The 50 Book Challenge 2009

[mtoolan]

1. Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp
2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
3. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
4. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
5. Rebel Giants by David R. Contosta
6. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
8. Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster
9. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
10. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen
11. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
13. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
14. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
16. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
17. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
18. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
19. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
21. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
22. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
23. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
24. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
25. Like Trees, Walking by Ravi Howard
26. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
27. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
28. Sula by Toni Morrison

[dp]

1. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells 140pg
2. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 318pg
3. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut 288pg
4. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 298pg
5. The Far Field: Last Poems by Theodore Roethke 104pg
6. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
7. Naked by David Sedaris 224pg
8. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 394pg
9. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 275pg
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 471pg
11. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 127pg
12. Amerika by Frankz Kafka 300pg
13. The Aeneid by Virgil (translated by Allen Mandelbaum) 390pg
14. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 293pg
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 325pg
16. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 120pg
17. The Histories by Herodotus 682pg
18. Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel 81pg
19. To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck 181pg
20. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace 353pg

My brother has been trying to to get me to read David Foster wallace for some time and I just now started. He is amazing. I think I'm gonna get Infinite Jext by him for Christmas and I'm excited to get to it.

[daLai]

1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 197p.
2. Saul Bellow - The Adventures Of Augie March 536p.
3. Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep 220p.
4. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 519p.
5. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen 436p.
6. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go 282p.
7. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye 192p.
8. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird 281p.
9. John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold 229p.
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby 115p.
11. Philip K. Dick - Ubik 224p.
12. William Burroughs - Naked Lunch 201p.
13. George Orwell - 1984 254p.
14. George Orwell - Animal Farm 128p.
15. Charles Hucker - China's Imperial Past 560p.
16. Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey 124p.
17. Thomas Pynchon - The Crying Of Lot 49 127p.
18. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim 251p.
19. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children 446p.
20. Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest 187p.
21. Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse 193p.
22. Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian 337p.
23. Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon 200p.
24. Ernest Hemingway - Fiesta:The Sun Also Rises 216p.
25. E.L. Doctorow - Ragtime 320p.
26. Flann O'Brien - At-Swim-Two-Birds 218p.
27. Ken Kesey - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 272p.
28. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 128p.
29. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited 326p.
30. Martin Amis - Night Train 149p.
31. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five 157p.
32. Philip K. Dick - The Penultimate Truth 191p.
33. Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark 242p.
34. Albert Camus - Der Fremde 143p.
35. James Dickey - Deliverance 243p.
36. Albert Camus - Collected Essays 252p.
37. Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle 259p.
38. Martin Amis - Money 394p.
39. Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without A Country 145p.
40. Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos 237p.
41. Martin Amis - Heavy Water & Other Stories 191p.
42. Albert Camus - Die Gerechten & Die Besessenen (plays) 160p.
43. Martin Amis - Time's Arrow or the Nature of the Offence 176p.
44. Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night 212p.
45. Martin Amis - Other People 206p.
46. William Golding - Lord of the Flies 248p.
47. Kingsley Amis - I Want It Now 255p.

[bigdirtyfoot]

1. God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens, 307 pg.
2. Great American Hypocrites, Glenn Greenwald, 290 pg.
3. The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi, 322 pg.
4. Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age, editors Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan, 351 pg.
5. Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence, Mitch Earleywine, 328 pg.
6. Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins, 337 pg.
7. Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick, 352 pg.
8. PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, Alexander and Ann Shulgin, 978 pg.
9. Desolation Angels, Jack Kerouac, 409 pg.
10. The Wheel of time, Carlos Castaneda, 209 pg.
11. 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck, 411 pg.
12. Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind, 820 pg.
13. Buddhism: Plain and Simple, Steve Hagen, 159 pg.
14. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, 798 pg.
15. DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman, 358 pg.
16. No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy, 309 pg.
17. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk, 293 pg.
18. Kingdom of Fear, Hunter S. Thompson, 351. pg.
19. The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, 326 pg.
20. True Hallucinations, Terence McKenna, 237 pg.
21. Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings, 290 pg.
22. I Was Carlos Castaneda, Martin Goodman, 220 pg.
23. All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy, 302 pg.
24. Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk, 404 pg.
25. How to Break a Terrorist, Matthew Alexander, 288 pg.
26. The Genesis Generation, Lorenzo Hagerty
27. Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, Rupert Sheldrake, 352 pg.
28. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, 246 pg.
29. The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy, 426 pg.
30. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, Paul Stamets, 343 pg.
31. Beyond the Basin, Alexander Beiner, 358 pg.
32. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, 470 pg.
33. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, 289 pg.
34. The Road, Cormac McCarthy, 287 pg.
35. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers, Richard Evans Schultes, 208 pg.
36. Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins, 342 pg.

