22/7/07 : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
I’m a grown man and as such refuse to suggest that I even contemplated weeping at the conclusion of the book. Now I can sit with that hollow feeling that I’ve lost an old friend, never to excite me again, smugly smiling to myself that at least some of my guesses were right.
[Edit]
Hang on a mo, I’ve spotted a massive error here chaps!
How could [x] remove [x] from [x] when placed on his [x] when the [x] had been given to [x] after [x] had broken into [x]? When you’ve finished the book, tell me, because I’m scratching my head here.
20/7/07: The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken
Written in my diary at work
Al Franken’s books are a slog. Not because he has a poor prose style but because it’s hard not to be driven to a psychotic rage when you read the litany of crimes the current U.S. administration will avoid punishment for. I tried to reccomend the book to a friend who in typical fashion defended the (alleged) child prostition and enforced abortions of the slaves of Saipan as beneficial to capitalism. It made me wonder if he was serious, I wasn’t in the mood for such irony when all I wanted to do was react violently.
Having finished the book at 3:00am and expected the shift to end early, I shall have to sit my remaining hours seething in jealousy at those who are already well into the final Harry Potter.
17/6/07 Freakonomics by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Despite its relative brevity, Freakonomics presents a wide series of alternative explanations for commonly understood social trends. Minor sections are spent talking about the work of Stetson Kennedy (Who used a Superman radio show to destroy the KKK*) and why Crack dealers operate the same business model as McDonalds, but the main thrust of their book deals with how abortion laws and crime statistics are tied together and how a child’s development is correlated to how many books they have in the house, but not the marital status of the parents. It’s fascinating reading, light and accessible, presenting it’s left-field suggestions with sufficient certainty to make you pay attention. Why not check out their blog at Freakonomics.com and see for yourselves?
*Wikipedia however, suggests differently.
Every year my girlfriend makes the resolution to read 52 books in a year. I just resolve to read more. In the last 6 months, I’ve read 6 books; I rarely feel like reading after pouring at a textbook for days on end, but this is an appalling state of affairs. So I’m doubling up my stakes. Starting now, on the 17th July, I’m going to try to read 52 books before January 1st 2008.
I’m going to cheat a little by counting the books I’ve already started, and the books I’ve read over the past few weeks on slow nights at work, but the hope is to see how close I can get to 52 in the next six months.
