Links
Archives
A list of books I've read.....
Saturday, May 08, 2004
"I Wish There Were Someone Waiting for Me Somewhere"
by Anna Gavalda
A collection of short stories, told from both from the female and male perspective, by a young acclaimed French writer. Some ring true to life (at least my life), others end with a sharp left-turn that is unexpected, a few will have you shaking your head. An excellent book! I stumbled across it on my last trip to New York and had left work early and stopped in a bookstore. Glad I did.
A collection of short stories, told from both from the female and male perspective, by a young acclaimed French writer. Some ring true to life (at least my life), others end with a sharp left-turn that is unexpected, a few will have you shaking your head. An excellent book! I stumbled across it on my last trip to New York and had left work early and stopped in a bookstore. Glad I did.
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
"Falling Hard...A Rookie's Year in Boxing"
by Chris Jones
Memoir by an Englishman living in Toronto who becomes a sportswriter and ends up with boxing as his beat. He covered it for a year during the "Mike Tyson Bites An Ear and Later Sucker Punches His Opponent" period and the two Lennox Lewis/Evander Holyfield bouts. Great stories and insight into the boxing world. He covered the title fights, but also some smaller fights and wrote about the lives of some boxers who were not out there in the limelight, making the big money. He gives you the good and the bad. Very engaging. I really liked this book.
Memoir by an Englishman living in Toronto who becomes a sportswriter and ends up with boxing as his beat. He covered it for a year during the "Mike Tyson Bites An Ear and Later Sucker Punches His Opponent" period and the two Lennox Lewis/Evander Holyfield bouts. Great stories and insight into the boxing world. He covered the title fights, but also some smaller fights and wrote about the lives of some boxers who were not out there in the limelight, making the big money. He gives you the good and the bad. Very engaging. I really liked this book.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
"Waking Up in Strange Places...Where Do New Zealanders Belong?"
by John Bluck
This is another book I picked up the last time I was in New Zealand and well, I really liked this book! Bluck takes us on a journey of places he has lived and spent time which have come to make him who his is today. He has wonderful descriptions of both the physical, emotional and culture scenery and encounters with people, places and events thoughout the years.
Bluck was raised in Nuhaka, went to boarding school in Napier, both on the North Island, then off to university in Christchurch on the South Island. He then worked and traveled in the US where he met his Kiwi wife to be. After returning to New Zeland for a short time, he and his family went off to Geneva where he also traveled to Eastern Europe (before the fall of the Iron Curtain) and Africa for his work. After a number of years there, it was then back to New Zealand, to Dunedin, at the bottom of the South Island. He currently lives in Christchuch with time also spent in Blackball, a small village on the West Coast of the South Island on the way to the glaciers.
As someone for whom travel is very important and also feels that the places I've visited have made me "me", I really loved this book. Highly recommended.
This is another book I picked up the last time I was in New Zealand and well, I really liked this book! Bluck takes us on a journey of places he has lived and spent time which have come to make him who his is today. He has wonderful descriptions of both the physical, emotional and culture scenery and encounters with people, places and events thoughout the years.
Bluck was raised in Nuhaka, went to boarding school in Napier, both on the North Island, then off to university in Christchurch on the South Island. He then worked and traveled in the US where he met his Kiwi wife to be. After returning to New Zeland for a short time, he and his family went off to Geneva where he also traveled to Eastern Europe (before the fall of the Iron Curtain) and Africa for his work. After a number of years there, it was then back to New Zealand, to Dunedin, at the bottom of the South Island. He currently lives in Christchuch with time also spent in Blackball, a small village on the West Coast of the South Island on the way to the glaciers.
As someone for whom travel is very important and also feels that the places I've visited have made me "me", I really loved this book. Highly recommended.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
"The Artist's Way"
by Julian Cameron
I'd started this book back in 1998, but didn't follow through. It's been recommended by my friends Gordo, Wy and Betty, and when Betty was here visiting at Thanksgiving and talking about working through the book and the writing, I decided to give it another go. The book covers 12 weeks of reading, writing and exercises to help reclaim your creativity. I actually found the writing to be quite enjoyable and was actually able to look back and see how I was obsessing about something that I had very little control over and now, wonder why I put forth so much energy to that. I very highly recommend this book. Thanks G, Wy and Boop!
