Reading Update

I've let too many full book reviews pass by, and it's too late to catch up.  You'll have to make do with these short summaries.

Michael Korda, Hero:  The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.  T. E. Lawrence was the type of renaissance man that I find fascinating.  He was brilliant at everything he put his hand to:  historical research on medieval fortifications, archaeology, writing, diplomacy, and (I know I'm forgetting something . . . Oh, yeah) uniting the Arab tribes and leading them in military revolt against the Turks in World War I.  Korda's well-written biography shows how so much of his life--his discovery that he was illegitimate, his distant relationship with his mother, his perpetual collection of father figures, his almost fanatical asceticism, and his desire to do something great in the world--prepared him to become a hero.  And by "hero" Korda means in the classical sense rather than in the modern, sentimental sense.  I especially enjoyed Korda's take on Lawrence's immensely complicated personality as well as three events in Lawrence's warfare experience that would have surely made many men lose their minds:  personally executing one of his men (to forestall an inner-tribal vendetta), his rape and torture as a prisoner of war by his Turkish captives, and witnessing the immediate aftermath of a hideous massacre of an Arab village by fleeing Turkish troops.  Korda has made produced a literary work worthy of its subject.  If you enjoy biographies you'll enjoy this one.

G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who was Thursday:  A Nightmare.  A very strange book about an undercover cop infiltrating an anarchist group who discovers that all the members of the anarchist group are all undercover cops.  I enjoyed it but I'm not sure if I got it.

Alan Jacobs, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction.  Jacobs is one of my favorite authors, and once again he did not disappoint.  His latest book is all about embracing reading for fun rather than reading for duty or personal betterment (contra the likes of How to Read a Book and other advocates of "must read" books or "great book" lists).  Jacobs has convinced me to abandon my goal to read one "classic" book per quarter (not like I was making much progress anyway).  Book snobs should stay away from this one.

For my next post I'll have my top ten reads of 2011.