what are you reading when not on ILE

I just paid amazon £170+ on booXoR re my own research ... Mediums/Secret Monkey book as mentioned elsewhere (yes it IS research your snidey gets) but I have started none of the others yet...

This weekend I will be mostly reading of Pauline Oliveros interviews...

New Fortean Times has many pages on Pokémon PaNiXoR hurrah!!

_Citizens_, Simon Schama -- the chief popular revisionist English- language history of the French Revolution of the late twentieth century, for such it is, by everyone's favorite (or not) _History of Britain_ host. Detailed, with a clear narrative flow and many fascinating anecdotes, its chief argument is that far from being a simple 'ancien regime v. people' conflict, the Revolution was at least at the start a reaction against a monarchy eagerly embracing/ encouraging much in the way of technological development and potential reform, though not at the expense of its own privileges. Spends plenty of time building up a picture of the Louis XVI regime before getting to the Revolution itself, however defined. One of my all time favorite books, though certainly not without its detractors (the main accusation seems to be that it's a conservative-minded text, though I honestly think that's a case of reading the book's interpretation of the past in the terms of today). Wraps up with the founding of the Directory, making it in ways the perfect lead in for:

_Napoleon Bonaparte_ by Alan Schom -- the text I mentioned previously. A recent book (about four years old) and about the same length as _Citizens_, aka long but damn well readable. It goes over his life and death in exhaustive detail, but never losing its key argument -- that Bonaparte, while an honestly fascinating figure worthy of study, was at base and for all his charisma a tyrannical, bloody-minded warlord/mass murderer combined, who used everything and everybody for his own ends from top to bottom and who manipulated everything possible to create an alternate public image for his own time and the future. As a counterpoint to the implicit and explicit valorization Bonaparte receives, especially since he can so easily be identified with French patriotic glory (and since, unlike Hitler, he pursued no open policies of destruction against ethnic groups -- political and military enemies, another matter entirely!), it's astoundingly necessary.

I'd also suggest Lesley Branch's _The Sabres of Paradise_ -- nothing to do with Napoleon, but everything to do with the Murid Wars between Czarist Russia and the Islamic states of the Caucasus in the nineteenth century. If you wanted to know the roots of the Chechnyan conflicts of recent years, this is where to start.

For starters I like too find a really good book on the russian expansion into asia, and a less anglo take on the Indian northwest frontier expansion and Afgan wars. From there, indulge me, I know very little about ALexander the great or the mongols post genghis. Any ideas?

But what do I read? Not enough and too much. I'm a literary editor for one of the Edgy Consumer Magazines I write for and am constantly beating myself up for superficial theoretical knowledge, but have to read at least ten review books each month. And it depresses me that I can't get to more of the books I am sent, which sit on my shelves looking good but don't really get read.

His TV progs piss me off too: HE's the one who reads everything in terms of today, where the pinnacle of human yearning = a suburban semi in Pinner and kids able to go to a minor public school. A glib whig, feh.

-- Alexander bios -- Peter Green's _Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C. : a historical biography_, like the Schom biography an examination with a critical eye. I also recommend his hefty _Alexander to Actium_ as a broad study of the Hellinistic world.

-- Russian Asian expansion/Mongols post-Genghis -- unfortunately nothing to suggest off the top of my head, sorry Ed!

-- _White Teeth_ -- very popular here at my campus in southern California, actually! The insular nature of the book as mentioned doesn't prevent it from carrying over, it seems.

-- Austen -- not everyone's cup of tea, as Anthony puts it, but as engaging miniatures in word form, I can't help but love them. Try _Northanger Abbey_ for her satire on the Gothic novel. If you need something more coruscating in your life, do not pass go -- Ambrose Bierce's _The Devil's Dictionary_, one of my all time favorite books.

-- Schama -- I do like Mark S.'s description of his attitude, actually! Might explain why my mom is so taken with him. ;-) That said, I disagree to an extent with his criticism of _Citizens_ -- seems to me that while he might not have concentrated on said businessmen in specific, they were still always there in the discussion, as it were, so perhaps the objection is one of focus? However, I haven't read it in a couple of years, so I won't claim specifics...

