Whatcha reading?

[Chiqui74]

For those reading for fun (and not for school), how long do you generally take to finish a book?

 

During my undergrad, I read about 2 - 3 books a week, which includes whole books, articles, and mere chapter(s). Now I read about a single book a week, plus my daily online junk; so about half the reading material I used to read. 

I am a slow reader, especially when it's not for a class.  Not only am I slow at the act of reading (I read every single word at talking speed), but I also have a zillion things going at the same time so I may not pick up a book for days. At that rate, I'd say I ready about a full book a month.  In the last couplef of years I discovered Audible and I've fallen in love with it.  I can listen to books that would otherwise take me months to finish, like the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and the Outlander series.

 

For school, I learned to read effectively and wtih a purpose.  It's just a different type of reading.

[thedig13]

For academic purposes, I am reading Edward J. Escobar's Race, Police, and the Making of the Political Identity: Mexican Americans and the Los Angeles Police Department, 1900-1945.

 

For non-academic reading, I am currently working my way through Kwame Alexander's The Crossover, which mixes my love of basketball with my love of poetry, as well as Eric Shonkwiler's Above All Men.

[lkjpoi]

Konrad Lorenz's On Aggression, which I have almost finished and is now one of my favorite books. I dream of writing as well as Lorenz and I also love studies on the social behavior of animals. 

 

I'm looking forward to finishing my grad school applications so I can stop reading (and editing) my own writing and especially so I can stop staring at the computer screen all day. I've been mentally creating the list of books I'm going to read after January, and boy is it gonna be amazing.

[BlackBear50]

Literature: I am in a HUGE Halldor Laxness kick. Independent People, The Fish Can Sing, and am now reading Iceland's Bell. I highly recommend him.

 

History, outside of class: Ireland in the Virginian Sea & Class Matters: Early North America and The Atlantic World

[lelick1234]

I so wish I was in graduate school so that I can stay focused on one book.  Contributing to my lack of focus is my busy schedule.  I teach both middle and high school social studies during the day, take a 2.5 hour Arabic course four days a week at night, and share about 40 percent of the parenting duties with my wife. In the last two years, I have completed the following books: : (

1) The Embers of War (Fredrik Logevall) *Probably 3/4 finished if I was being honest. 

2) The Great Arab Conquests (Hugh Kennedy) " " 
3) A History of Iraq (Charles Tripp)* This one was a page turner because I was reading it when the Islamic State exploded and massacred its way through Iraq and Syria. Provided excellent context for recent events. 
4) *There are about ten other books I started to read and put down because of distractions. 

 

I am currently reading the following: 
1) The Israel-Palestine Conflict (James Gelvin) 
2) The Global Offensive (Paul Thomas Chamberlain) 
3) From Colony to Superpower (George Herring) 

I need to read the following for preparation for graduate school, which will probably be in 2-3 years.  ( I think if I clear out some time, I can knock out five of these suckers in a year.) 

Melvin Leffler, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, The Truman 

Administration, and the Cold War (1992)

Melvyn P. Leffler, "The Cold War: What Do "We Now Know?" American Historical 

Review  (1999): 501

John Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (1997)

Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War (1992).

Michael Hogan, Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security 

State  (2001)

Michael Hogan, The American Ascendancy: How the United States Gained and Wielded 

Global Dominance (2007)

Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of 

Our Times (2005)

Zachary Karabell, Architects of Intervention: The United States, The Third World, and 

the Cold War, 1946-1962 (1999)

Douglas Little, American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945 

(2002)

Salim Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle 

East (2004)

John Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (1999)

Arnold Isaacs, Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia (1999)

Frederik Logevall, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War 

in Vietnam (1999)

Jussi Hanhimäki, Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy 

(2004)

John Ehrman, The Rise of Neoconservatism: Intellectuals and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1994 

(1995)

William A. Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1959)

Tom Engelhardt, The End of Victory Culture (1995)

Elizabeth Borgwardt, A New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights

 (2005)

David Engerman, Know Your Enemy, The Rise and Fall of America’s Soviet Experts 

(2009)

Carl Bon Tempo, Americans at the Gate: The United States and Refugees during the 

Cold War((2008)

[lelick1234]

Oh, also, I was never good at taking notes in class or from textbooks.  How does one retain as much information from their readings?  I hear that graduate students have to write précis.  But I am not exactly sure how to go about doing that.  Can anyone give some advice? 

[ashiepoo72]

Leonard-- Learning to read like a grad student is a great skill to achieve before you start grad school. I'm sure others will have different advice, but I've found this is the best way for me to get what I need from a book quickly. Being that we read an inordinate amount of books as grad students, reading quickly is key.

 

First things first, I look closely at the title, Library of Congress information, table of contents and index. The LoC info usually gives you basic information to situate the book. I like to note years, because the period a book is written can often influence the author (I recently read Nell Irven Painter's Standing at Armageddon and she admits the book was influenced by being written during the Cold War, for example). The ToC shows how the author (deliberately) structured the book--we should never take the author's chosen structure for granted. The index can give hints about what the author thinks is important, based on number of pages dedicated to that topic/person/event/etc. So if I'm skimming an index and labor and class have lots of pages dedicated to them, I know the author probably thinks these are particularly important topics in the analysis/argument.

