My recent gig has me riding BART a lot, so I'm doing a lot of reading, but not so much onlne reading, and so not so much blogging, as I once was. A book and an iPod make good companions. So here's a rundown of some recent reading.
My Father's Rifle is a gripping, short memoir about growing up a Kurd in Norhtern Iraq during the rise of Saddam. It's told, in a translation from French, in a very spare, straightforward style, which makes it all the more gripping. The author doesn't romanticize the Kurds, and seems to fairly portray them. The scenes of what happens in the schools and towns as Saddam comes to power, as he uses teachers and spies to bring everyone into line, are scary, and reminded me of the same sorts of scenes you read in novels of all kinds. It seems the tools of tyranny don't change. A recommended short read.
1776 by David McCullough is justifiably the number one best seller now. It's a gripping read, informed by great research. The great service of the book is to portray all the actors in the story -- Washington and his Generals, Howe on the British side, and especially the soldiers -- as real people. The summer of 1776 was the darkest time in the nation's history, and it took a combination of daring and luck and desperation to get the country out of it in the winter.
10:58:23 AM 
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