Books

Recently, I had an exchange of e-mails with a high school classmate about an article he forwarded in which the author praised the marines who were videoed urinating on corpses of the Taliban. Eventually he recommended a book titled What It's Like to Go to War, by Karl Marlantes, who had served in combat in Viet Nam as a second lieutenant. The same author previously wrote Matterhorn, a novel based on his experiences in the war. I decided to buy them and went yesterday to my local independent bookstore, which had a copy of Matterhorn. I've read one chapter so far, and I think it will be interesting and worthwhile reading. They had to order What It's Like to Go to War for me.

I also wanted to get a copy of Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh. A couple of German bloggers I follow (Morgenländer and MartininBroda) have begun, along with some others, reading it as a sort of on line book club (Leserunde is what they call it in German), and this has given me the incentive to read it along with them. The bookstore didn't have it in stock either, so they ordered it for me. Both books are expected to arrive on Friday. BTW, both Morgeländer and Martin understand and write English very well, so if you'd like to join the conversation on Fridays, although I don't speak for them, I'm sure they'd be happy to have your thoughts.

There are one or two other books that I've heard about recently that I'd also like to read. Unfortunately, I can't remember what they are or exactly where I heard about them. I think one might have been about about homosexuality and Christianity. Anyway, I'll try to do a bit more checking of other blogs. If anybody reading this recommended a book within the past month, please remind me — that could be one I want.

Where will I find time for all this reading?