 

Second step: read the introduction and conclusions with a fine-tooth comb. This is where most of my note-taking comes from. Look for clues from the author. Some mention structure and methodology, so note those. Definitely figure out what the thesis is. Sometimes it's a sentence saying "The thesis of the book is...." (it's awesome when that's the case haha), and sometimes the thesis is spread over several paragraphs or kind of implied but not overtly stated. Whatever the case may be, you NEED to pick out the argument. Some authors try to be fancy and put it in the conclusion, but most of the time its in the intro. Look for any historiographical review and if the author has key terms they define in the intro and make sure to note those. Also determine what the date range or thematic emphases are.

 

Finally, I gut the actual book. I tend to read one or two chapters closely, taking notes on specific examples the author uses to further the argument/analysis. Mostly, I skim. I like to note at least some specifics to basically "show the thesis in action" but don't spend much time on the actual chapters. Most of what I needed I already got from the intro/conclusion. Some authors structure chapters so they have a mini intro and conclusion at the beginning and end--in that case, I would read those closely and skim the body of the chapter. I also attempt to keep the historiography in mind the entire time I'm reading. For example, I recently finished Leon Litwack's Been in the Storm so Long and Heather Cox Richardson's The Death of Reconstruction. Litwack is kind of a big deal (understatement haha), and Richardson doesn't engage with his work (or much of the secondary literature in general), so I took notes on how this weakened her overall argument and where she could've used Litwack and other relevant historians.

 

At the end, I write a precis which I view as a glorified summary. The way I learned to write a precis is like this: Title is a full Chicago style bibliographic citation, Intro paragraph notes the structure/methodology/sources/thesis of the book, several paragraphs summarizing the key themes/arguments/important information with specific examples, conclusion paragraph that discusses the historiography (a focused analysis of the book's position in the historiography, other works the author engaged with--be it as a foil or to support their argument), strengths/weaknesses of the book (basically, why it's useful) and any questions it leaves unanswered.

 

Hope this helps!

 

EDIT: Precis should be short. One of my professors wanted one page, single spaced. Mine tend to be around two pages double spaced, but no more than three. If you can't write a concise precis, you're too caught up in details.

Edited December 30, 2014 by ashiepoo72

[lelick1234]

  Great advice! I just made your comment a PDF so that I can store it away for future reference.  

[ashiepoo72]

Also, I study US Cold War interventions--mostly from a US perspective but my work is necessarily global. What is your focus? I've been focusing on the Korean and Vietnam wars lately, so I've read a ton on those conflicts, mostly media-related. I also study Latin America (I can do research in Spanish), primarily the Salvadoran Civil War.

One book I'd suggest for an overview of US-USSR motivations/relations during the Cold War is Thomas Paterson's On Every Front. It's a bit dated, and the first edition was written during the Cold War, but it's pretty foundational and easy to read.

The Westad book you listed is one of my faves. It's so freaking good. His research is off the charts.

[lelick1234]

 I really need to read Wested's book.  He came to visit UCSB when I was an undergrad.   He gave a nice discussion about his newer book  "Restless Empire." He seemed to know his stuff.  I am going to focus on U.S. relations towards the Middle East.  I am currently living in Egypt which offers me a chance to get a good basis in Arabic.  I hope to have enough Arabic to research by the time I apply for graduate school.  I then want to study Farsi.  Arabic is the tough one.  It takes about 5-6 years to really be able read archival work.  Farsi is much easier I hear.  After Farsi, I might learn hebrew or maybe Turkish.  I am not sure if its in the cards, but it would be nice to reference Israeli sources because I want to write an international history of the Lebanese Civil War. Since this conflict involved Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Israel, I figured I might as well learn the languages of the combatants.  Moreover, I told myself that if I was going commit to graduate school, I needed to knock out some of the critical languages in order to justify this endeavor.  I figure with at least two, maybe three mastered, I might be employable somewhere if the academic pipe dream doesn't work out.  

[Chiqui74]

My email.....a million times a day.....

[ashiepoo72]

Chiqui74 -- I wish I could like your post a million times 

 

I decided to take a break from academic reading and catch up on The New Yorker--I'm like eight issues behind. I feel so decadent reading for fun...don't tell anyone I'm slacking!! 

[navyblackmaroon]

I just started reading Christopher Klemek's The Transnational Collapse of Urban Renewal. I am in an urban planning mood these days. However, that won't stop me from constantly checking my email or check the latest blueprints for public transit systems/buildings.

