Hey fellow Leftists, what are you reading this summer?

[marmar]

I'm just finishing up "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges and "Bad Money" by Kevin Phillips. What book do you recommend to keep my outrage level as high as the summer temps?


:P

[rockymountaindem]

1. My long-ass department reading list for comprehensive exams

Yay meeeee!

[PSzymeczek]

35. Good luck on exams! n/t

[rockymountaindem]

39. Ugh, thanks =)

I can't decide. They seem intimidating, but yet everybody tells me not to worry...

[Adsos Letter]

46. I just finished "Visionary Women" by Phyllis Mack...

and have started "Origins of the British Empire." I have two more to read from my History depts. 45 book reading list on "Atlantic World, 1565-1763;" then I take my first field exam. Then another 45 books on "American Intellectual History: 1620-1860," and another set of field exams.

Then I'm done! :woohoo:

I feel yer pain.

[a la izquierda]

77. Sucks to be you...

I did that in 2006 and again in 2008 (when I switched my focus and had to take another set of exams).
It blew.

Good luck!

[Believing Is Art]

2. I'm waiting on a copy of The Purity Myth

by Jessica Valenti. If I have any strong feelings about it, I'll post them, but from what I've heard it sounds like a good way to dial up the anger at social conservatives.

[lordsummerisle]

3. Idiot America n/t

[Vickers]

4. I'm reading "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy

It's like a Western version of A Clockwork Orange.

[lxlxlxl]

10. the passage where he describes what the Indian procession is wearing

This is the only vague memory I have of Blood...there was a passage where he describes what this procession of Indians are wearing...a mixture of Aztec, Incan, Spanish, and British clothing...

[Lost Jaguar]

52. I recall that description...

...of the Comanches. It was a page-long sentence, if I remember correctly. It read like poetry, and gave me chills. I'd love to see a film adaptation.

[lxlxlxl]

68. awesome...your right...i should dig that up again.

cheers...lost my copy years ago, but ill dig it up again. i doubt they can work that into the film.

[Dorian Gray]

48. My husband loves that book

He's been trying to get me to read it, but I am leaning more toward The Road for my first McCarthy book. (I've never read him before.) Hubby just finished All The Pretty Horses, as well. He's a BIG CM fan.

[Vickers]

60. Both of the books you mention are fantastic.

I've read The Road twice now...I think I wasn't quite prepared for the bleakness of it the first time.

All The Pretty Horses is the first part of The Border Trilogy, and I think it's the best.

I probably wouldn't start with Blood Meridian...probably the easist way to ease into Cormac McCarthy would be The Road (despite the subject matter). Blood Meridian is very "dense" writing (but beautiful, and hardly an unnecessary word).

Enjoy!

[Dorian Gray]

62. Thanks Vickers....

My husband told me the same thing about Blood Meridian. But he loves it so much that he wants me to read it soon, as well. But I'll take your advice and start with The Road.

[JimWis]

5. "Dreams Of My Father" - got it as a gift for father's day.

[eleny]

6. I don't know about outrage but "Renegade" by Richard Wolffe is pretty good

I just started it the other day and am not even 100 pages in. But the first chapter goes back to election day and all the events. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed how it takes us behind the scenes.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

25. Recommend it?

I was thinking of getting it, just because I like Richard Wolffe so much, but I saw some luke-warm reviews.

Of course, now that I think of it, of course the reviews would be less than stellar, since all his fellow scribes want nothing more than to get a book contract, so they hate Richard for this.

But, should I get it? I do trust your taste...................

[eleny]

29. Yes...

I got it from the library but am thinking of returning it and getting my own copy. That's why I put it down for now. I'd don't want to get far into it before I buy it.

He was there to witness quite a bit but he also got a lot of interviews with insiders like Axelrod.

I read one review that said something about how the book was a love fest. And it seems very favorable so far. But there have been a couple of observations that weren't all sweetness and light. I think Wolffe is being honest. And I like his writing style since it sounds like him. We've seen him on tv so often that his speaking style is familiar. It comes through in his writing.

