Now that I’m back in Arkansas and have quasi-consistent internet, I’d like to share with everyone what I’m reading.

Founding Brothers — This is a fantastic book by Joseph T. Ellis.  He tells five stories essential to the revolutionary generation.  I just completed the chapter on the origins of President George Washington’s Farewell Address.  It’s fascinating to read where Washington’s head was at when he wrote the piece that was the guiding light for American foreign and domestic policy for the next century.  He was rumored to have told those around him he was not going to seek a third term.  The highly controversial Jay Treaty was just confirmed by the Senate.  One thing I’ve noticed about this author and David McCullough, who wrote John Adams, is they are not fans of Thomas Jefferson.  In fact, they seem to find him always sitting in his ivory tower called Monticello using others to criticize Washington and Adams.  It’s a great book recommended by my wife, Leslie, and her sister, Susan.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — by Douglass Adams This is a fun book about a human who is rescued from the earth just before it’s destroyed.  Of course it was destroyed because of a very necessary intergalactic highway.  I read this book over ten years ago and it’s a real quick and funny read.

Bloody Confused! – by Chuck Culpepper A cynical American Sportswriter rediscoveres what it means to be a true fan after his move to England.  He discovers the wonder and spectacle of the English Premier League.  Culpepper gets to England towards the end of the 2005 season.  He feels he can’t “choose” a popular team, although later he’s told by true fans that “you can’t choose your team.”  In the EPL the bottom three teams are dropped to make room for the three teams promoted from the league below.  Culpepper tries to watch as many relegation fixtures as he can.  At the end of the year he falls in love with a small team from Portsmouth.  He ends up attending a ton of home and away games in his quest to become a real fan.  The biggest tragedy I feel is he doesn’t make Pompy friends until the second half of the season.  He doesn’t understand the English fan until he meets a man dressed as a blue bear.  It’s a fine book, but the author spends a little too much time amazed at himself that he can lose all sense of reality by being a true fan.

Future Potential Reading List

1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2. The Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall
3. Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
4. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
5. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

I’ve been immersed in military talk lately and I’ve read quite a few books on war the last few months.  I’m looking to get away from them for a bit.  The one related to France’s hellish war in Indochina is The Street Without Joy.  It sounds like the feel-good story of the year.

I’m always reading the blogs in my Daily Reading List.

If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

This post is tagged Bloody Confused, Founding Brothers, Hitchhiker's Guide, Reading is Fundamental, What I'm Reading