What am I reading now?

I am currently reading "The Collectors" by David Baldacci. This book is a sequel to the "Camel Club," which I reviewed in January 2006.


It is apparent to me that I have been doing this for a while when I start reviewing sequels to books I have already reviewed.


On the future reading list:
"Next" by Michael Crichton
"Eragon"

If you have a suggestion please feel free to post it as a comment! Thanks.

Review "Thirteen Moons" By Charles Frazier

"Thirteen Moons" is the new book by Charles Frazier, author of "Cold Mountain." (which was a pretty good book.)

"Thirteen Moons" is not a sequel but a new book with new characters. The book is the story of one man and his life growing up with and among the Cherokee in North Carolina. Will Cooper narrates the entire book from his perspective (similar to the first person style used in "Cold Mountain.") Cooper is sold into indentured servitude as a boy and must work alone at a trading post on the border of the Cherokee lands in North Carolina. He must then make his way in the world alone.

Cooper grows up to know two very different Indian leaders - Bear (an intelligent, old fashioned chief who lives off the land and takes Will under his wing) and Featherstone, a Cherokee who owns a large plantation and spends his time drinking French wine and reading the latest literary journals. That is, when he isn't off dressing in riding leathers and stealing horses for some fun. Cooper falls in love with Featherstone's daughter Claire and their relationship shapes the book. Cooper lives an amazing and interesting life - he is a businessman, Indian chief, lobbyist in Washington for his tribe, state Senator, Colonel in the Civil War, and wealthy world traveler. Frazier does an excellent job describing the changing of times and how they impacted the Cherokee in their remote North Carolina mountains.

I honestly liked this book better than "Cold Mountain." While both are excellent historical fiction, "Cold Mountain" began to drag at some points. Both books are somewhat sappy, but it is genuine and heartfelt sappiness and not the fake manufactured sappiness that comes out of Hollywood. And Frazier is an excellent writer who is able to make some truly insightful points about life - see the excerpt below as a great example. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to his next one.

Excerpt from "Thirteen Moons" by Charles Frazier

"I cannot decide whether it is an illness or a sin, the need to write things down and fix the flowing world to one rigid form. Bear believed writing dulled the spirit, stilled some holy breath. Smothered it. Words, when they've been captured and imprisoned on paper, become a barrier against the world, one best left unerected. Everything that happens is fluid, changeable. After they've passed, events are only as your memory makes them, and they shift shapes over time. Writing a thing down fixes it in place as surely as a rattlesnake skin stripped from the meat and stretched and tacked to a barn wall. Every bit as stationary, and every bit as false to the original thing. Flat and still harmless."

Charles Frazier, "Thirteen Moons"

Thought for the Day

"Never force yourself to read a book that you do not enjoy. There are so many good books in the world that it is foolish to waste time on one that does not give you pleasure."

Atwood H. Townsend, NYU Professor, chair of group that created Good Reading: A Helpful Guide for Serious Readers

Thought for the Day

"Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty."
Oscar Wilde



"It's not that he 'bites off more than he can chew' but he chews more than he bites off."
Clover Adams on Henry James

What am I reading now?

I am currently reading "Thirteen Moons" by Charles Frazier.

Frazier is the author of "Cold Mountain", which is the excellent story of a confederate story who leaves the army and walks home to the woman he loves. Meanwhile she is trying to survive on a farm alone (and she is not a country girl.)

(Note on "Cold Mountain" - great book, terrible movie. I was surprised.)

"Thirteen Moons" is the story of a man who lives his life on the American frontier. He lives and works closely with native American tribes such as the Cherokee. I hope that it is as good as "Cold Mountain."

Review "The Blind Side" By Michael Lewis

"The Blind Side" is Michael Lewis' book about football and the evolution of the left tackle position. It is the story of the changes in the game over time, discussing how coaches and players and systems changed the game to what it is today.

But it is also the story of one person - Michael Oher (pronounced oar) who was a young, semi-homeless man in Memphis was swept along by a series of events that no one could foresee. He was taken off the streets and to a wealthy, private, Christian school in Memphis when a boy he was staying with was taken there at his dying Mother's wish. Michael was admitted and after working hard to get his academics in order was allowed to play sports. He was soon adopted by a rich, white family who were Ole Miss alums. While Michael dreamed of playing basketball growing up, his future lay on the football field as a left tackle.

If you enjoy college football or the NFL then you would enjoy this book. Especially if you are (like me) a fan of SEC college football - because part of the story of Michael Oher covers his recruiting process and has entertaining descriptions of various SEC coaches.

But the human story of Michael Oher goes beyond football and is a moving and important story. He was a person that society had basically given up on at some point. But by chance he found education, a loving family, and a future.

Overall, an entertaining and enjoyable read, but for football fans only.

Thought for the Day

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Leonard H. Courtney, attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain



"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts - for support rather than illumination."

Andrew Lang

What am I reading now?

I am currently reading "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis.

Lewis is the author of "Moneyball", a non-fiction book which discussed the Oakland A's baseball team and how they have changed the game of baseball through use of different analysis techniques in player drafting. (If you are a baseball fan then I recommend the book.)

"The Blind Side" is Lewis' non-fiction book about football, specifically the increasing value of the left tackle position in football. Lewis discusses the trend for that position and tells the story of one player and his journey from high school to college to the NFL.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I enjoyed "Moneyball" so much I had to read this book.