The 50 book challenge

[Zac Miley]

PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject:
1. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
2. The Moon is Down (John Steinbeck)
3. Night (Elie Wiesel)
4. The Thousand Orcs (RA Salvatore)
5. The Lone Drow (RA Salvatore)
6. The Two Swords (RA Salvatore)
7. The Crystal Shard (RA Salvatore)
8. The Promise of the Witch-King (RA Salvatore)
9. Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Dan Millman)
10. God's Debris (Scott Adams)

Incredible book. Highly recommended, it was a really crazy mind trip.

[Colin]

1. Finishing School - Helen Fogwill Porter
2. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - George Luis Stevenson
4. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
5. The Old Man and the Sea - Earnest Hemmingway
6. Next of Kin - Erik Frank Russell
7. The Momentum of Red - Monika Kidd
8. The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
9. Blindness - Jose Saramago
10. Anagrams - Lorrie Moore

Oh Christ, what a book. Hilarious, sad, clever. I love this woman.

[Jeremy]

1. Breaking The Spell Daniel Dennett 339pg

2. On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan 166pg

3. Church And State; Australia's Imaginary Wall Tom Frame 95pg

4. The Kiwi's Egg; Charles Darwin & Natural Selection David Quammen 253pg

5. The Voyage Of The Beagle Charles Darwin 452pg

6. The Stupid Country; How Australia is Dismantling Public Education Chris Bonnor and Jane Caro 223 pg

7. The Lifeboat Zacharey Jane 241 pg

8. Psychogeography Will Self (and illustrated by Ralph Steadman) 256 pg

9. Crash J. G. Ballard 185 pg


I can sum this book up just with this quote;

"A dank odour rose from his body, an amalgam of rectal mucus and engine coolant."

Completely perverted and twisted. I'm not sure if I'm glad I read this or not. Especially towards the end I found my self trying to just focus on the words, and not to visualise anything. It's kind of like American Psycho except the sex and violence is the entire book. Not as graphic, but in many ways worse. I'm truely horrified that somebody read this book and decided making a movie out of it would be a good idea. Very confronting. Probably a work of genius.

[dp]

1.Animal Farm George Orwell 97 pg

2.Cannery Row John Steinbeck 181 pg

3.The Winter of Our Discontent John Steinbeck 276 pg

4.The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Dr. Oliver Sacks 243 pg

5.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 363 pg

6.Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 102 pg

I read it two years ago but i had to read it for school now so I sat down and read it in one sitting, it's as good as I remember it.

[gMoney]

I just finished my first book, and I'm about to start coloring my next one

[BassMan]

This sounds fun, although I doubt I'll be able to finish 50 before the end of the year.

1. The Odyssey Homer - 491 pages
2. Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 191 pages

Woohoo two down 48 to go!

[max]

1. L'homme à l'envers - Fred Vargas
2. Debout les morts - San Antonio
3. Nous Sommes Tous des Playmobiles - Nicolas Ancion
4. Texas Holdem Poker - Paul Mendelson.
5. La Ligne Noire - Jean-Christophe Grangé.
6. Time's Eye (A Time Odyssey) - Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
7. The Innocent Man - John Grisham

I was quite disappointed by The Innocent Man.. it was non-fiction. Suffice it to say that it was a very telegraphic recounting of events by Grisham. Not his best work.

[Jeremy]

1. Breaking The Spell Daniel Dennett 339pg

2. On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan 166pg

3. Church And State; Australia's Imaginary Wall Tom Frame 95pg

4. The Kiwi's Egg; Charles Darwin & Natural Selection David Quammen 253pg

5. The Voyage Of The Beagle Charles Darwin 452pg

6. The Stupid Country; How Australia is Dismantling Public Education Chris Bonnor and Jane Caro 223pg

7. The Lifeboat Zacharey Jane 241pg

8. Psychogeography Will Self (and illustrated by Ralph Steadman) 256pg

9. Crash J. G. Ballard 185pg

10. The Naked Lunch William Burroughs 261pg


Freaky and difficult to follow. Note that the version I was reading is titled with "the" - I didn't accidentally add that in.

[dp]

1. Animal Farm George Orwell 97 pg

2. Cannery Row John Steinbeck 181 pg

3. The Winter of Our Discontent John Steinbeck 276 pg

4. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Dr. Oliver Sacks 243 pg

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 363 pg

6. Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 102 pg

7. Brave New World Aldous Huxley 233 pg

It was good, pretty freaky, ending was very well done I thought. Definitely recommended.

[Zac Miley]

1. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
2. The Moon is Down (John Steinbeck)
3. Night (Elie Wiesel)
4. The Thousand Orcs (RA Salvatore)
5. The Lone Drow (RA Salvatore)
6. The Two Swords (RA Salvatore)
7. The Crystal Shard (RA Salvatore)
8. The Promise of the Witch-King (RA Salvatore)
9. Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Dan Millman)
10. God's Debris (Scott Adams)
11. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

It was pretty good. As usual.

