The Battle of Alberta

Continuing with these "bad books", I recently read a non-fiction doozie called The Battle of Alberta, written by Edmonton journalist Mark Spector. Having grown up in Calgary, the battle between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s, has always been close to my heart and I had been looking forward to this one since it came out in December. It would be a chance to relive the excitement of hockey in Alberta, in the 1980s.

I had been expecting a deeply researched book offering a behind-the-scenes look at one of hockey's great rivalries. Instead, this was only a collection of present day interviews with players reminiscing about events that took place 30 years ago.

The problem is that nobody can accurately remember things that happend 30 years ago. In the afterword of this book, Spector even concedes the players had a lot of their facts wrong; who scored that big goal, who was in that fight, and even in a few instances, who that playoff opponent was. But he never corrects them, and instead tries to omit the incorrectly remembered details, thus leaving us with a bland, innaccurate account of a few hockey games from long ago.

The excuse that thou dost make in this delay

I seem to be making the same mistake I've been making for quite some time now, in that after I finish one book, I don't seem to start the next book for a week or two. The good news is I have started #76, A House for Mr. Biswas, but the bad news is I didn't start it until yesterday.

I'm not really sure of the reason for doing this, but I think the problem might be that there are currently 199 books on my "to-read" list, and only 25 of them are from the list. Add to that, I have 17 non-fiction books out from the library right now, and they're all screaming to be read!

After finishing a list read, I think my mind set is that I'll just whip through one of these non-fiction books, and then start my next list read. Of course I never read as fast as I think I'm going to, and before I know it, a week has passed.

The culprit this time, since I finished White Teeth, was Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by a Calgarian author, Marcello Di Cintio. He travels the world, visiting different places where walls have divided a society or city or culture. It was kind of a combination political essay and travelogue; basically it was right up my alley.

But that book is finished, so I have moved on to #76. I just really need to make sure I go back to reading two books at the same time; one list read and one non-fiction read. When I have done this, it's really worked well, and I seem to get a lot more reading done.

Tweet

On Bookmarks

I think bookmarks are stupid. Well, let me clarify that, I think the bookmarks with yarn on the end, with pictures of puppies or inspirational passages are stupid. Obviously one need to use a bookmark; dog-eared pages just aren't right.

I tend to be very loyal to the bookmark I use as well. For the first 45 books on this list, I used the joker from a deck of playing cards. It featured a picture of Jack Nicklaus golfing at St. Andrews on one side, and was blank on the other, which allowed me to keep track of how many list read I had finished with tally marks. But that disappeared after finishing Portnoy's Complaint. I looked everywhere for that card, and to say losing it bothered me, would be an understatement.

From Antarctica to California

It occurred to me that I never mentioned what my next book would be. I have chosen The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck as my 66th read from the list. This is a book that I felt I was familiar with, but after having started it, now realize I don't know anything about it.

I must have thought I knew more than I do because of the movie starring Henry Fonda (which I haven't seen). I've also visited Monterrey, California quite a few times, where many buildings have a Steinbeck connection. Obviously, neither of these insights tell me anything about the book, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

I started the book last week, but have only read a couple dozen pages. For the past couple of months I've been bogged down in Roland Huntford's biography of Sir Ernest Shackleton; Shackleton. I say bogged down because it's a slow, intense read, not because I wasn't enjoying it. Quite the contrary. Having known about as much about Shackleton as I do about The Grapes of Wrath, I was very engrossed in his adventures in Antarctica in the early 20th century.

But I finished that one this morning, so I can now move full steam ahead into #66.


Tweet

My Non-Fiction 2012

When I mentioned yesterday that I'd only read 13 books from the list in 2012 and offered up a couple of reasons I'd read so few, I neglected to mention that I read 26 non-fiction books. I've always been drawn to non-fiction more than fiction, and really, that's one of the main reasons I started reading this list; to expand my horizons into some great fiction.

My interests in non-fiction tend to be quite varied, although there are a couple of topics I do gravitate toward (World War II, Sarah Palin). Looking back at the 26 non-fiction reads of 2012, I see there actually aren't very many that really jump out at me as being top rate books. There were some that were interesting and unique, but actually 2012 was a bit of a disappointing year in terms of reading some great non-fiction. But I did have some favorites, in no particular order.

