Books & Reading Books

The Charlemagne Pursuit: A Novel

Steve Berry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As a child, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone was told his father died in a submarine disaster in the North Atlantic, but now he wants the full story and asks his ex-boss, Stephanie Nelle, to secure the military files. What he learns stuns him: His father’s sub was a secret nuclear vessel lost on a highly classified mission beneath the ice shelves of Antarctica.

But Malone isn’t the only one after the truth.

Twin sisters Dorothea Lindauer and Christl Falk are fighting for the fortune their mother has promised to whichever of them discovers what really became of their father–who died on the same submarine that Malone’s father captained.

The sisters know something Malone doesn’t: Inspired by strange clues discovered in Charlemagne’s tomb, the Nazis explored Antarctica before the Americans, as long ago as 1938. Now Malone discovers that cryptic journals penned in “the language of heaven,” inscrutable conundrums posed by an ancient historian, and the ill-fated voyage of his father are all tied to a revelation of immense consequence for humankind.

In an effort to ensure that this explosive information never rises to the surface, Langford Ramsey, an ambitious navy admiral, has begun a brutal game of treachery, blackmail, and assassination. As Malone embarks on a dangerous quest with the sisters–one that leads them from an ancient German cathedral to a snowy French citadel to the unforgiving ice of Antarctica–he will finally confront the shocking truth of his father’s death and the distinct possibility of his own.

How Fiction Works

James Wood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Amazon Best of the Month, July 2008: The first thing you'll notice about How Fiction Works is its size. At 252 pages, it's a marvel of economy for a book that asks such a huge question and right away you'll want to know (as you might at the start of a new novel) what the author has in store. James Wood takes only his own bookshelves as his literary terrain for this study, and that in itself is the most delightful gift: he joins his audience as a reader, citing his chosen texts judiciously--ranging from Henry James (from whom he takes the best epigraph to a book I've ever read) to Nabokov, Joyce, Updike, and more--to explore not just how fiction works, mechanically speaking, but to reflect on how a novelist's choices make us feel that a novel ultimately works ... or doesn't. Wood remarks that you have to "read enough literature to be taught by it how to read it." His terrific bibliography will surely be a boon to anyone's education, but it's his masterful writing that you'll want to keep reading over the course of your life. --Anne Bartholomew

Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America

Jay Parini

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“These thirteen books must be seen as representative, not definitive, works. They are nodal points, places where vast areas of thought and feeling gathered and dispersed, creating a nation as various and vibrant as the United States, which must be considered one of the most successful nation-states in modern history, and a republic built firmly on ideas, which are contained in its major texts. Where we have been must, of course, determine where we are going. My hope is that this book helps to show us where we have been and engenders a lively conversation about our destination, which seems perpetually in dispute.”
—from Promised Land

Americans need periodic reminding that they are, to a great extent, people of the book—or, rather, books. In Promised Land, Jay Parini repossesses that vibrant, intellectual heritage by examining the life and times of thirteen "books that changed America." Each of the books has been a watershed, gathering intellectual currents already in motion and marking a turn in American life and thought. Their influence remains pervasive, however hidden, and in his essays Jay Parini demonstrates how these books entered American life and altered how we think and act in the world.

The thirteen "books that changed America":
Of Plymouth Plantation • The Federalist Papers • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Walden • Uncle Tom's Cabin • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • The Souls of Black Folk • The Promised Land • How to Win Friends and Influence People • The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care • On the Road • The Feminine Mystique

Promised Land offers a reading of the American psyche, allowing us to reflect on what our past means for who we are now. It is a rich and immensely readable work of cultural history that will appeal to all book lovers and students of the American character alike.

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone book)

Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Touchstone Amazon Marketplace: 116 new & used starting at $5.49

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 104 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

rip-off 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 60 people found this review helpful.

i bought this book to learn how to read, but then i found out i couldn't read it. :(

Useful, but much longer than necessary 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is a review of "How to read a book" by Adler (May 2008).

This book was recommended to me by several authors I liked so aftr reading the positive reviews I decided to buy it. I can see that some see this book as 'timeless' and I think that is true, but I have also some criticism.

Pros:
- I see the main value of the book in teaching you the ability to structure your reading process/effort so that you get maximum value out of reading any book. For experienced readers (age 35+) this may be already a kind of automatism, but for less experienced (either in terms of #years or in terms of type of topic) this is probably not the case.
- I liked in particular the fact that the author not only discusses how to read book with emphasis on analytic content (rational / scientific / factual type of books), but also other kinds of literature.