[sniper4life]

Salvatore is a fantasy writer, correct? If you are into that stuff I would highly recommend the dragonlance books if you have never read them. I don't read much anymore, but I used to be big into that kind of stuff.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling 759 pgs)

It seemed a great book to end a favorite series from my childhood. I'm glad my friend got me back into reading them after I quit with book 4.

[Zac Miley]

Salvatore is a fantasy writer, correct? If you are into that stuff I would highly recommend the dragonlance books if you have never read them. I don't read much anymore, but I used to be big into that kind of stuff.

Yeah, my bookshelf is pretty much all Dragonlance and Salvatore.

Props on reading Harry Potter, that's a really good book.

[james]

You want some good fantasy try these 3 series:

Malazan book of the fallen - Steven Erickson
Wheel of time - Robert Jordan
Sword of truth - Terry Goodkind

Also worth mentioning is the robot adept series by Piers Anthony, it's FAAAAAAAAAAAANtastic.

Oliver, I'm afraid I'm right, but I shan't waste my time trying to correct your erroneous ways.



1. The Ghost in the Machine Arthur Koestler 354 pg
2. Have Space Suit - Will Travel Robert A. Heinlein 255 pg
3. Renegades of Time Raymond F. Jones 190 pg
4. Split Infinity Piers Anthony 356 pg
5. Reaper's Gale Steven Erickson 907 pg
6. The Day Watch Sergei Lukyanenko 487 pg
7. The Twilight Watch Sergei Lukyanenko 440 pg


I attempted to get through The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins but I just couldn't do it. Didn't seem particularly insightful or interesting. Geared towards the layman. Plus he's just too far into the whole natural selection business. Neo-darwinism is out-dated.

[Cod]

Hi. I think it's a nice challenge. I like to read a lot. I don't think I'll get 50 books before the end of this year but I can write what my progress is .

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pg
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pg
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pg
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pg
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pg
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pg
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pg

I have to read more from Patterson. It was my first book from him and it was awesome! One of the best I've ever read, actually. I also have to finish Adams' serie, but it's hard to get last two books in Polish...

[CautionFragile]

R.A. Salvatore is awesome. I haven't read one of his books for awhile though. I really enjoyed "The Cleric Quintet" as well as the first 6 books in the series. Go Drizzt. I wish I would have continued the series. I forget what game I had for PS2 where he was a character...Balders Gate maybe?! That was fun.

I'm currently finishing up a few books.

Aeldenwood (The Drayenmark Saga) - M.G. Belanger. I haven't read fantasy for years, but I came accross this book at my mom's place. Best fantasy book I have ever read (imo), and it was written by my third cousin (hense the reason my mom had it)

The Celestine Vision - James Redfield. This is the non-fictional book by the author of "The Celestine Prophecy". Very eye-opening and inspirational book for anyone who wants to lead a more spiritual path in life.

The View From Eternity - O.T. Bonnett, M.D. in collaboration with Gregor Alan Satre. I'm just starting this one. Extremely in depth look at reincarnation and spirituality, as well as many other things.

Tales of Power - Carlos Castaneda. Just starting this one as well.

The Wing Chun Compendium - Wayne Belonoha. I'm re-reading this one. Very comprehensive book regarding the practicality and principles, as well as applications of traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu.

The Tai Chi Classics - Waysun Liao. This book is essential to anyone who wants to truly understand Tai Chi theory and practice.

[Cod]

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pg
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pg
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pg
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pg
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pg
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pg
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pg
8. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 238pg

I had no idea what kind of book "The Great Gatsby" is before I started reading it. I just borrowed it from someone because I needed something to read and the title and the author sounded kind of familiar. It wasn't bad at all. I don't regret I read it. It's just not a type of books I like, I think.

Few days ago I did an order of six new books! I can't wait for them. It will be three Patterson's, two King's and one from the author I can't remember at the moment.

[Sporatical_Distractions]

1. The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi
2. Japan at War: An Oral History by H.T. & T.F. Cook
3. Japan: A Modern History by James L. McClain
4. The Stranger by Albert Camus
5. An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume
6. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
7. Five Dialogues by Plato (includes the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, and Phaedo)
8. Metaphysics by Aristotle
9. Dumb Poets & Dead Philosophers by Catherine Osborne
10. Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
11. Republic by Plato

All done for three classes. Can't wait till school's over to get some free reading in.

[BenRea]

How did you like the beach house Cod?

I think that was the last book i read and that was last summer.

Now that i dont have a job where i sit around and do nothing i dont have any time to read.

If i do somehow find some time i may read 21:Bringing Down the House

[Zac Miley]

1. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
2. The Moon is Down (John Steinbeck)
3. Night (Elie Wiesel)
4. The Thousand Orcs (RA Salvatore)
5. The Lone Drow (RA Salvatore)
6. The Two Swords (RA Salvatore)
7. The Crystal Shard (RA Salvatore)
8. The Promise of the Witch-King (RA Salvatore)
9. Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Dan Millman)
10. God's Debris (Scott Adams)
11. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
12. In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)

Fantastic.

[Cod]

How did you like the beach house Cod?

I have to read more from Patterson. It was my first book from him and it was awesome! One of the best I've ever read, actually.