I have been pretty lazy with reading the past few months, but I hope to at least make it to 40 books this year. We'll see. Anyways, Jitterbug Perfume was pretty good but a bit boring sometimes. It just went on too long I think.

You can read my review for it here.

[daLai]

How did you like Snow Crash ? I have just brought it home from the library.

[mtoolan]

1. Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp
2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
3. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
4. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
5. Rebel Giants by David R. Contosta
6. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
8. Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster
9. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
10. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen
11. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
13. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
14. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
16. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
17. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
18. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
19. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
21. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
22. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
23. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
24. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
25. Like Trees, Walking by Ravi Howard
26. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
27. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
28. Sula by Toni Morrison
29. The Sea Wolf by Jack London

[Jeremy]

1. The Joke's Over; Memories of Hunter S Thompson Ralph Steadman 387pg
2. Bottomfeeder; How the fish on our plates are killing the planet Taras Grescoe 357 pg
3. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 110 pg
4. A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists David G. Myers 136pg
5. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 368pg
6. The Black Swan; The impact of the highly improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb 300pg
7. The Life You Can Save; Acting now to end world poverty Peter Singer 189pg
8. The Empire Of The Sun J.G. Ballard 351 pg
9. The Missionary Position; Mother Teresa in theory and practice Christopher Hitchens 98pg
10. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carol 327pg
11. The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 204pg
12. The Great War For Civilisation; The Conquest of the Middle East Robert Fisk 1283pg
13. A Many Colored Glass Freeman J Dyson 154pg
14. And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac 214 pg
15. Has Science Got Rid Of God? By John Blanchard 133pg
16. Cosmos Carl Sagan 374pg
17. The Odyssey Homer (translated by Robert Fagels) 485pg
18. Seasick Alanna Mitchell 203pg
19. The Canon Natalie Angier 264pg
20. Euripides 1 Euripides 221pg
21. Microcosm Carl Zimmer 199pg
22. Ecological Intelligence Daniel Goleman 247pg
23. The Vanishing Face of Gaia; A Final Warning James Lovelock 162pg
24. Planet Of Slums Mike Davis 206pg
25. The Greatest Show On Earth Richard Dawkins 437pg
26. Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 304pg
27. The Puppet Masters Robert A Heinlein 352pg

I didn't write anything about my last 8 books, so I'll give a quick review of each

Euripides 1; 4 plays by Euripides - Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus and Heracleidae. I studied these as part of a section in classical lit on greek tragedies, although the first one we studied - Alcestis, is not much of a tragedy. Medea, on the other hand, is probably the most tragic thing I've ever read I was impressed with the depth and relevance today of these plays, despite their rather ridiculous plots. I guess ancient Greek writers studied human nature a lot more than most writers do today.

Microcosm; Excellent. An explanation of evolution and genetic engineering, told entirely using the history of experiments with E. coli bacteria. Even though lots of it was going over stuff I knew fairly well, and a lot of pretty famous experiments - especially the Lenski experiments, it's still told in such an interesting manner with enough interesting information to make it worth reading.

Ecological Intelligence; Daniel Goleman really annoys me. He is unscientific and like a footbag n00b, he tries to name everything and make it special. He either coined, or is a very big proponent of the concept of "emotional intelligence" - which is a completely unquantifiable term that basically means making intelligent social decisions. Ecological Intelligence is the same thing. A completely unnecessary term. This book is also full of terrible risk assessments, especially relating to toxins in products we consume and cancer. However he does make the strong point about the need for transparent information in product consumption and full cycle analysis.