Argo/Our Man in Tehran.  After watching the movie, which I enjoyed despite a slight re-writing of history, I developed a bit of an interest in the Iranian hostage situation. I read the book Argo, which is the story as the movie and written by Ben Affleck's character, as well as Our Man in Tehran by Robert Wright, which tells the story of Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran during the hostage crisis. The two books combined paint a fairly accurate and detailed picture of the hostage crisis, and make for an interesting history lesson.

Final Jeopardy. This was a book that chronicled IBM making a computer to compete against two humans on Jeopardy. It was interesting to learn about a lot of the complexities of competing against humans that beforehand I wouldn't have thought would be difficult for a computer to overcome.

The Toaster Project.  This book follows a man's quest to build a simply home toaster from scratch. He isn't just putting the pieces together, he's trying to make everything from scratch, including mining metal ore, making plastic, etc. Although the book itself didn't go into as much detail as I would have like, it is good for a discussion on how difficult it would be to actually make some of the household good we use everyday (very difficult!).

Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris' response to angry letters from Christians. While it doesn't offer any new insights or arguments, it does offer his points with amazing simplicity and directness.

Follow the Money. This is a book probably only of interest to Albertans, written by former leader of the opposition Kevin Taft. I had thought it would be much more partisan, but actually just asks one question, where is Alberta's incredible wealth going? I found Taft's findings quite surprising and interesting.


As I said, these were enjoyable books, but didn't particularly knock my socks off. 2013 has already started off well however, having just finished a very enjoyable and interesting read, The Big Year by Mark Obmascik.

A Non-Fiction Christmas

On Tuesday I looked at books from the list that would make good Christmas gifts, so today I'll look at non-fiction choices.  Of course this is a little more difficult because with such a broad choice of topics, even a great book won't appeal to somebody who isn't interested in the topic. But since there are so many topics, you can always find something they'll like. I won't be able to list them all here of course, so I'll try to include some non-fiction with a broad appeal.

A Short History of Nearly Everything.  Bill Bryson may be an exception to what I just wrote. While his books may be about a certain topic, everybody seems to enjoy his writing and with good reason.  Bryson can take what has the potential to be such a boring topic (in this case science), and makes it very interesting and entertaining.  This is probably his most well known book, but others such as The Mother Tongue, A Walk in the Woods, or At Home would also make good gifts. Perfect for office gift exchanges or mild acquaintances.

A Course Called Ireland. This is the most perfect golf book gift I know of. This has everything to appeal to the golfer on your Christmas list.  It's interesting, entertaining, and written by a real golfer for real golfers, instead of dumbing things down for those who don't golf.  This also mean it will likely appeal only to those who golf a lot, but some might find the story of a man walking around Ireland and golfing interesting from a cultural perspective as well.

Freakonomics.  This popular title looks at common beliefs, such as larger police forces led to a drop in crime in the 1990's, and explains why the authors totally disagree with that common belief.  It's sort of a broad topic, as the authors touch on a lot of different things, and makes for an interesting conversation topic. This is a book that might appeal to those who say "they don't have time to read," which only means they haven't found anything they've enjoyed reading (the same could be said for A Short History of Nearly Everything).

The Professor and the Madman.  Simon Winchester tells the story of the making of the first Oxford English Dictionary.  Like Bryson, Winchester as the ability to take potentially boring topics (like writing a dictionary) and making them quite interesting.  This book has murder, insanity, and history; a nice choice for people who love language, crime, history or simply a great story. This could book be bundled with Bryson's The Mother Tongue, which is probably my favorite of his books, but a little less broad appeal then the above mentioned A Short History.

The Measure of a Man.  This is a biography by JJ Lee, a fashion columnist out of Vancouver. In the book, JJ looks back at his often rocky relationship with his recently deceased father, in a very honest and touching memoir. The story is told concurrent with JJ's account of altering one of his father's suits for himself, in an effort to maybe build the relationship he never could while his father was alive. This is a unique and admittedly obscure title, but could be a great gift for those who love biographies or more emotional reads.

Those who know me may be surprised I have not included any World War II books, but there are simply too many to chose from.  Plus they tend not to appeal to those not interested in the most fascinating topic of all time.  Perhaps I'll have to another post of only World War II books next week.  If I can trim it down to only five titles that is.

