RSFC Book Corner

[agavi...@gmail.com]

Discovering the South, Jennifer Ritterhouse.

Ritterhouse writes a book about Jonathan Daniels trip in "A Southerner Discovers the South."

I couldn't do it. I made it through about 60 pages of words shaped into sentences. Not much in the way of prose or even well-linked thoughts.

It's written by an obvious academic to impress other academics which makes it mind numbingly tedious in language and tenor.

I'll probably just read Daniels's book.

[Marty McMahone]

So two recent audio reads for me.

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This is a great listen, especially if it's been a while since you read it. (I realized probably close to 25 years.) The reader for the series (at least the one who does it for Audible) is really good. I was amazed at how much I'd forgotten, and how clouded the movies had made the story for me.

Chernow's Alexander Hamilton. This is a superb biography. I get why it would inspire someone to do something to tell his story in a new way. Chernow does a really nice job of painting Hamilton's portrait. He clearly respects the guy, but he also doesn't try to hide foibles or mistakes. He's also pretty insightful in his analysis of the revolution (not easy since that's a well-plowed field in history). I put this off a while because I was afraid it'd be stuffy, but I highly recommend it.

Marty

[agavi...@gmail.com]

Most of the very early political figures in the US were very interesting.