Seven Heavens of Summer Reading: The Platypus Reads Part XCVIII

-
Summer is here in all its heat (and humidity this year!) and languor.  Thus, it is time for the return of Summer reading.  Over Finals week I was able to complete (nota bene: this was all for professional development as well as personal enjoyment):

"When Athens Met Jerusalem" by John Mark Reynolds (2nd read)
"World War I" by John Keegan (friend and mentor of V.D. Hanson and third title I've read by the author)
"Civilization and its Discontents" by Sigmund Freud (filling in an important hole in my understanding of the 20th century)

On the ticket are:

"At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald (been on a kick lately and even read a couple of bios)
"Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton (umpteenth readthrough for a reading group)
"Chaung Tzu" (the second great Taoist text)
"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaimon (thanks Liz!)
"War in Heaven" (2nd time for a reading group)
"The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang (been remiss in not reading this one)
"Alexander the Great" by Robin Lane Fox (a favorite historian)
"The Elfstones of Shanara" by Terry Brooks (it is time!  it is high time!)
"Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman (for work)
"Ghostopolis" by Doug TenNapel (showin' support for "Ratfist"!)
"Iron West" by Doug TenNapel (ditto)
"Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco (his panache won me over.  Thanks Joi!)
"Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson (reading group)
"Hannah Coulter" by Wendel Berry (ditto)

We'll see how much I get to and what surprises get added in along the way but it looks to be a fun ride.  I'll post my finished list with the appropriate awards come August.

So how about you?  What are your "Seven Heavens of Summer Reading"? 

Comments

Joi said…
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Eco book!!

Also interested in your thoughts on Elfstones: it's one of my favorites from the Shannara books.
8:38 PM
Graf Spee said…
Sounds good. My reading list hasn't changed much. I'll post mine up on my blog. :}
11:26 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Platypus Reads Part XXVII

-
Thoughts after reading the "Iliad" to prepare a Greece unit for my students: -Hector is a jerk until he's dead. He even advocates the exposure of Achaean corpses and then has the cheek to turn around and ask Achilles to spare his. He rudely ignores Polydamas' prophecies and fights outside the gate to save his pride knowing full well what it will cost his family and city. After he's dead, he becomes a martyr for the cause. -Agamemnon has several moments of true leadership to balance out his pettiness. In this way, he's a haunting foil to Achilles: the two men are more alike than they want to acknowledge. -We see that Achilles is the better man at the funeral games of Patroclos. His lordliness, tact, and generosity there give us a window into Achilles before his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroclos consumed him. -Nestor is a boring, rambling, old man who's better days are far behind him, and yet every Achaean treats him with the upmo
Read more

SNES as Money Well Spent: Platypus Nostalgia

-
I got my Super Nintendo Entertainment System when I was eleven years old.  That's a couple years after it first came out.  The occasion was a little dramatic: to celebrate the end of a two-and-a-half year course of treatment for cancer.  I had no idea that it would be waiting for me at home after the final doctors visit.  It was a nice spring day, the trees were waving gently in the breeze outside the bay windows.  With a cup of tea resting on the coffee table, I set down to play.  What was that first game?  It was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past .  Around twenty years later, my SNES still works as does that Zelda cartridge.  It's been a long way from boyhood in Southern Connecticut to manhood in North Houston, but I'm still playing. Why am I still playing?  There were stretches when I didn't.  Many times, I've just been too busy.  There were also seasons when it felt embarrassing to still be playing video games.  Aren't they just for kids, and boys wh
Read more