And for achievement offer us his ransom

Well, I have good news and bad news after my second prolonged absence from blogging.  First with the bad news; I was recently kidnapped and held for ransom. I'm not sure why, as I don't know anybody who could afford to pay any considerable ransom, nor do I hold any important information that one may wish to extract.

But kidnapped I was and it was quite an ordeal.  It all started on the evening of October 26th, which is coincidentally the last time I was able to post a blog.  Gunmen stormed my condo, blind-folded me and whisked me away in what I can only assume was some kind of late-model panel van without windows.  After driving for several hours, I was unloaded and taken into what I later would learn was some sort of abandon warehouse near the docks. For weeks, my captors tormented me with a variety of vicious techniques, but with no clear goal in mind.

And it is for this reason, that I haven't been diligent at updating my progress of reading through this list of 100 books, and it is for this reason that my progress of reading through this list has been nothing short of shameful.  But I think it's a pretty good reason.

Ironically, my captor's main torture technique was to force me to read non-fiction.  In my three weeks as hostage, they forced me to read The Fox Effect by David Brock, Follow the Money by Kevin Taft, Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, Seen Reading by Julie Wilson, and Our Man in Tehran by Robert Wright.  Oh the humanity!  Forced to read so many books that happened to be on me 'to read' list.  And it did keep me from Lord of the Rings for all this time.

Now for the good news.  First off, I was freed yesterday, with no ransom paid and no reason ever given for why I had been kidnapped. Secondly, with my new found freedom, I was able to finish Lord of the Rings!  Okay, I didn't finish it, but I finished the first book.  So I've now read 531 of around 1500 pages.  And I read 250 of those 531 pages in the last 24 hours.

But instead of forcing myself back into the same situation with the next book, I've decided to read a different book between each Lord of the Rings book.  So, starting tomorrow morning I will begin reading The Assistant by Bernard Malamud.  Then I'll read book #2, read another book from the list, then read book #3.  Basically, Lord of the Rings has been shifted from being #61 to being #63.

There's more good news too; I'm currently in Hawai'i, which is awesome, and affords me a lot of time to read.  Perhaps I'll be well into the third Lord of the Rings book when I return.  Perhaps... 

And yet you halt not.

To say that I've been a rut would be an understatement.  The chasm I currently find myself in is without equal.  Well, maybe when I was reading To the Lighthouse two summers ago would be comparable, but my progress on The Recognitions has come to a complete standstill.

It isn't that it's a bad book, it is readable, but it just isn't that gripping.  With the weather starting to turn nice, my attention seems to have moved elsewhere, and I find myself sometimes not picking up Gaddis' rather lengthy book for days at a time.  In fact I currently haven't read a page in four days.  Not a single word.

I have to admit I have been doing some other reading; a few non-fiction books that I normally consider temporary diversions, but have now become my only reading.  I suppose I just find it easier to pick up the lighter (both physically and mentally) Kitchen Confidential, than I do The Recognitions.  But of course, this cannot continue, or I'll never finish reading the remaining 46 books.

My next step, which I am about to do as soon as I am finished writing this, is to finish that "other book."  Currently that would be Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson.  I have about fifteen pages to go, and I then vow to not pick up another book until The Recognitions is complete, which might be awhile if for no other reason than I still have 350 pages to go.


Some good news, or rather some interesting news (for me anyway), is I have finally met somebody who has heard of The Sot-Weed Factor. Not only had he heard of it, he'd read it, he loved it, and he is a fan of John Barth's other works.  I was over-joyed to discuss the book with somebody else, which I have of course been unable to do, as I've never come across anybody who had even heard of it.  Unfortunately since it had been over 40 years since he had read it, his recollection wasn't as fresh as mine, but I'm hoping my enthusiasm for it, and eagerness to talk about it, was still appreciated.

Now back to my reading, and this time I'm serious.


Share This Page:

The Toaster Project

I came across an interesting book yesterday at the bookstore that provided me with a quick little diversion from my regular reading, The Toaster Project: Or A Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance From Scratch.  Author Thomas Thwaites embarks on a journey to build a toaster, something we use almost everyday, but likely have little to no understanding of how it works or how it is made.

