The 2013 Book Challenge

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Jeremy
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 25 Aug 2013 01:15

1. The Neighbourhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson - 390pp
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 272pp [ebook - google]
3. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating During Pregnancy by W. Allan Walker - 241pp [ebook pdf]
4. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier - 192pp
5. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - 288pp [ebook - google]
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - 437pp
7. Extinct Boids by Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy - 240pp
8. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 384pp [ebook - google]
9. The Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 570pp
10. Sideshow; Dumbing down democracy by Lindsay Tanner - 202pp
11. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 345pp [ebook - google]
12. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott - 96pp
13. The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 424pp
14. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - 320pp
15. Tell-All by Chuck Palahnuik - 174pp
16. The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep by Harvey Karp - 373pp [ebook - google]
17. The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish by Christopher Hitchens - 28pp [ebook - google]
18. Killing us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul Offit - 182pp [ebook - google]
19. Dodger by Terry Pratchett - 366pp
20. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody - 264pp [ebook - google]
21. The Farseeker by Isobelle Carmody - 359pp [ebook - google]
Last edited by Jeremy on 29 Aug 2013 17:57, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Pasquar » 29 Aug 2013 09:35

1) The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West 203 pg.
2) Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez 346 pg.
3) Whole Self/Whole World: Quality of Life in the 21st Century by Eric Gerinke 119 pg.
4) Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West 219 pg.
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman 245 pg.
6) The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson 189 pg.
7) The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in America by Winthrop Jordan 229 pg.
8 ) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass 99pg
9) La Raza: The Mexican Americans by Stan Steiner 392 pg
10) Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters 256 pg.
11) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig 406pg.
12) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins 265pg.
13) Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 371pg.
14) Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin 125 pg.
15) The Underdogs (Los de abajo) by Mariano Azuela 150 pg.
16) The Huey P. Newton Reader by Huey P. Newton with David Hilliard and Donald Weise 360 pg.
17) You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen 298 pg.
18 ) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 396 pg.

Really good, but then again I expected it to be. This is a classic set in Chicago in the lat 1800s when Chicago was in its hayday of being the industrial center of the nation. The book follows a Lithuanian man and his family that emigrated to the United States to seek a better life. Following the main character, Jugis, Sinclair highlights the exploitation of workers, the competitive wage system which drove thousands to compete for a handful of jobs. It's a work of fiction, but Sinclair spent about 7 weeks in Packingtown, the industrial meat-packing plant which the book is based mostly on. Jurgis goes through a number of transitions/transformations as well as his family; he goes from being overwhelmed at the amount of $ he can make in a single day (compared to Lithuania), to being swindled into buying a house that is eventually foreclosed on, to realizing that hard work gets you nowhere in unskilled labor - all the bosses are there because they have political connections, to suffering through his father, wife, and son die within a few years, through jail a few times, to a thief and a well-connected boss (through politics, of course), then finally being lead to discover Socialism.

At the end, the book kind of reminded me of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead: it was a long and interesting story, but the last 15-20 pages were basically promoting personal philosophies. Rand does it through the lens of "Objectivism" and Sinclair does it with Socialism. With both books, I wish it were a bit more fluid and not so blatant, but (obviously) I like/agreed with the philosophy of Sinclair as a opposed to Rand.

The book was monumental as it helped lead to legislation to improve the quality of meat produced in America. The book highlighted some pretty gross facts about the meat industry, but it's really interesting because the book was SO much more about labor rights and inequality that the meat quality was almost a side note. So progress was made (technically), but it was upper class people saying "What? That's in my meat?! Change that!", and nothing in terms of labor rights changed, which is what The Jungle was really all about...
Nick Pasquarello


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Jeremy
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 29 Aug 2013 17:57

