bookshelf

Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Written 1939,Read 04/30/09, Blog 05/09/09

A sorry collection of misfits tries to make it in Hollywood in the 1930s. Sidetracked by booze, fighting, jealousy and lack of talent they are no better off than the dazed Californians who have come to die in the sunshine. A mob riots at a movie premier.

The Age of Abundance by Brink Lindsey

How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture
394 pgs (c) 2007, Broward Library 973.92 LI, Read 09/20/07

A well-documented examination of how prosperity developed in the U.S. and how it has impacted private and public life.

Ordinary Horror by David Searcy

230 pgs (c) 2001, Broward Library Read: 02/20/08 Blog: 04/26/09

Told from the vantage point of an elderly reclusive widower this tale describes the quotidian eeriness of daily life, habitual terrors, and an ultimate unraveling.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre

Narrated by Rick Rohan
(c) 1923, Edwin Lefevre, (c) 2006 Recorded Books
Audible Download Read 03/30/09, Blog 03/31/09

Just as Proust and his madeleines seem to be trotted out in every article about memory, this volume is continually cited in articles about investing and markets. Significantly shorter Proust's, this book provides insight into trading and the early 20th century.

The Averaged American by Sarah E. Igo

Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public
398 pgs (c) 2007, Harvard University Press
Broward Library 301.0720732 IG Read: 03/02/08

Today we take surveys for granted. This book examines the rise of surveys at the turn of the last century, their continued development, and their effect on society at large.

Gravewriter by Mark Arsenault

272 pgs (c) 2006, New York: Thomas Dunne Books
Broward Library Read: 12/03/07

A strong middle-of-the-pack mystery that introduces the amateur sleuth Billy Povich. 

How Everyday Products Make People Sick by Paul Blanc

Toxins at home and in the workplace
374 pgs (c) 2007
Brow Lib 615.9 BL Read: 02/08/08, Blog: 03/24/09

I thought this would concern hazards in the home; but it primarily concerned with the hazards of manufacturing common products.

Dark Genius of Wall Street by Edward J. Renehan, Jr

The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons
Narrated by George Wilson
13 CDs, 14.75 hours (c) 2005 by Edward J. Renehan, Jr., 2006 by Recorded Books. LLC.
Read 03/16/09

Jay Gould was one of the original "Robber Barons" of the last half of the nineteenth century. According to Renehan, Gould was not the monster that that the press of the time and many biographers have made him out to be.

The Architect of Desire by Suzannah Lessard

Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family
328 pgs (c) 1996, 1997 Delta Paperback
Broward Library 974.90933 LE Read: 01/01/06

A great-grand daughter of the architect Stanford White slowly, ever so slowly, pulls skeletons out of her family's closet.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

15 hrs, 37 min. Narrated by Ron Silver
Purchased via Audible. Read 03/04/09.

Philip Roth puts the dynamite into family dynamics as a hard-earned suburban life is exploded from within. This story examines the decline of manufacturing and the resulting  decay of the city. The author leaves no part of the glove industry unexplored or unexplained.  American Pastoral is to glove making what Moby Dick is to whaling.