Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

A fascinating book! Krakauer presents the history both of the main Mormon church as well as the various fundamentalist factions in an effort to bring understanding to a double murder that occurred in 1984. This was a departure for Krakauer, who writes for Outside magazine & whose books are mostly about the outdoors (i.e. Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Eiger Dreams).

The most impressive part of this book for me was the appendix, where the author reprints in its entirety a criticism of the book written by a Mormon who felt the content was overly biased against the church. He of course writes a rebuttal, but I commend him for laying it all on the table like that.

This book has been passed on to Linda Redman.

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country (2005)

An 82-year-old man's rant on politics & life in general.

Some memorable quotes:

"First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."

"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts."

"The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon."

On cigarettes: "A fire at one end and a fool at the other."

"We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."

This book is in my personal library.