tina: 3/26 or 1/26 Freakonomics

Hmm...so do we start from the beginning again? or do our book count keeps going? Nonetheless..I'm happy to re-contribute to the book club again, yay!!! Now that I'm out of school, out of job...I have more time to read!

I recently finished Steven Levitt/Stephen Dubner's "Freakonmics" http://www.freakonomics.com/ and it was pretty interesting. If you want to know what drug dealers are still living with their moms, crack vs. coccaine or why school teachers are like sumo wrestlers..this book can give you the answer through a riddle of stats and figures that both Stevens do best.

From the start, Steven Levitt brands himself as the unconventional economist - as he hates math, doesn't understand economics and all the theory that goes behind it..but instead, he prides himself with getting down to the bottom of why things are the way they are...

Interesting and fast read!

ewee (1/26): The Social Lives of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Intimidated, but intrigued, by the 26-book-sucker challenge, I started with a bit of fluff (and fluff I'd read before, if that's not too reprehensible). In my defense, I was also recovering from a strenuous family visit (literally -- it was like family dragonboat boot camp, up at 5am, paddle -- 72 hours of nonstop family fun).

So excuse the nonhighbrow introduction...I'll step up. Eventually.

But the book? Well, it's ok, and I do mean just ok. Thomas' writing is engaging enough, her observations usually poignant (but keep in mind that I'm a crazy dog person), and her science...well, that leaves something to be desired. The illustrations (yes, I read a book with pictures -- can I still play?) were lovely and added greatly to my enjoyment of the book (but keep in mind that I'm an inveterate dog doodler).

In a nutshell, good dog book for dog-crazy people. Not so solid on the science, and would be better served if she lay off the science, and just spun a good yarn. But in the end, a good easy summer read to escape family trauma.

Rich (17/26): The Progress of Love by Alice Munro.

After "World News Tonight" (we were Peter Jennings fans), we'd sometimes watch "M*A*S*H" instead of "Wheel of Fortune." It was always my last half-hour before I had to go upstairs and start my homework. It wasn't what I'd watch if I had tivo. Afterall, it was a quirky show with a crossdresser (Corporal Klinger), a few screwballs (Alan Alda and his co-star of the season), and a bitchy lady ("Hotlips" Houlihan). Hawkeye would be pulling a prank or fooling around with his distillation setup, Radar would be talking to his teddy bear, and Col. Potter would be keeping everyone in check. The surgery and E.R. could have easily been replaced by tulips and a garden; the insults and sarcasm were the focus of the show.

A little older, I started to watch M*A*S*H after my parents went to sleep. Every night, my father would go to bed at 11pm, and at 11:05pm, I would sneak downstairs and turn on the t.v. I had a choice of the local news or M*A*S*H. I'd pour myself a cup of milk and sit or lie in front of Hawkeye and Hunnicut. Every once in a rare while, the jokes would stop -- someone would get really hurt or wouldn't make it, and Hawkeye would remove his surgigal mask in frustration, turn away from the camera, and leave the operating room without a word. All those jokes and pranks were an elaborate act to camouflage the real grind of dealing with death on such an intimate and frequent basis. But, for that day, the curtain was dropped; the theater was closed. And that, more than seeing someone's arm get blown off by a mortar round, would help explain to me -- an audience who never knew hunger, never felt poverty, never experienced fear of death, and certainly never was in a battle with real casualties -- how horrible armed combat really was.

Alice Munro's collection of short stories is full of these moments of clarity. Unconditional love is not the Hollywood awakening from the dead to save a lover. Teenage innocence isn't rated-R and accompanied by a bucket of popcorn. But, these and other moments fall out of these pages like a forgotten photograph, hidden away.

What a lovely way to end my 2006 Three Sucker's Challenge.

99 books!

I am proud to announce the end of our first ever 26-in-52 reading challenge!

Together we've read a total of 99 books!

Total # of authors read: 78

The Breakdown:
33 Novels
18 General Non-Fiction
15 Science Fiction
12 General Fiction
8 Memoirs
6 Spiritual
4 Self Help
2 Short Stories
1 Poetry

Books read by more than one challenger:
A Feast for Crows (Bridget & Jay)
A Year in Provence (Kayan & Rich)
Slaughterhouse-Five (Rich & Yong)

This was a good exercise in discovery for me. In the process I have traveled through the U.S. and Provence, become a fan of Kurt Vonnegut, and visited Africa with my dream husband future President.

As Jonny said as he tried to make me feel better about having read only 11 books: I read more books than I would have otherwise. If I count the number of books I *started* to read, I'm way over 26....

Share your thoughts! I want to do this again.

- K

Update 9/14/06:
Ladies and gents, place your bets! We're doing this again!
- K (goal: 26/52)

Rich (16/26): Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

This is a book that I read on the plane. When you're stuck on a flight, you have to pass the time somehow. It's like those movies that you'll only admit to watching because you saw it on the plane. Incidentally, a Lindsay Lohan movie was on my flight. It was a long flight (including the layover in St. Louis).

These are a bunch of short, supposedly funny real-life events from David Sedaris, the perennial outsider. They are presented haphazardly and with the usual comedic hyperboles. One or two at a time, and they might be amusing. But a whole book of them is too much. Good thing I had to write a paper on the flight, too.