Thursday, August 18, 2005
Raffi at Crescat is on book 50. By "on" I mean he's finished it, written a blog entry, and polished off a few dozen less consequentional books while he's at it. It's late August. I'm on book 30something. I'm not counting Nelson Algren's Notes from a Sea Diary: Hemingway all the Way, because it was tediously dull and I have no plans to finish it. The current Kennedy bio is pretty good, short but deep. Gary Wills. Wish I could remember the title. Google would know. This space left blank. The Kennedy Imprisonment, that's it.
You may remember him from such books as Nixon Agonistes. Or his other 30 books, or his new york review of books reviews. He spent some time as a rightwing crank, cranking out books, drifted toward the middle, and is currently a professor at Northwestern. (My mother has one of her masters degrees from Northwestern, and I'd hoped to study journalism there but my grades weren't so hot so i didn't transfer.) I have a hearing in a campaign finance case today so naturally I can't sleep - it's 3:30 am.
The Kennedy Imprisonment is pretty good. The author is serious about Catholicism, not part of the Camelot school of airbrushing the Kennedies. Objective without being dull. He jumps back and forth mostly between the three brothers, John, Robert, Tedward, with a bit of the father. I'd say he shows John as his father's son, win at any cost, Robert as his mother's son, saintly but ruthless, and Teddy as the lost last least Kennedy of that generation, who buckled under pressure, but has gamely carried on the legacy and the burden. I haven't yet read the bios of the more recent Kennedys. The fifth American generation of the family has carried on the traditions,plane crashes, skiing accidents, allegations of rape and murder, drug overdose, successes in journalism, finance, politics, and dynastic marriages. I also haven't read the bios that focus solely on Joe Senior. I got involved in this quest by reading about Johnson. That led to Joe Senior as the only one powerful and driven enough to beat Johnson at his own game. It's a hell of a story, watching a certain gentic and cultural pattern play out in a series of variations. I would not be shocked to see Maria Shriver Schwartzenegger (sp?) run for president any cycle now.
4 am. Try to sleep? Try to stay up? I might hit the target of 50 books this year.
If December in Milwaukee is cold and I'm un- or marginally employed, reading books sounds good. There's a good used bookstore there I could hit up. I know Chicago has a garment district. I don't know if it has a used bookstore district.
You may remember him from such books as Nixon Agonistes. Or his other 30 books, or his new york review of books reviews. He spent some time as a rightwing crank, cranking out books, drifted toward the middle, and is currently a professor at Northwestern. (My mother has one of her masters degrees from Northwestern, and I'd hoped to study journalism there but my grades weren't so hot so i didn't transfer.) I have a hearing in a campaign finance case today so naturally I can't sleep - it's 3:30 am.
The Kennedy Imprisonment is pretty good. The author is serious about Catholicism, not part of the Camelot school of airbrushing the Kennedies. Objective without being dull. He jumps back and forth mostly between the three brothers, John, Robert, Tedward, with a bit of the father. I'd say he shows John as his father's son, win at any cost, Robert as his mother's son, saintly but ruthless, and Teddy as the lost last least Kennedy of that generation, who buckled under pressure, but has gamely carried on the legacy and the burden. I haven't yet read the bios of the more recent Kennedys. The fifth American generation of the family has carried on the traditions,plane crashes, skiing accidents, allegations of rape and murder, drug overdose, successes in journalism, finance, politics, and dynastic marriages. I also haven't read the bios that focus solely on Joe Senior. I got involved in this quest by reading about Johnson. That led to Joe Senior as the only one powerful and driven enough to beat Johnson at his own game. It's a hell of a story, watching a certain gentic and cultural pattern play out in a series of variations. I would not be shocked to see Maria Shriver Schwartzenegger (sp?) run for president any cycle now.
4 am. Try to sleep? Try to stay up? I might hit the target of 50 books this year.
If December in Milwaukee is cold and I'm un- or marginally employed, reading books sounds good. There's a good used bookstore there I could hit up. I know Chicago has a garment district. I don't know if it has a used bookstore district.
Comments:
Post a Comment
