Non-Fiction:
South Carolina: A History - An excellent resource about the history of South Carolina. I'm using it as source matter for historical research. I'm writing a novel on the Regulators of South Carolina, pre-Revolutionary period. It'll be my American Frontier book.
The War that killed Achilles - A very interesting book on the Trojan War and what Homer may have been really trying to convey in the Iliad. Coincidentally I am re-reading the Iliad right now.
Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time - This is a huge (932 pages) biography on Dostoevsky. I've always been more of a Tolstoy man myself but one of my best friends mostly liked Dostoevsky, and we used to argue about it all the time as teenagers. Well, recently I re-read the Idiot and Crime and Punishment and I see where he's coming from now and how good Dostoevsky actually was, and with this biography I'm seeing what he was attempting. I consider biographies one of the highest forms of literature because mixed within it (should be) good historical research, excellent speculation, some necessary fiction, factual content, and not only good psychological analysis, but hopefully a good analysis of the world in which the subject lived and acted. To me this is an excellent biography, and well worth the enormous size.
Entering the Castle - This is an interesting book on both spirituality and psychology. Interesting to me because of the fact that the subject matter sort of parallels some experimentation I've been doing on my own. It strikes me as sort of new agery and silly in some respects, but solid in other ways, and I've found it to be useful in many respects.
Writing the Blockbuster Novel - An excellent book on writing by Albert Zuckerman. I'm just about finished extracting all of the useful bits for my own notes and templates.
Fiction:
The High City - This book is by Cecelia Holland. I had previously read a book (Varanger) by her which I enjoyed immensely and has influenced my own writings to a degree. That book was about a couple of Vikings, and was a work of historical fiction (Cecelia Holland writes historical fiction, and is dammed good at it) involving their life in a Viking trading village near Russia. This book takes on the same basic subject matter only the surviving Viking ends up in Constantinople. I couldn't not read the book having read the jacket and it has done anything but disappoint so far. I highly recommend it. You know, it's funny but as a kid I really couldn't stand to read most fiction by females, and certainly didn't feel I had much in common with them or what they wrote about. But now I read many really great works by females. I think though that back then women wrote (either through market or societal compulsion, or simply through self-habit) just women's stuff. Now that women write far more widely, and about any and all subjects, many have come to my attention as excellent authoresses. I highly recommend Holland's stuff. I've even lately thought of writing an historical romance under a female pseudonym, not like modern romance, but more like Arthurian romance (but this one set in Eastern Europe, or perhaps even Japan), as a book for women, to see if I could turn the tables and write something that would be considered primarily of interest to women.
Books on CD:
School Days - by Robert Parker. It's a Spencer novel and at first I didn't think I'd much like it based just on the title and blurb and CD jacket. But it has actually turned out to be one of the better cases Spencer has ever worked. It's good, very good to me so far. Quite fascinating.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Just started listening to this but it seems really good so far. Should be able to listen to it today as the kids go to piano and music lessons.
Lectures:
The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas - This was a truly excellent series of lectures (by Professor Peter Kreeft - Boston College) on the philosophy, and the theology, of Thomas Aquinas. When I was younger and reading in philosophy at college I wasn't at first much impressed by Aquinas. Later I began reading his main works on my own and became much impressed. The older I get the more impressed and influenced I am not only by his philosophy, but also by his theology. If you've got any interest in Aquinas, philosophy, theology, or the development of science, Then I recommend this.
Biology: the Science of Life - This lecture series is by Professor Stephen Nowicki of Duke University. He's a pretty good lecturer. I was having my kids watch it on DVD as part of their homeschooling, but I have been following along as I could. It is a good basic college level primer and review on biology and genetics and has given me a few ideas for inventions.
Course Studies:
Experiencing God - The first time I took this course it was blasé to me. I didn't like it as well as say, 40 Days of Purpose. But this time the materials are revised and it has turned out to be a really good course. I've also reinitiated my basic studies for the Priesthood and should receive some preliminary materials shortly.
Film:
Kaspar Hauser - I wanted to mention this film because I found it extremely entertaining. Not something I can say of many films nowadays. I also found it extremely interesting and literate. It was perhaps the best exposition on film I've ever seen concerning the idea of the corruption of innocence and goodness. It was the Kino version.
