Maximum City

November 16, 2009

by Suketu Mehta
Mehta grew up in Mumbai but he left after his formative years for the US (New York City, mostly, for 20 years). This book documents a homecoming of sorts. He brings his wife and two young kids back to Mumbai to live for a few years and documents his personal experiences. It’s deeper [...]

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The Hoopster

October 6, 2009

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
The earliest memory I have of a “chapter book” is one called Powerhouse Five. I think I may have read it in 5th or 6th grade. It feels like yesterday. In fact, I can picture the grade-school bookshelf with all of the basketball books. All I can recall about the book was that it had a [...]

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The Company of Strangers

September 25, 2009

by Robert Wilson
I was looking for a serious spy novel – I got a serious spy novel. There’s nothing light about this book. I read one of Wilson’s novels before I started Booktakes and I recall thinking it was really cool. Well, this one is even better. In fact, it’s the best book I’ve read [...]

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“R” is for Ricochet

September 15, 2009

by Sue Grafton
Grafton is not having any problems keeping me interested in the continuing adventures of her private investigator Kinsey Millhone. There are a few new developments this time around. First of all, Grafton throws in a lot of material about Kinsey’s landlord/neighbor Henry and his quirky family. But that’s not all.

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Create Your Own Economy

August 30, 2009

by Tyler Cowen
This book grabbed me when I read the synopsis, but I can’t remember where I saw it. I usually remember stuff like that. Oh well. This little article from Fast Company sums up some of this guy’s views. It’s interesting to me, this idea of the web actually adding value to our lives [...]

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The Hard Way

August 27, 2009

by Lee Child
This is the next installment (for me) of the Jack Reacher series. I’ve had it sitting around for awhile but I was inspired to read it after reading about Lucas Glover’s win at the US Open. If you’re wondering why, read the first few paragraphs of this article and you’ll understand.

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More Than Just Race

August 8, 2009

by William Julius Wilson
When it was announced that Obama would receive an honorary degree and give the graduation speech at Notre Dame, some heated discourse ensued. I was asked early on by someone, “Why is your university so racist?” I was a little taken aback by this question. The backlash from the Catholic Church did [...]

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7 Steps to Midnight

August 2, 2009

by Richard Matheson
Okay, did you see I Am Legend? I thought it was a cool flick. It was based on a book by an author named Richard Matheson. I only read maybe one or two books a year in sci-fi so I need a strong referral to grab one, effectively this movie was my strong [...]

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Netherland

July 5, 2009

by Joseph O’Neill
Obama suggested I read this book. Not directly of course, I actually saw in Newsweek that he was reading it. Usually, if you hear about a government official reading something, it’s some sort of nonfiction. You know, like Lincoln’s biography. But Obama is admitting to reading a work of fiction, which I find [...]

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Getting Things Done

July 5, 2009

by David Allen
More self-help, and I certainly need it. This book is not like the usual motivational stuff or the run-of-the-mill pop psychology stuff. It’s a detailed treatise on planning and organizing at the lowest level. It’s about processing all of the “stuff” that crosses your desk each day. Yeah, I feel like a dork, [...]

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