I'd started this book back in 1998, but didn't follow through. It's been recommended by my friends Gordo, Wy and Betty, and when Betty was here visiting at Thanksgiving and talking about working through the book and the writing, I decided to give it another go. The book covers 12 weeks of reading, writing and exercises to help reclaim your creativity. I actually found the writing to be quite enjoyable and was actually able to look back and see how I was obsessing about something that I had very little control over and now, wonder why I put forth so much energy to that. I very highly recommend this book. Thanks G, Wy and Boop!
Thursday, February 19, 2004
"Running to the Top"
by Arthur Lydiard
An overview of the techniques and training for middle and long distance running. Lydiard is one of the most successful coaches, coaching runners from all over the world, coached multiple gold medal winners, and is thought to have revolutionized middle and distance running in the 1960s. He's a Kiwi who cuts through the crap and tells it like it is. A good book for the basics, and the book also includes training programs from the 800 meters through the marathon. Definitely worth tracking it down and reading.
An overview of the techniques and training for middle and long distance running. Lydiard is one of the most successful coaches, coaching runners from all over the world, coached multiple gold medal winners, and is thought to have revolutionized middle and distance running in the 1960s. He's a Kiwi who cuts through the crap and tells it like it is. A good book for the basics, and the book also includes training programs from the 800 meters through the marathon. Definitely worth tracking it down and reading.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
I don't understand all the glowing reviews of this book--outstanding, best book I've ever read, made me weep, etc. I found it OK, a bit tedious in the middle, and the last part just a little too far-fetched. Maybe this is why I read mostly non-fiction?
If you haven't heard about the book, its the story is of a 16 year old Indian boy (Piscine Patel, aka Pi) whose family owns a zoo in India. He has a love for God and becomes a practicing Christian, Muslim and Hindu, much to his (non-religious) parents and the priest, imam and pandit's surprise and displeasure. In fact, this first part of the book is the part I liked best. Pi wonders why he can't embrace all three religions and the "wise men" tell him that it's impossible, but don't give him any real reason.
Pi's family decides to immigrate to Canada and they sail on a Japanese tanker with a number of the zoo animals. There is a storm and the tanker sinks, save for Pi, a tiger named Richard Parker, a zebra, hyena and orangutan, all in a lifeboat. Eventually it comes down to just Pi and Richard Parker and they are adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days, before washing ashore in Mexico. Most of the book is about their time floating on the ocean. Maybe somewhere in all of it was the meaning of life, but it flew by me.
If you haven't heard about the book, its the story is of a 16 year old Indian boy (Piscine Patel, aka Pi) whose family owns a zoo in India. He has a love for God and becomes a practicing Christian, Muslim and Hindu, much to his (non-religious) parents and the priest, imam and pandit's surprise and displeasure. In fact, this first part of the book is the part I liked best. Pi wonders why he can't embrace all three religions and the "wise men" tell him that it's impossible, but don't give him any real reason.
Pi's family decides to immigrate to Canada and they sail on a Japanese tanker with a number of the zoo animals. There is a storm and the tanker sinks, save for Pi, a tiger named Richard Parker, a zebra, hyena and orangutan, all in a lifeboat. Eventually it comes down to just Pi and Richard Parker and they are adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days, before washing ashore in Mexico. Most of the book is about their time floating on the ocean. Maybe somewhere in all of it was the meaning of life, but it flew by me.
Sunday, January 11, 2004
"The 2003 Tour de France--100th Anniversary Tour"
by John Wilcockson
I believe Wilcockson has written one of these each of the last five years, generally covering the Tour stage by stage. They've all been really interesting and if you have every year of Lance's wins on tape, then the book is a nice companion.
