Books I'm Currently Reading (May 2009 Edition)

Once again, I seem to have a lot of them on the go at the moment! I should mention that I finished all of the ones in my last list (from March) and have moved on to:

The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman - I actually finished it a few days ago, but wanted to make sure that I mentioned Conscience here. I really loved this book, as economist Krugman presents such a straight-forward and yet compelling set of arguments for why the "movement conservative" portion of the Republican party has had so much success until very recently while doing so much to widen the income inequalities within the U.S. population. Vicki's now started reading it, based on my high recommendation.

Union Dues by John Sayles - One of two Sayles books that Vicki gave me for Christmas, Union Dues is about a teenage boy who runs away from his West Virginia coal-mining community and heads to Boston in search of his older brother. The boys' father soon follows, in search of the younger son, and the novel alternates between the two as they run up against various big city realities. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and it's reminiscent of many of Sayles' films, though perhaps not quite as engaging as the big screen versions.

America (The Book) by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writers - Because I'm loving The Daily Show so much these days, I decided to spend a little coin and support them in the form of this humourous look at politics and the media. Vicki can always tell when I've picked it up, because it garners about four or five laughs per page from me. Very funny stuff!

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman - Another collection of Gaiman short stories, although this one is ostensibly aimed at younger readers. The reality of our times, though, is that many a parent today probably wouldn't want their kids reading even this light fare, since it's not all Disney-fied and free of any images that might startle those children who've been raised to fear their own shadow. I suppose any kid that can handle Harry Potter, though, would make out OK with "Troll Bridge" and the rest of what Gaiman packs into this lovely little gem.

Was Superman a Spy? (and Other Comic Book Legends Revealed!) by Brian Cronin - One of my favourite weekly columns is Comic Book Legends Revealed, and so when its author announced that he was publishing a book containing a half-and-half mix of previous legends and new ones, I just had to buy a copy! I just received it in the mail today, and have only read the Introduction so far, but I'm looking forward to many an hour spent on the back deck, drinking in comic book lore at its finest!

Practical Mathematics by Russell V. Person and Vernon J. Person - Sometimes I get gifts that I suspect are at least partially making light of some aspect of my eccentricity, but does it really matter if I get some enjoyment out of them? This example is a great introduction to mathematics that was passed my way over the weekend, and I've already read several chapters of it! It assumes that you know absolutely nothing about math and builds up from there, making it both a good refresher of rules and an excellent reference. There aren't too many people who'd enjoy reading something like this... but for good or ill, I'm one of them!