The 50 book challenge

[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)
13. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
14-20. Harry Potters 1-7 (JK Rowling)
21. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig)
22. The Alphabet of Manliness (Maddox)
23. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
24. Artemis Fowl: the Opal Deception (Eoin Colfer)
25. Choke (Chuck Palahniuk)
26. The Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien)
27. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
28. The Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)
29. The Lord of the Flies (Totally forget the author's name)

[Jeremy]

William Golding I think. Definitely William Gold something

I used to really like that book, but I think the assessment of humanity and behaviour is now completely wrong. If children were really placed in that situation, I don't think they'd behave in a manner at all similar to that.

Obviously Golding wasn't a psychologist and psychology has made a lot of progress since then anyway. It's surprising that this book is taken as a serious view of human behaviour when it's really just the (well written) opinion of an unqualified person - although I guess that's what most philosophy is.

[Zac Miley]

Yeah, William Golding sounds right.

That's exactly what I thought when I finished it. I just couldn't see anybody behaving that way on an island. Then I thought it was just an exaggeration for effect and now I'm undecided.

[Cod]

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pgs
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pgs
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pgs
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pgs
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pgs
8. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 238pgs
9. A Time to Kill, John Grisham, 543pgs
10. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman (Stephen King), 341pgs
11. Along Came a Spider, James Patterson, 429pgs
12. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, 461pgs
13. Kiss The Girls, James Patterson, 399pgs
14. Needful Things, Stephen King, 672pgs
15. The Jester, James Patterson and Andrew Gross, 444pgs
16. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick, 277pgs
17. A Maiden's Grave, Jeffery Deaver, 503pgs

During the Strzelin > Prague > Berlin trip I didn't read books at all. Now, few days after that I've just finished one. I have to say it was one of the best books I've ever read. Really! I loved every part of it. I totally have to read something more from Deaver.

[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

11. Neuromancer William Gibson 317pg

12. American Gods Neil Gaiman 588 pg

13. Scorcher Clive Hamilton 230 pg

14. On The Road Jack Kerouac 281 pg.

15. Requiem for a Beast Matt Ottley 88pg.

So I'm going so badly at this challenge that I've taken up reading children's picture books . Actually this book is amazing. Easily one of the most powerful books of any kind that I've read. It recently won Australia's highest award for children's picture books (The Children's Book Council of Australia best picture book) and caused a lot of controversy, including claims that it should be banned because it contains swearing, racial violence and a few graphic descriptions of dead animals. It was also described as being one of the best picture books of the century.

It's basically the story of a teenager stockman (an Australian cowboy) and his journey in dealing with his families history and the so called "stolen generation" of Aboriginal Australians. Some people have referred to it as a graphic novel, rather than a picture book, and it's certainly fairly heavy in terms of content. Still, amazing. When I look at the list of books I've read this year, this is by far the most powerful. I don't know if it would be available outside of Australia, but you could get it online if you're interested.

[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

11. Neuromancer William Gibson 317pg

12. American Gods Neil Gaiman 588 pg

13. Scorcher Clive Hamilton 230 pg

14. On The Road Jack Kerouac 281 pg.

15. Requiem for a Beast Matt Ottley 88pg.

16. How the Mind Works Steven Pinker 565 pg.


Wow this took a long time to read. Mainly because I've been so busy with other things lately. And also lazy . Very interesting though, and thoroughly enjoyed. I'm very much in favour of evolutionary perspectives to psychology and there are a lot of "conscious raising" moments in this book. I definitely feel like I understand psychology a lot more .

[daLai]

1.Shadowmarch by Tad Williams 848p.
2.Craig Clevenger - Dermaphoria 214p.
3.Shadowplay by Tad Williams 643p.
4.Elizabeth Rigbey - Total Eclipse 552p.
5.E.A. Poe - Die Maske des Roten Todes (collection of short stories) 268p.
6.Michail Bulgakow - Der Meister und Margarita 525p.
7.Judith Dean - Aladdin and the enchanted lamp (read it in Chinese)
Original Title: 阿拉ä¸

[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

11. Neuromancer William Gibson 317pg

12. American Gods Neil Gaiman 588 pg

13. Scorcher Clive Hamilton 230 pg

14. On The Road Jack Kerouac 281 pg.

15. Requiem for a Beast Matt Ottley 88pg.

16. How the Mind Works Steven Pinker 565 pg.

17. One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn 143 pg.


I was inspired to read this after Solzhenitsyn died recently, but typically took a little while to get onto it. I also really wanted to read it because my 20th Century History teacher from high school gave it a very strong recommendation. That was definitely my favourite subject in high school, and I think that teacher had a pretty big influence on my life, although it should be said that he became an advisor to the deputy premier shortly after I finished school and then faced criminal charges for corruption (although the charges were dropped).

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It was very easy to compare with House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which I read a year or two ago. The two books were published exactly 100 years apart, but it seems very little had changed in Russian prisons, and I suspect if somebody else wrote a book about Russian prisons in 2062 it would still be similar, especially in the middle of winter. It has two interesting contradictory themes. There is the inhumanity of the system, especially when you take into account the historical context, but I also felt like there was a theme of human resilience and strength. Shukhov is put into this terribly harsh environment, but he still finds hope and joy. That's pretty inspiring I guess. The book did win the Nobel Prize for literature, so that's probably a good indication of its quality.