1. The Neighbourhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson - 390pp
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 272pp [ebook - google]
3. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating During Pregnancy by W. Allan Walker - 241pp [ebook pdf]
4. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier - 192pp
5. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - 288pp [ebook - google]
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - 437pp
7. Extinct Boids by Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy - 240pp
8. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 384pp [ebook - google]
9. The Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 570pp
10. Sideshow; Dumbing down democracy by Lindsay Tanner - 202pp
11. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 345pp [ebook - google]
12. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott - 96pp
13. The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 424pp
14. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - 320pp
15. Tell-All by Chuck Palahnuik - 174pp
16. The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep by Harvey Karp - 373pp [ebook - google]
17. The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish by Christopher Hitchens - 28pp [ebook - google]
18. Killing us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul Offit - 182pp [ebook - google]
19. Dodger by Terry Pratchett - 366pp
20. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody - 264pp [ebook - google]
21. The Farseeker by Isobelle Carmody - 359pp [ebook - google]
22. Ashling by Isobelle Carmody - 597pp [ebook - google]

I forgot how long the later of these books (the next one is almost twice as big). I realise too what a hippy wet dream these books are, with the whole world really being a confirmation of woo beliefs (talking animals equal to humans, bad government, technology poisoning the world, healing power of herbs, mental powers of telekinesis, romanticisation of primitive cultures etc.). It's funny how these kinds of people both profess humbleness and opposition to rigid dogmas, while being so sure in their own beliefs. This book also touches on the other thing that annoys me about some of the more wacky woo practitioners, in defining humanity as the values they believe in (ie. the more like us you are, the more human you are, while people with starkly different values are less human). I guess I see why I liked these books when I was younger, but it's going to be a challenge to get all the way though the series.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Zac Miley » 30 Aug 2013 10:17

1. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, John Perry
2. Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
3. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
6. The Fold/Leibniz and the Baroque, Gilles Deleuze
7. Diaries 1914-1923, Franz Kafka
8. Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu
9. Richard Serra: Line Drawings, Gagosian gallery
10. Richard Serra: Drawings Zeichnungen 1969-1990, several contributors
11. Unknown Terrain: The Landscapes of Andrew Wyeth, several contributors
12. Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
13. Animal Farm, George Orwell
14. Candide, Voltaire
15. The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty, Dave Hickey
16. The Prince, Machiavelli
17. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
18. The World as I Found It, Bruce Duffy
19. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
20. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
21. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
22. Dubliners, James Joyce
23. The Trial, Franz Kafka
24. Glory, Vladimir Nabokov
25. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
26. Wittgenstein, P.M.S. Hacker
27. On Certainty, Ludwig Wittgenstein
28. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
29. Futility, William Gerhardie
30. Harry Potter #6, JK Rowling

HP is quickly losing its luster for me. Ran out of unread books on my shelf (that never happens).

East of Eden was pretty amazing.

Futility was a good, typically Russian book. Supposedly it's hard to find, an early 20th century novel from a writer popular in critical literary circles but didn't sell well to the public. I think most of you guys who post in here would like it. Jeremy once asked (on Facebook maybe?) if there were any Russian novels that weren't depressing, and I could be fishing here, but this one is mildly and paradoxically uplifting.

Nick: Sorry you didn't like Moby Dick. Considering some of the books you read, I'm surprised you stopped because you thought it was boring.
Jay (8:06:01 PM): Bu-bu-buu-buug--Looks up, and the feeling goes away like a sneeze-bu-buuuh-BULLLSHITTT
Jay (8:06:14 PM): *wipes bellybutton*

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Jeremy
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 05 Sep 2013 16:27

lol, re: Zac's comment about finding Moby Dick boring, after some of the other books Nick has read. :lol:

It seems a bit late for Harry Potter to lose it's luster, given you've finished the second last book!

