What are you reading

[Joseph T]

Some  pretty highbrow shit being read here; that's not a putdown. I  
just finished The Wizard of the Crow by Wa Thiongo , a Kenyan writer  
once imprisoned for another book critical of Kenyan dictator Rap Moi.  
The structure was pretty much Christian allegory; style was african  
storytelling, with some pretty funny stuff and a great feeling for  
the changing language of strong man rule and corporate colonialism.
Now reading Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation  about the  
origins and transformations of the major religions. I am only well  
read on the history of Judaism and Chrstianity and  I think she does  
a good job with these, drawing on a burgeoning body of scholarship.  
Also just finished Freakonomics: a few interesting tidbits , but  
mostly forgettable. So as you can see I'm mostly on the high end of  
lowbrow.

The new Pynchon sounds like kind-of a fun read. He seems to want to  
fill in a fullsome  alternative sketch of the weird history of the  
last 2 centuries. So far the only Pynchon I haven't read because I  
couldn't seem to enjoy something about the linguistic pace and style.  
Too dry or something is Mason &Dixon. I wonder where other p- listers  
would rate that in the "PYNCHON PANTHEON"
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