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Monthly Bookpost, May 2013

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What I read last month.

This month, of particular interest to Kosters, I review Better Off Without 'Em, Chuck Thompson's controversial manifesto encouraging Southern secession.

In keeping with my yearlong concentration on the Medieval period, I look at the Institutes of Justinian. And, since I've reached the period of the Islamic zenith, where Arabic culture eclipsed Europe during the "Dark Ages", I have a few more Arab-centric works, including The Arabian Nights, Among the Believers, and The Crusades Through Arab Eyes.  Plus the usual novels, old and new, European and American, literary and murder mysteries, and an autobiography of the young math genius Sarah Flannery. And finally, a book that many had been looking forward to my review of, given my user name: Bujold's Cryoburn.  Enjoy!


Monthly Bookpost, June 2013

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What I read last month.  

I've come to the part of Medieval history where the most enduring literature consisted of Norse sagas where the smoldering volcanic passions are buried under tons of glaciers and genealogies. And continuing to slog therough the Old and New Testaments, with Confucius thrown in this month for variety.

If those things aren't for you, you'll also find my take on Stephen King's It, read at about the point in the cycle when It's due to come back, several medieval mysteries (including Thirteenth Night which was recommended to me here), the other Bronte sister, and beaucoup thoughts about the death penalty in America, inspired by Norman Mailer's "true novel" about the execution of Gary Gilmore. Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, July 2013

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What I read last month.  Three books on the Amanda Knox case, including Knox's own memoir, and more works about and from the Middle Ages, with a heavy dose of sagas from the dark ages as well as three more books of the Bible and the three books of the Divine Comedy. There's a book by Pablo Neruda that has a lot to say about progressive politics, and a confusing mushel by Jean Genet that does not. Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, August 2013

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What I read last month, heavy on the Middle Ages.  Maimonides, Aquinas, Chaucer, Georges Duby on the Age of Cathedrals, and the usual assortment of historical mysteries set in the era.

Also in the mix are a bizarre 18th century supernatural thriller about a monk; a crossword puzzle murder; a story collection by Mavis Gallant and the Samuel & Kings books of the Old Testament.  Enjoy!

Monthly Book Post, September 2013

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What I read last month.  

Several classic "great books", including six more books of the Bible, the Baghvad Gita, Thomas Aquinas and Copernicus.

Some modern classics, including Atwood's Blind Assassin, Hamsun's Hunger, and Martel's Life of Pi.

And some things just for fun, including the most wonderful speculative retelling of Hamlet I've seen to date; murder mysteries by PC Doherty, and science fiction by Kim Stanley Robinson.  

Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, October 2013

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What I read last month.

The centerpiece, for politically minded people, is William Ecenbarger's account of the Pennsylvania juvenile judge who accepted bribes to keep his rich buddy's juvenile jail full of kids. It made my blood boil, and will make yours boil too, in this age where your body and those of the people you love are just things to be traded among capitalists for their enrichment, and who gives a shit what happens to you peasants.

Also included are John Scalzi's Hugo-winning novel Redshirts, the Autobiography of a Yogi that has inspired generations, the usual mishmash of medieval-centric literature and murder mysteries, and much more.  Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, November 2013. You read 16 tomes, and what do you get?

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What I read last month, with the usual mix of heavy duty scholarly works (as usual per my Medieval year, centered on religion and history) and fun.  This month, we have

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (second half)
The Age of Faith, Will Durant
Job and Ezekiel, from the Old Testament
Murder mysteries by P.C. Doherty, Alan Gordon, Sharyn McCrumb and Parnell Hall
The File on H, Ismail Kadare
The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, Johannes Kepler
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed
More than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Roman de la Rose
My Place, Sally Morgan
The Blind Owl, Sedagh Hedayat
The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis

Enjoy!

Forbidden Words and Phrases 2014

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Accidental Racist

Badassery

Belieber

Blahhnd

Boots on the ground

Bqhatevwr

But I'm a nice guy!

Cantaloupe calves

Carlos Danger

Cautiously optimistic

Chained CPI

Cray-cray

Cunt punt

Derp

Douche-Bro

Duck Dynasty

(more below...)


Monthly Bookpost, December 2013

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What I read last month as I said goodbye to a year of reading concentrated in the Middle Ages and the Bible and enjoyed a bit of light reading for the holidays.  In this month's selections:

The last parts of the Bible I read (Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Revelations)
Reynard the Fox
Medieval murder mysteries by Ellis Peters, Alan Gordon and PC Doherty
Modern murder mysteries by Edmund Crispin, Perri O'Shaughnessy and Parnell Hall
July's People, by Nadine Gordimer
Unless, by Carol Shields
My very last Christmas Dortmunder novel
One of the Discworld novels to replace Dortmunder as holiday reading
Medieval Cities, by Henri Prienne
Chimes at Midnight, by Seanan McGuire
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

...and the tome of tomes, the thing I began on January 1 and finished on December 31, a fate I wouldn't wish on Rand Paul: Aquinas's Summa Theologica

Enjoy!  Or not, as the case may be...

From the Kos Songbook: The GW Bridge Song

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(sung to "The 59th Street Bridge Song", Simon & Garfunkel)

Slow down, you're at our mercy
We closed a highway in New Jersey
The Mayor is a Democrat
The revenge of Gov'ner Christie

(Da-da-da-da-da-da, Gov'ner Christie)

Emergencies are over yonder
Too bad we blocked the first responder!
All our capital is squandered
"I was lied to", says Gov'ner Christie!

(Deep-deep-doodoo, Gov'ner Christie)

He's written his public career's epitaph
He's busily blaming it all on his staff
And he wants you to know he's a very sad man
"Life, I hate you", says Gov'ner Christie!

