All up reading

It's been a productive book reading winter for me. What with more than expected traveling and some good luck with quick and exciting reads, I've managed to get myself off to a good start for the year.

On the opposite side, while I've done a much better job at reading more books than usual, I've done a terrible job at writing up what I've read. Ah well.

I'm going to cheat and do the six posts for the six books I've made it through thus far this year at once. Book #7, Blue Latitudes is almost done and I can hardly wait to post about what a wonderful book it is and why everyone should read it. Meantime:

Book #1:

30 Satires by Lewis Lapham: No lie, I bought this book entirely because of the endorsement on the cover: "I have a picture of Lewis Lapham on my binder" by Lisa Simpson. I have no idea why that swayed me so, but the cover was that fabulous thick white paper that feels just short of porcelain, and the cover picture was esoteric and, as such, pleasing, so even though I'm not much for satire and didn't know who Lewis Lapham was, I decided to try it.

Lewis Lapham is a fabulous writer. You should be able to expect that of someone from Harper's. And I'm sure his satires are ROFLing worthy, but this book is old. Rather, the book was published in 2003, so the book itself wasn't old, but many of the pieces in the book are from the 80s and early 90s. And one thing you will learn rather quickly upon reading 30 satires, is how poorly political satire ages. I have a feeling these stories were incredibly pithy and germane when they were released, but given that the topics have long since passed, and I have no prior knowledge to bring to the topic, they tended to be at best dull and at worst confusing. I did marginally better with the more modern pieces on Clinton's impeachment, but marginally is the operative word.

Political buffs would probably love this. But then again, they probably wouldn't be persuaded to buy a book because a cartoon character recommended it. Or, they subscribe to Harper's and already have the stories. Either way, I'm still happy I have this book because I am just so enamored with the cover...