Hope this helps.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

30. Thank you ......

Since I'm under contract to a major publisher, I can get free books, just by letting my agent know what I want. And they're FEDEXED to me!

But sometimes I like the author, and want to give him/her a boost, so this is one of those times. I'm off to amazon, and thanks a million!



ON EDIT: I just went to alibris.com, curious as to how much cheaper it would be there, and I found a brand-new copy for $12.95, and with the use of a coupon code - either FICTION or POLITICS - I got another dollar off. My total was $15.88.

I love alibris. I always find old books there, a wonderful selection.

Just FYI, if you get around to buying it...............................

[PSzymeczek]

34. I envy you.! n/t

[Tangerine LaBamba]

38. I completely understand ......

When I signed my first book contract, and I saw the clause about free books, I said to my agent, "If I had known about this, I'd have let them have my book for no money."

She grabbed me and snarled, "DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT OUT LOUD AGAIN!! EVER!!!"

Turns out it's a standard practice. My publisher sends me autographed copies of books by her other authors, people she knows I like.

Pretty cool practice in an otherwise rather filthy business..........................

[eleny]

41. Can I find a coupon code on the net?

Or maybe you have a coupon because of past purchases.

I'm going over to alibris and check it out. It sounds like a great place!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

42. I first found on on the net,

but in my last order from alibris, they sent me a bookmark with the codes on it:

July 2009 - POLITICS
August 2009 - TRAVEL
September 2009 - FITNESS

They work for everyone. Just look at the bottom of the check-out page for the place where you insert the code.

That's all I've got so far. And, yes, alibris is sensational! I've found some exotic, out-of-print books there that I'd lusted after for years, so I'm really, really high on the place.

Enjoy!

[eleny]

45. Done!

My total is $18.04 for a new copy. Shipping is so inexpensive. Downright cheap compared to Amazon. Thanks for the nudge to Alibris. For old books I usually go to Abe Books. But I'm keeping Alibris in mind now, too.

Thanks!

[BlooInBloo]

7. Taking my umpteenth trip through Philosophy And The Mirror Of Nature.

[izzybeans]

83. Just finished Philosophy and Social Hope

Not a bad collection. Rorty states the case for Pragmatism very well.

It's a collection of essays that deal with the critics of Mirror and others.

[lxlxlxl]

8. Java Programming, Harper's, Want Ads

Sorry...got nothing interesting for ya. I'd probably read the William Cohan book on Lehman Bros. if I had the time...

[marmar]

9. Nothing wrong with Harper's.......

.... Java programming on the other hand.... :)

[lxlxlxl]

11. I know I know...been fighting it for 10+ years

you have to know the robot languages if you want to eat in this country =)

[PSzymeczek]

37. I've given up on want ads.

I'm 56 and disabled, and can't afford a lawyer. Plus I own no job hunting clothes. The only clothes I own that fit are one pair of jeans, 2 pairs of denim shorts, and assorted t-shirts.

[lxlxlxl]

69. xxx

yeah, want ads suck, and looking at online ads are even worse. i was 27, diabetic, with a college degree, and homeless a few years ago. im so sorry you have to deal with this type of situation. i swear this country is absolutely fucking ridiculous when it comes to taking care of people. i hope you are getting some help somewhere. im living at home, not spending any money, and self-studying. how is this 'self-governing' free market working out for us?

[Skink]

12. Gone Tommorrow by Child.

Sort of 24. Jack Reacher in peril.

[WCGreen]

18. He is always in peril

[JanMichael]

13. "Towards a New Socialism"

It's online as a pdf but I have a hard copy.

Yes...I am a hardcore socialist.

