podpolia

Well, I’m still very far behind in making my list of books that I have read. As in, almost a year behind — the first book on this list was one I finished reading on April 15, 2005. Anyhow, without further ado, here are this entry’s ten books:

Gideon’s Trumpet — Lewis
Fear And Trembling — Kierkegaard
Complete Short Stories And Poems — Poe
Death’s Acre — Bass
The Amityville Horror — Anson
Dreams of Terror and Death — Lovecraft
The Master and Margarita — Bulgakov
The Picture of Dorian Gray — Wilde
Books That Changed The World — Downs
What If? — Cowley

We’ll start at the top. Gideon’s Trumpet is the story behind the Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainright, the case that set precedent that required defendents not on trial for their lives to also be given court-appointed defense lawyers. This is definitely an interesting story for those who are interested in the Supreme Court and its role in making law.
Fear And Trembling is a fascinating piece by Soren Kierkegaard that discusses religious themes and morality, and focuses a great deal on the Biblical story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Kierkegaard develops a very deep and subtle moral framework from which to view Abraham’s activities, and goes into the story in depth.
Edgar Allen Poe’s Complete Short Stories And Poems is a full collection of his famous (and not-so-famous) works. I found myself to be quite drawn to his nautical stories, even moreso than to the more well-known short stories like Hop-Frog, The Pit and the Pendulum, or the Tell-Tale Heart (which all make their own apperances in this book). The book is fairly long (as one would expect with a complete collection) but definitely worth the time to read.
Death’s Acre is an absolutely amazing book by the (relatively) famous forensic anthropologist Bill Bass. In it, he discusses his career, some of his more noteworthy cases (some of which are better than a lot of fictional detective stories) and his research facility, the “Body Farm,” where he and others do research on the decomposition of human bodies. This facility is what gives the book its name. Despite the topic, most of the book is not terribly disgusting. Some parts might make some people squeamish, but for the most part all of the parts about decomposing bodies are handled in a professional, medical manner that gives a great deal of intellectual insight into the topic without being overly disgusting. This is definitely a book I would recommend.
During this particular period of time, I seem to have been interested in “scary” books, because the next book I read was The Amityville Horror. This is the original book about the events that would lead to the creation of several books and the movie (plus the atrocious remake of the movie) by the same name. I would not immediately classify this book as either fiction or non-fiction. Some aspects of the story seem to be valid while others just seem… well, fishy. Regardless of whether it is real or not, it is definitely an entertaining read.
Sticking to the spooky theme, the next book I read was H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreams of Terror and Death. I have heard of Lovecraft for years, but never really paid much attention to it. I ran across this book, glanced over it, and thought it looked interesting enough to give it a try. I was very thoroughly suprised by how amazingly well written the book was. It takes some time to get used to Lovecraft’s style of writing, but once you are used to it, you are given a tour of an entirely new world that is somewhat like our own, but at the same time with an incredible surreal and supernatural cast to it. The book is a series of short stories that distantly interconnect and all take place in this world. The stories are all creepy, but at the same time very very good.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov is one book that seems to have been coming up quite a bit lately (if you read back through my archives for a week or two, you’ll see why). This is possibly the funniest piece of Russian literature I have ever read. The concept behind the book is basically that the devil comes to Moscow in the late 1920s and creates massive chaos. There is a love story and a story of a tortured writer calle ‘The Master’ intertwined with the antics of the devil and his henchmen, and the whole turns out to be a spectacular and wonderfully entertaining book.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is another semi-supernatural book. It has become a bit of a classic, although I really do not see why. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the writing style of Oscar Wilde, which read like a cross between some conceited, pansy, upper-class British git and the stereotypical superficial, whiny, pseudo-titillation of a bunch of gossipy housewives. The concept behind the story is very good, and a few of the characters are interesting, but for the most part the book is made up of flat, walking caricatures swapping ‘clever’ dialogue, and doing very little else. The only really good thing about the book is that it was short, so I didn’t need to waste TOO much of my life reading it.
In case you couldn’t tell, I didn’t really like that one, so reading Books That Changed The World was somewhat of a relief. The book is a brief discussion of a number of important books that have really made a difference in the world, what they were about, and how they had impacted society. Short, concise, to the point. You get a brief slice of contemporary history, and discussion of some of the world’s great books at the same time.
The final book in this particular list is What If? which is a collection of short analyses of what may have happened if various military engagements had happened a different way. This sort of thinking about history is fascinating to me. Talking about the array of possible results from any one event requires solid knowledge of contemporary history, human behavior, and the characters involved. If you like military history, this book is definitely something you would be interested in.
So, until the next time I manage to get around to writing up a list of books I have read and descriptions of them (partially to educate you, my fair reader, and partially in a simple mercenary attempt to con people into buying stuff from Amazon and making me money), happy reading!