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November 2, 2005
The Growing Reading List
In the 5 to 7 days before Christmas, I plan a slow and purposeful courtship with my soon-to-arrive Manhattan chair and matching ottoman from Pottery Barn. I'm lining up the beverage choices (one of those days I plan to try Gravner's old Roman-style "Breg") and reading list. Here is what I want to tackle in those painfully short days of complete withdrawal from the everyday rat race:
E.L. Doctorow's The March: a novel set against the backdrop of Sherman's savage burn through the South.
Charles Mann's 1491: a story of the legends, lies and cherished myths regarding the New World that European explorers stumbled upon.
Thoma Asbridge's The First Crusade: a history of, well, the first crusade. Though I fancy myself something of a history buff, my knowledge of the crusades is embarassingly limited.
Zadie Smith's On Beauty: A novel about sense, non-sense and downright silliness in the culture wars among and between the members of two academic families.
John Sugden's Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797: A biography of England's greatest naval hero.
Victor David Hanson's A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War : a whirlwind history of the West's very first "World War".
I know, I know: there is no possibility that life will seriously allow me the peace and quiet required to finish all of these in the allotted time.
But for now allow me the bliss of my delusions.
Posted by dag at November 2, 2005 9:16 PM