1. The Neighbourhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson - 390pp
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 272pp [ebook - google]
3. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating During Pregnancy by W. Allan Walker - 241pp [ebook pdf]
4. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier - 192pp
5. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - 288pp [ebook - google]
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - 437pp
7. Extinct Boids by Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy - 240pp
8. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 384pp [ebook - google]
9. The Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 570pp
10. Sideshow; Dumbing down democracy by Lindsay Tanner - 202pp
11. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 345pp [ebook - google]
12. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott - 96pp
13. The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 424pp
14. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - 320pp
15. Tell-All by Chuck Palahnuik - 174pp
16. The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep by Harvey Karp - 373pp [ebook - google]
17. The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish by Christopher Hitchens - 28pp [ebook - google]
18. Killing us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul Offit - 182pp [ebook - google]
19. Dodger by Terry Pratchett - 366pp
20. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody - 264pp [ebook - google]
21. The Farseeker by Isobelle Carmody - 359pp [ebook - google]
22. Ashling by Isobelle Carmody - 597pp [ebook - google]
23 The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody - 970pp [ebook - google]

This book is ridiculously long, and I mean that in the context of how much happens in it. I felt like smashing my tablet after one section of a couple of pages describing the main character washing and drying her hair. It was also definitely the most exciting book after the first one, in terms of epic events occurring within the plot. It's just a shame the editor didn't cut out ~600 pages. Also I feel like the plot is rather predictable, even when we're meant to be surprised. Seemingly obvious connections are presented as if they're plot twists ("yelloweyes" turns out to be the only character in the book with yellow eyes, "Cassy" and "Kasandra" turn out to be the same person - sorry if these are somehow spoilers). Anyway only 3 more in the series to go (one not yet published).

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Zac Miley » 06 Sep 2013 13:23

1. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, John Perry
2. Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
3. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
6. The Fold/Leibniz and the Baroque, Gilles Deleuze
7. Diaries 1914-1923, Franz Kafka
8. Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu
9. Richard Serra: Line Drawings, Gagosian gallery
10. Richard Serra: Drawings Zeichnungen 1969-1990, several contributors
11. Unknown Terrain: The Landscapes of Andrew Wyeth, several contributors
12. Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
13. Animal Farm, George Orwell
14. Candide, Voltaire
15. The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty, Dave Hickey
16. The Prince, Machiavelli
17. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
18. The World as I Found It, Bruce Duffy
19. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
20. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
21. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
22. Dubliners, James Joyce
23. The Trial, Franz Kafka
24. Glory, Vladimir Nabokov
25. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
26. Wittgenstein, P.M.S. Hacker
27. On Certainty, Ludwig Wittgenstein
28. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
29. Futility, William Gerhardie
30. Harry Potter #6, JK Rowling
31. Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
32. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne

I was unimpressed with both, although I think 20k would have been much cooler if I had any sort of scientific background.

I just became insanely busy so my book output (input?) will likely drop off from here.
Jay (8:06:01 PM): Bu-bu-buu-buug--Looks up, and the feeling goes away like a sneeze-bu-buuuh-BULLLSHITTT
Jay (8:06:14 PM): *wipes bellybutton*

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by bigdirtyfoot » 07 Sep 2013 13:54

***Skipped listing a #14, so this is actually book 16, not 17***

16. Radio-Free Albemuth, Philip K. Dick, 237 pg.

This may be the best version of someone else's personal cosmology I've ever read. It was certainly relatable for me, at least. Based on his own life experiences, PKD crafts a tale about a "friend" of his that received cryptic telepathic messages from the beyond. The book is filled with paranoid situations like the authorities planting drugs in his house, a group of operatives for the U.S. government turning everyone in the counter culture against each other, etc. A lot of the themes show up in his other works, but they seem to come together really effectively in this book, which happened to be published posthumously. I would highly suggest this to anyone seeking an explanation of reality, a good sci-fi read, or fictitious conspiracies.
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by bigdirtyfoot » 08 Sep 2013 08:42

17. None Dare Call It Conspiracy, Gary Allen, 141 pg.

I received this book as a hand-me-down from my parents and knew nothing about it before reading it. The information in this book was somewhat intriguing, but it didn't hold my attention very well. I couldn't retain most of it, and after a certain part I stopped trying to. It just wasn't a rewarding book for me to read. I realize there is an updated version of this book that would be more current, but as it is now this book is over forty years old and certainly felt that way. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone. There have got to be better books on international conspiracies than this one. Still, it wasn't written poorly and seems to be an honest effort to expose the plans and methods of conspiracy groups (with a large emphasis placed on members and/or supporters of the Council on Foreign Relations). Since it seemed sincere and wasn't offensive from a writing standpoint, I wouldn't say this is a "bad" book - it just wasn't for me.
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Pasquar » 09 Sep 2013 10:16