 

His mission isn’t just to acquire the different parts and put them together, a difficult task in itself, but also to make each part from scratch.  Of course ‘from scratch’ can be difficult to define.  He quotes Carl Sagan who once said, if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”  For the purpose of this book however, Thwaites decides he wants to build all the pieces from raw materials, such as the casing, the heating element, and the wiring, and then put them all together to make a functioning toaster.

 

The problems arise immediately, as he discovers it is nearly impossible to acquire copper, steel or oil on a domestic scale.  As a representative from BP told him, “we’re just not set up for the scale you’re working at.  If you wanted a tanker full, we could maybe help…”  Then of course, most people also lack the necessary tools to turn raw ore into copper or oil into plastic.  Even with the knowledge of how to do so, these are herculean tasks.

 

The most intriguing part of the book for me was how people are so interconnected and reliant on others to have the things we use everyday.  Our overall knowledge may be much greater than the average person two hundred years ago, but if transported back in time, we’d be incapable of reproducing any of the devices we take for granted today.

 

In the end, Thwaites’ toaster cost $2000, with only 22 different parts, doesn’t’ work very well, and quite frankly looks terrible.  But he was able to make a toaster; sort of.

It was an enjoyable read overall, but I was hoping it would delve deeper into the actual making of the toaster.  Instead, most of the book talks about acquiring the raw materials and turning them into metals and plastics.  Don't get me wrong, that was interesting, but personally, I was more curious about the difficulty of making copper wiring, or creating the spring that will pop the toast up, and then trying to put them all together to make a functioning electrical appliance.  It has made me pause and think about the things around me however and in a way, how helpless I really would be without my usual comforts.  In the end, I like to think that was the point of the book.

Share This Page:

You may as well go stand upon the beach

Aloha from Hawai'i!  As I write this, I'm looking out over Waikiki, with the waves of the Pacific rolling onto the beach.  It's obviously a very nice setting, with perfect weather for doing anything outside.  While many may first think of sports, or maybe sun bathing, my favorite thing to do outside, in Hawai'i, is read.  With such a perfect temperature that isn't too warm or too cold, it's so nice to sit on the lanai or the beach, and read.

While I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my reading for the past couple of weeks, Hawai'i has gotten me back on track.  I have ten pages of Go Tell It on the Mountain remaining, and will head to the lanai to finish it as soon as I am done writing this post.  From there, I've brought two other books from the list with me, Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski.  I'll probably go with Animal Farm first, as I want to read it before I get to my 50th read because Orwell has two books on the list, and I haven't read either of them yet.  It's also a short read, possibly the shortest on the list, so I should be able to get through it quite quickly.  I suppose at the end of the day, I want to finish both books while I am in Hawai'i, and feel I shouldn't have any trouble.

I've already been in Hawai'i for a couple of days, and I have been able to do quite a bit of reading.  Besides reading 75% of Go Tell It on the Mountain, I have also read some non-fiction with Moneyball, by Michael Lewis.  But I also spent some time reading a yet-to-be-released book by local Calgary author Whitney Boyd, entitled Tanned, Toned, and Totally Faking It, which I had been asked to review.

No, it isn't anything close to my normal read, as I don't often get into 'chick-lit.'  I did read Bridget Jones' Diary, but that's probably about it.  This book followed a similar plot to many books from the genre, and was sort of a Notting Hill style story with a celebrity and a 'commoner.'  I'm always excited to see local authors succeed, so I wish Whitney all the best.  I enjoyed that the protagonist was originally from Calgary, went to the U of C, and drank at the Den.  It reminded me of...myself!  Instead of having the character be from a generic American town, as so many Canadian authors seem to do, she has stayed true to her roots so to speak.  And there was even a reference to the list, as the main love interest's name was Jordan Baker, also the name of Nick Carraway's love interest in The Great Gatsby.

Now it's outside to the lanai, to finish off my 46th read.

Literatured in the wars.

Before I started reading this list, most of the books I read were non-fiction, particularly history books, and primarily about World War II.  I've always had an interest in the War, and like to read as many books about it as I can.

