From: nadel@attatash.aero.org (Miriam Nadel)
Subject: 1992 in Review
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 17:36:00 GMT


I don't keep simple lists of books - I keep a journal and write anything from
a half-page to 3 pages whenever I finish a book.  This forces me to reflect
some on my reading and still makes it easy to look back and see what I've
read in the past year.  (Actually, I filled two blank books in 1992 so
it also encourages my habit.  When I go to the bookstore for more blank
books, I usually end up with a stack of other stuff too.)

By category:
Mystery               58
Humor                 20
SF                    11
Other fiction         34
History/Social Issues 17
Other nonfiction      74

For a total of 214.  That doesn't count stuff I read for work.  It also
doesn't count periodicals.  I read  the Wall Street Journal daily, the
L.A. Times on Sundays and an assortment of local weeklies.  The
(non-work-related) magazines I read regularly include Utne Reader, Ellery
Queen's Mystery Magazine, Technology Review, Radiance and an assortment
of airline magazines.

Some of the particularly delightful or interesting books of the year:

Julie Smith, _New Orleans Mourning_ and _The Axeman's Jazz_.  Smith does
so much better in the Skip Langdon books than in the Rebecca Schwartz one.
Langdon is still somewhat irritating but the atmosphere makes up for it.

Robert Barnard, _A Scandal in Belgravia_.  All of Barnard's mysteries are
delightful.  This one has an amazing surprise ending.

Sharyn McCrumb, _If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O_.  McCrumb is better known
for humor but this serious book displays a depth to her talents.

Joan Hess, _Roll Over and Play Dead_.  I read several of the other Claire
Malloy books, too.  The best part is the all too realistic depiction of
teenage girls.  The Maggody books are fun, also.

Nancy Atherton, _Aunt Dimity's Death_.  A first mystery, reminiscent of
Dorothy Cannell.  I'm not a big fan of romantic suspense but this is a nice
cozy little novel, perfect for an evening's entertainment.

Calvin Trillin, _Travels With Alice_.  The description of taureaux piscine
is priceless.

Sally Swain, _Great Housewives of Art, Revisited_.  Probably doesn't meet
Jan Yarnot's criterion as having been read, as it's half pictures.  Swain's
first _Great Housewives of Art_ was all pictures, though, so I think the
addition of text makes this count.  My personal favorite is her interpretation
of Botticelli's Venus with breast self-examination tips for the new-born
Roman goddess.

Gerald Gardner, _The Mocking of the President_.  In honor of the election
year, a book about how reporters have made fun of presidents.

Roald Dahl, _Revolting Rhymes_.  Very funny interpretations of classical
fairly tales.  For example, the giant smells Jack because Jack has b.o..

Karel Capek, _War With the Newts_.  Commentary on the class system, in the
form of a classic science fiction story.

Alexandre Dumas, _The Three Musketeers_.  Long enough and interesting enough
to get me through that winter storm in NY when I was trapped for an extra
day after a business trip.

Amy Tan, _The Kitchen God's Wife_.  I found this even better than _The
Joy Luck Club_.  More mothers and daughters trying to come to terms with
one another's lives.

Fay Weldon, _The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil_.  This one completely
infuriated me, though it did make me understand what people mean by the
term "post-feminist."

John Kenneth Galbraith, _A Tenured Professor_.  Academic bitchiness coupled
with stock market advice.  A must for Wall Street Journal addicts.

Robertson Davies, _High Spirits_.  I also read the Cornish trilogy and
Salterton trilogy but I singled out this collection of humorous ghost stories
because nobody else has mentioned it here.

Pepper White, _The Idea Factory: Learning to Thing at MIT_.  Since I did
my undergrad work in the very same department that White was getting his
master's in, I know many of the people he mentioned.  He captures some of
the atmosphere but his background was so different from mine that his
experiences didn't mesh.  Or maybe it's just that he only mentions my
advisor as a semi-legendary rather mystic figure.

Dennis Bloodworth, _An Eye for the Dragon_.  A history of southeast Asia
up to 1970.  Somewhat infuriating in parts for an underlying colonialist
attitude, but still interesting and I would love to see a followup discussing
the more recent history of the region.

John Michell, _Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions_.  Everything from
flat earth theorists to people who drill holes in their heads.

Ari L. Goldman, _The Search for G-d at Harvard_.  NY Times religion reporter
goes to Divinity school and discovers he doesn't know it all.

Samuel Wilson Fussell, _Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Body Builder_.
Fussell turned to bodybuilding because he was terrified of living in NY and
got hooked.  In the end, intellect triumphs over body, but it's a close call.

Robert Desowitz, _The Malaria Capers_.  Not as light as his previous work
(_New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers_) but a neat indictment of
public health policies in the Third World.

Ken Mandelbaum, _Not Since Carrie_.  This has been discussed extensively
on rec.arts.theare.  Obligatory reading for anyone with an interest in
musical theatre.  The description of Carrie justifies the purchase price.


Miriam Nadel