1) The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West 203 pg.
2) Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez 346 pg.
3) Whole Self/Whole World: Quality of Life in the 21st Century by Eric Gerinke 119 pg.
4) Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West 219 pg.
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman 245 pg.
6) The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson 189 pg.
7) The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in America by Winthrop Jordan 229 pg.
8 ) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass 99pg
9) La Raza: The Mexican Americans by Stan Steiner 392 pg
10) Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters 256 pg.
11) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig 406pg.
12) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins 265pg.
13) Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 371pg.
14) Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin 125 pg.
15) The Underdogs (Los de abajo) by Mariano Azuela 150 pg.
16) The Huey P. Newton Reader by Huey P. Newton with David Hilliard and Donald Weise 360 pg.
17) You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen 298 pg.
18 ) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 396 pg.
19) Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley 142 pg.

Aldous Huxley writes a non-fiction based recount of the state of the world circa 1958, a few decades after he wrote the book "Brave New World". It's interesting to see how much of what his futuristic distopian fiction novel has come true and how quickly that happened. It is interesting to hear his point of view from that time period, an example would be that he saw one of the biggest issues facing the world being over-population, which given agricultural and technological innovations, isn't really the pressing issue he would think it would be today. He is very critical of capitalism and communism (Big Business and Big Government) and it was overall intriguing to read a more essay-like book from Huxley.
Jeremy wrote:lol, re: Zac's comment about finding Moby Dick boring, after some of the other books Nick has read. :lol:
What?
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by dp » 09 Sep 2013 13:15

37. On Writing by Jorge Luis Borges 167pg
38. The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson 244pg
39. On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui 174pg

The first was a collection of nonfiction things Borges wrote about writing. I'd read a few of them before, but it was nice to read them all together in this manner.

The next was mentioned in a blog post on The New Yorker's website as one an incredibly true and terrifying look at a hopeless alcoholic. It felt pretty true and pretty terrifying, so, good work New Yorker's Books Blog.

The final one written in the 20s by this Argentintian guy Tegui who I'd never heard of. It is written as a series of journal entries written sometime in the mid to late 19th century in Paris. You learn quickly that the author of the journal entries distinguished himself as a child as the person who found more bodies floating in the Seine- presumably suicides- in the town 40 kilometers or so downstream from Paris, than anyone else. Throughout the journal entries he gets syphilis, relates stories he hears from an excommunicated priest who now drives a horsecart around town, despairs about having syphilis, and then plans to murder some wretched woman. It's a strange book.
Danny P.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 09 Sep 2013 20:40

Pasquar wrote:
Jeremy wrote:lol, re: Zac's comment about finding Moby Dick boring, after some of the other books Nick has read. :lol:
What?
Zac Miley wrote:Nick: Sorry you didn't like Moby Dick. Considering some of the books you read, I'm surprised you stopped because you thought it was boring.
Not sure what else there is to understand.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Pasquar » 10 Sep 2013 09:18

Just not understanding why you felt it necessary to "lol re:" that comment.

It feels like a snide remark about what I choose to read, which if true, I definitely don't appreciate.
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by dp » 10 Sep 2013 10:28

Discord in the book club!
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Jeremy
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 10 Sep 2013 21:42

Somebody said something funny and I expressed how it made me feel. It's not necessary to post in this topic at all. I wasn't looking for your appreciation, but rather offering my appreciation of Zac's comment. Certainly I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to not express negative opinions about books you (or anybody else) read in this topic. It's a discussion and list, not a self congratulatory Dutch rudder. I've tried to engage you with the books you read and you ignored me, so since you don't want to defend them, I don't see how you can complain about people using other ways to express their bemusement.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Pasquar » 11 Sep 2013 11:21

I chose to ignore you attempt to give your own feedback on a book I read because, as with the rest of this forum in general, I feel you try to get a rise out of people. I did not want to start some debate on this thread regarding some book because I didn't really care what you had to say about it anyway and it's not what I view this thread's purpose as.

