October readings went spookily well!

October ending up being a pretty good reading month over all, cleaning off those shelves.  I read 7 books.  A total of 2,108 pages.  Which is an average of 68 pages per day.  Without further ado, the October books....

The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Prince by Machiavelli, On War by General Carl von Clausewitz and Instructions of His Generals by Frederick the Great (358 pages).  Wow- 4 war books in one.  That's a lot of war booking at one go.  And as I have no plans to go to war or take over a country, I didn't really find it to be very enlightening.  Or exciting.  In fact, this was one of those books that I had to force myself to read.  I mean, I read every word.  But I didn't retain anything.  It was torture.  Much like war itself must be.  I finished in 6 days.

Pocahontas: The Life and the Legend by Francis Mossiker (337 pages).  Poor Pocahontas, forever Disney-fied with all the colors of the wind.  While I definitely knew more about Pocahontas than Disney taught us, there was still a lot I didn't really know about her.  Like the fact that even though she was young, she was still a woman in the eyes of her community.  And there actually may have been a love affair with John smith (although in all likelihood, her saving his life was actually a ritual that adopted him into their tribe rather than an actual threat on his life and therefore they had an intimate relationship that might not have been physical at all).  I think I always thought that Pocahontas' transition to Rebecca was more under duress.  But it seems like she truly enjoyed everything the white Englishmen represented.  And she also seems to have truly loved her husband, John Rolfe (who is the reason tobacco was the cash crop of Virginia).  Sad that she died at such a young age and across the ocean from her home.  I finished in 7 days.

Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber (374 pages).  Mary, the single librarian in a small Louisiana town, has never done anything out of the ordinary.  After the loss of her mother and brother, she finally does- she answers a personal ad for a wife.  Travis, a bachelor rancher in Montana, has just adopted his nephews and niece after his brother and sister in law are killed in a car accident.  He realizes that ranching and being a single dad isn't an easy job.  So when Mary answers his ad, she seems like the answer to his prayers.  And of course, being a romance novel, they really and truly fall in love.  Not without their share of arguments and misunderstandings along the way.  It was easy and cheesy.  King of a nice break from the heavier stuff I'd been reading this month.  I finished in 2 days.

The Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind by Katharine Hepburn (129 pages).  Hepburn decided to write a journal about her experience in Africa while filming this movie (which I haven't seen in years).  The subtitle kind of says it all.  Between the weather (always damp and hot) and the conditions, it was a tough go of it.  But she actually seemed like she had a marvelous time.  And the movie was amazing and one she was very proud of.  I kind of want to re-watch it now.  I finished in 2 days. 

The Search for Justice by Robert L. Shapiro (360 pages).  I'm still convinced that OJ killed Nicole and Ron.  Or at least had them killed.  There's not much that will convince me otherwise.  Fortunately, Shapiro doesn't try to convince me of OJ's innocent.  He merely discusses the trial prep and strategy.  Including a lot of behind the scenes things and the misrepresentations in the press.  The prosecution had a tough row to hoe- the DNA evidence was all of the place and the police just tossed procedure right out the window during the investigation.  The defense team did a great job proving reasonable doubt as to OJ's guilt.  I was a senior in high school when the murders took place and a freshman in college when class was halted for the reading of the verdict.  I think I'd have payed closer attention to the whole thing had I already been a lawyer.  So this was an interesting read.  Especially for this former prosecutor.  I finished in 6 days.

The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos and the Murder of Jose Robles by Stephen Koch (281 pages, plus 27 pages of notes that I did not read).  This one had a sticker from the Ernest Hemingway House on it.  Which means it's been in my possession for nearly 6 years!  Man, this clearing off of the shelves has been a long time coming.  I was wondering why in the world I bought this book.  And then mentioned it to Popsicle.  Turns out HE bought it and then passed it on to me when he was finished.  Also turns out he didn't enjoy it either.  It was kind of dull.  Long story short- Hem and Dos (another famous author) had been good friends.  To the point that they joined forces to produce/create a film called The Spanish Earth.  But one of Dos' best friends, Jose Robles, was murdered during the Spanish Civil War for some political reason.  And when Hem gleefully told Dos about it and accused Robles of being a fascist traitor, their friendship never recovered.  I put a lot of the blame on Hem- he went through friends the way he went through wives.  No loyalty, no explanations.  The personal stuff about Hem and Dos was interesting.  After all, I find Hem to be one of the most tragic authors in history (even if I don't care for his writing style).  But the political stuff was boring.  I finished in 5 days.

Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin, PhD (242 pages).  The author is an anthropologist.  When she and her husband moved from downtown to the Upper East Side after having their first child, she entered a whole new world.  And decided to study it like an anthropologist would.  The habits, the attitudes, the grooming, the hierarchies.  It was a fun read.  And a world I'm glad I'm not in!  My Louis Vuitton isn't on par with a Birkin!  I finished in 3 days.

This month's favorite was...The Search for Justice.  I know, I'm as shocked as all!