What I've been reading.

House, by Tracy Kidder. I had never heard of this 1985 book before, but picked it off a library shelf while browsing. One of the best works of narrative nonfiction I've ever read. An upper-middle class couple, Jonathan and Judith Souweine, hire a freshly minted architect, William Rawn, and builders, Apple Corps, to build their new house in Western Massachusetts. Original NY Times review here. Google allows for some updates. Rawn has gone on to bigger things. Jonathan Souweine, a politically active local lawyer, is now recovering from cancer. Having had some small dealings with contractors and the like, parts of this were instantly familiar to me.

 

Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, by Paul Fussell. This is something I've been meaning to get to for a while. A taxonomy of class in America, from top-out-of-sight down to upper-middle, through the proles (high, middle, and low), and on down to bottom-out-of-sight. Some things have changed in the 16 years since this has been published. Is it characteristic of the upper-middle to have a small, outdated kitchen? I would say no, but you know -- this is probably just an instance of "prole creep," so there. Fussell does explain it all. Thankfully, Jeanne let me stick two bookcases in our living room, which count for 16 class points just by themselves, and help mitigate the presence of our tacky, tasteless (yet awesome!) giant TV somewhat.

 

Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, by Michael Oakeshott. An interesting counterpoint to the Fussell, actually. The main essay I found simultaneously profound and shallow. The profound bits were the first 15 pages or so - but the vagueness that followed (how does he see politics as working, exactly?) I guess are symptomatic of the skeptic. How does Andrew Sullivan, the blogger/writer, reconcile Oakeshott with Barack Obama's view of partisan politics as roadblock to the One True Solution? This puzzles me to no end.