Its winter, what are you reading.

[robin3mj]

Another one I just started and can't put down: Little Bunch of Madmen: Elements of Global Reporting by Mort Rosenblum

Great history on being a foreign correspondent, and how the news business has changed what is reported to us and the ramifications thereof.
Highly recommended.


I'm on a bit of journalism/photojournalism kick right now, so if anyone has any recommendations along those lines, please throw them out there.
(On a similar note, the Robert Capa bio "Blood and Champagne" is worth a read. I think my brother has my copy but if anyone wants a borrow of it, drop me a line and I'll see when I can get it back.

[Tom]

Journalism: Any book by George Seldes. I highly recommend 'Witness to a Century', 'Lords of the Press', also his one 'Sawdust Caesar' is very good, did you know Mussolini was a socialist and a reporter in his early days? All long out of print, you'll have to hunt for them but they are well worth the effort.

[TMB]

For a switch up from Smiley I have just started a book called Tecumseh and Brock, the war of 1812.

[clunk]

Last couple of weeks:
Tenth of December: Stories, George Saunders (j44ke is right on but I love this guy's stories)
Requiem for a Species, Clive Hamilton (his take on why we ignore global warming)
Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes (not as insightful as I had hoped)
Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon (fun)

Currently reading Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street by Karen Ho and The Constant Heart by Craig Nova

[VA_MEL]

Midway through the fourth of the Game of Thrones books. Seriously question if the author will live long enough to wrap up the major story lines. I've read that he plans for the last two books to be 1500 pages, each.

Just started Cesar Millan's Short Guide to a Happy Dog. Enjoying it so far.

[thegunner]

Midway through the fourth of the Game of Thrones books. Seriously question if the author will live long enough to wrap up the major story lines. I've read that he plans for the last two books to be 1500 pages, each.

Just started Cesar Millan's Short Guide to a Happy Dog. Enjoying it so far.

it's weird on the GoT thing -- this is seriously the first time a movie/show has inspired me to go back and to read the original book...

[jitahs]

I read "Semplica Girls" in the New Yorker a couple months ago. Pretty fucking impressive.

And
CREEPY

[steve garro]

can you imagine waking up to that scene?
" oh jayssus, i'm going to kill the idiot that got me to sign up for this ""adventure""
.

SteveP have you read Aspley Cherry-Gerard's "The Worst Journey in the World"
Right up your alley.
When we bike toured from the ocean to Bolivia & beyond we tore a copy of "Endurance" in 1/4's and passed it around to keep sniveling down.
Pass the hoosh........
- Garro.

[steve garro]

So far this winter off the top of my head:
The entire "Border Trilogies" - Cormac McCarthy - maybe the 3rd time.
"The Boy Kings of Texas" - Domingo Martinez - brilliant - man, I lived maybe 80% of that book.
"Sunk Without a Sound" - they story of the dissaperance of Glen & Bessie Hyde, and the following search for them leading to the exploration of much of the western Grand Canyon. - Brad Dimock - I just did work on one of his boats: fretwaterlines
"Strange Fishes" - Sarah Vowell - love her.
"1984" and "Animal Farm" - 'nuff said.
"The Lonely Polygamist" - Brady Udall. Yes, it's hilarious.
Also his 1st novel "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" is absolutly awesome.
Other then that, Nat-Geo, Sea kayaker, and maps of Baja......
- Garro.

[chasea]

Just picked up 3 books from my pal Gene Gregorits. They were heavy.

Attachment 50687

Not pictured: Dog Days Volume One. It's the lightest, and will be my in-flight entertainment to Louisville. That way Signature Darren can't talk my ear off.

Article came out yesterday.

He's Not Dead Yet?

['nati Chris]

Noir by K.W. Jeter. If one follows up watching Blade Runner by reading this I wouldn't be surprised if they sell everything to move deep into the woods to get as far away from the grid as possible.

[ChristopherG]

Recently:
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain DeBotton
Consider The Lobster by David Foster Wallace

On deck:
Why Kerouac Matters by John Leland
Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook

[PDAR]

Recently, The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams. Now, Arguably and The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens.

[jitahs]

eh this looks moderately juicy. Bit of a dry review still:

The French and Indian War would have ended much sooner if American colonists had obeyed laws against trading with the supremely underprepared French. (This pattern would recur in the Civil War.) When the British, incensed with this illicit behavior, cracked down on the smuggling they’d previously ignored, colonists rebelled. The American Revolution wasn’t about freedom of religion or arms; its direct motivation was the desire to trade goods with impunity.

But once Americans won their Revolution, they were forced to change their tune quickly: the generals who fought for smugglers’ rights suddenly had to defend their borders. This was especially amplified by the fact that the original Constitution banned income taxes. The state derived its greatest revenues from import duties, so the government and its citizens engaged a race to outsmart each other regarding getting valued foreign goods into the country.

Here we notice one of Andreas’ most striking themes, the recurrent reversals in America’s border trade policy. America today claims to espouse “free trade,” a buzzword that began life as a euphemism for smuggling. In the same manner, behavior once considered revolting eventually became acceptable. Selling whiskey to Indians, once barred because Natives’ lack of liquor protocol led to binge drinking, soon became an arm of American policy.

These reversals often arise out of improvisational morality. Public paranoia surrounding alcohol, drugs, and white slavery resulted in comically disproportionate responses, even if the scare (as with white slavery) was almost entirely fictional. This has often been coupled with baffled responses from public moralists, who apparently assume the population will stop drinking, toking, or paying for sex simply because the law says we should.

While private citizens have done whatever it takes to avoid paying the excise, the state has gone to remarkable lengths to prevent such avoidance. At times, such as during the Whiskey Rebellion or the War of 1812, Presidents who fought in the revolution used the military to enforce trade laws on American citizens. That continues to the present, when the Border Patrol has more armed agents than the FBI and polices the border with Predator drones.

Staunch libertarians have a history of making exceptions, sometimes strikingly large, where it concerns smuggling. Thomas Jefferson supported a weak federal government until he tried using trade to influence the Napoleonic Wars. Suddenly, he favored a strong government with fierce powers, as long as that government used those powers to support his favored policies. Compare that to small-government Republicans who favor double-barreled copyright laws.

Speaking of copyright, American enforcement in that regard has been very malleable. In the early years, America was poorly equipped for the nascent Industrial Age, and suborned explicit piracy to get ahold of new technology. By the Twentieth Century, America’s technology so dominated the world that we enforced some of history's most punitive intellectual property laws. And we’ve tried to force other countries to treat our laws as gospel.

WordBasket: A Brief Guide to America's Clandestine Economy

[bcm119]

Reading some Michael Chabon novels again to get in the spirit before I read his newest, "Telegraph Avenue". Love "Wonder Boys".