{"id":1069,"date":"2020-01-31T19:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T00:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/?p=1069"},"modified":"2023-10-21T10:09:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T14:09:46","slug":"january-2020-books-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/2020\/01\/january-2020-books-read\/","title":{"rendered":"January 2020 books read"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><em>The Genius of Birds<\/em> &#8211; Jennifer Ackerman, 2016 &#8211; quotes pulled, TBD<\/li><li><em>The Magician&#8217;s Book: A Skeptic&#8217;s Adventures in Narnia<\/em> &#8211; Laura Miller, 2008. The rare book where my reaction was &#8220;I wish I had written this,&#8221; because Miller explores so much of what pulls me to re-read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/2019\/12\/the-chronicles-of-narnia-c-s-lewis-1950-1956\/\">these books<\/a>.  I didn&#8217;t pull quotes but there&#8217;s more I want to explore on a second read. Someday!<\/li><li><em>Milkman<\/em> &#8211; Anna Burns, 2018 &#8211; quotes pulled, TBD<\/li><li><em>Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing<\/em> &#8211; Robert Caro, 2019 &#8211; Couldn&#8217;t put it down! I actually haven&#8217;t read any of Caro&#8217;s biographies but now I want to. My favorite bits were these two heart-warming incidents:<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I was still in the first year of research [on <em>The Power Broker<\/em>] when friends and acquaintances began to ask if I was \u201cstill doing that book.\u201d Later I would be asked, \u201cHow long have you been working on it now?\u201d When I said three years, or four, or five, they would quickly disguise their look of incredulity, but not quickly enough to keep me from seeing it. I came to dread that question. <br \/>&#8230;<br \/>Then one day, I looked up and James Flexner was standing over me. The expression on his face was friendly, but after he had asked what I was writing about, the next question was the question I had come to dread: \u201cHow long have you been working on it?\u201d This time, however, when I replied, \u201cFive years,\u201d the response was not an incredulous stare.<br \/> \u201cOh,\u201d Jim Flexner said, \u201cthat\u2019s not so long. I\u2019ve been working on my Washington for nine years.\u201d<br \/> I could have jumped up and kissed him, whiskers and all\u2014as, the next day, I could have jumped up and kissed Joe Lash, big beard and all, when he asked me the same question, and, after hearing my answer, said in his quiet way, \u201c<em>Eleanor and Franklin<\/em> took me seven years.\u201d In a couple of sentences, these two men\u2014idols of mine\u2014had wiped away five years of doubt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Lynn [Nesbit] had read my manuscript, and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to represent you, but you have to tell me something first. Why do you look so worried?\u201d<br \/> I didn\u2019t know I <em>looked<\/em> worried. But of course I was. I told her, \u201cI\u2019m worried that I won\u2019t have enough money to finish the book.\u201d My editor had left me feeling that few people would read a book on Robert Moses, and that therefore no publisher would give me the money I needed to finish it.<br \/> She asked how much money I was talking about. I told her I needed enough so I could spend two more years on the book. I thought it would take me two years. I don\u2019t remember the exact amount I specified, but I know it was not that large. And all of a sudden there were other sentences that I\u2019ll never forget. She said, \u201cIs that what you\u2019re worried about? Then you can stop worrying right now. I can get you that by just picking up the phone. Everybody in New York knows about this book.\u201d<br \/> Then she said, \u201cYou can stop worrying about money. But I\u2019ve read this manuscript. What you care about is writing. My job is to find you an editor you can work with for the rest of your life.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li> <em>Don Quixote (El ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha)<\/em> &#8211; Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1615 (tr Edith Grossman, 2005) &#8211; quotes pulled, TBD <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Genius of Birds &#8211; Jennifer Ackerman, 2016 &#8211; quotes pulled, TBD The Magician&#8217;s Book: A Skeptic&#8217;s Adventures in Narnia &#8211; Laura Miller, 2008. The rare book where my reaction was &#8220;I wish I had written this,&#8221; because Miller explores so much of what pulls me to re-read these books. I didn&#8217;t pull quotes but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-lists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}