CURRENTLY READINGTrue Story by Bill Maher – Recommended to me by my stand-up comedy teacher. Fictional account of four comedians trying to make it in New York in the early ‘80s
POTENTIAL NEXT TITLESDrinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z. Z. Packer; America Beyond Capitalism : Reclaiming our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy by Gar Alperovitz; The Essential Gandhi : An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas by Mahatma Gandhi
FINISHEDThe Persistence of Memory: A Novel by Tony Eprile – Fantastic! Coming-of-age story about a boy with a perfect memory forced to serve in the South African military during the fall of apartheid. The first page of Book Three introduces one of Robert Kennedy’s most famous and well-written speeches.
Rounding the Horn by Dallas Murphy – Absolutely fascinating account of the authors personnal voyage to Cape Horn, the most southern part of South American, and the naval and anthropological history of the region. If either sailing, history, or weather fascinate you then you owe it to yourself to check this out.
Last Run: A True Story Of Rescue And Redemption On The Alaska Seas by Todd Lewan – Story of attempted rescue by the Coast Guard of a doomed fishing boat in the waters off Alaska, resulting in the deaths of 2 crew members. The last 150 pages of this book is some of the best action I’ve read in a while. I learned about this book through the King County Library, who had it as a Top 3 Fiction Book for 2004.
The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin – Comparison of European and American social and economic history, and its result on their respective abilities to operate in the new economy. Very interesting. American’s vacation in Europe for a reason, and Europe is fast becoming a world economic and political power on par with the U.S., but with better “life style” indicators (e.g. amount of vacation, investment in the arts, dedication to a clean environment, etc.). The best aspect of this book was the exposure to the things Europeans are doing to achieve their goals, and how those can be applied or tweeked for application here in the US. Recommended.
