A reading list

I've been toying with the idea of trying to add a little reading list to the side of my blog to show what books I've recently read or am currently reading.

I've heard scholars really frown on the idea of reading more than one book at a time. I consider myself to be in the middle of reading at least a couple of non-school books, and then a growing number of books for school. I don't like to think of it as not finishing one task before moving on to another, but utilizing different parts of my brain and gathering the information more slowly so it "sticks" better. That's my excuse anyway.

Books I've now begun reading which I may never finish:



The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations, James A. Bill.
Crisis and Crossfire: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945, Peter L. Hahn.

Check out that cover art for the Hahn book... fascinating photograph.

To be brutally honest, I don't like the "style" of either writer. The first is much easier to read probably, things are simplified and reiterated to really make clear points about Iranian history, but it might be useful to have a map of Iran handy when reading since he is constantly referring to geographic locations.

The second has many awkward phrases, it reads like it was published in a rush. It seems like some things need to be explained more explicitly.

But they are both very informative books if nothing else, for people like myself who have little to no grasp of Middle Eastern affairs in the last 50+ years.