Baseball is over . . .

at least for the sox. So I reminded myself that I actually work at a university -- with access to a tremendous amount of books. We'll see if I get through them.


Nixonland by Rick Pearlstein: I really have heard terrific things about this book. I am not even looking forward to it from a Watergate perspective. I think that it actually depicts the environment of the country at the time of the rise of Nixon. These books always reveal political landscapes that are more similar to today then I think we realize. Reading Hunter Thompson's book about the campaign in 1972 really drives that point home. So many of the divisions are the same. While we use different code words and different scapegoats -- we are really still fighting taking on McCarthy, sadly without a Murrow.


The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux: This is not the recent book by Theroux, but the original, from 1973. He takes a train from London to Japan and back. First on a southerly route, through much of the land that is in our current chaos. He returns traveling through the Soviet Union. If I enjoy this book, I am sure that I will read his current follow-up. For the same reasons that he wrote it. What makes them most interesting (if they are) are the differences that have taken place.

My pretentious pick for the day is, What is Literature by Jean-Paul Sartre. Kind of on a whim. I used to enjoy Sartre's writing, but haven't visited in a while. I am guessing I will not finish this, but thought I'd give it a shot.