Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Grumpy Gardeners, Jihadists, and Madmen

Since I still haven't found a full-time gig here, I decided to take a week off as vacation. Meaning I would not spend all week stressing about finding a job. For me, relaxing, really relaxing, means reading:

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary
I'm a sucker for historical nonfiction, especially if it has a sexy title. Not a page turner, but a fun read if you're a word geek and/or curious about classism in the treatment of mental illness.

Reamde: A Novel
Neal Stephenson's latest. Hackers, love triangles, jihadists, and a man-eating cougar. The ending is way too neat, but it's hard to put down. If you need a book that will prevent you from paying attention to 90% of what's going on around you, this is a good bet.

The Bad-Tempered Gardener
Anne Wareham is the only garden writer who understands that creating a garden isn't about collecting plants, it's about rearranging your environment to create meaningful experiences. Apparently in the U.K. one is supposed to say only polite things about gardens. Thank goodness she doesn't.

2 Comments:

Blogger VickiB said...

I've been hearing a lot about Readme but somehow never got interested. Your description definitely did it for me.

11/09/2011 11:05 AM  
Blogger The Rebbetzin's Husband said...

My Rebbetzin's been reading Reamde, says it's classic Stephenson. Seems the editor simply gave up partway through...

11/15/2011 12:55 PM  

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