Does anyone actually host or go to "cocktail parties" any more? They sound like fun.
I spent the majority of my weekend indexing, so I didn't get a whole lot of time to read much else. (That's not entirely true; I am, in fact, re-reading David Eddings's fantasy series The Belgariad, which I was going to leave until the winter, but which is turning out to be a lovely and relaxing summer re-read.) So I had to take a small hiatus from nonfiction pleasure reading. But the books I was indexing were interesting--it's a series for middle/high schoolers about famous economists. So, here's what I learned:
Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations and a favorite quotation source for proponents of unadulterated free trade and capitalism everywhere, was a long-time customs commisioner and tax collector. File under "I" for Irony.
and
John Maynard Keynes was bisexual, or at least had relationships with men when he was younger. (And one of the men he had a love affair with was Lytton Strachey, who became famous for writing the biography Eminent Victorians, and who is often credited for jumpstarting the popularity of biographies.)
Who said learning had to be dull?
This post has me thinking up all sorts of random stuff: I've been to a few 'deck' parties when you wander through a neighborhood and each house is serving a different cocktail on the back deck.
AND, I was browsing a book store and saw this: James Boswell's Life of Johnson - some kind of biography classic? know it?
Posted by: Care | 13 July 2009 at 09:08 AM
Care,
I totally want to live in your neighborhood. A free-ranging deck cocktail party sounds AWESOME.
I have heard of Boswell's "Life of Johnson"--a hugely important biography in the field of biographies--but I've never read it; although I'm interested in that time period (late 18th century) I find reading primary sources from it kind of a slog. I did read parts of Adam Sisman's "Boswell's Presumptuous Task," about the writing of the bio, and I enjoyed that. I think I have to get that book back, as a matter of fact.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 13 July 2009 at 09:55 AM
Funny. I too spent the weekend indexing. "Strachey, Lytton" (p. 21) also shows up in my index, because of his biography on Queen Victoria. Neither Keynes nor Smith made it in though, sorry.
Posted by: lesbrarian | 13 July 2009 at 11:47 AM
Lesbrarian,
I think the difference is probably that I rather enjoyed my weekend indexing. Compared to a weekend attending, say, a wedding or a bridal shower, it was a lovely informative time. I know. I'm a total nerd.
Lytton Strachey forever! :)
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 13 July 2009 at 12:08 PM
But did you get to sit 10 feet away from the Nerdfighter general JG like I did on Saturday, now you're nerd jealous for sure. ALA was fun, I put all your books face out at the booth.
Posted by: katharine | 13 July 2009 at 07:44 PM
OMG Katharine I am SO jealous. Did you step out back and have a smoke with him? Did you go to his books and blogging program? I wish I could have been there, but I'm so glad you were. Did you talk to him? Is he as cute in person?
And thank you, my one-woman sales force. You are my secret weapon in the high-stakes world of reference book publishing. :)
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 13 July 2009 at 09:38 PM
I've got P.J. O'Rourke's ON THE WEALTH OF NATIONS on my list to read, or at least to start. Adam Smith was NOT the total invisible hand, free market father that he is made out to be. James Buchan has also written a short biography of Smith. I've also got Buchan's CROWDED WITH GENIUS on my list, for whenever I have time to consider the Scottish Enlightenment. Total Geekitude!
Posted by: Sarah | 14 July 2009 at 10:18 AM
Sarah,
I actually was thinking as I read, I don't think it's always these economists who get out of hand, I think it's the way their theories are applied that sometimes gets us into trouble. But I suppose that is true for anything.
Ah, the Scottish enlightenment. Let me know when you get to David Hume!! And I'll want to hear how those Buchan books are as well. That is AWESOME total geekitude.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 14 July 2009 at 08:53 PM
Excellent. Literary dish is the best kind of dish -- it's what keeps me at my job (well, that and the paycheck). Thanks for that!
Posted by: lisa peet | 15 July 2009 at 11:02 AM
Lisa,
I don't know why I was so tickled by that Adam Smith tidbit, but I was. I loves me the delicious irony. Long live literary dish!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 15 July 2009 at 11:13 AM