[marmar]

16. Sounds cool.....I'm going to read Karl Marx's "Capital" at some point this summer.

n/t

[sam sarrha]

21. Marx wrote that after reading an Anthropological paper by an American colonial anthropologist in the

1770's or 80's.. about then, detailing the Huron/North Eastern Tribes social/cultural structure. a pure functional Communist society, they had a marvelous government and co-operative society, i believe the guys name was Joshua Jones/johnson..something like that.. its been a while.

http://www.angelfire.com/va/jsorenK/alpha_two.html

[WCGreen]

14. The Idiot...

And Animal Spirits, the human element that Adam Smith never address and is left out of most of the keyensian tradition to this day...

[NightWatcher]

15. "Planet Walker" by John Francis and "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" by T. Hartmann

[sam sarrha]

17. Understanding Muhammad: a Psychobiography... best book in YEARS! by Ali Sina

it really explains a lot... confirms my own long held suspicions

[Atticus]

19. "Deer Hunting With Jesus"

by Joe Bageant

[islandmkl]

20. "The Other America" by Michael Harrington...

1962, revised introduction 1971...remarkable breakdown of power & poverty in America...foretold exactly where we today, not in the Orwellian vision, but in the cold hard numbers of how America does 'business'...

the most startling aspect of it is in the lack of 'dated-ness' of the presentation...it is a concise, and very readable, diagnosis of the 'American Way'...and, unfortunately, its examination of our society and its economy has proven to be right on...

it is also interesting to read the work of someone directly and actively involved with the race, poverty, labor and electoral issues at the time (late 50's into the 60's)...

nothing has changed, other than some laws (which are by no means minor changes)...the system continues....

[PSzymeczek]

33. Wish I could get my hands on that.

I'd love to reread it. Wish I had the books I have in storage.

[ZombieHorde]

22. I am taking a Summer course, so I am reading an art history book. nt

[CTyankee]

61. What is it on? I'd like to read more art history.

I am going on an art intensive program to Portugal in Oct and need to get info about its art. I went on a Smithsonian tour last Oct to northern Spain. Balboa changed my life...the Guggenheim, the entire city transformed by art was such a miracle to me... of course the Prado and the Reina Sofia (Guernica is there).

Hoping to go to Florence again next spring and train around to places nearby where there are known masterpieces (e.g. Arezzo and Prato).

Future plans include Vienna, Budapest and Prague. And of course, other trips back to Rome...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. "The Ancestor's Tale" by Richard Dawkins

and a couple others.

[PSzymeczek]

31. I'm rereading

"the God Delusion" by Dawkins.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

24. I always have a few going,

depending on what room I'm in.

Right now, it's Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill, which I ordered just because I'd read that our President was reading it. Yeah, I'm easy like that.

And Shutter Island, by Dennis Lahane, because I saw the trailer for the Martin Scorsese movie of this book, and I wanted to read it before I saw the movie.

And, finally, The Audacity Of Hope, by Barack Obama - I swapped my copy of Dreams From My Father for this with my mailperson, Edna, who's a great reader. It's nice to talk books with your mailperson.

Is there anything more delicious than knowing you're reading a book you really love and it's waiting for you later?

[Odin2005]

26. Re-reading "The Open Society and It's Enemies" by Karl Popper.

I find it funny that the right-libertarian nitwits try to claim Popper just because he critiqued Marx, he was clearly a left-libertarian.

[prairierose]

27. Recently finished The Wrecking Crew...

by Thomas Frank. I thought it was a very good explanation of American conservatism and their determination to destroy government.

[mike_c]

28. pretty much restricting myself to science fiction and biology journals....

I have outrage fatigue at the moment.

[Hekate]

32. I'm reading mysteries and sci-fi fantasies because my brain is full...

Same reason I only want to see animated films, comedies, musicals, and chick-flicks -- after 8 years of Bush and assorted family crises, I can't take any more Sturm und Drang.

Hope that helps! :hi:

Hekate

[spiritual_gunfighter]

36. I am reading "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer

then "The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian" by Robert E. Howard

[subsuelo]

40. Open Veins of Latin America

(the book Chavez gave to Obama)

[seabeyond]

43. just read kurland series, have brennan and gerard to catch up on

one of feehans just came out i was waiting for, so that is sittin here. i have three jd robb to get on. and evonivich has two more out for me to read. she is funny. brockman has two for me to read.

oh i just have tons in my notebook to get on. i like to read series.

