Lakenheath Old Boys

We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Books of 2007

I was disheartened recently to read in an article by some postmodern wag trying to prove a point about fragmentary culture that some three hundred and fifty books are published each week. And those are books in English published in this country! Well, I didn’t keep up with that lot but I did keep UF's library staff fairly busy this year. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Richard RussoBridge of Sighs: Five years ago, I read Russo’s last great novel – Empire Falls – with a few of the original LHS email circle participants. Since then HBO made a mini-series based on it and now Russo is back with his latest and – like Empire Falls – it’s an epic yarn full of sad-sack characters holed up in a bleak, post-industrial upstate NY town.
2. Christopher HitchensGod is Not Great: “The Hitch” has disappointed me recently with his support for the imperial occupation of Iraq, but there’s no denying the power of his prose. In his latest screed, he turns his scabrous pen toward religious doctrine. Thankfully, Hitchens is an equal-opportunity offender and he treats all religious myth-making with
an even-handed scorn.
3. Charles FrazierThe Thirteen Moons: In his follow-up to Cold Mountain, Frazier takes on the thorny topic of the Indian Removal Act and the beginnings of the Cherokee Nation in the mountains of North Carolina.
4. Allegra GoodmanIntuition: A group of hyper-competitive academics, Harvard Square, mystery and intrigue – what else could I ask for from a good summer novel?
5. Gary YoungeStranger in a Strange Land: In his latest book of columns on race, politics and culture from The Guardian, Younge proves that he’s that rare British writer who actually gets American society and doesn’t have an immediate revulsion for it.
6. Robert BulmanHollywood Goes to High School: Bulman’s sociological study of movies about teachers and schools from Blackboard Jungle to Dangerous Minds immediately convinced me to add features films to the syllabus for a class that I’m teaching in the spring.
7. Bill BrysonThe Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: Bryson’s take on growing up in fifties Des Moines was a bit sweet and sentimental for my taste, but there was enough of that caustic Bryson wit and scatalogical jokes to make it a fun read.
8. Mark HaddonA Spot of Bother: Haddon’s last book was an alternately funny and terrifying look at autism. This time around he tries his hand with a family drama/comedy of the “kitchen sink” variety.
9. Derek Birley A Social History of English Cricket: Birley’s book puts paid to the the Little Englander mythology about cricket as a gentleman’s game, detailing its roots in gambling and pub culture.
10. Lars Holger HolmFawlty Towers – A Companion: A microscopic analysis of the sixteen episode – yes! – series and includes the script for a long-lost, unfilmed final episode. Essential for Cleese fans everywhere.

Other Notables
Stephen ColbertI Am America (And So Can You)
Jonathan Zimmerman – Innocents Abroad
Phillip Roth - The Plot Against America

Worst Book of the Year
David HorowitzIndoctrination U.: Horowitz’s latest is a brief response to the critics of his last The Professors. Interestingly, he tries to pretend that his is not a McCarthyite project and that the blacklist of his last book was merely the publisher’s idea. This is a remarkable prevarication as anyone who’s read his last book will know that it would’ve only been about thirty pages long without the blacklist! Still, it’s a book that I’ll need around while I’m finishing my dissertation, if only as grist for the ideological mill.

13 Comments:

Blogger United We Stand said...

I am no reader. So of course I haven't read any of these. I did however read a book this year. A few friends and I made each other read a chapter a week and discuss over breakfast. We all really enjoyed it.
I finished the last of 749 pages just last week.
The book was Team Of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A great book about Lincoln. Have any of you read it?

4:43 PM  
Blogger gatorbob said...

I haven't. I have to admit that I've avoided Doris in recent years after her scandal over plagiarism. I reckon that after you're found out stealing someone else's work, you shouldn't really be published again.

Did she at least explain the deal with the Lincoln beard?

5:59 PM  
Blogger United We Stand said...

I mentioned this to my reading buddies and they told me to call you a pompous twit!!
It was one paragraph. It was probably done by her son!!!

READ THE DAMN BOOK!!!!

3:31 PM  
Blogger gatorbob said...

No chance. If I'm a pompous twit, then at least I've got company. Here are a couple of good articles on the subject:

http://www.slate.com/?id=2061056
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EFDA173AF932A05750C0A9649C8B63

Wish I could get a Pulitzer for nicking the stuff off someone else!

By the way, it wasn't just one paragraph and it wasn't done by her son. As the Library Journal reported in 2002:

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin now admits that in 1987 she included entire passages in her biography The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys that were lifted from works by Lynn McTaggart (Kathleen Kennedy: Her Life and Times, 1983). The plagiarism came to light when McTaggart noticed the material in Goodwin’s book and contacted her. Goodwin asserts that it was a simple error, claiming she mistook McTaggart’s material for her own notes. McTaggart received credit in later editions along with monetary compensation."

Who's next on your group's reading list - Stephen Ambrose? He's another serial plagiarist. Could be a theme for your group.

5:13 PM  
Blogger United We Stand said...

I will pass on your comments to them

9:25 PM  
Blogger gooner71 said...

I guess I didn't read as many books as I have in past years or they didn't make the impression that they have in the past. I started I Diego for instance, but it was so badly written, it read like Maradona's Festivus "Airing Of The Grievances." I put it down. And Spanking The Donkey by Matt Taibbi was a letdown as well. His column in Rolling Stone is a riot, but in long form, it's just too much.

But among my favorites were the following.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra

Look Me In The Eye, My Life With Aspergers - John Elder Robison

White Bicycles - Joe Boyd

Too Much, Too Late - Marc Spitz

The Devil In White City - Erik Larson

11:11 PM  
Blogger gooner71 said...

Davey,

If you likes DKG's book about Lincoln, you may like these.

Peace and War - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Leaving As Soon As The Breeze Picks Up - Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Pitch-Hitter In The Barley - Doris Kearns Goodwin

All kidding aside, before the controversy erupted, that book was recommended highly. You are by no means the only one who enjoyed it.

11:15 PM  
Blogger United We Stand said...

I thought Team Of Rivals was a brilliant book. That is saying something coming from me.

Bob, this a comment from my friend


"I'd like to go to England and beat his pompous ass."

Of course, I told him you were in Gatorland.
BTW, this guy is 66 years old!!!

8:21 AM  
Blogger gatorbob said...

Tell that old fart that I'll be waiting for him at Heathrow. No, make it Gatwick.

12:02 PM  
Blogger United We Stand said...

This from my other friend

Fine, we'll go down there and kick his soccer-watching pompous ass.

3:27 PM  
Blogger gatorbob said...

Pitch Hitter in the Barley - nice one, Gooner!

Seriously, if you're up for some Great Man Theory of History with hefty portions pilfered from someone else, Doris is your gal.

Any other picks from you for 2007.

This thread is beginning to degenerate into a pissing contest between me and some grizzled old salt from upstate New York.

5:34 PM  
Blogger United We Stand said...

Nice description!!!

8:53 PM  
Blogger gatorbob said...

I'm picturing him as a character from a Richard Russo novel.

2:36 PM  

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