Monthly BookPost, January 2014

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It's a new year, and a new set of books to read.  Having finished my not-very-pleasant year of traipsing through the theology-centric Middle Ages, this year the scholarly part of my reading list centers on the late 14th through 16th Centuries, covering the Italian Renaissance, Reformation, the introduction of white people to America, and the period of English royalty from Henry IV through most of Elizabeth I.  Including historical mysteries from the age.  But much more than that; I anticipate the usual eclectic mix you've come to expect from me over the course of three generations.

In this month's entry:
The Cuckoo's Calling, by JK Rowling
The Chronicles of Jean Froissart
The Sea of Fertility, by Yukio Mishima
Medieval mysteries by PC Doherty, Margaret Frazer and Kate Sedley
The writings of John Wycliffe
Hounded, by Kevin Hearne
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, by Kurt Vonnegut. Jr.
Bloodsucking Fiends, by Christopher Moore
A Void, by Georges Perec

Enjoy!

Monthly Book Post, February 2014

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What I read last month, with a 2014 emphasis on 15th and 16th century books, and much more.

This month--from/about the later middle ages:
Bocaccio's The Decameron
Machiavelli't The Prince and the Discourses
Mallory's Morte D'arthur
Erasmus's The Praise of Folly
15th century murder mysteries by Margaret Frazer

And the more modern books:
Kerman's Orange is the New Black
Mistry's A fine Balance
Bernhard's Extinction
Morrison's Beloved
Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, March 2014

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What I read last month, with a continuing decade-long focus on the great books of history. This year, the 15th and 16th Centuries.

Historical:
Erasmus's Colloquies
Nicholas of Cusa's Of Learned Ignorance
Gilbert's On the Lodestone
Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
Druon's The Accursed Kings
Historical murder mysteries by Margaret Frazer, C.L. Grace, and Kate Sedley

Modern:

Veronica Roth's Divergent
DH Lawrence's Women in Love
Ondaatje's Running in the Family
Henry Green's Blindness

Enjoy!

Monthly Book Post, April 2014

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What I read last month...

15th/16th Century, from my decade-long Great Books project:

Guicciardini's History of Italy
Vasari's Lives of the Artists
Montaigne's Essays, Vol. 1
...and several period mysteries, as always.

Modern (later than the Renaissance, anyhow)

Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House
McCarthy's The Group
Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Dostoevsky's  Devils

Enjoy!

From the Kos Songbook: What does FOX Say?

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Once again, something so simple I'm surprised no one seems to have gotten to it first...

tune:  Ylvis, "The Fox"

Democrats have their queen
Clinton II in sweet '16
Senator. Candidate.
And the Secret'ry of State
Each pundit says she'll be the Prez
And the media goes "Wow!"
The left wing cheers. The right wing fears....
---BUT WHAT DOES FOX SAY?

Beng-beng-beng-beng-ghazi-Benghazi
Beng-beng-beng-beng-ghazi-Benghazi
Beng-beng-beng-beng-ghazi-Benghazi
---WHAT DOES FOX SAY?


Monthly Book Post, May 2014

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What I read last month.  Still delving into the 15th and 16th Centuries...

Modern:  
Parasite, by Mira Grant
The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence
Hard Magic and Spellbound, by Larry Correia
The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner
Cakes and Ale, by W. Somerset Maugham
Autobiographies, by William Butler Yeats
Breakfast of Champions (or, Goodbye Blue Monday), by Kurt Vonnegut

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci
Utopia, by Sir Thomas More
The Book of the Courtier, by Baldasaar Castiglione  
Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais, translated by Jacques leClercq  
And the usual smattering of period mystery novels.  Enjoy!

Monthly Book post, June 2014

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What I read last month.  

MODERN:
The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
Warbound, by Larry Correia
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

NOT SO MODERN:
The Leopard, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano

RENAISSANCE ERA:
The Renaissance, by Will Durant
Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin
...and the usual assortment of historical murder mysteries set in the age.

Enjoy!

Monthly Bookpost, july 2014

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What I read this month:

(Old)
Huizinga's The Waning of the Middle Ages
Writings of Martin Luther
Galileo's Dialogues Concerning the Two New Sciences
...and the usual array of historical murder mysteries, this time including Josephine tey's The Daughter of Time and several by Kate Sedley.

(Newer)
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Hard Choices
Robert Jordan's The Great Hunt
Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood
John W. Campbell's Who Goes There
Ian McEwen's Enduring Love
Thelonius Legend's Sins of the Father
James Thurber's The Wonderful O

...and Kos contributer Thelonius Legend's Sins of the Father.

Enjoy!

From the Kos Songbook: No More Burger Kings

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Just in time to post on Labor Day
(tune: Schoolhouse Rock, "No More Kings")

Picket signs and marches
Fallen Golden Arches
Pre-formed meats and starches, Whoppers and lies...

Keith Kramer had a dream
To build a restaurant in the South
In 1953
He would feed many a hungry mouth
Finally reached Miami Beach
And someone said, "Hooray!"
We'll call it "Burger King", and it'll rock the USA!

Small Business Admin had a program
They got their finance with a loan from Uncle Sam!

Gonna build a Burger King for sure, King
With a little help from SBA
Consumers will be loyal to flame-broil
Because they can have it all their way!

Monthly Bookpost, August 2014

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What I read last month, including the latest in my decade-long "Great Books through History" trek. In this installment:

Montaigne's Essays, Vol. II.
Francis Bacon, The New Organon

Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey
Nicholas Rankin, Dead Man's Chest (Travels After Robert Louis Stevenson)
Angus Wilson, No Laughing Matter
David Lodge, Changing Places
Robert Jordan, The Dragon Reborn
Brian Moore, Cold Heaven
Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
...and the usual assortment of historical mysteries.

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