Complicating My Life with Books?

"Books are where we go to complicate our lives . . ."

Found this quote in Los Angeles Times book review of John Leonard's collection of essays called Reading for my Life. The quote is from the title essay. I like this notion of books "complicating" our lives. Maybe that's why some people don't like to read...!

Here's a partial list of what I've read in the past year. Analyzing my list, I see I tend more towards non-fiction: 

Garlic & Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, by Ruth Reichl. Former New York Times food critic--fun fun funny.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua. Funny in a self-deprecating, sarcastic way, but also brutally honest and a little sad.

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: Confessions of an Accidental Academic, by Professor X. Right up my alley! An adjunct professor of English writing anonymously because, well, figure it out. A thoughtful and honest also funny (in a self-deprecating, sarcastic way) about the state of higher education.  

Save the World on Your Own Time, by Stanley Fish. Straightforward thesis here: educators do not have the right to advocate for anything in the classroom. Conservative notion coming from a liberal. Very refreshing.

I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. Not being well-versed in science, I learned a lot reading this book. I like their underlying message: it takes more "faith" to not believe in God than it does to believe in the Bible. I challenge non-believers and agnostics to give this book a glance.


God and Man at Yale, by William F. Buckley, Jr. What I love about this book (50th anniversary edition) is that it was written by Buckley when he was fresh out of college, a 20-something upstart taking on the big boys and boy did they hate him for it. Buckley was skewered mercilessly by the academic elites. I view him as a brave young man fighting a lonely battle with his wits. Very interesting to read.

Currently reading:

The Help (fiction) by Kathryn Stockett
The Social Animal (nonfiction) by David Brooks. 

 Would like to read:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Hunger Games.

In my queue (i.e., beside table):  

Known and Unknown: A Memoir, by Donal Rumsfeld (as I said, complicating my life) 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver. 

I read slowly, and reading time is often interrupted by school prep and essay grading. So I plod along. I wonder what other people are reading?


*****


Here's the entire quote by Richard Leonard, as well as a link to the book review by David Ulin in the Los Angeles Times Sunday paper. 

Popular culture is … like going to the Automat to buy an emotion. The thrills are cheap and the payoffs predictable and, after a while, the repetition is a bummer. Whereas books are where we go to complicate ourselves.

Reading for My Life Writings, 1958-2008

by David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic