The 2011 50 Book Challenge

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bigdirtyfoot
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Post by bigdirtyfoot » 14 Nov 2011 19:38

1. Cosmic Trigger Volume Three: My Life After Death, Robert Anton Wilson, 247 pg.
2. Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie, Hunter S. Thompson, 247 pg.
3. Schooled, Godron Korman, 224 pg.
4. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 75 pg.
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 216 pg.
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling, 734 pg.
7. Still Life With Woodpecker, Tom Robbins, 277 pg.
8. Welcome to the Monkey House, Kurt Vonnegut, 331 pg.
9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling, 870 pg.
10. VALIS, Philip K Dick, 242 pg.
11. The Divine Invasion, Philip K Dick, 238 pg.
12. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling, 652 pg.
13. A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, Dennis McNally, 684 pg.
14. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, Philip K Dick, 255 pg.
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling, 759 pg.
16. Hallucinogens and Shamanism, Michael J. Harner, 200 pg.
17. Dubliners, James Joyce, 317 pg.
18. The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia, Paul Devereux, 250 pg.
19. Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Tom Robbins, 356 pg.
20. The Subterraneans, Jack Kerouac, 111 pg.
21. Ulysses, James Joyce, 783 pg.
22. Ubik, Philip K Dick, 216 pg.
23. Skinny Legs and All, Tom Robbins, 422 pg.
24. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain, 319 pg.
25. Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness, Hunter S. Thompson, 246 pg.
26. The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The Authoritative Historical Record of the Cannabis Plant, Marijuana Prohibition, & How Hemp Can Still Save the World, Jack Herer, 182 pg.
27. The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Living on a Budget, Peter and Jennifer Sander, 200 pg.
28. Demon Box, Ken Kesey, 384 pg.
29. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, Tom Robbins, 386 pg.
30. Waiting for Mahatma, R.K. Narayan, 256 pg.
31. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, 384 pg.
32. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke, 226 pg.
33. Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976, Hunter S. Thompson, 758 pg.
34. Coraline, Neil Gaiman, 171 pg.
35. Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Tom Robbins, 415 pg.
36. Villa Incognito, Tom Robbins, 241 pg.
37. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower, 240 pg.
38. Your Money Style, Olivia Mellan, 236 pg.

The first book is a set of short stories that I really enjoyed. Each one offers a teaser glimpse into a small community. Every character is believable and although the things they end up doing aren't earth-shattering, the author does an excellent job of providing a complete description of these places.

The second book is about our relationships to money, with an emphasis on couple-centric therapy. It was written in the early 90s and suffers from extremely bland style. Although the author presented some valuable perspectives on money, I felt like I disagreed with her overall viewpoint and found her therapeutic methods ( use "I" statements, etc.) tedious. I wouldn't recommend this book to most people, but I have a feeling it would be of great use to some.
David Wilder

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Jeremy
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Post by Jeremy » 18 Nov 2011 03:44

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg

RSBP stands for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which is a British organisation. Earlier in the year one of the zoology professors at uni retired, and sold all his books at $1 each, with the money going to charity (I got there very late, but still got 20 books :D) Because he'd worked in England for a long time, he had a lot of English books, and I picked up two about birds.

This was published in 1978, but still had lots of relevant and interesting information. Even though all of the birds mentioned were British, we have quite a few introduced British birds in Tasmania, and a lot of the migratory birds he talks about come here too (although I imagine they are different populations, or even species, since our migratory birds tend to go to Siberia and Asia in our winter, while British migratory birds tend to go to Southern Africa).

I would say that I recommend the book to people interested in birding, but I suspect that it's out of print, had a small run, and almost impossible to get a copy of. Still, there are hundreds of other books on birding, so it shouldn't be an issue.

One thing I was really interested in, and found frustrating, was that the author briefly mentions a few times being a POW in Germany in WW2, and continuing his birding while in the camp. I would have loved more details about this, but none were forthcoming.

Also I did think his surname, although misspelled, was appropriate.

Edit; This is officially my best result so far in the 4 50 book challenges we've had on modified. Huzzah. I think even 40 will be possible this year, although probably unlikely :P

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Post by Jeremy » 19 Nov 2011 17:30

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]

I read this in highschool but wanted to re-read it. To be honest I found it a little boring, and I also don't really have a good enough knowledge of the events it was talking about to understand all of the allegory. Anyway I guess it was ok. Orwell is a good writer, although I can never understand why people think 1984 has any resemblance of reality. "On no, more cameras in public places, we must be living in 1984!" - I can only guess those paranoid morons haven't actually read it. Maybe I'll re-read that book next, so I can bitch about them more :P

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Post by bigdirtyfoot » 19 Nov 2011 20:04

Congrats on beating your record Jeremy! Now I have tied my record from 2009 at 40 books. Trying to get to 50 might be too lofty of a goal but I'm still gunning for it.

39. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, 349 pg.
40. The Headless Cupid, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, 203 pg.

Trainspotting follows a group of friends through Leith, Scotland while they get involved with heroin abuse and random acts of violence. I had seen the movie, but the book is a totally subversive experience... It is written in a thick Scottish dialect, which made it hard to read at first. Eventually I got used to it and it did more to enhance the book than it took away. I really enjoyed this one - one of the best books I've read this year.

The Headless Cupid was one of my favorite books as a kid. The inside cover shows a note from my parents that wishes me a Merry Christmas from 1995! I hadn't read this in at least a decade, and I wanted a quick read so I picked it up. It deals with a group of young siblings who are holding occult initiations and seances in their new (but centuries old) house. Eventually we find out that there might be some poltergeist activity. Anyways, it's a pretty simple book but I always liked it. And turns out one of the characters shares my name, birthday AND appearance... Which gave me goose bumps 16 years ago and still does now.
David Wilder

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Post by dp » 20 Nov 2011 20:59

1. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick 336pg
2. The Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Horace Gregory 448pg
3. SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 215pg
4. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 253pg
5. Franklin's Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin 346pg
6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 509pg
7. Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago 238pg
8. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 204pg
9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
10. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 153 pg
11. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 244pg
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 480pg
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams 474pg
14. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 465pg
15. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
16. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 326pg
17. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla 196pg
18. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein 881pg
19. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 566pg
20. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann 535pg
21. The Search for the Codex Cardona by Arnold J. Bauer 181pg
22. Number9Dream by David Mitchell 400pg
23. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan 570pg
24. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
25. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski 318pg
26. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 123pg
27. The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner 214pg
28. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 293pg
29. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 562pg
30. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 189pg
31. Demian by Hermann Hesse 141pg
32. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 247pg
33. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers 371pg
34. Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus 236pg
35. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester 973pg

Volume 1 of the 2 volume biography of Winston Churchill. This book covers 1874-1932. I want to read the second volume soon, but I've been going on the first so long I feel I should read something else in between. We shall see.

Also, this is the best I've done in the 4 years of participating too! I'm at 35 now, and I think 23 is the best I did before. After December 7th, I think, my school quarter ends and the rest of December is open for reading! I think I might be able to reach the low 40s!

Good work everyone else, (only two, it appears) keep reading!
Danny P.

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Post by bigdirtyfoot » 26 Nov 2011 09:50

41. Wild Ducks Flying Backward, Tom Robbins, 255 pg.
42. B Is For Beer, Tom Robbins, 125 pg.

Wild Ducks... is a collection of short writings by Tom Robbins. It was a Thompsonesque look at Robbins for me. A few good short stories, but I especially appreciated Robbins' approach to hard journalism and critique.

B Is For Beer is a children's book for grownups, and a grown-up book for children, all at the same time. Although this one got a lot of bad reviews, I really enjoyed it because it is concise. Sometimes Robbins let's his writing get away from itself, so it is refreshing to read a book that is tightly focused.

Now I have completed my goal of finishing all of Robbins's books this year. I have no idea what to read now...
David Wilder

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Post by Jeremy » 01 Dec 2011 03:41

Thanks Dan and David, and props on your lists too.

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]
32. Count Zero by William Gibson - 256pg [ebook]

Entertaining, but I feel like Gibson is a little formulaic, with the variety of different characters running with apparently different plots that converge at the end, and they all live happily ever after. I almost expected them to make a bad joke and all laugh together at the end. I may well read some more Gibson this year or next, because I'm interested in his ideas, but I don't find his actual literary skill that impressive.

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Post by bigdirtyfoot » 04 Dec 2011 15:42

43. Animal Farm, George Orwell, 140 pg.
44. Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence, Lynn Zimmer and John P. Morgan, 241 pg.

Read Animal Farm about 10 years ago and didn't really connect with it. However, I was able to comprehend a lot more of it this go around. Easily identified with the animals' situation on the farm.

And the second book is yet another drug + scientific evidence in my collection. A little dry at times but overall a good and unbiased set of studies related to marijuana. Debunks 20 common myths.
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Post by dp » 05 Dec 2011 11:15

1. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick 336pg
2. The Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Horace Gregory 448pg
3. SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 215pg
4. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 253pg
5. Franklin's Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin 346pg
6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 509pg
7. Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago 238pg
8. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 204pg
9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
10. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 153 pg
11. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 244pg
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 480pg
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams 474pg
14. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 465pg
15. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
16. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 326pg
17. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla 196pg
18. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein 881pg
19. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 566pg
20. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann 535pg
21. The Search for the Codex Cardona by Arnold J. Bauer 181pg
22. Number9Dream by David Mitchell 400pg
23. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan 570pg
24. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
25. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski 318pg
26. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 123pg
27. The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner 214pg
28. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 293pg
29. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 562pg
30. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 189pg
31. Demian by Hermann Hesse 141pg
32. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 247pg
33. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers 371pg
34. Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus 236pg
35. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester 973pg
36. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone by William Manchester 756pg

I've learned that this is in fact a 3 volume biography, and the author died before he finished the 3rd volume. I guess he got some other author to continue on before he died and the third volume is supposed to come out sometime next year I think? This book covers 1932-1940, and ends right as Hitler enters the Low Countries and pushes through the Ardennes.

This year has been really great reading wise. I think I previous record was 23 books in a year? Every book of value I read just makes me anxious to read more.
Danny P.

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Post by dp » 06 Dec 2011 13:55

1. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick 336pg
2. The Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Horace Gregory 448pg
3. SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 215pg
4. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 253pg
5. Franklin's Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin 346pg
6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 509pg
7. Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago 238pg
8. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 204pg
9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
10. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 153 pg
11. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 244pg
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 480pg
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams 474pg
14. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 465pg
15. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
16. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 326pg
17. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla 196pg
18. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein 881pg
19. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 566pg
20. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann 535pg
21. The Search for the Codex Cardona by Arnold J. Bauer 181pg
22. Number9Dream by David Mitchell 400pg
23. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan 570pg
24. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
25. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski 318pg
26. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 123pg
27. The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner 214pg
28. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 293pg
29. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 562pg
30. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 189pg
31. Demian by Hermann Hesse 141pg
32. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 247pg
33. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers 371pg
34. Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus 236pg
35. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester 973pg
36. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone by William Manchester 756pg
37. Burmese Days by George Orwell 287pg

I had this in my bookshelf and figured that it would be a good time to read it since I was just reading about Churchill and the British Empire and all that. The book is a fictional tale based on Orwell's experience as a member of the Imperial Police in Burma. It's pretty good, and interesting just in the viewpoint it provides of the British Empire and really what a crappy weak institution it truly was in most cases. I read Keep the Aspidistra Flying a little while ago, and Burmese Days was much better written, but it isn't at the level of 1984 or his later works. This is not, probably, a book I will ever read a second time. I am, however, very excited to read Homage to Catalonia as soon as I can get my hands on it.
Danny P.

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Post by dp » 08 Dec 2011 18:53

1. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick 336pg
2. The Metamorphoses by Ovid translated by Horace Gregory 448pg
3. SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 215pg
4. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 253pg
5. Franklin's Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin 346pg
6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 509pg
7. Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago 238pg
8. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 204pg
9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
10. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse 153 pg
11. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 244pg
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 480pg
13. Watership Down by Richard Adams 474pg
14. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 465pg
15. Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 321pg
16. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 326pg
17. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla 196pg
18. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein 881pg
19. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 566pg
20. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann 535pg
21. The Search for the Codex Cardona by Arnold J. Bauer 181pg
22. Number9Dream by David Mitchell 400pg
23. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan 570pg
24. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 548pg
25. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski 318pg
26. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 123pg
27. The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner 214pg
28. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 293pg
29. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 562pg
30. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 189pg
31. Demian by Hermann Hesse 141pg
32. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 247pg
33. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers 371pg
34. Can Intervention Work? by Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus 236pg
35. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester 973pg
36. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone by William Manchester 756pg
37. Burmese Days by George Orwell 287pg
38. Life With a Star by Jiri Weil 208pg

I picked up a number of eastern and central european novels at my school library the other day that I intend to read now that my winter break has started. Weil is a Czech writer that I had never heard of, but saw the book in the shelves and it looked interesting. He was a Jewish citizen of Prague and went into hiding in 1942 when he was finally called for the concentration camps. The book is about what it was like being Jewish in Prague after the Germans took over.

More so than any other book I've read addressing Jews in Nazi Europe, this really makes you understand the situation going on in individual's heads. Why so many worked for the various Jewish Community Centers which were pretty much just the bureaucracy organizing transports to the camps. The thoughts that went through their heads, all that stuff.

This was a great book, especially for one that I just grabbed from the library shelf and took a chance on.
Danny P.

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Post by bigdirtyfoot » 15 Dec 2011 07:58

45. The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells, 236 pg.
46. Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, Toby Hemenway, 224 pg.
47. Anthem, Ayn Rand, 253 pg.

The Invisible Man is a pretty interesting take on what would really happen to an individual that turned himself invisible, although it was published in 1897 so things were a bit different then.

Gaia's Garden is one of the best books I've read all year. It identifies misconceptions about gardening and creating a permanent, self-sufficient ecosystem in your own backyard. There are plenty of things in the world that about which we are fed boldfaced lies, and the "importance" of things like fertilizers, manual tilling, native plants and annuals are just a few of those things. If you're interested in growing your own food or improving your current garden you should check this one out.

I first read Anthem ten years ago, and thought it was okay, but couldn't really relate to it. I'm glad I gave it another read, and I think I'm going to check out Rand's other works within the next year or so.
David Wilder

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Post by dp » 15 Dec 2011 21:09

39. The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek 752pg

Kinda like the Catch-22 of WWI. Written by a Czech humorist who was a Czech soldier, got captured shortly thereafter, and joined the Czech Legion, a group of Czech's who fought with the Russians against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The book is about a bumbling idiot infantryman Svejk and his adventures in the war. Hasek died though in 1923 and never finished the book. The book is pretty funny at times, but it certainly could've used some editing in the original version, and there are certain types of jokes that are overplayed. Overall it's a really good book that shows a funny viewpoint that I knew relatively little about.
Danny P.

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Post by Jeremy » 18 Dec 2011 05:41

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]
32. Count Zero by William Gibson - 256pg [ebook]
33. Contact by Carl Sagan - 432pg [ebook]


Like most of Sagan's work, this was a little too romantic and idealist. I think you could call it self-indulgent. None-the-less, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and highly recommended it. I found it pretty easy to relate to, and despite the religious accomodationist views, I think was inspiring. The ending is the best ending in fiction that I've read for a really long time. It's definitely worth reading just so you can get to the end and think about how awesome the ending is (which you won't understand unless you read the whole book). He certainly has clever symbolism.

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Post by Jeremy » 20 Dec 2011 05:27

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]
32. Count Zero by William Gibson - 256pg [ebook]
33. Contact by Carl Sagan - 432pg [ebook]
34. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - 180pg [ebook]


I've read this before, but I haven't read the entire series (I'm not even sure if I've read past the second one, which I've definitely read), so I'm going to read them all in order, if I can.

Entertaining book. I don't really have much to say about it, except I'm sure it's a book everybody should read :)

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Post by dp » 20 Dec 2011 13:51

40. The Best American Essays of 2007 edited by David Foster Wallace 307pg

I mostly got this book out of the library to read the introduction by David Foster Wallace, (which I think is the best essay in the whole book) but then I ended up reading the whole thing. This book is put out each year with a different guest editor who chooses 20-25 essays published throughout the year. It's a great collection, and reading it as a fan of David Foster Wallace was interesting too.
Danny P.

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Post by dp » 22 Dec 2011 18:17

41. The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić 307pg

Ivo Andric was a Bosnian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature sometime in the 60s or 70s I think. This book is a chronicle of Visegrad and the bridge that was built there in 1571. The book follows the history of the city and the bridge from 1571 to 1914 when the bridge was destroyed. He grew up in Visegrad, and while the book is fiction, it's based on stories of the town and so forth. The book gave me a kind of Steinbeck-ish feel if Steinbeck grew up in the hills and steep valleys of Bosnia.
Last edited by dp on 28 Dec 2011 19:55, edited 1 time in total.
Danny P.

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Post by Jeremy » 22 Dec 2011 20:12

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]
32. Count Zero by William Gibson - 256pg [ebook]
33. Contact by Carl Sagan - 432pg [ebook]
34. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - 180pg [ebook]
35. Restaurant at the end of the Universe by Douglas Adams - 208pg [ebook]

See previous entry I guess. Entertaining. Had read it before.

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Post by dp » 24 Dec 2011 20:45

May I suggest everyone list the 3 best books they read this year? Or their 3 favorites. And perhaps a very short blurb as to why?

I'll do my 3 favorite in my next post as I think I'll be able to squeeze one more book in this year.
Danny P.

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Post by Jeremy » 27 Dec 2011 02:53

Great idea DP. I will give it some thought.

1. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life by Richard Dawkins - 629pg
2. Concepts of Nature: A Wildlife Photographer's Art by Andy Rouse - 159pg
3. Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Pamela C. Roland and Raoul W. Adamchak - 167pg
4. The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson - 127pg
5. Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - 256pg [ebook]
6. Shark: In Peril In The Sea by David Owen - 294pg
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 670pg
8. Moby Dick by Herman Mellville - 469 pages
9. Coral: A pessimist in paradise by Steve Jones - 242pg
10. The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Our Disappearing Fisheries by Mark Kurlansky - 246pg
11. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember by Nicholas Carr - 224pg
12. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - 200pg
13. Beyond Lies The Wub: Collected short stories volume 1 by Phillip K Dick - 397pg
14. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil - 487pg
15. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the real story of Britain's war in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden - 512pg
16. Slaughterhouse 5: Or the children's crusade: A duty-dance with death by Kurt Vonnegut - 215pg
17. The Moral Landscape: How science can determine human values by Sam Harris - 191pg
18. The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson - 207pg
19. Kraken: The curious, exciting, and slightly disturbing science of squid by Wendy Williams - 200pg
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 48pg [ebook]
21. Anthem by Ayn Rand - 104pg [ebook]
22. The Case of the Pope: Vatican accountability for human rights abuse by Geoffrey Robertson QC - 188pg
23. The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham - 233pg
24. Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton - 240pg
25. Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki - 176 pg [ebook]
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition by Bill Bryson - 595 pg
27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 393pg [ebook]
28. Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould - 455 pg
29. Snuff by Terry Pratchett - 416 pg [ebook]
30. RSBP Guide to Birdwatching by Peter Conder - 169 pg
31. Animal Farm by George Orwell - 118pg [ebook]
32. Count Zero by William Gibson - 256pg [ebook]
33. Contact by Carl Sagan - 432pg [ebook]
34. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - 180pg [ebook]
35. Restaurant at the end of the Universe by Douglas Adams - 208pg [ebook]
36. Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams - 160pg [ebook]
37. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams - 192pg [ebook]


I hadn't read either of these, so both were enjoyable and new. Life was quite dark and bleak for a long time, but I guess it all worked out in the end :). So Long was very romantic and silly, but funny, of course. I get the impression not many people read beyond the first one in the series. Anyway one Hitchhiker's to go, although I might have a brief interlude, so I don't know if I'll finish this year or not.

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