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Wednesday Reading Meme, One Day Early
Dec. 24th, 2013 10:43 amTomorrow will be full of Yuletidings, so I’ve moved the Wednesday Reading Meme one day early.
What I’ve Just Finished Reading
Scott Miller’s The President and the Assassin, which is a sort of double biography of William McKinley and the man who assassinated him, Leon Czoglosz, supposedly for the cause of anarchy, although in actual fact it seems like Czoglosz hit on assassination as a way to give purpose and direction to his aimless drifting life. His parts of the book are terribly sad.
However, whenever the Czoglosz sections get too depressing, something distracting happens, and by “something” I generally mean “Theodore Roosevelt.” He spent most of the first McKinley administration campaigning for a war, any war, against anyone, and when he finally got it (THOUGHT! Did Teddy Roosevelt blow up the Maine through the sheer power of his own yearning for a casus belli?) he promptly quit his post as assistant secretary of the navy in order to lead a volunteer cavalry unit on a death-or-glory charge up San Juan Hill.
Given his bellicosity, it’s kind of stunning that Teddy Roosevelt didn’t kickstart fifteen different wars once he became president. I guess he realized that he could hardly quit the presidency to go fight. And what would be the point of starting a war if he didn’t get to fight in it?
What I’m Reading Now
Rosemary Sutcliff’s Arthurian retelling Sword at Sunset. So far it revolves around the thrilling logistical challenges of importing war horses large enough to carry a man in full armor. And by “thrilling” I mean “clearly not thrilling at all.” But Artos’s BFF Bedwyr (who will be playing the part of Lancelot) is supposed to show up in the next chapter, so that’s going to be exciting, right?
What I Plan to Read Next
Rumer Godden’s In This House of Brede, or possibly The Kitchen Madonna. I hadn’t realized she wrote so many books about nunneries! There are simply not enough authors who think to themselves, “What this story needs is a nun.”
What I’ve Just Finished Reading
Scott Miller’s The President and the Assassin, which is a sort of double biography of William McKinley and the man who assassinated him, Leon Czoglosz, supposedly for the cause of anarchy, although in actual fact it seems like Czoglosz hit on assassination as a way to give purpose and direction to his aimless drifting life. His parts of the book are terribly sad.
However, whenever the Czoglosz sections get too depressing, something distracting happens, and by “something” I generally mean “Theodore Roosevelt.” He spent most of the first McKinley administration campaigning for a war, any war, against anyone, and when he finally got it (THOUGHT! Did Teddy Roosevelt blow up the Maine through the sheer power of his own yearning for a casus belli?) he promptly quit his post as assistant secretary of the navy in order to lead a volunteer cavalry unit on a death-or-glory charge up San Juan Hill.
Given his bellicosity, it’s kind of stunning that Teddy Roosevelt didn’t kickstart fifteen different wars once he became president. I guess he realized that he could hardly quit the presidency to go fight. And what would be the point of starting a war if he didn’t get to fight in it?
What I’m Reading Now
Rosemary Sutcliff’s Arthurian retelling Sword at Sunset. So far it revolves around the thrilling logistical challenges of importing war horses large enough to carry a man in full armor. And by “thrilling” I mean “clearly not thrilling at all.” But Artos’s BFF Bedwyr (who will be playing the part of Lancelot) is supposed to show up in the next chapter, so that’s going to be exciting, right?
What I Plan to Read Next
Rumer Godden’s In This House of Brede, or possibly The Kitchen Madonna. I hadn’t realized she wrote so many books about nunneries! There are simply not enough authors who think to themselves, “What this story needs is a nun.”
