Version 7.0ish. Digital Humanities. Running. Pedagogy. Linux.

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Recently read: Confessions Of An Economic Hitman by John Perkins.

I ordered a copy of the audio version of this book after hearing about it so much on the This Week in Tech podcast, especially from John C. Dvorak. Perkins recalls his life as what he refers to as an economic hitman. He spent years in South America and other places working to meddle with their governments and people. The contents of this book are certainly no surprise, but nonetheless extremely disturbing. I am looking forward to listening to Perkin’s newish book, which is coming up in my audio books queue.

Recently read: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

When I read this novel for a course a few years back, I was surprised by my lack of enjoyment. Woolf is one of my favorite writers, but it didn’t interest me that much. This time around, I thought I would try out the audio book and see if that was a better experience. I still didn’t like it that much. Oh well.

My first post in WP 2.7…I love the new dashboard…

• Two links for Jean-Philippe Toussaint from The Quarterly Conversation: a nice interview and a review of Monsieur from Scott Esposito.
• Literary Kicks on Plato’s Republic.  Been thinking about Plato a lot lately because this is one of the audiobooks in my queue right now.
• My Twitter pal Samhita over at Feministing wonders if a restraining order is ever enough.
• The Guardian does a really cool interview with Herbie Hancock.  I need to check out his solo work; he played on my favorite Miles Davis record In A Silent Way.
• Judith Butler on the November election.

Recently read: On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

I listened to the audio version of this novel during the summer. I tried to reread some of Anthony’s novels from this series back in 2005 but found myself moving through them very slowly. They are still good, very intertextual, and extremely thoughtful, but I had this nagging difficulty with them. Listening to the audio book, however, was a very pleasant experience. This is the kind of novel that needs, perhaps, a good reading that can be listened to on the go. I listened in the car and while running, amusingly the author’s note at the end is about Anthony’s experiences running at the time, and found myself eager for the next chance to listen.

Recently read: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

I spent some time on and off the past few months listening to the audio book of Lolita. Jeremy Irons gives a marvelous performance of Nabokov’s brilliant book. I last read this novel during my senior year in high school; I did not understand at the time how beautiful the language is and how much this book is a portrait of America in the years after World War II.

Recently read: Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare.

This is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays. Besides the misogynistic ending it is just not that interesting. I’d be curious about current criticism, however, to see what scholars are doing with it right now.

I read this play via Daily Lit.