Elaine Erb

I love to read.

Lately I have been reading a number of books with yoga themes and philosophies. Ganesah Goes to Lunch is a great short look at some classic Hindu mythology.

I read Mozart in the Jungle as a look inside the world of classical music. While the author is a bit too enamored of a rock and roll style lifestyle, she makes good observations about how students who start so young with such solid focus on music are often ill equipped to handle life if they don't become the star soloist mom and dad envisioned.
.. Recent books include Ian McEwan's Atonement, as well as the Mage series from Karen Miller. I read one good travel book, Looking for Osman.

Highlights of 2007 include Joe Boyd's White Bicycles which captures a special place and time in the music business. In studying the Tuareg I discovered the book Men of Salt by Michael Benanev. It's a great travelogue, view of a certain place and time, as well as snapshot of the nearly forgotten desert caravan.

The Lake, the River and the Other Lake by Steve Amick,was a must read for a native Michigander. What a great set of characters with their oddities and some good curveballs at the end to reach a sort of resolution.

The Geographer's Libaray is a fun bounce between contemporary and historic settings.

I did a study group with my yoga teacher on the Bhagavad Gita which I hadn't read since high school. The Easwaran version is quite readable but William Sargeant takes you back to the original text very well.

Last summer I read The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart. It's an older book about the legend of Merlin and the birth of King Arthur. This was a gift from a friend. Later in the year I continued the series, but I've still got one to go!

Also recently I've read John Fowles' The Magus and from Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror. I thoroughly enjoyed Jasper Fforde's Something Wicked and I can't figure out how he isn't as well known as Douglas Adams. They share a delicious and intelligent irreverance.

The Daily Adventures of Mixerman may well be required reading for people who think they know the music industry. I've known enough radio people at labels, but to get to know those behind the scenes, the true side of musicians, and what really seems to matter in the biz is just great. Thanks Mixerman for a book that was as educational as it was entertaining.

Every year of late I seem to read a book about the Sahara (previously it was Skeletons on the Zahara about the ship Commerce that ran aground in west Africa in 1815) so another recent read was about Michael Palin's journey through the Sahara.

I also try to get a book about water or fish each year. Most recently I am working through The Philosopher Fish, a very well written update on the Sturgeon.

Another fun read in my geography vein is Longitude, about the quest to determine longitude at sea. How fun that a friend had just been to Greenwich, England where the very watch created is kept.

Generally I like good fiction that carries me away, sometimes fantasies, mysteries, but also books about other places, I am a geographer by education after all. The Kite Runner may well be the best book I read in 2005.