It’s the day after self’s reading at the 2008 Foothill Writers Conference. It was a very interesting day, though half the time self’s thoughts were home in her garden, wondering which plants were expiring in the terrific heat (She had no time to water before grabbing her bag and leaving the house for the 12 noon reading in the “Band Room”)
This year, self had made sure she had all the pages of her manuscript with her, and in fact she decided to bring two, so that she could decide at the last minute which one she preferred to read. And it was funny that she actually had the audience choose for her and, lo and behold, the choice was the right one, for self found herself reading with more expression than she usually does, and the rest of the day continued fun from there.
But now it is this morning, and the AT & T repairman has just knocked at the door and informed self that there is trouble with the telephone line but that he cannot fix it right now and will have to come back later. This repairman was constantly talking on his cell to (presumably) a woman, gossipping about some mutual acquaintance (also a woman). But he was very nice.
Without further ado, here are the books self is interested in reading after perusing the 6 July 2008 issue of The New York Times Book Review:
(1) After reading Holly Morris’ review of Julie Salamon’s new book, Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids:
- Julie Salamon’s 1991 “chronicle of the excesses of Hollywood,” The Devil’s Candy
(2) After reading Kate Sekules’ review of Michael Meyer’s The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed:
- Michael Meyer’s The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
(3) After reading Douglas McGrath’s review of David Gilmour’s The Film Club:
- Knut Hamsun’s Hunger
- David Gilmour’s The Film Club
(4) After reading Hermione Lee’s review of Paul Fisher’s House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family:
- Paul Fisher’s House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family
(5) After reading Boris Fishman’s review of David Benioff’s new novel, City of Thieves:
- David Benioff’s new novel, City of Thieves
(6) After reading Isaac Chotiner’s review of Peter Clarke’s The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana:
- Peter Clarke’s The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana
(7) After reading Mick Sussman’s short reviews in the “Nonfiction Chronicle:”
- David I. Kertzer’s Amalia’s Tale: An Impoverished Peasant Woman, an Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice
- Bob Delaney’s (with Dave Scheiber) Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob
(8 ) After reading Jonathan Wilson’s review of Amin Maalouf’s memoir, Origins:
- Malouf’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel, The Rock of Tanios
- Malouf’s “quirky” history, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
- Malouf’s trenchant In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong
- Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table
- Amin Maalouf’s memoir, Origins