But as I've been prodding my way through Time's list, I haven't spent much time reading about World War II.  In fact, I haven't read a War book in over two years.  I suppose Gone with the Wind could be a war book, but that's the Civil War.  The Berlin Stories would be the closest thing, taking place in 1933 Berlin, just as Hitler rose to power.  But it was published before the War began, and, well, it's a novel.  These aren't the books I used to read.

Last week, however, I started Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, falling off the wagon after so long.  I shouldn't say that, it isn't as if I've been purposely avoiding books about the War, I've just been trying to expand my horizons, and as a result haven't read any.  However, I'm starting to think I might not read any more either, until I have finished the list.

The problem I encounter when reading a War book, is I tend to move very slowly.  First off, I just read a little slower, as I try to soak everything up.  To make matters worse, I end up doing a lot of secondary reading.  When I come across unfamiliar people or places, I often hit my bookshelves to read up on a certain General, or maybe to look at a map, so I have a better understanding of the situation.

What this means, is that my reading schedule has become as bogged down as the soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad.  While I have been carrying Go Tell It on the Mountain around with me for the past week, I haven't put a dent in it at all.  I haven't even put a scratch in it.  I'm on page seven.  But I haven't forgotten about it, and I resolve this weekend to get some of it done.  I'm halfway through Stalingrad, so I think I'll take a brief break from it, giving me a chance to continue my prime objective; reading through these 100 All Time Novels.

When I to sulphurous and tormenting Flames

Looking back at my progress through the list these past couple of months, I realise I haven't been doing a very good job.  I finished The Blind Assassin on August 23rd, and I finished Under the Volcano on September 15th.  So even if I finish my current read, Portnoy's Complaint, in the next three days, I'll have essentially only read two books in one month.

But, I suppose that a two books per month pace is all I have ever shot for.  At that pace, I'd finish in just over four years, from start to finish.  But I had been doing so well, having knocked off six books in the previous two months.  That would have be finishing the remaining 55 books in about a year and a half.  Not bad.  But it looks like that isn't going to happen.

Though when I do look back at what I've read, I notice that while I'll only have read two books from the list in the previous month, I will have read seven other books, be they non-fiction or non-list books.  So I guess the real problem isn't that I haven't been reading, I just haven't been doing my assigned reading.

Previously I had mentioned my desire/need to read a couple of hockey books as slowing me down a bit.  And I fear that trend may continue.  Tonight is the Flames' first pre-season game, and I could become a little distracted.  But of course, I was able to get a lot of reading done during last year's hockey season, so I guess there is no reason to think this one will be any different.  Plus, I have a couple of trips planned for later in the year, both of which may provide me with ample time to squeeze in a few books.

I think the real key, is to re-focus myself onto reading the list, and stop spending so much time reading other books.  This doesn't mean I'll stop reading other books altogether, just not as much or as often.  Right now, I'm reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth for the list, and Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor on the side.  Both were started on the same day, so I've decided to use one as a yard stick for the other.  By this I mean, I'd like to finish Portnoy before I finish one-third of Stalingrad.  So far, I'm right on pace.

But to procrastinate his lifeless end.

I haven't posted anything in quite some time, and truth be told, it's because I've been so busy.  Not with anything important per se, but it has been unseasonably warm in Calgary the past week, and I've been outside enjoying it.  But ironically, I spent a lot of that time enjoying the outdoors, reading about Canada's winter sport, hockey.

I was in the library last week, picking up a couple of reads for the list, and happened to pass the sports section.  There I spotted a couple of titles that have been on my "to read" list for quite some time.  First was King of Russia, the story of former Flames and Team Canada coach Dave King's experiences being the first Russian coach in the KHL in the 2005 season.  Second was Stephen Brunt's book, Gretzky's Tears about the day hockey changed forever; the day Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

With the hockey season right around the corner (first pre-season game is in one week!), I have been a little hockey-deprived the past few months.  These books were a way to satisfy that need.  Of course I didn't plan on it monopolizing my time for several days.  I suppose hockey is my drug, and I was merely satisfying what William Burroughs called the 'Algebra of Need.'

I was a little disappointed with King of Russia because it didn't talk as much about life in Russia as I had hoped and focused more on his hockey season there.  Yes, it's a hockey book, and should be expected to be about hockey, but I thought there would be more of a focus on the little things that make living and working in Russia quite different from doing so in North America.  Too many times, King would touch on something quirky that had happened, something you wouldn't expect to see in Canada, but then never mention it again or ever really go into any detail.  Instead, he would go into a lot of detail with the games, explaining certain goals, penalties, etc.  It wasn't boring by any means, but left me wanting something a little different.