I just began using this thread this year and my purposes for it may not be what others' are, and that's okay. I like to give feedback about books and it provides a basis for me to keep organized what I've been reading, which I haven't had before. I also like to see what others are reading and what they think about what they are reading. I don't view this thread as a basis to start a debate with someone, which is why I chose not to respond to your comment . It's under "Arts & Literature", not "Discussion", so while I don't expect there to be no negative feedback, I didn't feel it necessary or worth my time to respond to you.

When you (what I felt) blatantly wrote off what I choose to read in general, I feel that's callous and immature. I don't know what Zac meant by his comment/whether he was trying to offend me, but I didn't feel it came off that way. I clearly read more non-fiction than fiction and a book like Moby Dick was not something I was really used to, because I don't read classic literature that much, so Zac may have been commenting about books I read that may seem boring to him in comparison to that, I don't know. Your comment, on the other hand, was just... typical you I guess.

I keep my opinions about people on this threads' selections to myself because I don't view this as a place to harp on people for what they choose to read.
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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 11 Sep 2013 15:38

So when I offer specific and serious questions about the things you read, you "don't care," but when I merely say "lol" in response to somebody else writing something about you, you're happy to post 3 times with a few hundred words?

The whole point of this topic is to try to encourage people on the forum to engage with each other on the topic of books. That's why I created the topic and thought it would be good on modified. Everything I've created on this forum or connected to this forum since I resigned as an admin has been aimed at engagement.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Jeremy » 12 Sep 2013 16:48

1. The Neighbourhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson - 390pp
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 272pp [ebook - google]
3. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating During Pregnancy by W. Allan Walker - 241pp [ebook pdf]
4. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier - 192pp
5. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - 288pp [ebook - google]
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - 437pp
7. Extinct Boids by Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy - 240pp
8. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 384pp [ebook - google]
9. The Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - 570pp
10. Sideshow; Dumbing down democracy by Lindsay Tanner - 202pp
11. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 345pp [ebook - google]
12. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott - 96pp
13. The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - 424pp
14. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - 320pp
15. Tell-All by Chuck Palahnuik - 174pp
16. The Happiest Baby Guide To Great Sleep by Harvey Karp - 373pp [ebook - google]
17. The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish by Christopher Hitchens - 28pp [ebook - google]
18. Killing us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul Offit - 182pp [ebook - google]
19. Dodger by Terry Pratchett - 366pp
20. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody - 264pp [ebook - google]
21. The Farseeker by Isobelle Carmody - 359pp [ebook - google]
22. Ashling by Isobelle Carmody - 597pp [ebook - google]
23 The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody - 970pp [ebook - google]
24. The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody - 1098pp [ebook - google]

The first of these books that I hadn't read before. It was so much better than the last one too, mainly because of the epic plot, which was such a contrast from the previous book. It's still too big, but much easier to read when there's so much happening. I realised how much Carmody hates religion, with religious organisations frequently portrayed as particularly evil in many of her other books too (and being more prominent in this book than the earlier ones). The not subtle allusions to Islam and Christianity are amusing. I think the future events have become a bit predictable, and I also feel like we have so much knowledge of what's going to happen in the final events (which are obviously far more important than the petty local politics) that it's a bit annoying that I'll have to wade through presumably another 1500 pages before we get to start of the end (there are still a number of loose ends, but we know how they'll be tied).

I guess these books are like the Harry Potter of my childhood, and I guess they give me a bit more inspiration to get to the end of that series too.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by dp » 12 Sep 2013 17:29

40. The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald 237pg

Another reread of a W.G. Sebald book. This feels like a beautiful warm-up for his masterpiece (in my opinion it's NOT Austerlitz!) The Rings of Saturn. If you want to read a melancholy novel that is extremely beautiful but where not much happens and there's alot of reflection on 19-20th century European History, Literature, Culture, and Architecture all in an attempt to address the holocaust without every actually directly addressing the holocaust, you need to read Sebald.