[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)
13. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
14-20. Harry Potters 1-7 (JK Rowling)
21. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig)
22. The Alphabet of Manliness (Maddox)
23. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
24. Artemis Fowl: the Opal Deception (Eoin Colfer)
25. Choke (Chuck Palahniuk)
26. The Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien)
27. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
28. The Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)
29. The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
30. Stranger than Fiction (Chuck Palahhniuk)

School has stolen reading time.

[james]

i'm getting through 'toll the hounds' by steven erickson...it's a monster of a book...slowin' me down...why does this feel like a competition??
hehe

[Cod]

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pgs
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pgs
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pgs
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pgs
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pgs
8. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 238pgs
9. A Time to Kill, John Grisham, 543pgs
10. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman (Stephen King), 341pgs
11. Along Came a Spider, James Patterson, 429pgs
12. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, 461pgs
13. Kiss The Girls, James Patterson, 399pgs
14. Needful Things, Stephen King, 672pgs
15. The Jester, James Patterson and Andrew Gross, 444pgs
16. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick, 277pgs
17. A Maiden's Grave, Jeffery Deaver, 503pgs
18. The Genesis Code, John Case, 464pgs

It's 4 am. I've just finished this book . I went at 1 am to a park with a mission to finish the book and I did it! It was really fun even though it was raining during last 10 pages . The book itself was pretty good.

[bigdirtyfoot]

1. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson
2. Caro Michele, Natalia Ginzburg
3. Covering Islam, Edward W. Said
4. All-American Yemeni Girls, Loukia K. Sarroub
5. Songs of the Doomed, Hunter S. Thompson
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace, Robert Pirsig
7. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
8. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, 230 pg.
9. Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, 334 pg.
10. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder, 513 pg.
11. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Annie Lamott, 272 pg.
12. Meditation for Dummies, Stephan Bodian, 348 pg.
13. Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das, 395 pg.
14. Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy, Robert Anton Wilson, 545 pg.
15. The Meditative Mind, Daniel Goleman, 214 pg.
16. Your Brain Is God, Timothy Leary, 105 pg.
17. TiHKAL: The Continuation, Ann and Alexander Shulgin, 804 pg.
18. Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hahn, 134 pg.
19. On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 307 pg.
20. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki, 138 pg.
21. Yoga for Dummies, George Feuerstein and Larry Payne, 372 pg.
22. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche, 441 pg.

I finally finished another book. It's been quite a while I think. I really enjoyed this book although it wasn't an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. It was actually pretty difficult to get through because some of the subject matter deals with intense stories of other peoples' deaths. However, I'd rate it highly and it's definitely a staple in my favorite stash now. Hopefully it won't take me more than a week to finish another book, I felt like I had reader's block or something of the sort lately.

[bigdirtyfoot]

1. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson
2. Caro Michele, Natalia Ginzburg
3. Covering Islam, Edward W. Said
4. All-American Yemeni Girls, Loukia K. Sarroub
5. Songs of the Doomed, Hunter S. Thompson
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace, Robert Pirsig
7. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
8. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, 230 pg.
9. Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, 334 pg.
10. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder, 513 pg.
11. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Annie Lamott, 272 pg.
12. Meditation for Dummies, Stephan Bodian, 348 pg.
13. Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das, 395 pg.
14. Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy, Robert Anton Wilson, 545 pg.
15. The Meditative Mind, Daniel Goleman, 214 pg.
16. Your Brain Is God, Timothy Leary, 105 pg.
17. TiHKAL: The Continuation, Ann and Alexander Shulgin, 804 pg.
18. Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hahn, 134 pg.
19. On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 307 pg.
20. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki, 138 pg.
21. Yoga for Dummies, George Feuerstein and Larry Payne, 372 pg.
22. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche, 441 pg.
23. The Skill of Release, Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, 88 pg.

Been working on this one as well for a while and finished it today along with some coffee. It's full of some cool snippets of meditation advice. Highly recommended. Can be read again and again.

[Cod]

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pgs
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pgs
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pgs
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pgs
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pgs
8. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 238pgs
9. A Time to Kill, John Grisham, 543pgs
10. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman (Stephen King), 341pgs
11. Along Came a Spider, James Patterson, 429pgs
12. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, 461pgs
13. Kiss The Girls, James Patterson, 399pgs
14. Needful Things, Stephen King, 672pgs
15. The Jester, James Patterson and Andrew Gross, 444pgs
16. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick, 277pgs
17. A Maiden's Grave, Jeffery Deaver, 503pgs
18. The Genesis Code, John Case, 464pgs
19. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer, 760pgs

I read this book 7 years ago for the first time. Now I re-read it because I remembered it's good but couldn't recall the story. Wow, it's so beautiful! Totlally different than books I used to read recently. It's not a criminal nor a thriller. It's really sad in many momments but also really funny sometimes. In my opinion, it's must-read book.