Gretzky's Tears meanwhile could be classified as much as a political science book as a sports book, delving so much into how Canada and the NHL changed the fateful day Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.  In a way, it's the 'where were you when Kennedy was shot' moment for Canada (I was in a hotel room in Spokane, Washington).  It was interesting to hear all the people from that trade, most notably Peter Pocklington and Bruce McNall, talk about the trade over twenty years later.  Brunt really gives an in-depth, behind the scenes look, at how it all came about.

But enough about hockey, where does that leave me on my quest to read Time Magazine's list of 100 Great Novels?  Well, I'd be lying if I said I haven't been moving quite slowly on that.  I'm still reading Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry, which sadly, I've been doing for a couple of weeks already.  It isn't that I dislike it or anything like that, it was merely the distraction of nice weather and hockey books.  I swear.  Although admittedly, it's a bit of a sluggish read at times.

However, I do only have fifteen pages to read, after making a good dent last night before falling asleep.  So, I will have finished it before the day is through so I can move on to number forty-five, which is still to be determined.

You may as well go stand upon the beach

I've been lucky enough to spend the past few days, basking in the sun of the Mayan Riviera, in Playa del Carmen.  While the trip's true purpose was to attend a friend's wedding, one of the side benefits is the amount of time I have to read.

There's really something about a vacation that puts me into a good reading mode.  I suppose while I'm at home, there are other things on my mind, or simply other things that need doing.  While on vacation, besides eating and sleeping, there isn't really anything that needs to be done.  I can spend all my time reading, without any nagging voice in the back of my head.  Plus, it's really nice to read, while sitting in the sun, with the sound of waves crashing down in the background.  We rarely hear this in Calgary.

My progress on my latest list read, Under the Volcano, has been...adequate; I'm about halfway through.  Truth be told, I've sort of slipped this past week, and while I've had so much time to read, I've been using that time to get in some non-fiction; most notably, The Professor and the Madman, the story of the making of the Oxford Dictionary, and Freakonomics, an interesting and unconventional way of looking at the world.  But those are finished now, so I'll be able to get back to Under the Volcano.

Speaking of non-fiction, there was some book news this week from Time magazine.  Six years after this list I am currently reading, they have released their 'All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books.'  I was a little surprised to see that I've only read two of them.  I've read a lot more non-fiction in the past ten years, and figured I would have read more of them, especially considering I'd read six of the novels before seeing this list.

I often thing about when I'm finished reading these 100 books, will I have less direction in my reading?  It serves as a motivator to have a list of books to get through, and also means that I always have a basic idea of what I'm going to be reading next.  Perhaps this non-fiction list can serve as that guide when I'm through with the novels.  But I think I've still got at least two years to think about that one, so I'll leave that decision for another day.

I can speak english, lord, as well as you;

While I've been reading John Updike's novel, Rabbit, Run, I also read The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, a wonderful book by Bill Bryson.  Once again, Bryson takes what could be a rather boring topic, and makes it interesting. I suppose it isn't that the topic is necessarily boring, but that people write about it in such boring fashion. Bryson uses language, research, and wit, to make a for a great, informative read.

I went to French immersion school growing up, and am now fluent (more or less!) in the language.  Of course I always groaned about how difficult it was, but looking back, I feel it must have been a breeze compared to someone trying to learn English as a second language.  There are simply too many things which are unexplainable, too many nuances that don't make sense.  Why are 'five' and 'good' pronounced differently than 'give' and 'food'? Why do Britons say 'lift' but Americans say 'elevator'? Why do we pronounce 'colonel' with an 'arr' sound? And where does the word 'fuck' come from, and why does it have so many meanings?

Why does English have so many words, and why do so many words mean the same thing?  I had never thought about it before, but other languages do not have a thesaurus; this is unique to English.  Of course, most languages only have a fraction of the words English does, so a thesaurus is unnecessary.  But in English, there are so many words, with so many synonyms and so many homonyms, a thesaurus is a necessary tool.