My brothers make fun of me and my reading choices, calling me pretentious for only reading "literary" books and turning my nose up at anything without "literary" value. They mean it, and there's some truth to it and I can objectively say it's funny when they team up on my snooty book choices. I laugh. And I do avoid non "literary" books. It's just my preference.

In light of that, I think it's totally reasonable that you should be able to laugh at yourself a little bit. I thought Zac's comment was lighthearted (and funny) and should've been received in that manner.
Danny P.

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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Pasquar » 13 Sep 2013 07:42

Jeremy: You're right, my motivation and response towards things were inconsistent. Looking back I don't know what really compelled me to respond in any manner to your comment, because I don't really care too much about your opinion about what I read and I'm fooling myself into doing so when I engage in dialogue about it. My bad.

1) The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West 203 pg.
2) Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez 346 pg.
3) Whole Self/Whole World: Quality of Life in the 21st Century by Eric Gerinke 119 pg.
4) Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West 219 pg.
5) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman 245 pg.
6) The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson 189 pg.
7) The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in America by Winthrop Jordan 229 pg.
8 ) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass 99pg
9) La Raza: The Mexican Americans by Stan Steiner 392 pg
10) Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters 256 pg.
11) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig 406pg.
12) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins 265pg.
13) Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 371pg.
14) Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin 125 pg.
15) The Underdogs (Los de abajo) by Mariano Azuela 150 pg.
16) The Huey P. Newton Reader by Huey P. Newton with David Hilliard and Donald Weise 360 pg.
17) You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen 298 pg.
18 ) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 396 pg.
19) Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley 142 pg.
20) The Other America: Poverty in the United States by Michael Harrington 186 pg.

This has been regarded as the "Book that inspired the 'War on Poverty'" in the 1960s (which said so on the cover of my copy of the book). This was a relatively brief overview of what Harrington described as not just the state, but the culture of poverty at the time of writing (in the late 50s/early 60s). He addresses many dimensions of poverty, contributing and confounding factors such as rural vs. urban poverty, the decline in trade unionism as our economy progressed from industrial to service-based, racial components, the Bohemian trend (or 'poor by choice'), physical and mental health, slums/projects, the elderly, etc. It argued that the poor see America completely differently, with the lens of a lack of aspiration and drive, and that the problem was more deeply rooted than simply a lack of income.

Harrington argues in the book for a large federal jobs program to combat poverty which would include an influx of funds dedicated not only to job training and creation, but to quality public housing, healthcare, welfare, schools, etc. What actually happened when Lyndon B. Johnson declared the "War on Poverty" was not the drastic investment needed but did deliver some results.

I could go on about what has happened since the book was written, the "war" was declared, and what has happened since, but for anyone interested, this article gives a good synopsis and summary. <http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/ ... er-america>
Nick Pasquarello


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Re: The 2013 Book Challenge

Post by Zac Miley » 15 Sep 2013 17:03

I certainly didn't mean anything bad with my comment. Glad you appreciated it, Jeremy. ;) If anything it was a funny compliment - I find some of the socio-political nonfiction you read terribly hard to get through, although it is unquestionably useful and important.

I've read the Harry Potter books at least 3 times through each, and more for the earlier ones. I suppose 'quickly' was the wrong adverb.

Danny: the three books you just posted seem really interesting. Props on 40 already, also.

I'm working through a large collection of DH Lawrence stories and letters currently ('The Blind Man' is one of my favorite short stories ever, if you guys are interested)
dp wrote:Discord in the book club!
now that is lol-worthy
Jay (8:06:01 PM): Bu-bu-buu-buug--Looks up, and the feeling goes away like a sneeze-bu-buuuh-BULLLSHITTT
Jay (8:06:14 PM): *wipes bellybutton*

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