[daLai]

1.Shadowmarch by Tad Williams 848p.
2.Craig Clevenger - Dermaphoria 214p.
3.Shadowplay by Tad Williams 643p.
4.Elizabeth Rigbey - Total Eclipse 552p.
5.E.A. Poe - Die Maske des Roten Todes (collection of short stories) 268p.
6.Michail Bulgakow - Der Meister und Margarita 525p.
7.Judith Dean - Aladdin and the enchanted lamp (read it in Chinese)
Original Title: 阿拉ä¸

[bigdirtyfoot]

1. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson
2. Caro Michele, Natalia Ginzburg
3. Covering Islam, Edward W. Said
4. All-American Yemeni Girls, Loukia K. Sarroub
5. Songs of the Doomed, Hunter S. Thompson
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace, Robert Pirsig
7. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
8. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, 230 pg.
9. Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, 334 pg.
10. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder, 513 pg.
11. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Annie Lamott, 272 pg.
12. Meditation for Dummies, Stephan Bodian, 348 pg.
13. Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das, 395 pg.
14. Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy, Robert Anton Wilson, 545 pg.
15. The Meditative Mind, Daniel Goleman, 214 pg.
16. Your Brain Is God, Timothy Leary, 105 pg.
17. TiHKAL: The Continuation, Ann and Alexander Shulgin, 804 pg.
18. Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hahn, 134 pg.
19. On the Road, Jack Kerouac, 307 pg.
20. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki, 138 pg.
21. Yoga for Dummies, George Feuerstein and Larry Payne, 372 pg.
22. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche, 441 pg.
23. The Skill of Release, Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, 88 pg.
24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky, 213 pg.

Wow! This book has been on my mind for quite a while after I finished it. It was a very good book, although increasingly sad as you read through it. I found that I could relate to a lot of things the main character went through, and some of them were scary in similarity. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to experience some nostalgia.

[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
11. Neuromancer William Gibson 317pg
12. American Gods Neil Gaiman 588 pg
13. Scorcher Clive Hamilton 230 pg
14. On The Road Jack Kerouac 281 pg.
15. Requiem for a Beast Matt Ottley 88pg.
16. How the Mind Works Steven Pinker 565 pg.
17. One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn 143 pg.
18. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey 281 pg.


Wow! I started reading The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test by Tom Wolfe and when I realised it was all about Ken Kesey, decided I needed to read this first. Incredible book. So powerful and optimistic, yet tragic as well. Straight into my top 10 favourite books I think.

Next up I have to smash The Freedom Paradox by Clive Hamilton, because I'm going to the Melbourne footbag jam next weekend, and then going to see Clive Hamilton talk about his book on Monday. I also have an essay due this Thursday that I haven't started, so busy week.

[bigdirtyfoot]

Hey Jer... I still haven't read One Flew Over yet but Electric Kool-Aid is a MUST READ in my opinion. It was very good and I got a lot of good ideas, recommendations, books to read, etc. from reading that book.

[Jeremy]

Yeah I've started reading it and it was definitely good so far. I'm glad I've read a lot of the books that get mentioned in it, but I felt like I should definitely read some Kesey too before going further. I thought about reading Sometimes a Great Notion too, but I have such a long reading list.

I won't be able to get back into Electric until next week though, as I'm going to see my favourite Australian intellectual talk about his new book on Monday next week and I haven't read it yet (I read the introduction last night ). I'm a little sceptical about it, but he did say that writing the book challenged a number of his views. It's called The Freedom Paradox and it's basically about the influence freedom has on the way we live our lives and our happiness (apparently people with more freedoms are less happy than people with less - obviously within a particular range of freedom). Given my growing feeling that philosophy is usually a waste of time that is unable to produce any meaningful information, this might not be my kind of book, although Clive Hamilton is always a good read, and he does hate post-modernism as much as I do . Reading the introduction did make consider the term "metaphysics" a little, and I think it's a fairly poorly worded term, if you consider it literally.

[Cod]

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
2. The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Douglas Adams, 256pgs
3. Life, The Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 240pgs
4. The Game, Neil Strauss, 496pgs
5. The Final Detail, Harlan Coben, 399pgs
6. The Unadulterated Cat, Terry Pratchett, 116pgs
7. The Beach House, James Patterson and Peter de Jonge, 318pgs
8. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 238pgs
9. A Time to Kill, John Grisham, 543pgs
10. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman (Stephen King), 341pgs
11. Along Came a Spider, James Patterson, 429pgs
12. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, 461pgs
13. Kiss The Girls, James Patterson, 399pgs
14. Needful Things, Stephen King, 672pgs
15. The Jester, James Patterson and Andrew Gross, 444pgs
16. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick, 277pgs
17. A Maiden's Grave, Jeffery Deaver, 503pgs
18. The Genesis Code, John Case, 464pgs
19. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer, 760pgs
20. L'ame du mal, Maxime Chattam, 531pgs

It was written on the book that it's a French bestseller. I read it and think it's just a good thriller but nothing more.