Books, Books, Books: What Are You Reading?
February 23rd, 2007 | by Craig R. Harmon |I’m currently reading two books, one fiction and one non-fiction. The fiction book is from my favorite fiction genre: (private) detective mysteries. It’s an oldie but a goodie: Rex Stout’s Murder by the Book. I’ve been re-reading Stout’s Nero Wolf mysteries after several decades have had their chance to erode my memory of previous reading to the point that I no longer remember who done it or how Wolf and his more active assistant, Archie Goodwin, figure that out. Excellent stuff if you haven’t discovered Nero Wolf in your reading for fun and relaxation.
On deck in my Fiction line-up is Stout’s Plot It Yourself to be followed by The Novels of Dashiell Hammett: Red Harvest, The Dane Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man.
On the Non-Fiction front, I’m working through Richard A. Posner’s Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency. The author is a current federal judge in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a well respected author of oft-cited Law Review articles and well received books on law and policy issues. He’s not a Conservative judge but describes himself as a classical (Millian) Liberal in the Economics in Law tradition, a pragmatist/consequentialist in the tradition of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Coming soon in the Non-Fiction genre, Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule, Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government by Charles Fried, and America’s Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar.
Aside from the Bible, the most influential books in my life were The Hobbit and the The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein. Until I first began reading The Fellowship of the Ring (I read the trilogy before reading The Hobbit) reading was a chore that I did to get through school, an unwelcome chore about which the sooner it was over the better I liked it. This was the first book since The Cat in the Hat that I read for pleasure. I haven’t stopped yet.
So, what are you reading now and what was the single most influential book that you ever read?
17 Responses to “Books, Books, Books: What Are You Reading?”
By SteveIL on Feb 22, 2007 | Reply
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab - Pretty good book, a fast read, even though it’s 800 pages; one problem with it is it minimizes the impact of the Jewish gangs during the early days, although it does discuss this; great info on all of the mob families after Gotti went to prison in 1992; Raab covered the organized crime scene for the New York Times for 50 years
1776 by David McCullough - just started it; no opinion yet
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 22, 2007 | Reply
SteveIL,
Is Five Families by way of “most influential”? If so, in what way did it influence you. If not, what book influenced your life the most and in what way?
By Paul Watson on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
No idea what the most influential book is, but I read a lot. Have done since I could read, and am now helping out at a local school with some of their young readers.
At the moment splitting my time between reading a couple of genre fantasy fictions, the latest Harry Dresden novel (Proven Guilty), some sourcebooks for the RPG I’m in and the books my brother got me for Christmas.
Oh, and I’m writing for a couple of story groups I run on-line.
By SteveIL on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Five Families was not the most infuential. The most influential one for me, and it is an odd choice (nor is it political), was a college textbook on teaching the IBM mainframe Basic Assembler Language for programming computers (don’t remember the exact name). It ultimately decided my career choice. I still have on at my desk at work.
No one book influenced me politically; however, I’ve been reading about military history for 30 years and that has shaped much of my views on politics.
By Paul Merda on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
I don’t read crap for books, I just don’t have the time. I prefer magazine articles and what-not because I can read it all at once, in about 10-15 minutes.
The last one I read was well over a year ago and it Chris Mooney’s the Republican War on Science… Although, like you Craig, The Lords of the Rings and the Hobbit were influential in my life as well.
By Jet Netwal on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Currently I’m reading “Gone” by Lisa Gardner. Decent lightweight read. Next up is “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs, which I’ll start as soon as my sister in law finishes. My family reads voraciously, and trades books at a fairly furious pace. Once started, I will read anything through to the end, but if the book is well crafted, I will read it through several times, first for content and then for structure. I read “The World According to Garp” in the 1970’s and found the central character read and reread the same book, peeling it back to the bones. Happiness abounded; I wasn’t the only structure nut out there, I had a fictional compadre!
As for influential books, mine are craft rather than genre driven. I love, Love, LOVE Kaye Gibbons. She has a small catalog, but they are all gems. I’ve read “Charms for the Easy Life” easily twenty times. My first truly influential book, however, was “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck. She showed how much can be said with so few words. It’s a lesson I try to incorporate with my own work.
I have at least a thousand books in my home, and it’s never enough. Guilty pleasures include Carl Hiaasen, Janet Evanovich, J.K. Rowlings, and Dave Barry. I have an extensive sci-fi collection I inherited from a friend who died several years ago, and would probably have cited “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” and his most influential read. Surprisingly, I read very little political fare. I get enough of that online.
By Ann on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
The book that had a massive influence on my life? The Politics of Breastfeeding by Gabriel Palmer. I read it about 10 years ago and it turned me from a mild-mannered housewife and mother with an unusual (among my circle) penchant for breastfeeding, to a so-called ‘lactivist’ – overnight. It’s thanks to this book that I now vehemently campaign against the underhanded, aggressive and, still, largely unrestrained, activities of the formula industry (which, these days, is largely owned by Big Pharma – made the connection yet? Breast milk helps protect against a catalogue of disease in women and children, forumla doesn’t….is that the sound of a penny dropping?). I was fortunate enough to meet the author last year, who told me that she is currently working on an updated version as, sadly, in the 12 years since it was published, things had either stayed the same, or got steadily worse….
