reading list redux

Million Dollar Legs - the author is a bit of a fan-boy, but I had no idea that Grable's career included time touring in Hello Dolly! and Born Yesterday. Fun Hollywood read, but I've read better.

For example, Tab Hunter might not be much as an actor, but his memoir about Hollywood and being gay and the era - he's funny, he's sharp, and he's astute. The late Esther Williams' memoir Million Dollar Mermaid - frank, funny, and fully aware of her faults as well as her achievements.

I Go By Sea - I admit that Mr Banks is what inspired me to pick this up again one night. It goes quickly, and I like it better than Mary Poppins. There, I've said it.

Still working on Moon (I keep losing track of the characters) and Britten, who wrote brilliant music but whose personal indecisiveness drives me away at fifty page intervals.

Gavin MacLeod is a lot more enjoyable so far than the sub-title might suggest.

Meanwhile, started and finished The Cantor Wore Crinolines by Mark Schweitzer, which is hilariously funny for reasons relating to liturgy, Latin, and language. It's the umpteenth in his series, and the last two or three were a little flat, but this one is almost as good as the first one, The Alto Wore Tweed. href
="http://www.sjmpbooks.com/">The author's web site
Uh-oh - it appears that he has a blog. Must check that out.

Also enjoyed Death is Now My Neighbor by Colin Dexter - who have I read mysteries all these years and missed his books? - and just started reading, but now cannot find, a book of essays about knitting.

I'd claim that I read all of this while iced in, but the sad truth is that I spent a good part of that time playing Harry Potter on the Wii....

and another

How could I resist:

The Girl With the Million Dollar legs:Betty Grable by Tom McGee

This is Your Captain Spekaing: My Fantastic Voyage Through Hollywood, Faith & Life by Gavin MacLeod

Maybe I shouldn't go to the library.

Oh, wait, is this what my students might have read and so I should know about it? Because my committee members would sneer at all of what's on my list.

Let go of bitterness...

Breathe.

New Year

Books in Progress:

Benjamin Britten: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter

How To Moon a Cat by Rebecca M. Hale

I Go By Sea, I Go By Land, P.T. Travers

I need to update syllabi, find out what to do with my peer evaluated essays, and, oh yeah, schedule that meeting that might or might not lead to more work in the future.

A few days ago a family member, in describing another family member who is also a professor, dismissively said that teachers don't really have anything to do during their holidays. I suppose that the luxury of reading three books for fun probably doesn't count for much. Makes me feel saner, though.