I leave you with the words 'set' and 'what'.  Both common words we all use everyday.  The word 'set', all of three letters long, takes five pages, and 15,000 words for its' 43 meaning to be explained in the Oxford English Dictionary.  The word 'what' is even more common, usually used every couple of sentences when we speak.  I defy anybody to explain what it means.


It looks to be a glorious Canada Day weekend, which I'll celebrate by reading on the patio.  Rabbit, Run is almost finished and there are nine other books from The List currently sitting on my mantle, just waiting to be read.

A goodly house: the feast smells well;

I've nearly finished my 37th book, The Sportswriter, with only a few dozen pages left.  I'm still not sure what I think of it as a book.  There are times when I'm mesmerized and can't put it down, and there are times I find it drags a little.  But all in all, it's one I'm enjoying, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with sports.

It has also provided me with two links to other books on The List, which for some reason I find really interesting.  I don't know why, but it seems odd or funny to me, that a book from a list of great books, would mention other books from the same list.  It first happened in The Corrections, when one of the characters was reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  In The Sportswriter, Frank, the protagonist, is asked how long it has been since he read The Sun Also Rises.  He doesn't recall, but figures it's probably been quite some time.  For me, I read it last September, #17 on my list.  Later on in the novel, Frank is listening to the radio, where a feminist announcer is reading dirty passages from Tropic of Cancer, my 10th read. If I had never read this book, I wouldn't really know what he was talking about.  I suppose, in a way, I can thank The List for making me a little smarter.  Or maybe just a little more aware.

While reading The Sportswriter I have also continued my plan of reading a non-fiction book at the same time.  Yesterday, I was able to finish A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.  Another book that mentions The Sun Also Rises, but I guess that's to be expected.  The book is really an account of Hemingway's time in Paris in the mid-20's while he was working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star Weekly.

Really, this book reads just like one of Hemingway's novels with short, too-the-point dialogue, and limited descriptions about settings or surroundings.  Hemingway talks about his experiences in Paris, being what he describes as 'very poor and very happy.'  He talks of the people he spent time with, most notably Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  It is the chapters about Fitzgerald I found particularly interesting.  Hemingway really paints an almost pathetic picture of the writer.  He describes him as a drunk and a  hypochondriac, who has very little self esteem and is basically an all-around helpless human being.  I think of The Great Gatsby and how it is received today and wonder how somebody like the man Hemingway describes, could write such a masterpiece.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

While continuing Gone with the Wind last week, I was able to squeeze in another non-fiction read;  The Man Who Loved Books Too Much.  It's the story of a man, John Gilkey, who spent most of the past decade stealing books for the love of books, not for profit.

When I first saw this title, I'll admit I was really only taken in by the cover, which has a shadowy figure in a fedora, standing in front of a tall bookcase, lined with old and rare titles.  I had an image in my head of a man, perhaps a scholar of some sort, who didn't want these books to fall into hands that wouldn't appreciate them as much as he would.  I envisioned trips through ancient libraries around the world, where Gilkey would amass large, leather bound books sealed with clasps or buckles.

I have to say I was a little disappointed.  John Gilkey lives in California, has no education, and steals from small rare book dealers by committing credit card fraud.  It seems Gilkey figured he could become something more than he is, if he were able to build a large rare book collection to admire and show off.  Using stolen credit cards, he 'buys' books from dealers, and is in and out of prison for most of his adult life.

Using stolen credit card numbers to commit his crimes wasn't really the romantic angle I was expecting or hoping for.  The book itself is well written, and much of the story was quite interesting, so I wasn't disappointed in that respect.  And it was very interesting to hear from the man himself, who was always more than ready to be interviewed for the book and really didn't, or couldn't, keep his mouth shut about his crimes.  But it couldn't make up for my disappointment in how it all played out and who was involved.

One thing of note is the number of books mentioned from The List.  But I guess that's to be expected in a book about...books.  Through his spree, Gilkey came into contact with ten different books found on The List, as well as several different authors.  And perhaps a little more interestingly, Gilkey was obsessed with the Modern Library 100 list, a catalogue not unlike the one I am currently reading through.  He thought it would very impressive to own first editions of all 100 books, and one day he said, he might even read them.  I recall my blog post from one year ago, talking about my desire to do the same thing.  Of course I would read them first.  And I probably wouldn't steal them.