Cons:
- The book is way too long. The author takes many pages to make a point that can also be done in 30% of the space. Fortunately, the author provides summaries of his 'rules' and tips. Nevertheless, an author who writes about how to efficiently read a book, should be brief himself! Just as you may expect from a dedicated reader that he reads efficiently, you may expect from a good writer he thinks through how to make a point, and be brief in the end, not forcing a reader to read many superfluous pages. Adler failed here. This makes me downgrade my rating.

Bottom line: If possible get it from a library; I would not recommend buying this book if you are in the second half of your 'reading life'.

Editorial Review:

How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.

You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them -- from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.

Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests whereby you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension and speed.

The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition

Lewis Carroll

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton & Company Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $17.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations!"

Readers who share Alice's taste in books will be more than satisfied with The Annotated Alice, a volume that includes not only pictures and conversations, but a thorough gloss on the text as well. There may be some, like G.K. Chesterton, who abhor the notion of putting Lewis Carroll's masterpiece under a microscope and analyzing it within an inch of its whimsical life. But as Martin Gardner points out in his introduction, so much of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is composed of private jokes and details of Victorian manners and mores that modern audiences are not likely to catch. Yes, Alice can be enjoyed on its own merits, but The Annotated Alice appeals to the nosy parker in all of us. Thus we learn, for example, that the source of the mouse's tale may have been Alfred Lord Tennyson who "once told Carroll that he had dreamed a lengthy poem about fairies, which began with very long lines, then the lines got shorter and shorter until the poem ended with fifty or sixty lines of two syllables each." And that, contrary to popular belief, the Mad Hatter character was not a parody of then Prime Minister Gladstone, but rather was based on an Oxford furniture dealer named Theophilus Carter.

Gardner's annotations run the gamut from the factual and historical to the speculative and are, in their own way, quite as fascinating as the text they refer to. Occasionally, he even comments on himself, as when he quotes a fellow annotator of Alice, James Kincaid: "The historical context does not call for a gloss but the passage provides an opportunity to point out the ambivalence that may attend the central figure and her desire to grow up." And then follows with a charming riposte: "I thank Mr. Kincaid for supporting my own rambling." There's a lot of information in the margins (indeed, the page is pretty evenly divided between Carroll's text and Gardner's), but the ramblings turn out to be well worth the time. So hand over your old copy of Lewis Carroll's classic to the kids--this Alice in Wonderland is intended entirely for adults. --Alix Wilber

Book Lovers Page-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Original Page a Day Calendars)

Workman Publishing Company

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent for booklovers 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is definitely my favorite boxed calendar. I am a devoted reader, but have only so much time to check out what is new and interesting. And I am not fond of trolling through big box bookstores trying to find something. This calendar has 365 brief reviews of books of all kinds, most of which I have never heard of, and probably would not have considered reading without a recommendation. The reviews are concise, often funny and informative. And it is a plus that I can (and do!) recycle the torn off pages of the calendar for scratch paper.

Editorial Review:

Packed with hundreds of great reads, Book Lover's is the calendar that keeps you reading. So many books to choose from: In a Dry Season, Peter Robinson's beautifully crafted mystery set in the Yorkshire Dales. From Diane Ackerman, a fascinating probe into the secrets of the brain. Pat Conroy recalls his time as a point guard at the Citadel. Plus an A. J. Liebling reader, a ghostwriter's efforts to find her own voice, classic Thornton Wilder, and Luc Sante's lively portrait of old New York. Size: 6" w x 5.5" h.

i before e (except after c)

Parkinson Judy

Amazon Price: $9.59 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Readers Digest Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $8.09

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Here is an amusing collection of ingenious mnemonics devised to help us learn and understand hundreds of important fact as children and can continue to resonate with us as adults.

Featuring all the mnemonics you’ll ever need to know, this fun little book will bring back all the simple, easy-to-remember rhymes from your childhood—once learned, fix the information in the brain forever—such as learning to count by reciting “One, Two, buckle my shoe, Three, Four, knock at the door.” Packed with clever verses, engaging acronyms, curious—and sometimes hilarious—sayings that can be used to solve a problem or cap an argument.

Take a trip back to the classroom, and rediscover the assortment of practical memory aids covering a range of different subjects, including spelling, time, mathematics, history, general trivia, and much more. The information is organized in short snippets by category such as:
* Geographically Speaking: Remember North East South West by reciting Never Eat Slimy Worms or Naughty Elephants Squirt Water.
* Time and the Calendar: “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have 31 excepting February alone; And that has 28 days clear; With 29 in each leap year”
* Think of a Number: Know the Roman numerals by remembering “I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk”
* World History: “In fourteen hundred, ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, And found this land, land of the Free, beloved by you, beloved by me”

The clever verses, engaging acronyms, curious sayings are endless. Guaranteed to amuse and inform, here is a perfect gift for any language lover—complete with a To/From gift plate.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

A. J. Jacobs

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 118 new & used starting at $3.50

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Total reviews: 220 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

33,000 PAGES

44 MILLION WORDS

10 BILLION YEARS OF HISTORY

1 OBSESSED MAN

Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z.