[Liberal_in_LA]

44. Just read 'the Pilot's wife', an Oprah selection

[Dorian Gray]

47. I'm going the opposite route

Fiction... Fiction... fiction.....

I don't want to maintain outrage.


I just finished The Grapes of Wrath.... which is timely with the economic crisis. Now I'm reading The Likeness by Tana French. It's more escapist. Next is a trashy vampire novel. Then Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

[GliderGuider]

51. I have a copy of "The Road" sitting on my bookshelf.

However, having lived inside that vision of the future for four long, dark years as I explored The End of Everything, I'm afraid to open it...

I just finished a book on Elliott Wave theory, and now I'll be taking a break with some books by the ferociously controversial Indian mystic Osho.

[armyowalgreens]

49. God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Animal Farm...

Practical Ethics (Peter Singer) And We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families

All at once.

[Tashca]

92. Similar combination.

I just finished Hitchen's ..."Why Orwell Matters."
If you like "God is not Great" you might like this book. It's a few years older. The book sparked my interest in Orwell again. I've read 1984 and Animal Farm several times through the years, but never his other works. I am going to spend the summer reading more of his books. I just started "Burmese Days"....I think it looks like a good book to exploit the arrogance of empire....

[zbdent]

50. DU ... daily ...

[Sisaruus]

53. I just finished American Fascists

Now reading
Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams and
How to Be a Good Atheist by Nick Harding

[Agony]

54. If you haven't already...

Chalmers Johnson's blowback trilogy should keep you percolating along nicely?

Blowback
Sorrows of Empire
Nemesis

Cheerio!
Agony

[Agony]

74. I'm reading "Your Inner Fish:A Journey..." by Neil Shubin right now but

I don't think it will meet your criteria for outrage augmentation. It is however an _excellent_ book.

Your Inner Fish. A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

Cheerio!
Agony

[Agony]

75. Plus...If you like your inner fish you should try "The Secret Life of Dust" [eom]

[Agony]

76. delete duplicate post

[shadowknows69]

55. My shrink just gave me a book by P.J. O'Rourke.

Not sure of her agenda on that one though. At least she didn't hand me a bible.

[fascisthunter]

65. lol

[Vinca]

56. I just read "Renegade," which was okay but kind of a waste of time

if you were a close follower of the election. Now I'm reading Wally Lamb's most recent book, "The Hour I First Believed," which combines fact and fiction around the Columbine shooting. Although I'm a huge Wally Lamb fan, I didn't think I'd care for this book, but he got me hooked by the second paragraph.

[Echo In Light]

57. Revisiting The Shifting Realities of Philip K Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings

What I'd recommend... Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man:

http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/christian/marcuse/odm.html

[Kazak]

58. "Why Evolution Is True"

by Jerry Coyne

[alfredo]

59. "Oryx and Crake" Margaret Atwood "When You Lie About Your Age

The Terrorist Win" Carol Leifer, "Me of Little Faith" Lewis Black. Taking a break from outrage for the summer. Will wait for the gloom of winter for outrage. It generates the heat this body needs.

[ellie]

63. The Family

by Jeff Sharlett. I just read about it on DU last week. That is why I love this place.

[WI_DEM]

64. oh, the usual--mysteries, trashy novels and movie star biographies.

[FailureToCommunicate]

66. Besides DU threads??? Well, I'm gonna try "NETHERLAND" by O'Neill. Obama sez it's his fav

of recent "lite reading" (stuff not related to keeping the world from nuclear annihilation,etc.) and Obama's a pretty smart guy, so....
There you go.

[Cid_B]

67. Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich...

Started a few times and never made the time to finish it.

[timeforpeace]

70. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, who will finish the Wheel of Time series after Jordan's passing.

[liskddksil]

71. Benjamin Barber's "Consumed"

Written just before the economic crash, its predictions about what could happen are eerie.