Currently, I’m reading two books: The Sound of Laughter by Peter Kay (a British comedian). And also No Logo, by Naomi Klein. (Aslo love Hitchikers Guide, Jet. Even have it on cd for in the car)
By windspike on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Not much time to read beyond work related matters. Thus, I’m reading “The Five Dysfunctions of Team by Patrick Lencioni. It’s light fare, but interesting nonetheless.
The last really go blog related book I read and I highly recomend is Cornel West’s Democracy Matters. It was dense, but very rich and robust, like that wonderful AM cup of joe you get from your local Peets Coffee
By Tom Baker on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
At this moment in time I’m reading 6 or 7 books including The God Delusion by Richard Hawkins (highly highly recomend it to anyone who hasn’t read it), Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter; The Footprints of God by Greg Illes, Guns Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Society by Jared Diamond (another brilliant book); An Even Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking and SQL Server 2005 Pocket Administrators Guide. That’s in addition to the Economist, Mental Floss, Free Inquiry, Reason, Foreign Policy Magazine and a slew of Computer\Video Game magazines I read every month.
Whew, I guess I read a lot. I even finish them all too. Ask LiberPaul I read so much that once I started reading an old magazine at 2:00 AM while throwing up on the side of the road after the bar.
I’m not sure what the most influential book was. If I had to say it was the original Red Book Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook. A kid named Eric Navotnee (sp?) gave it to me in the 7th grade and I was hooked. That led into computer gaming, which taught me everything there is to know about computers and has provided a very nice living since. Well that and the course schedule at my University that showed me the Poli Sci department was located 100 feet from my dorm room. I’m pretty sure that’s why that ended up as my major.
By ken grandlund on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
I read constantly, and have since I was a child. One early story retold by my mother was of me in pre-school arguing with another tot about a book- apparently I thought it was “my” book, proceeded to talk the other kid into giving it to me, then thumped the kid with the book, as if to say, that’ll teach you to touch my reading material. Fortunately, since then, I’ve never thumped anyone with a book again. I started reading ‘chapter books’ in first grade, reading Gertrude Chandler’s “Boxcar Children” series.
I generally read about 3-4 books a month, nested between the daily paper and about three different magazines. I try to alternate between fiction/non-fiction in books, and most all of the periodical reading is non-fiction/opinion stuff.
Currently reading “The Freemasons” by (i can’t remember the guys name) which is a historical account of Freemasonry. I’m not a mason, nor do I play one on TV, but their intrigue attached to them piqued my interest, so here I am.
I have favorite authors (J. Auel, P. Anthony, K. Follett), favorite genres (historical fiction, detective-mystery, biography). Among the most personally influential books I’ve read are “Nature’s End” and “Pillars of the Earth” for their historical perspectives and imagination.
BTW- On my personal blog I have a Reading List that I update fairly regularly. If you’re really interested in what I’m reading (or have read) you can check it out. It’s at the bottom of the posting area.
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Tom,
Interestingly enough (to me anyway) I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday looking through the Science section and it struck me the number of books dedicated to outlining the biological/evolutionary origins of religion in man:
Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion;
Newberg, Andrew, Why We Believe What We Believe;
Boyer, Pascal, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought;
Wolpert, Lewis, Six Impossible Things before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief.
Not exhaustive, I’m sure but I was so struck by the number of books that fell under my eye on the subject that I was moved to write down the titles and authors for future reference. The fact that, today, you mention the first book on the subject to attract my attention can only mean one thing: there is a God and you are his instrument proving his existence.
Just kidding.
It is interesting to me though how hot a topic this is. There were a number of other books that examined Science and Religion, at least one that seemed to attempt to show how science and religion converge rather than contradict.
Thought it interesting enough as a sort of meta-comment on your comment to mention.
I want to thank you all for chiming in and sharing a bit about yourselves and your reading habits.
By Betsy Hutchins on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Funny what people have in common. Nero Wolfe goes through the cycle about every 15 years (my daughter too) and I have now read the Lord of the Rings 7 or 8 times in my lifetime of 65 years. I mostly read only British Mysteries now but the classic private eyes of Hammet, Chandler et. al get a going over once in a while–they never pall even if the newer ones do.
I will pay attention to your non-fiction choices (I too keep one of each kind going) since your fiction choices are so superb (LOL–that means they agree with MY choices)
I usually lurk here, but read it every day–just to let you know.
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Ken,
Ah…P. Anthony was rather cryptic until I noticed on your blog the two Piers Anthony books. He is marvelously witty. I enjoyed the Apprentice Adept series and a number of the Xanth books. Have you ever read any of Robert Aspirin’s MythAdventures?
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Betsy,
Glad you de-lurked to talk about your reading. I hope you’ll consider commenting more here. The more the merrier, they say.
By Ann on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Betsy! Don’t lurk, this blog is rather male dominated - we need more girls!!
By ken grandlund on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
Craig- Yes- I’ve read a few other Anthony books outside the Incarnations of Immortality series, which is a great series BTW.
I haven’t read Aspirin but may check him out. I’m not a huge sci-fi buff, but some authors are really good.
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 23, 2007 | Reply
By the way, to the powers that be, thank you for featuring my post for the day.