Quiz:
1. Who owns the record for the most days in yellow? The number is 96.
2. Who owns the record for most stage wins? (34)
3. Who has 3 of the 5 fastest Tours (avg. speed)? Who are the other two riders in the top 5? One might surprise you.
4. Controversy at the Tour is nothing new. What year was the first controversy and what was it?
5. Who was the first non-French winner of the Tour, what was the year and where was he from?
The 2003 Tour book is a little different. It's divided into three parts. Part I is the history of the Tour. How and why it started, a paragraph on all 90 races (seven years lost to world wars), a chapter on strange happenings in five of the years, techniques and technology--how the bikes and equipment have changed, and a chapter covering the first four 5-time champions.
Part II is "Americans at the Tour". The first chapter is "North Americans at the Tour" and covers every Canadian, American and Mexican who have ever ridden in the Tour. There are also chapters on Greg Lemond, as the first American winner, and a chapter retelling Lance's comeback from cancer.
Part III is the actual Tour coverage, divided into the three weeks. There is an overview of that week, then detailed coverage of each stage. Also included are excerpts from Tyler Hamilton and Michael Rogers' online diaries that they wrote for VeloNews (of which Wilcockson is an editor). There is also the full roster of riders, lots of photos and some Tour records.
If you love the Tour, you'll like this book. Maybe not so much the last section if you aren't a Lance fan, but hey, wait until he wins #6 in 2004!
Quiz answers:
1. Eddy Merckx
2. Eddy Merckx
3. #1 (40.940 kph, 2003), #2 (40.273 kph, 1999) and #4 (39.572 kph, 2000) Lance; #3 Pantani (39.938 kph, 1998); #5 Indurain (39.504 kph, 1992)
4. The second Tour in 1904. Many riders cheated by hitching rides in cars or trains, having illicit feeds or switching race numbers with other riders. In some towns, mobs of fans (?) scattered carpet tacks on the roads or blocked the road. Fifteen riders were DQed for cheating. That was almost the last year of the Tour.
5. Francois Faber in 1909. He was from Luxembourg.
I believe Wilcockson has written one of these each of the last five years, generally covering the Tour stage by stage. They've all been really interesting and if you have every year of Lance's wins on tape, then the book is a nice companion.
Quiz:
1. Who owns the record for the most days in yellow? The number is 96.
2. Who owns the record for most stage wins? (34)
3. Who has 3 of the 5 fastest Tours (avg. speed)? Who are the other two riders in the top 5? One might surprise you.
4. Controversy at the Tour is nothing new. What year was the first controversy and what was it?
5. Who was the first non-French winner of the Tour, what was the year and where was he from?
The 2003 Tour book is a little different. It's divided into three parts. Part I is the history of the Tour. How and why it started, a paragraph on all 90 races (seven years lost to world wars), a chapter on strange happenings in five of the years, techniques and technology--how the bikes and equipment have changed, and a chapter covering the first four 5-time champions.
Part II is "Americans at the Tour". The first chapter is "North Americans at the Tour" and covers every Canadian, American and Mexican who have ever ridden in the Tour. There are also chapters on Greg Lemond, as the first American winner, and a chapter retelling Lance's comeback from cancer.
Part III is the actual Tour coverage, divided into the three weeks. There is an overview of that week, then detailed coverage of each stage. Also included are excerpts from Tyler Hamilton and Michael Rogers' online diaries that they wrote for VeloNews (of which Wilcockson is an editor). There is also the full roster of riders, lots of photos and some Tour records.
If you love the Tour, you'll like this book. Maybe not so much the last section if you aren't a Lance fan, but hey, wait until he wins #6 in 2004!
Quiz answers:
1. Eddy Merckx
2. Eddy Merckx
3. #1 (40.940 kph, 2003), #2 (40.273 kph, 1999) and #4 (39.572 kph, 2000) Lance; #3 Pantani (39.938 kph, 1998); #5 Indurain (39.504 kph, 1992)
4. The second Tour in 1904. Many riders cheated by hitching rides in cars or trains, having illicit feeds or switching race numbers with other riders. In some towns, mobs of fans (?) scattered carpet tacks on the roads or blocked the road. Fifteen riders were DQed for cheating. That was almost the last year of the Tour.
5. Francois Faber in 1909. He was from Luxembourg.
