Book review

It's been some time since I wrote about my reading lists, but unlike PHC, law school has surprisingly left me time to explore other interests (but apparently not write about them - this post has been sitting in draft form for months). Although I need to try to avoid running into fellow law students riding the bus back from the local library, as I was unsure how to respond to the "don't you have enough to read" comment. Fortunately, he couldn't see what I had checked out (two  books on the banking crisis.)


So, without further ado, here is what I've been up to in my spare time:

Evening in the Palace of Reason. One night in 1747, Bach visited Frederick the Great. Always one to antagonize great men, Frederick set about to embarrass Bach by playing an extremely difficult tune and insisting that Bach improvise a three voice fugue (a specific type of musical pattern) on it. Bach successfully did so on the spot, and Frederick then insisted on a six voice fugue. Bach was unable to improvise this, and asked for time to compose one. About two weeks later, Bach sent the complete work to Frederick, and in composing it had strongly critiqued not only Frederick, but the entire Enlightenment. For Bach was a man of the Reformation, while Frederick was the poster-child of the Enlightenment, and this was a contest of faith and pure reason. Gaines is remarkably readable, and gives just enough musical theory to keep the story going without losing the reader. After finishing the  book, I then had to go find and listen to A Musical Offering.




The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. We've all seen Pirates of the Caribbean right? Why are pirates so popular? What were they after? In this work, Colin Woodard tackles these questions regarding the freedom-loving sea rovers and their attempt to set up an alternate society. Despite great initial success, the pirate republic was ultimately taken down largely by one man: Woodes Rogers. His technique? To issue pardons. While it sounds counter-intuitive, the effect of the pardons was to split the pirate ranks, greatly diminishing the number and allowing the remaining pirates to be hunted down one at a time.

The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America. Daniel Hannan became an internet phenomena after the video of his speech at the European Parliament went viral in 2009. In this book, he writes a warning to the United States to not follow Europe's path. What I found especially refreshing was his treatment of President Obama. Despite deep policy differences, he remains respectful of the office through the entire book. Jeremiah, my co-blogger at another site, has written a more extensive review. Well worth the read.

Not all my reading has been non-fiction, though.


The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. One of Agatha Christie's finest. This mystery takes storytelling to a whole new level, but to say more would ruin it.

Hunger Games Trilogy. Imagine Survivor meets the roman gladiatorial games, except the contestants are children forced as tributes from subjected territories (e.g. Theseus). This is the premise of Suzanne Collins young adult trilogy, The Hunger Games. And it's a story that's nearly impossible to put down. Unfortunately, the books decrease in quality, and the ending of the trilogy was (in my opinion) very unsatisfactory. They are remaining very very popular, though, and the first movie is scheduled to be released in March of this year.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Flavia de Luce is a very precocious 11 year old tormented by her two older sisters and fascinated with poisons. She also happens to be a master detective--at least in her own mind. What is undeniable is that she has a propensity to stumble upon dead bodies. In this first of a series, we're introduced to the cast of her small English village, and follow her as she solves (or interferes with) the ongoing police investigation. 


The Lightning Thief. Again, this is the first in a series. Percy Jackson is different, but he doens't know just how different until discovering that he is the son of a Greek god. As in ancient mythology Greece. In this and the subsequent books, Percy's adventures closely mirror those of the famous Greek heroes, except that they're set in the modern United States. Who knew that Charybdis and Scylla were the secret behind the Bermuda triangle? Or that Hades was located under the Hollywood sign? After finishing the first five books involving Percy, the author has gone on to begin a sequel series, as well as an independent series involving Egyptian mythology. Yet I still think the first five books were his best.