Category: Writing

author: Harold McGee
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.61
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at: 2010/02/01
date added: 2010/04/30
shelves: cookbook, history, non-fiction, read-again, reference, science, wishlist
review:
Can’t remember exactly when I checked out this book — really good info about the science of cooking. Not a lot of recipes IIRC.

author: Harold McGee
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at: 2010/02/01
date added: 2010/04/30
shelves: cookbook, non-fiction, history, reference, science, read-again, wishlist
review:
Can’t remember exactly when I checked out this book — really good info about the science of cooking. Not a lot of recipes IIRC.

author: Libba Bray
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/04/29
date added: 2010/04/30
shelves: fiction, kid-lit
review:
I loved this book — great narrative voice in a genuinely weird and delightful story. I kept thinking of Pilgrim’s Progress as filtered through reading about it in Little Women; there was a odd sort of allegorical thing going on all the way through.

But damn you, Jackie, for recommending this! The ending kicked my ass, even though I knew it was coming, getting to the end without any sort of conventional happy ending was almost too much to bear. I had to go spend a little time in the sun to keep from weeping like a crazy person.

Recommended? I don’t know. Bray is a fantastic writer, which is both a plus (enjoyable to read) and a minus (able to hit harder). Your call, really.

author: Libba Bray
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/04/29
date added: 2010/04/30
shelves: fiction, kid-lit
review:
I loved this book — great narrative voice in a genuinely weird and delightful story. I kept thinking of Pilgrim’s Progress as filtered through reading about it in Little Women; there was a odd sort of allegorical thing going on all the way through.

But damn you, Jackie, for recommending this! The ending kicked my ass, even though I knew it was coming, getting to the end without any sort of conventional happy ending was almost too much to bear. I had to go spend a little time in the sun to keep from weeping like a crazy person.

Recommended? I don’t know. Bray is a fantastic writer, which is both a plus (enjoyable to read) and a minus (able to hit harder). Your call, really.

author: David Laskin
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2010/04/26
date added: 2010/04/30
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
When I checked this out, I thought it was about the winter described in the Laura Engalls Wilder book “The Long Winter” — it’s the same region, but about a specific week 8 years later. (The author briefly touches on that winter as well.) The story is gruesome and fascinating, especially to someone who loved the Little House books as much as I did when I was a child.

Before getting to the blizzard of the title, he spends several chapters on the families who moved into the region over the previous decade, primarily German and Scandinavian immigrants. It sounds like almost no-one realized what they were getting themselves into moving out there.

Then the storm itself: like a disaster movie, he ranges between the action of the storm itself, the failures of the supposed weather experts (o the bureaucracy!), and the various individuals caught in the maelstrom. Like the title says, a great many children were caught in it, mostly because the start of that day was the nicest in weeks, and so it was the first schoolday in weeks as well.

I definitely skimmed over some sections. He goes into particulars about freezing to death, hypothermia, and frostbite that were too intense for me. (I’m a wuss.) But like a disaster movie, one is drawn into the tales, hoping against hope that some will survive. And some do, astonishingly enough.

Not a great book, but a solid piece of historical and meteorological storytelling.

author: Bob Walker
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2010/04/25
date added: 2010/04/26
shelves: art, cats, home-improvement, wishlist
review:
Adorable little book by a pair of artists about how they’ve modified their home to be a fun place for their nine (!!!!) cats. Inspiring photos for things I might want to try later.

Two things that I want to note/remember for later: 30 degree incline with carpet for traction, and walkways spaced slightly away from the walls to make it easier for the cats to turn around.

author: Bob Walker
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2010/04/25
date added: 2010/04/26
shelves: home-improvement, art, wishlist, cats
review:
Adorable little book by a pair of artists about how they’ve modified their home to be a fun place for their nine (!!!!) cats. Inspiring photos for things I might want to try later.

Two things that I want to note/remember for later: 30 degree incline with carpet for traction, and walkways spaced slightly away from the walls to make it easier for the cats to turn around.

author: Garry Wills
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2010/04/22
date added: 2010/04/22
shelves: history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Incredibly overwhelming for such a short book. He covers the emergence of the "National Security State" in the late 40s/early 50s, starting with the massive secrecy and command-and-control nature of the Manhattan Project, then tackles particular dangers and pitfalls since then. Starting with the bomb, our politics have gone into a unconstitutional twilight zone, to the point where it’s really hard to recognize it that way anymore.

This quote from Madison (his italics) stood out for me, in re the proper roles of the legislative vs the executive:

Those who are to conduct a war cannot be in the nature of things be proper or safe judges whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded.

You tell me how far away that is from the world we live in now.

I got to the end, and I kept hoping for some glimmer of, well, hope. But his (necessarily brief) treatment of the Obama administration so far only shows how easy it is for even well-meaning people to be captured by the f’ed-up logic of the National Security State. Alas. (No president comes off well in this, although Truman, Nixon, & Bush II give the worst impressions IMHO.)

Read it, definitely; he’s a great writer who covers a lot of ground quickly and with a crisp readable style. But be prepared to be depressed and/or furious.

author: Garry Wills
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2010/04/22
date added: 2010/04/22
shelves: history, non-fiction, politics, favorites
review:
Incredibly overwhelming for such a short book. He covers the emergence of the "National Security State" in the late 40s/early 50s, starting with the massive secrecy and command-and-control nature of the Manhattan Project, then tackles particular dangers and pitfalls since then. Starting with the bomb, our politics have gone into a unconstitutional twilight zone, to the point where it’s really hard to recognize it that way anymore.

This quote from Madison (his italics) stood out for me, in re the proper roles of the legislative vs the executive:

Those who are to conduct a war cannot be in the nature of things be proper or safe judges whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded.

You tell me how far away that is from the world we live in now.

I got to the end, and I kept hoping for some glimmer of, well, hope. But his (necessarily brief) treatment of the Obama administration so far only shows how easy it is for even well-meaning people to be captured by the f’ed-up logic of the National Security State. Alas. (No president comes off well in this, although Truman, Nixon, & Bush II give the worst impressions IMHO.)

Read it, definitely; he’s a great writer who covers a lot of ground quickly and with a crisp readable style. But be prepared to be depressed and/or furious.