April reading list

In a big nod to the K-man with his monthly recaps of what he's listening to on his Ipod, here's what I read in April. This does not, of course, include the scholarly works for graduate school.

Here we go with a shorter list:

The Husband by Dean Koontz. Pretty good, though it's more of a beach book and I read it here in Cville mostly inside due to the rain.

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Rereading this great book on Bryson's trips to Australia. Full of humor and interesting facts on Australia, it's a book worth picking up.

U2 by U2. Fantastic book on one of my all-time favorite bands. It's written as an interview with the 4 band members, so it reads more like a conversation than a book. Some great pictures in it as well.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. No surprise that one of my favorite authors had 2 books on this month's cycle. This is probably the best book on science that I've ever read; it's much more interesting and informative than any book or article I've ever read on biology, chemistry, geology or any other science. A must read, and I recommend the special illustrative edition.

Naked by David Sedaris. One of my other top three authors, Sedaris writes hysterical "non-fiction" about his life, travels and time in France. The highlight of the past few months was an evening with David Sedaris at the PAC that The Mrs. C gave me as a Christmas present [one of the best and most thoughtful presents I've received in a long time]. I read our newly-autographed copy that we got when we met him after the show. You can read more about the show here on the other blog.

Gargantua de Francois Rabelais. C'est le deuxième roman de François Rabelais. Publié en 1534, il fait suite au succès du premier livre de Pantagruel, probablement publié en 1532. L'auteur a retravaillé le texte ultérieurement.

Gargantua est sans doute le texte narratif le plus célèbre de la Renaissance française. D'un structure comparable à celle de Pantagruel, il conte les années d'apprentissage et les exploits guerriers du géant Gargantua. [en francais de la 16eme siecle].

You should try the original 16th century French version; it's much, much funnier and actually quite dirty. The modern English version is actually missing ~ 1/5 of the original book because it's a little too graphic for our modern sensibilities [which I find curiously ironic].

Those are the highlights of what I read over the past few weeks. Merci.