-- Other good recommendations:

Roland Huntford, _Scott and Amundsen_, aka _The Last Place on Earth_ -- the astounding mythic-Scott-demolishing study of the race for the South Pole, extremely well-researched and written. Has given Scott supporters cows ever since, but even discounting Huntford's clear narrative bias in favor of Amundsen, for my money the evidence is all clearly presented -- Scott: unplanned, chaotic bungler; Amundsen: calculating, professional explorer. The results speak for themselves.

Adam Hochschild, _King Leopold's Ghost_ -- a heartbreaking read, but a necessary one -- looks specifically at the Scramble for Africa via a study of the Congo Free State, Leopold of Belgium's horrifically run and abused private natural resource reserve passed off via the media as a noble example of civilization. Hochschild further studies the contradictory attitudes of those campaigning against Leopold's labor camp as well as the afterechoes colonization has had in Africa to the present. It pities nobody and takes no prisoners. Thomas Parkenham's _The Scramble For Africa_ is a good general study of the time, but Hochschild is the one you'll remember most.

I agree that Huntford seems to leave Scott almost nothing, but here and there he acknowledges his gifts -- a good conversationalist and in one telling incident regarding the scientists at McMurdo Sound accompanying the expedition but not part of the naval chain of command, an amiable and enthusiastic participant in general technical debate. Huntford notes that Scott would have been a brilliant scientific popularizer, which suits the positive part of his personality -- but on no account should he have had anything to do with command and responsibility for lives. (My dad was an excellent US Navy officer himself, so I speak from the heart on that one -- you can't have an indecisive, non- planning waffler in charge.)

Other good reads in history/biography I've come across:

Jacques Barzun, _From Dawn to Decadence_ -- a massive, idiosyncratic and fascinating personal study of Western European culture and its offshoots from the Reformation to now. Amusingly even mentions Garbage near the very end. Very French, well worth it.

W. Bruce Lincoln, _In War's Dark Shadow_ -- enjoyable popular history of Russia in the final years of czardom before World War I. A good counterpart to the equally readable if limited Robert Massie volume _Nicholas and Alexandra_, in that Lincoln focuses on the country and culture rather than the monarchs. If you've ever read Moorcock's first Colonel Pyat volume _Byzantium Endures_ (or plan on it), this is extremely good reading to accompany it. But having mentioned Massie, credit where credit is due:

Robert Massie, _Peter the Great_ and _Dreadnought_ -- the first is actually my girlfriend's favorite book, and I can see why, it's a very good narrative take on the Russian emperor, perhaps a little too worshipful but generally tries not to excuse his brutalities (and certainly makes clear the social context in which he learned them). _Dreadnought_ studies the naval war race in Europe before World War I.

Edmund White, _Jean Genet_ -- White's recent bio of Genet, exhaustive and a bit exhausting (I'm still not done reading it, who knows when I'll get back to it!). Helps to situate Genet vis-a-vis his depicted narrative self in texts like _Our Lady of the Flowers_.

Theodore Draper, _A Struggle for Power_ -- another one I need to finally finish, but what I read of it a cogent analysis of where power was located in the 13 colonies before the American Revolution and how that in turn helped feed the eventual Revolution itself. A reasonable power-politics take on an overly hallowed event.

B. Netanyahu, _The Origins of the Inquisition_ -- distinctly non-light reading, this hefty tome; an extremely in-depth study of the Inquisition as it originated in Spain, with particular focus on the insidious switch in focus from religion (practicing Jew or not?) to bloodlines (descended from a Jew or not?), the implications of which don't need to be spelled out, I trust. Horrifying but necessary knowledge.

