Book List

Here are some books I've read over the last 2-3 months. Just sharing.


American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon
Written by Stephen Prothero


A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings
Written by Stella Tillyard
All I knew about George III was that he went mad and was king during the American Revulotion but this book fleshes out his scandalous family and the celebrity culture that took hold in the ... yes... the mid 1700's. Nicely done.


Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
Written by Mark Bowden
Comments: Very well done history of the Iranian hostage crisis. Gives a good sense of that time in the US in the late 70's.


Easter Everywhere: A Memoir
Written by Darcey Steinke
Comments: A memoir of the daughter of a Lutheran ( I am almost positive it is LCMS) pastor growing up in the 1960 and 70's. Fascinating well written. Her parents lose their faith, divorce etc. She arrives at a vaguely Christian gnosticism. Worth reading. An easy read as well. She does a bit of reading her present views back into her past but an honest account.



Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich
Written by Mark Kriegel


The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher
Written by Debby Applegate
Comments: Outstanding. A very well done biography of a preacher you probably have not heard of but enormously famous in the 19th century. Read it ... very entertaining. Came out in 2006.


A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings
Written by Stella Tillyard
Comments: All I knew about George III was that he went mad and was king during the American Revulotion but this book fleshes out his scandalous family and the celebrity culture that took hold in the ... yes... the mid 1700's. Nicely done.


A Drinking Life: A Memoir
Written by Pete Hamill
Comments: I'd give 3.75 stars. Well done. Very well written. Quite coarse and vulgar in spots. A good memoir on growing up ... in Brooklyn ... in the 1940's and 50's ... under the pull of alcohol and dreams of the future and the weight of family and history and your father.


Aloft
Written by Chang-Rae Lee
Comments: Excellent novel. In the vein of Updike.


Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
Written by Koren Zailckas
Comments: Here is a terrifying memoir to read as you send your 18 year old daughter to college: a young woman recounts her drunken teenage and college years. Very nicely written.


The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Written by Jeannette Walls
Comments: Read this two years ago. Well written memoir of a strange family and parents who pursued crazy dreams and how it affected their kids. Easy reading. Good for the beach.


The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Written by Erik Larson
Comments: Actually read this one a couple of years ago. Excellent popular history. Great story of the World Fair in Chicago in 1893 and the buildings it left behind plus a great murder story. Well done.