood. If you're at all interested in Hollywood and/or writing and the guy behind Butch Cassidy&The Sundance Kid, All The President's Men (sorta), Marathon Man, and A Bridge Too Far talks, you'd do well to listen.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
I feel like I've had this book on my to-read list for about ten years which is impossible because it's only been out for seven years. But it seems like ten years. When this true life tale of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and serial killer H.H. Holmes first hit I immediately put it on my Amazon Wish List. And there it stayed for, I dunno, six and a half years? Finally, someone took pity on me and bought it for me for Christmas. And I'm glad they did. H. H. Holmes' story is almost too fantastical to be true. But it is. I've read Rick Geary's excellent short graphic novel on H.H. Holmes and now I'm looking forward to getting into something a bit more in-depth. I just might need to make sure I read this one while holding a baseball bat.
The View From The Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood by Nicholas Meyer
This was a birthday gift from my man Ron Richards because he knows what I like and I like the original Star Trek movies and Nicholas Meyer was responsible, as either a writer and/or director, for three of the best ones: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. As I said above, I love me some inside Hollywood books and I love them even more when it's about movies that are really important to me, and those are films that were very important to me growing up. I just hope this book is half as entertaining as the one that Shatner wrote about making those movies.
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
I feel like Chuck Klosterman is the reason that so many people have blogs and websites. He has made a very good living out of writing about whatever it is in his life, usually related to pop culture and sports, that strikes his fancy. So many people would love to do the same thing. If only so many of us were as smart and as incisively observant as Klosterman is. This is his latest collection of essays, and unlike his last collection, these are all new essays that have not seen print anywhere else. I keep picking this book up thinking that it will be my next read but it has yet to make it to my night stand. I think that maybe it's because once I read it I won't have any new Klosterman essays in my immediate future, I will have to wait for some indeterminate future date when his next book is released. As long as I haven't read this book yet it's still there in my very much definable present.
D-Day: The Battle For Normandy by Anthony Beevor
History is one of my favorite subjects and World War II is one of the most interesting events in recent history. This book got a lot of good notices in the press when it came out at the end of 2009 and it purports to be a comprehensive look at the Allied invasion of Normandy. It certainly seems like it could be, the goddamn thing is huge. I am currently in the midst of rewatching Band of Brothers (for the first time on Blu-Ray!) and I might dive into this when I'm done.
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
I went to a panel on crime comics at last year's San Diego Comic-Con which featured hard boiled writers Darwyn Cooke and Greg Rucka. One of the questions posed to the panel was about crime writers who were influential on their own work and Darwyn Cooke spent a lot of time talking about this book. I don't even know what it's about! Cooke mentioned how disturbing the book was and honestly I'm a little scared to read it.
Murder on the Yellow Brick Road by Stuart M. Kaminsky
This was the book that Greg Rucka mentioned as being a major early influence of his on the San Diego Comic-Con 2009 crime comics panel. I honestly can't remember a lot of what Rucka said about it other than it has to do with a murder in the golden age of Hollywood and well, sign me up for that!
Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness by Donald J. Barlett and James B. Steele
I don't know if there's a more fascinating American story than that of Howard Hughes. I don't think people understand just how rich and powerful he really was. All people tend to think about when it comes to Howard Hughes is the crazy. I saw The Aviator, but that really only covered the first part of his life and I think the second half is just as interesting as the first. This purchase was made in text book "Conor Finds Something Interesting" style. I saw Howard Hughes mentioned somewhere -- I think I was watching The Hoax -- I went onto Wikipedia for more information, and then finally I set about tracking down a good book on the subject. This one looked like it was the best. I hope it is.
True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy
Politics aside, you would be hard-pressed to find a more interesting American political family than The Kennedys. When this book first came out I didn't really think about buying it, even though you could have a small tag sale with all the books on Jack and Bobby that I've read. I guess that's the way it goes for Teddy. But then I saw a profile that 60 Minutes did on the late Senator Kennedy and I got to thinking that if you were the lone surviving son of a political dynasty ,and your brothers were both assassinated, and for the rest of your life everytime a car backfired you thought to yourself "this is it, it's my turn" you might have a really interesting story to tell.