Fawn Brodie, _No Man Knows My History_ -- doubtless Anthony knows this one! The holy grail of sorts for anti- and ex-Mormons, Brodie's is the definitive biography of Joseph Smith, continually fought against since by Morg-approved historians (notably the utterly flipped out Hugh Nibley) but as yet still unchallenged from a strictly unbiased point of view. Doesn't so much seek to destroy Smith as situate and humanize him. Mormon history itself is one of my particular fascinations, and there's a lot of stuff out there. I'd also suggest two more recent 'true crime' books that actually do well at investigating modern Mormonism -- _A Gathering of Saints_ by Robert Lindsay, an excellent investigation of the Mark Hoffman letter frauds perpetrated on the LDS and the accompanying murders (many ex-Mormons point to this as a key moment that shook their faith, since the obvious implications was that the 'prophets of god' could not in fact recognize falsehood) and...* searches*...bother, can't find it and can't recall the exact title, but it's about a weird cult offshoot of the Reorganized LDS and is a fine study of that often-ignored segment of the Mormon population.

Edward Behr, _Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite_ -- ostensibly a study of Nicole Ceascescu and his regime in Romania, but actually a quite fine study of Romania itself from the late nineteenth century to Romania's fall. Could use some updating.

Hm. More as they hit me.

"and when i sa he have a face like a tomato he repli i forgive you molesworth for those uncouth words ..."

Also I am still reading that book about GIN, and a book on VAMPRYES in literature which I have borrowed off BtG which I should really hurry up and give back... bah.

I have just finished INGENIOUS PAIN too. It is about a bloke who can't feel pain. Then there is a race to Russia. Then he DOES feel pain and goes insane. Then he dies. RAR!

kind of wanna get on and read some valery, or maybe that bataille thing ian penman mentioned in ver vire

I've got a load of Gene Wolfe stuff around, really need to give it a go properly. But for right now it's annual LOTR reread time -- and every time I catch a line or a turn of phrase that hadn't leapt out at me before.

I am reading the former because I, after a long period of not reading, have accumulated too many books and have decided that the only way out of my indecisiveness is to read all my books in alphabetical order by author (I am doing fiction first).

I just began this process over the weekend, over which I sped through Things Fall Apart by Achebe, which I never really liked. I wonder if the acclaim for the book has something to do with when it was published? After the popular advent of relativism, multiculturalism, post-colonial theory, etc., some aspects of Achebe's book seem rather quaint or obvious. Also, some of Achebe's portrayals of Okonkwo read like modern-day pop-psychology, which is not Achebe's fault, of course.

As for Crash, should I be too embarassed to admit that I found out about it mostly because of Electroclash and the admiration for "Warm Leatherette"? One way or the other, the book is not part of my alphabetized reading scheme, but rather was something i picked up on Friday night when I needed something to read on the subway home from DC.

Hurrah! PiL/Houellebecq -- Marcello = my new favorite writer! Off to look...

Couch and Appleman on Insurance

I try to alternate between fiction/non-fiction books, and then alternate within genres, such as Asian lit, American lit, schlock novels, traveloges, historical novels, biographies, poly. sci., etc. And I usually make myself a stack of about seven books, with entries from each genre, and I don't allow myself to read anything else until the pile has been depleated. Kind of anal, I know, but I am presently cursed (blessed?) with 10 shelves, double-stacked, of reading material. If I don't approach the books with a system I think I'd get into too much of a rut and stick with one genre for a while, neglecting other things.

>i know i am not insane
On what grounds, out of curiosity?

Just started Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid.

I should really start reading some fiction, but aggh! I never know where to start. Last fiction book I read all the way through was Lolita this summer. Oh, and White Noise by Don DeLillo. Gah, I need help.

I like the idea of reading one of those movie review guides all the way through, from A to Z. Not sure I could actually do it, though.

Also, I just got hold of Umberto Eco's Baudolino, so I expect to revive the Book Club in a few days...

PELHAM Or, ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN is GREBT. Do any of you speak Latin?

Sophie Kinsella, Can You Keep A Secret?

David Barnett, Love and Poison

Brideshead Revisited (Waugh)
Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time (Hadden)
Uncle Tungsten (Sacks)
Smithsonian latest issue
New Yorker latest issue
New York Times daily
Boston Globe dot com daily
Washington Post dot com daily.