To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but unconvinced.

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and the paralyzing fear that attends his first real-life responsibility -- the impending birth of his first child.

The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions, and a struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.

Reading Woman 2009 Wall Calendar

Amazon Price: $11.19 List Price: $13.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: ART - Model: BAKER-BT9780764943010 Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $9.19

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Features:

• Size: 13 X 12
• Art

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This is NOT a wall calendar... 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 20 people found this review helpful.

I wish the product description would have mentioned this product's format. It is an "engagement calendar" --- a spiral bound book-type calendar. The artwork is very nice, but I was shopping for a wall calendar.

Devoted Readers 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Words and image combine in this calendar to create an homage to reading and women who read. The words are quotations from know authors such as Gertrude Stein ("Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing"), and the images are mostly pictures of oils by equally known painters such as Mary Cassatt ("Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa Reading")--2007 calendar.

The calendar measures 12" wide by 13" length (26" open). Dates are in roomy 1 1/2" squares, and all special days are noted. I have used this calendar for three years straight now. My husband gave me my first "The Reading Women," and I liked it so well that I could not part with it. Lucky for me, I did not have to because it has not ceased publication.

Editorial Review:

Images by 16th to 20th Century European artists invite you to imagine the details of the reading woman's experience. Each accompanied by a quote or literary excerpt on the subject of books and reading.

The Tao of Pooh

Benjamin Hoff

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Total reviews: 217 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Pooh vs. Confucius. 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'm right to review this book for two reasons, and wrong for one. First, AA Milne was the first book I remember looking for in the school library, as a child. My "inner child" (which is mostly in control of the outer adult, anyway) rejoiced in an excuse to revisit 100 Acre Wood. Second, as a missionary in China (and later author of a book on "How Jesus fulfills the Chinese Culture"), I also learned to love Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, and learn from them. Third, however, while as Hoff correctly points out, there's a little of each these characters in each of us, the owl usually emerges in me when I start critiquing books.

By and large, this is a pleasant and successful introduction to philosophical Taoism. Sometimes it's confusing which are the bits Pooh said in Milne, and which are the bits Hoff added -- even though the font is different -- but then, Hoff's Pooh sometimes sounds quite different from Milne's Pooh. Sometimes he even comes across as overly clever, which is not in character.

When I asked young people in China, I found that more seemed to admire Confucius than Lao Zi. Let me devote the rest of my review to explaining that, in light of Hoff's depiction of both.

If Pooh disses Owl, you can't blame him because (1) He's a stuffed animal; (2) It's funny; and (3) Hoff is critiquing archeotypes, not individuals. When Zhuang Zi disses Confucius, the second two excuses also apply: there's a bit of sectarian edge, but it's more Saturday Night Live than Inquisition. When Hoff steps out of character to diss "dissicated" intellectual types, there's a bit of humor, but it's harder to draw the line between fair critique and cheap shot.

The truth is, lots of "owls" are reasonable people. Confucius was one: he loved music, took disciples hiking, and admitted when he didn't know something. And lots of "Poohs" can't tell their heads from the hole in a honey jar, making them not cute and wise, but common, ignorant gluttons.

But this is a critique of Taoism in general, not just Hoff, and certainly not Pooh. This is why Taoism was never "the Way" in China. There was a reaction, often a healthy one, to the Lao-Zhuang philosophy. It's the weakness of early Taoist philosophy -- reflected by Hoff's over-generalizations and over-simplicities -- that it did not make the difference clear. Folk Taoism ran off in one diametrically different direction -- as Hoff appears not to know, but probably does -- and Buddhists and Confucius' more proper and stuffy disciples (who often did live down to the caricature) in another. Each had its up side and its down side. Imagine Pooh singing and philosophizing cheerfully at the still-warm grave of Piglet: that's Zhuang Zi, at one point.

The world would be poorer without Pooh, and much poorer without the aphorisms of Lao Zi and the stories of Zhuang Zi. They don't make a full philosophy of life, but they do make part of one; and Hoff's little book is a good, sometimes flawed and sometimes too accurate, but often fun, introduction.

Editorial Review:

Is there such thing as a Western Taoist? Benjamin Hoff says there is, and this Taoist's favorite food is honey. Through brilliant and witty dialogue with the beloved Pooh-bear and his companions, the author of this smash bestseller explains with ease and aplomb that rather than being a distant and mysterious concept, Taoism is as near and practical to us as our morning breakfast bowl. Romp through the enchanting world of Winnie-the-Pooh while soaking up invaluable lessons on simplicity and natural living.