Two Good Books I Read This Summer

It's a little late in the summer to recommend books for the beach, but I thought I'd suggest two good books that I've recently read (or am presently reading):

The first book is called Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.  (You can read a good book review at the New York Times.)  It is about the causes behind the financial collapse of 2008.  No matter what side of the political aisle you are on, you will find a lot of villains and very few heroes in this story.

For any Bob Dylan fans, there is a new book out called The Ballad of Bob Dylan: A Portrait by Daniel Mark Epstein, that I am currently reading.  (Here is a New York Times book review.) Epstein is a poet who grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C., and currently lives in Baltimore.

Because Epstein is a poet (he played folk music when he was a kid too), he tends to take a lot of space analyzing Dylan's work (over analyzing, I would say).  But he gives a fair amount of space to the story of how Dylan became so famous and how he has changed music and himself over the years.

I recently saw Bob Dylan at Merriweather Post Pavilion and I can tell you that the old bard still has...well, something.  If you go to see Bob Dylan expecting the same artist you remember from 19-- (fill in the blanks), forget about it, he doesn't exist any more.  But the Bob Dylan that took the stage at Merriweather was captivating and very entertaining.  The show was great.