Reading List 2008

A Year Without 'Made In China'
Sara Bongiorni
A business writer goes for one year trying to avoid buying anything manufactured, wholly or in part, in China. It's hard to do. That's scary when you realise that if trade ceased (because of embargoes or conflict) the Western world would suddenly have no shoes or plastic goods, for example. None.

Nobody's Perfect
Anthony Lane
My favourite film critic's collected writings; also on theatre and general topics. Masterful turns of phrase apt to cause tears of jealousy.

The Annotated Pride & Prejudice
of Jane Austen
200 years is a vast cultural gulf. The myriad footnotes of this version of the 1813 classic reveal details lost in the mists of time. The text is printed on the left-hand pages; notes and illustrations are shown on the right-hand pages.

The Annotated Lolita
of Vladimir Nabokov
Only 50 or so years between then and now, but Nabokov's tendency to make puns in three languages makes expository text vital. Seeing his verbal acrobatics unpacked detracts little from the enjoyment.

On War
Carl von Clausewitz
I picked this up in L.A. last year for three dollars, but didn't read it until recently. A German military man whose career branched Napoleon's, his insight into conflict and its place in the world is fascinating reading for damn liberals like me.


Reading now:
Frommers Las Vegas
Lonely Planet Las Vegas
Frommers Texas
Fodor's City Guide Houston
Insider's Guide Alabama
Fodor's Gulf Coast Getaways
Frommer's Washington DC


Highlights from 2007:
Freakonomics
Guns, Germs & Steel
The Tipping Point
Getting To Yes
Crucial Confrontations
.