The Civil War Trilogy: Gods and Generals / The Killer Angels / The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara and Michael Shaara
I find The Civil War to be absolutely fascinating. I wouldn't say I'm a Civil War buff, but I would say that I am very interested by it. Last year, after Josh and I took our impromptu trip to Gettysburg I ordered these books. I'll admit that they have been languishing in my stack for the good part of a year. This is not a reflection on my desire to read these books, I often look at them and think that I should read them next, but knowing me I'd want to read them all in a row and that is quite a time investment for someone who reads a lot of varied things. I absolutely do want to read these books. The Civil War Trilogy by the father and son Shaaras is very highly regarded and were the basis for the Ted Turner produced Civil War films which were of varying quality.
So there you have it. My to-read stack to kick of 2010. I have made a pledge to myself to read all of these before the calender changes over to 2011, and dammit that's a pledge I intend to fulfill.
The only question that remains for me is: What should I read first?
And the question for you is: What's on your stack?
Just finished Devil in the White City recently. While I enjoyed much of the architectural sections early on, I eventually became frustrated whenever the Holmes story was interrupted by chapters on sandy soil and business negotiations. Still, the prose is fantastic and I really did enjoy the book.
Kitchen Confidential is badass. Really fun to read. I love the section where he takes you through a day in his life.
The Houdini book is wonderful too. A really fascinating life and an interesting point in history.
I blew through ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE (lots of sleepless nights this week means lots of reading time). It was excellent and fascinating. If you are at all interested in writing in general or screenwriting specifically, it's a must read.
I've moved on to KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL. I wanted another quick read.
As a fellow early American history lover - I've read John Adams, loved it! I'm reading 1776 now actually, so far so good. I've read the Shaara trilogy (twice) - have you read Jeff Shaara's Rise to Rebellion (2004 I think)? It's about the revolution..obviously. I loved it. I like the Shaara's style. Just a note though the Shaara's are father and son -not brothers. Michael's The Killer Angels was published in 1973 or 74 and Jeffs's two books not until '96 and '98. But let me know when you read them!
I've read several of these and you are in for a treat. Truman is engaging and fascinating; I read it right after H.W. Brands' recent biography of FDR, Traitor to His Class. John Adams was as enjoyable as the great HBO series. 1776 is wonderful, but really does just focus on that year, serving as a specific snapshot of the brewing war and the Continental Army.
I read the Houdini book last year and you are correct, Houdini was an incredibly fascinating character, though I did become a bit bored at the end.
Devil in the White City was crazy good, maybe my favorite of the bunch. It's probably the only non-fiction book I've re-read in the last 5 years or so.
My stack is ever changing, ebbing and flowing, but on deck and in the hole are American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson" by Joseph J. Ellis. Ellis is my favorite history writer and any one who is at all interested in the Revolutionary period needs to read "Founding Brothers" and "His Excellency: George Washington."
Next is "The Yiddish Policmen's Union," by Michael Chabon, then "Groucho and Me" by Groucho Marx.
I 2 stacks of books, one is in my shelf, and the other stack is in my ipod through audible.If I add them up, I should have about 20 books. I think I have at least 5 books that I haven't finished yet. I might have to re read them since most of my books are not fiction. Here's some of the unfinished ones: Superfreakonomics, Predictably Irrational, The Code Book, The Golden Ratio, and the Accidental Billionaire. I'm gonna have my 2 week vocation next month, so I'll probably able to get rid of a few books on my 16-hour flight easily. Right before that, I'm going to buy Kitchen Confidential through Amazon before my break. =)
Q: Does Murmur gets the amazon deal like iFanboy?
i would advise spacing out 1776 and john adams, and probably reading adams first. or maybe not. i guess that could go both ways.
but when you're done, you need to tell me whether or not i should bother with 1776 when i've already read adams ;)
While I may have a bias being from Chicago, The Devil in the White City may be one of the best true history books I have read in quite some time. I really enjoyed how it felt more like a novel then like a textbook and I really love how the story unfolds.
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I've had Devil in the White City on my stack for about 5 years. I keep forgetting I have it. I read 1776 and couldn't put it down. It was a great read and told me a lot of things i didn't kow before. It was written as a "companion" to John Adams, so i need to read that too (and I loved the mini-series. My review of it was my first Murmur article.)