Was i, to take this drunkard for a god

My reading has continued at a good pace this week and according to my Goodreads account, I'm 80% through The Sheltering Sky.  I'm enjoying it very much, and as soon as I'm finished writing this, I look forward to returning to it.

I've decided that part of my good progress since 'the big one,' since Infinite Jest, is due to the fact that I've been throwing in a little non-fiction on the side.  As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I find reading some non-fiction works as a motivational tool, causing me to actually read more often.  When I have two books I'm enjoying, I'm eager to read both, but must split my time; therefore I read more often.  If I'm not enjoying one of them, I make reading some of it mandatory before continuing with the book I am enjoying, so again, I read more often.  So far I haven't run into an instance where I don't like either book, so I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

The non-fiction book I just finished is called God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens.  Obviously this is a very polarizing book, and I don't really have any desire to get into any kind of religious debate, despite my feeling so passionately toward one side.  What I can comment on is what a good writer Hitchens is.  I'd never read anything of his before, and had only seen him in interviews or debates, where he carries himself as well as anybody, mostly due to his uncanny ability to recall quotes, facts, examples, etc.  Said Martin Amis (author or the book Money, which is on The List), "With his vast array of geohistorical references and precedents, he is almost Google-like; but...Christopher's search engine is much more finely tuned."  In God is not Great, Hitchens uses this 'google-like' ability to explain why he doesn't believe in any god, and why he feels 'religion poisons everything.'

As far as The List is concerned, I have been able to find some relevance.  Throughout my quest, I have been noting when one book from The List mentions another book, or at least an author.  Well God is not Great takes the cake, making references to eleven different authors and five different books from The List.  Some references tied in nicely to the book's theme, like C.S. Lewis, a tireless promoter and defender of religion, and Salman Rushdie, whose work offended some religious types so much they ordered him executed.  Other times, such as when Hitchens quotes The Adventures of Augie March, it doesn't pertain to religion necessarily, but rather he quotes them because great writers are so good at putting their thoughts on paper, why not borrow from their genius to make a real impact.  After some background research, I did discover Hitchens' love of literature, it seems to be his true passion.  Perhaps this is why he turns to the literary world the way many would turn to, ironically, religion.  I guess Hitchens prefers to look to the good books for advice (Hitchens also can't resist a bad pun).

For those interested, the authors mentioned in one way or another in God is not Great are Salman Rushdie, George Orwell, Saul Bellow, C.S. Lewis, Ian McEwan, Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Graham Greene, Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Joseph Heller.  As for books, Hitchens refers to Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-four, The Adventures of Augie March, Brideshead Revisited, and A Dance to the Music of Time.

I don't have any non-fiction reads ready to go right now, so my concentration will return solely to The List for the next few days.  I'll hopefully have number thirty four finished soon.  I'm still unsure of what thirty five will be, but am currently, as I type these words, staring at Gone with the Wind. And it's staring right back at me, I think daring me to read it.

In England and in Ireland, not confessing

I confess: I just finished reading a book that isn't on The List.  Last night, I finished A Course Called Ireland by Tom Coyne, a non-fiction work about the author's trip golfing around Ireland.

My reasons for straying from The List, is simply a way of continuing my dedication to reading and in the long run, I hope to only help my quest of reading all one hundred.  While I have been reading Ireland the past two weeks, I've also made my way through two thirds of my current List read; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The idea of reading two books, allows me to switch between the two and almost pitting the two read against each other.  If I finish one chapter from book A, I can move on to book B.  Sort of like having two salesmen competing against each other while still trying to reach the same goal.

Back to A Course Called Ireland, it's simply a fantastic read about Coyne's four-month journey around the Emerald Isle.  Not only did he walk the nearly 1000 holes he played while there, he also walked from course to course, covering over 1,100 miles, doing a circumnavigation of the island.  While obviously aimed at the golfer in the crowd, the book talks more about the country, the characters he meets, and his experiences off the course, opposed to focusing on the actual golf.  It's well written, it's interesting, its unique and thoroughly enjoyable.

As for the other book I'm reading right now, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, I'm nearly finished and hope to do so this weekend.  So far, it's a very good read and despite the story being set in the South during the depression, it isn't a downer at all.