Book Reviews

Nothing much happening really, other than neglecting my familial duties so I could read the following books:

SUPERFREAKONOMICS: Dubner and Leavitt strike again. Run, do not walk, to your computer to order this. But only if anecdotal evidence about monkey prostitution strikes you as enormously humorous. It does me, because I am rating this book a "must read."

BRIGHT SIDED: by Barbara Ehrenreich. A disclaimer- I would read anything this woman wrote, up to and including her grocery lists. The gist of this book is that positive thinking is a big load of you know what. Obviously it appealed to me because I have frequently discussed my dislike of "The Secret" on this blog, and that's exactly the people she is going after. Surprisingly, the book is not negative. It in no way says that the world is a bad place, or that people are terrible, it merely asserts that if thinking positively is all one needs to do to get everything one wants, then that makes us all omnipotent, and that's not really possible.

ANGLE OF REPOSE: Wallace Stegner. A little nerdy author geneology- Wallace Stegner was mentored/taught by Bernard DeVoto (most recently re-entering current pop culture consciousness because of the brief mention he receives in "Julie and Julia." His wife was the publisher of the cookbook in said movie), and in turn taught the likes of Wendell Berry and Edward Abbey. I've been a fan of Edward Abbey since high school, a super-fan of Wendell Berry for the last few years, and I will go ahead and say I almost idolize Stegner after reading this book. I also read some non-fiction of his (Mormon Country) but it in no way prepared me for how much I loved Angle of Repose. I lack words to describe it (well, maybe not the words, but definitely the time).

I've already replaced Angle of Repose on the nightstand with another Wallace Stegner- Crossing to Safety. I can't wait, but I need to wrap up Olive Kitteridge before I start anything else. I must say that my little "Read the Pulitzers" project has been immensely rewarding thus far.