Pulling a Dragon’s Teeth
By: Wei, Shao
She is a poet at the UT Michener Center, originally from China and writes bilingually. Worth reading.
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
Tales of the Caddo [microform]
By: Tomlyn, John
Just so you know this is not Folklore by any stretch of the imagination.
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
Hvarf / Heim
By: Sigur Rós
Beautiful, gorgeous and awe-inspiring. “Heim” is “home” in Icelandic and the film documents a number of (mostly) impromptu performances by Sigur Ros undertaken around the island.
This band is off in its’ own world. Clearly, not ‘rock’ music –but it still rocks at times –they have broken new territory and are doing something that is dangerously emotional and that is hard to put into words.
Reviewer: Tim S
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
By: Gellman, Barton
Short of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Dick Cheney does indeed have the mark of the beast (666) tattoed on his torso, Barton Gelman lays out an almost complete argument that Dick Cheney is the most evil being ever to take human form. Cheney never claimed to be a civil servant after all, instead, since his days as a Nixon staffer, Cheney has claimed power, as much and as quickly as possible, and then scurries off into the darkest recesses to wield it. What is most annoyinng is that Cheney has had great success at turning our democracy into a piratocracy. Gelman effectively points out all of the mis-deeds, from sanctionaing torture to undermining any environmental controls that he could get his hands on, to outright lying to people like Dick Armey in order to secure votes for the Iraq war. Gelman also points out that this ‘perfect storm’ of a weak and un-interested President, a fearful country, and a cabal of ruthless bucaneers is what has damaged our heritage the most. There is almost always somehting that intervenes between pure evil and potical success in American politics, but Cheney shrewdly outmaneuvers, hoodwinks and threatens everyone (including “W” and Codi And Colin Powell!)into handing over the poltical booty. Cheney is a pirate and he has brought this country to its collective knees. Gelman, to his credit, has written a fine book, much better balanced than this review.
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
A Beautiful Blue Death
By: Finch, Charles
Set in London in 1865, it’s true to the language and milieu (as far as I can tell) and has an amalgam of elements of the classic British detective story and 19th century novel: an aristocratic amateur detective and his valet, gentlemen’s clubs, old boys, country houses and town houses, balls and bridge and afternoon tea. The London winter is palpable and the understated romance between sleuth and lady sweet.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
The Courting of Marcus Dupree
By: Morris, Willie
One of many fine books by this quasi-native son, The Courting of Marcus Dupree chronicles the feverish college recruitment of a promising high school football player in the early ‘80s. Willie Morris, an editor of the Daily Texan in the 50’s, after a stint in The Big Apple returned home to Mississippi and found this story there. It’s more than the story of a high school football star and his family working their way through the tangle of possibilities and promises offered in the recruitment process. It’s a look into the soul of this town where twenty years before three young civil rights workers had been murdered.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
The Saga of Billy the Kid
By: Burns, Walter Noble
Billy the Kid is the subject of many books and movies. Bob Dylan, called by one of our English faculty “the American Homer,” wrote the music for one of movies. Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, wrote a book of poems and vignettes in Billy’s stead. I doubt our interest in Billy would have thrived so if not for Burns’ book, published in 1926 and based on accounts of people living then who had known Billy. Burns creates such a sympathetic character and tells the story so well, not wanting to go to sleep with Billy’s end on my mind, I had to stop reading just before the death scene.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
The Extra Mile: One Woman’s Personal Journey to Ultra-running Greatness
By: Reed, Pam
Those who’d rather go for a run before breakfast, or who want to know why anyone would, can find some insight here. Pam Reed is an ultra-runner, one of those who run races of 100+ miles. After such a run, in the dessert, she will eat, sleep, wake up and – yes, you guessed it – go for a little run, a short one with a friend, maybe 4 or 5 miles. Whether you’re a marathoner or a couch potato, you will be amazed by this woman’s drive.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
Life Is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days
By: Salter, James
If you’re looking for a gift for the cook, or a good little read with your morning tea, you can’t do better than this collection of offerings
from a couple’s lifetime of reading and cooking. A portrait of big eater Diamond Jim Brady, the development of the microwave, pitting an olive, a homily on gleaning – one for every day of the year, and each entry gives pleasure.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
Los comerciantes de Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca, 1920-1980
By: Steffen, Cristina
Interesting book with lots of information about the time period and interpersonal relationships/dynamics between influential families in a typical Mexican town.
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
