Directions: The date at the beginning of each book is the date on which my review was published in this blog. Each review consists of three parts: 1. “Why read it?” 2. Sample ideas from the book, either paraphrased or quoted, and 3. Final, thought-provoking quotes. To locate the review, look at the “Blog Archive” at the right of the blog. Click on the year 2007. Find the month in which the review was published, click on it and go to the date of the review.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Sorenson presents a comprehensive view of Kennedy's ideas and methods of leadership.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007. A Left-Hand Turn Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meanings of All Things Southpaw. David Wolman. If you're not left-handed, you have probably not given the topic of left-handedness much thought. "Gauche," "sinister," "left-handed compliment," "maladroit": the English language has treated left-handers negatively. So our author, a left-hander, decided to explore the phenomenon of left-handedness. Conclusion? Considerable research, but not much help on learning the causes, nature and effects of left-handedness.
Friday, July 13, 2007. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Volume One. James Boswell. The most famous and thorough biography in English literature of one of the most quoted people in the English language.
Monday, July 16, 2007. The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. Lewis Thomas. This book by Lewis Thomas, a physician, is a series of essays consisting of ideas and reflections about medicine, biology and the nature of the cell.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007. Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov. Novel. Ah ha! A dirty book! Right? The basic plot certainly seems so. However, Nabokov says it is actually a celebration of the American language and culture, and anyone who reads it will begin to realize this purpose during the odyssey of Humbert and Lolita across America. In some ways, Lolita is like Jack Kerouac's On the Road.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007. The Magus. John Fowles. For a while, in the early 1970s, this novel became a cult classic. Many high school and college students were reading it. No one could figure it out. The scenes were page-turners. You couldn't stop reading them. But put them together and what did they all mean? It took several readings, but I finally figured it out.
Friday, July 20, 2007. Main Street. Sinclair Lewis. Lewis captures the "spirit" of small-town America--its tediousness; self-importance; endless repetition of activities, jokes and stories; conformity; and intolerance. Carol sets out to reform the town, to introduce it to high culture, but the town eventually reduces her to resigned acceptance of its values.
Monday, July 23, 2007. The Making of the President 1960. Theodore H. White. Gives insights into the personalities and strategies of the Presidential candidates, JFK and Richard Nixon, in 1960. Also reveals the strains of undergoing the primaries. The first television debates.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Mansfield Park. Jane Austen. Novel. Example of life at a different time (early 19th century) in a different society (British). In a sense, Austen's novels are soap operas. The plots move at a snail's pace and feature many twists and turns. However, they are about real people who use and hurt other people. In this novel, two good people emerge--Fanny and Edmund--and they eventually find their way to each other.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007. The Marble Faun or The Romance of Monte Beni. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1860). Novel. Theme is the need for the experience of sin in order to become truly human. Complete innocence results in an inhuman intolerance. A meditation on guilt and the effects of sin.
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