Abandoned books and/or movies #11

These are the books I have stopped reading over the past three months.

Rat Girl-- Kristin Hersh

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food During Wartime by the World's Leading Correspondents-- edited by Matt McAllester

Intern Nation-- Ross Perlin

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper-- Geoffrey Gray

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts-- Julian Rubinstein

Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery and the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence-- Ronald Fernandez

Foucault's Pendulum-- Umberto Eco

Ocean's of Words-- Ha Jin

Sleeping Where I Fall-- Peter Coyote

A Radical Line-- Thai Jones

The Making of Black Revolutionaries-- James Forman

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour-- David Bianculli

What I have been listening to lately #62

Ecuadorian musicians singing about their revolution to the tune of "Hey Jude."

Abandoned Books and/or Movies #7

The Fourteenth of July and the Storming of the Bastille by Christopher Prendergast

The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle

Oddly, both books are about France during the revolution and Napoleonic era. More oddly, I was enjoying both books but decided to stop reading them anyway.

What I have been reading lately #41

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller

Alexandra Fuller (see photo above-- she is the youngest daughter) and her family moved to Rhodesia in the early 1970s. There they attempted to farm and ranch; however, the war for equality and independence being waged by the black majority made it difficult. After the war was over, Fuller and her family left Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and ultimately settled in Zambia.

This book tells the story of her family. It is entertainingly written and quite fascinating. If you are interested in learning more about the white Rhodesians and what it was like to be on the losing side of the war, this would be a good book to read.

With Trotsky in Exile: From Prinkipo to Coyoacan by Jean van Heijenoort

During the 1930s, Jean van Heijenoort (pictured above, second from the right, directly behind Frida Kahlo) served as an assistant, collaborator, secretary, and bodyguard to Leon Trotsky during much of the time the Russian revolutionary leader was in exile in Turkey, France, Norway, and Mexico. This book was written in the 1970s and is based upon van Heijenoort's personal memories and papers as well as some of Trotsky's documents. Despite the fact that van Heijenoort later quietly repudiated Marxism and went on to become a mathematics professor, this book is, on the whole, sympathetic to Trotsky and his struggle.

From reading this book, I learned the following facts:

• Leon Trotsky enjoyed fishing, hunting, and riding horses.
• Trotsky was a non-smoker and did not allow others to smoke in his presence.
• Trotsky was very particular about the pens that he used.
• While he had a very strict schedule of meal times, Trotsky was not at all particular about what he ate.
• The only person around whom Trotsky seemed relaxed was Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.
• Trotsky insisted that the outboard motor for the fishing boat in Turkey be operated strictly according to the manufacturer's instructions.

What I have been listening to lately #7