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Reading Update #29
Mar. 4th, 2007 05:43 pmI'm down to one class now, so hopefully the reading time will increase. I'll also have to do something while I'm in AZ other than go to the gym, and reading is probably it.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann basically looks at the idea that the Native Americans had some pretty nice societies going in the pre-Columbian era, and the research going into that era now. It was a good read, except for the part where I had to exchange my copy at B&N because it was a bad printing (pages blank).
A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America by James Horn was something I read for my Colonial America class to do my book review assignment on, but it was good, and well-worth buying. It's a pretty interesting story that makes you wonder why the Mayflower crew got such good press (although I believe there's a book out by Nathaniel Philbrick that covers the interesting history of the founding there).
The Queen's Man by Sharon Kay Penman was good, especially since I picked it up in the UBS. I'm probably going to read the next one when I reduce my to-be-read pile some. An engaging mystery, with a nice twist on who should and should not be trusted.
On Top of Spahetti... by Johanne Killeen and George Germon was an excellent pasta cookbook, nice value for the money.
I also acquired the Weight Watchers Cookbook to have around for some ideas. I'm not thinking about joining, but some of the recipes look tasty.
One of the Guys is a book edited by Tara McKelvey of essays dealing with women in combat, mostly dealing with essays concerning the women involved at Abu Ghraib. It wasn't as good a book as I was hoping, as most of the authors didn't seem to get a lot about being female in the military.
I also picked up the fifteenth anniversary edition of Backlash by Susan Faludi. There's a new preface, but that's all that's new. However, the book has large chunks of "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Some of the material has been covered in other books I've read, but it was still a very useful read. I agree with her about the danger of "trend reporting" and about the effort the media puts into playing women off of each other.
The 51% Minority by Lis Wiehl (who I was very surprised to find out works for Fox News because she makes a lot of points I agree with, which I do not normally associate with that network) is a good look at the inequities women still face, and THINGS TO DO in response. The back of the book includes what she calls a "women's toolbox" of agencies to be contacted and actions to be taken. I was a little annoyed at the list of physical precautions she recommends that women take to be safe in their homes, when generally the dangers to women come from inside the home, but otherwise it's good.
On the Regency front, I read An Encounter with Venus by Elisabeth Mansfield, A Matchmaker's Christmas by Donna Simpson, Valentine's Change of Heart by Elisabeth Fairchild, and The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley. The Beverley one was the best, IMO, although the Venus one was also intriguing, with an older woman/younger man pairing.
Lastly, I got through 2 Nancy Drew titles, #55, Mystery of Crocodile Island and #43, The Mystery of the 99 Steps. I'm pretty well along in my collection of these, with just a few titles that I haven't read. They were both pretty readable, although I think I may have read 99 Steps before, or the plot's really similar to something else.
I'll try to update the reading filter once more before I head off for AZ.
DV
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann basically looks at the idea that the Native Americans had some pretty nice societies going in the pre-Columbian era, and the research going into that era now. It was a good read, except for the part where I had to exchange my copy at B&N because it was a bad printing (pages blank).
A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America by James Horn was something I read for my Colonial America class to do my book review assignment on, but it was good, and well-worth buying. It's a pretty interesting story that makes you wonder why the Mayflower crew got such good press (although I believe there's a book out by Nathaniel Philbrick that covers the interesting history of the founding there).
The Queen's Man by Sharon Kay Penman was good, especially since I picked it up in the UBS. I'm probably going to read the next one when I reduce my to-be-read pile some. An engaging mystery, with a nice twist on who should and should not be trusted.
On Top of Spahetti... by Johanne Killeen and George Germon was an excellent pasta cookbook, nice value for the money.
I also acquired the Weight Watchers Cookbook to have around for some ideas. I'm not thinking about joining, but some of the recipes look tasty.
One of the Guys is a book edited by Tara McKelvey of essays dealing with women in combat, mostly dealing with essays concerning the women involved at Abu Ghraib. It wasn't as good a book as I was hoping, as most of the authors didn't seem to get a lot about being female in the military.
I also picked up the fifteenth anniversary edition of Backlash by Susan Faludi. There's a new preface, but that's all that's new. However, the book has large chunks of "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Some of the material has been covered in other books I've read, but it was still a very useful read. I agree with her about the danger of "trend reporting" and about the effort the media puts into playing women off of each other.
The 51% Minority by Lis Wiehl (who I was very surprised to find out works for Fox News because she makes a lot of points I agree with, which I do not normally associate with that network) is a good look at the inequities women still face, and THINGS TO DO in response. The back of the book includes what she calls a "women's toolbox" of agencies to be contacted and actions to be taken. I was a little annoyed at the list of physical precautions she recommends that women take to be safe in their homes, when generally the dangers to women come from inside the home, but otherwise it's good.
On the Regency front, I read An Encounter with Venus by Elisabeth Mansfield, A Matchmaker's Christmas by Donna Simpson, Valentine's Change of Heart by Elisabeth Fairchild, and The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley. The Beverley one was the best, IMO, although the Venus one was also intriguing, with an older woman/younger man pairing.
Lastly, I got through 2 Nancy Drew titles, #55, Mystery of Crocodile Island and #43, The Mystery of the 99 Steps. I'm pretty well along in my collection of these, with just a few titles that I haven't read. They were both pretty readable, although I think I may have read 99 Steps before, or the plot's really similar to something else.
I'll try to update the reading filter once more before I head off for AZ.
DV