[RevolutionBlues]

I think that how you decide to take notes is a very personal thing that can only be determined through trial and error. I tend to write brief summaries of arguments, with each sub-chapter getting a sentence, each chapter a paragraph, etc. It generally turns out to about two single-spaced pages for a monograph and I like it because it makes it quick and easy to track down precise pages for references as well as to grasp the overall argument and how it's supported. I know other people who prefer to rewrite specific quotes that they find important, being sure to be accurate and provide page numbers for future reference; this seems especially useful in seminar discussions. Other people tend to take notes of their own musings and thoughts about books. Still others combine all three, with summaries interspersed with quotations and interjections of their own thoughts in parentheses. They're all good options because they work for the people doing them. In short, experiment with different styles before/as you get to grad school and figure out what works for you.

[Annalistasaxo89]

I began Ernst Junger's In Stahlgewittern this week though I doubt I will have much time for it. Last semester I read Lolita- now one of my favorite novels. Honestly I wish I had more time to indulge in reading for pleasure, but some of the secondary sources I am using for my senior thesis are quite interesting if obscure.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Annalistasaxo89

[kotov]

Exciting dissertation stuff.

 

Ana Barbulescu, et al. Munca Obligatorie a Evreilor din România: Documente. Bucharest: Editura Polirom, 2013.(The forced labor of the Romanian Jews: Documents)

 

Michael Thad Allen. The Business of Genocide: The SS, Slave Labor, and the Concentration Camps. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2002.

 

Few articles, mostly from Holocaust: Studii si Cercetari. (Holocaust: Studies and Research)

[wacyeah]

 

for some reason, i often don't read historical secondary sources for my pastime (and plus my focus is US-JP comparative view on collective memory of a-bomb so there aren't many US books (i know that there are many journals) (is there any book suggestion for that topic?) and i buy and read Japanese 2nd sources only when I'm back home (im from JP)). However, as for pastime, i read lots of novels, now mostly US but i read some JP books. I'm an avid fan of Michael Chrichton, and from last October I read, Gone Girl, Before I Go to Sleep, The Giver, Still Alice, Atomic Box (a japanese novel), and I'm currently reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (original 3-volumed Japanese version). 

[ashiepoo72]

I'd start with The "Good War" in American Memory by John Bodnar and work my way from there. I know you want to focus on the bomb, but a good sense of how Americans remember the entire war is useful for contextualizing the collective memory (and mismemory) of the atomic bomb.

[wacyeah]

 

I actually read and used it for my MA thesis actually! and i mean, that's why I applied to Indiana (coz you have two godly figures Dr. Bodnar and Dr. Linenthal). 

[tingdeh]

Looking at Pacific Connections by Kornel Chang, on the transnational and global history of the US-Canadian borderlands in the Pacific Northwest.

Also oddly fitting to have started this book on Super Bowl Sunday...and when Washington admits are flowing in. Odd.

[ToomuchLes]

Finished two awesome novels - The Golden Ass by Apuleius, and The Pot of Gold by Titus Plautus. The first one is, believe it or not, very very funny. I had quite a few laughs, and proceeded to share the experience with friends and family. They too thought it was funny. Wiki the story!  The latter keeps you entertained but isnt as good as the first one. 

 

Now Im going to read something pertinent to my area, and that is, Impending Crisis by David Potter. I bought the book a year or so ago, and skimmed it a few times, but never really read it cover to cover. I assigned myself to finish it by the end of the week =)

[a.rev]

I'm terrible about buying books on my kindle to read later, I've had it about a year now and I have over 100 books in my library with another 150 on my wishlist. Right now I'm reading a couple of books for my thesis and a few for fun. I'm skimming these for relevant information so I'm technically not "reading" them like a novel but they're what's on my desk at the moment: Empires by Michael W. Doyle, Imperialism by Philip Curtin, Orientalism by Edward W. Said, and Costumes du Maroc by Jean Besancenot.

 

My friend's thesis chair suggested she read the Outlander series so I'm giving it a shot, but I'm also reading The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine by Andrea Stuart and a few others (Erik Larson, Ken Follett, and the Song of Ice and Fire books). I also have a book given to me by a student at the end of last semester called Undaunted Courage that I need to read before he stops in to say hello. 

 

Does anyone else read several books at a time? I've always got at least 5-6 that I'm working through, sometimes I put them down for weeks,months even, before picking them back up. 

[ashiepoo72]

Oh yeah that's totally how I read. Usually I have multiple "fluff" novels I read at night, books assigned in courses and general reading for research topics floating around. Drives my friends crazy...apparently I'm supposed to commit to one book at a time

[Heimat Historian]

I just finished an interesting book about being a professor called "Life on the Tenure Track."  Pretty good, quick read.  

[KBHistorian]

My current novel that isn't required reading is "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. This historical fiction is a mixture of suspense, romance, and of course history. The plot focuses on Vlad the Impaler with additional focus on the Ottoman Empire and various monasteries. I have it as an audiobook which helps with pronunciation of various terms and names. Plus you can hear the specific accent for the various characters as well. It makes me want to learn more about not only Vlad, but the rise of the Ottoman Empire!