Books, etc.

New to the book list: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, free from Project Gutenberg. The Thirty-Nine Steps, a novel of only 92 pages, published in 1915 (and movies in 1935 and 1978, plus a recent production of Masterpiece Theater) is the template for every ordinary-guy-gets-caught-up-in-desperate-plot book you've ever read and the ones you haven't, as well. Plus, it's a terrific yarn. And did we mention free?

Everything is Obvious Once You Know the Answer is, well, pretty obvious once you know where it's going, which is straight into fond memories of bull sessions in Sophomore dorm rooms. I didn't finish reading it, but you might. Who knows.

I didn't finish Reckless Endangerment either, but for another reason. The story of the flim-flam that led up to the recent mortgage debacle is enormously depressing, all the more so because the people responsible are still very much at large. Fortunately, this is straight reportage – easy to follow and easy to put down and pick up again later, which I still may do.

And some short stuff: The GOP War on Voting, by Ari Berman at Rolling Stone; "He Never Had Nothing and He Always Wanted Something," by Ben Montgomery at the St. Petersburg Times; and if you follow Matt Taibbi you may have already read "Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes."

Read on.