[MsLeopard]

72. Reading two now -

JFK - Why He Died and Why It Matters - by James W. Douglass and Naomi Wolf's Give Me Liberty. Both are very good reads.

[shimmergal]

73. Just finished "Mothers and Others"

by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. No outrage, but a lot of interesting ideas and an enormous bibliography on human evolution-related topics.

Now reading Margaret Walker's JUBILEE.

[a la izquierda]

78. I can't read squat.

I'm writing my dissertation.

[marmar]

79. Good luck with that......

.....To the Left

[a la izquierda]

84. Gracias a ti.

[AngryAmish]

80. Pornography

What else does one do with their free time?

[maynard]

81. Fiction

Teaching school all year does not leave a whole lot of free time. I consume my favorite authors in the summer.

*David Baldacci
*Jeffery Deaver
*Dean Koonz
*Elizabeth George
*Greg Iles
*Brad Meltzer

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

82. Re-reading "Secret and Sacred: The Diaries of Henry Hammond a Southern Slaveholder"

He also served as Governor of South Carolina and as a U.S. Senator. He also got himself into a slough of trouble over his tendency to fondle his 4 nieces (aged 13-19) and, later, with his wife over his slave mistresses (a mother and daughter - the daughter became his mistress at age 12).

Of course, like his present day counterparts, he viewed himself as a misunderstood victim and a "good Christian" being persecuted by his political enemies. Though he admits to his "indiscretions".

His diaries give a good look at the aristocracy of the "Old South" that does not reek of magnolias, mint julips, and happy slaves. Well, it does actually reek of those things which he inadvertently exposes for what they were.

[bertman]

85. For outrage AND hope: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" Barbara Kingsolver

For pure outrage: "The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9-11" by David Ray Griffin

[That Is Quite Enough]

86. The Road by McCarthy and then The Colony by Tayman are next on my list.

So far I've gone through The Master and Margarita, Sharp Teeth and Watchmen. Haven't had a ton of time. Definitely gonna hit up some Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Bukowski, too, as well as American Savior, if I can remember to buy it.

Then it's gonna be gothic fiction for the rest of the summer. And maybe a few of the classics my friend recommended.

[Arkana]

87. I've gotten bored with outrage and stored my massive collection

of anti-Bush books away.

I'm into Presidential biographies now--I've read "Theodore Rex", by Edmund Morris, "FDR", by Jean Edward Smith, "Truman", by David McCullough, and "Eisenhower: Soldier and President", by Stephen Ambrose.

My current book is "John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek. I bought most of these books at the same time--got some weird looks from the cashier at Barnes & Noble when I told them that no, I wasn't an American History major.

[Duer 157099]

88. Right now I'm reading Moazzem Begg's "Enemy Combatant"

He's the guy who seems to appear in every documentary about torture (he was held as a detainee for 3 years before finally being released). I don't know how he endured what he did and still is able to function the way he does.

And when I can't quite tolerate that level of distress, I jump to the other book I'm currently reading, Hooman Majd's "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ" so that I can get a feel for contemporary Iran.

Also reading Azar Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran" about a women's reading club in Iran, although it's more about contemporary life for educated women there.

Oh, a really good diversion was "13 Things that Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time" by Michael Brooks. Very good read, very interesting, but too short! Should have been "100 Things" imho.

I usually have at least half a dozen books going at once so there's always something for whatever mood I'm in.

[tabbycat31]

89. Food Inc

I won't see the movie without reading the book first.

[david13]

90. Motorcycle travels.

[earth mom]

91. Anything that doesn't send my blood pressure soaring through the roof.

DU and other sites I read are already too much for me after years and years of no real "hope and change". :grr:

[endarkenment]

93. Almost done with The Kindly Ones

This is not an easy book, in fact it is frequently a disgusting and disturbing book, but it just might be a great book. Read the wiki page for it.

[The Straight Story]

94. Playboy, they have great articles and coupons for smokes

:)

[Ron Green]

95. "Agenda for a New Economy" by David Korten.

Pretty damn important book, IMO.