The Vanishing Face of Gaia; James Lovelock is definitely a hero of mine, and I also like the scientific version of Gaia theory (but not the new-age spiritualist version), well at least the idea of interconnected biological and physical systems that interact to create feedback loops - I don't agree that it's homoeostatic. This book is pretty depressing. When it's called "the final warning" he doesn't really mean a warning as in "this is our last chance to do something," more than it's like a final warning that a disaster is coming, and we need to prepare for it. Luckily he cites Tasmania (along with NZ, England and somewhere else) as being the safest place to live. Still, he paints a pretty scary picture for the future. I had a few disagreements with some of the stuff he says, but he's a scientist and backs up his arguments pretty well with evidence, so it definitely made me think and do a fair bit of research - the result of which, I'm unsure about the best plans for the future.

Planet of Slums; Even more depressing than the last book. A massive amount of information about the massive problem of slums facing the world and the need to tackle poverty. Definitely conscious changing for me, but it's so hard to know what to do. I'm really glad I chose to read the book I'm currently reading (Welcome to the Urban Revolution) shortly after this, because maybe things aren't so bad.

The Greatest Show on Earth; Richard Dawkins is a brilliant and funny writer and this is no exception. My only problem with it is that I've read and studied so much biology now that most of it was just repeating stuff I already knew. It's obviously aimed at people with less knowledge on the subject than me. Still, Dawkins is still engaging and I enjoyed it.

Cat's Cradle A friend of mine has a youth book club at the bookshop she works for and this was the first book for that. It's an easy read and only took me a day or two to read. Vonnegut is obviously very clever and funny, however I felt like this book is basically an attack on science and I strongly disliked that. In fact it basically starts with a Moby Dick reference where it turns out that the quest for knowledge is the whale scientists are hunting that destroys us. I'll avoid writing an essay about why I disagree. I think though, the problem is today's environment when so much science is under attack - nuclear power, gene technology, stem cells, evolution and climate change - while there are some good (science based) arguments against some aspects of those, almost all the arguments I ever hear are factually wrong and ignorant people who don't understand the science that they're disagreeing with. If we were in a different social climate I would welcome this kind of discussion about the philosophy of science, but it's obviously impossible to have these kinds of discussions without giving weight to the people who just don't know what they're talking about.

The Puppet Masters; I suspect that this book is actually Heinlein trying to argue in favour of nudism, or imagining the circumstances that would bring about global nudism. An easy and amusing read anyway.

2 weeks to read 23 books. Unlikely I am, however, now equal with last year so it's good to keep improving each year

[bigdirtyfoot]

1. God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens, 307 pg.
2. Great American Hypocrites, Glenn Greenwald, 290 pg.
3. The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi, 322 pg.
4. Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age, editors Daniel Pinchbeck and Ken Jordan, 351 pg.
5. Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence, Mitch Earleywine, 328 pg.
6. Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins, 337 pg.
7. Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick, 352 pg.
8. PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, Alexander and Ann Shulgin, 978 pg.
9. Desolation Angels, Jack Kerouac, 409 pg.
10. The Wheel of time, Carlos Castaneda, 209 pg.
11. 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck, 411 pg.
12. Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind, 820 pg.
13. Buddhism: Plain and Simple, Steve Hagen, 159 pg.
14. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, 798 pg.
15. DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman, 358 pg.
16. No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy, 309 pg.
17. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk, 293 pg.
18. Kingdom of Fear, Hunter S. Thompson, 351. pg.
19. The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, 326 pg.
20. True Hallucinations, Terence McKenna, 237 pg.
21. Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings, 290 pg.
22. I Was Carlos Castaneda, Martin Goodman, 220 pg.
23. All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy, 302 pg.
24. Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk, 404 pg.
25. How to Break a Terrorist, Matthew Alexander, 288 pg.
26. The Genesis Generation, Lorenzo Hagerty
27. Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, Rupert Sheldrake, 352 pg.
28. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, 246 pg.
29. The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy, 426 pg.
30. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, Paul Stamets, 343 pg.
31. Beyond the Basin, Alexander Beiner, 358 pg.
32. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, 470 pg.
33. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, 289 pg.
34. The Road, Cormac McCarthy, 287 pg.
35. Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers, Richard Evans Schultes, 208 pg.
36. Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins, 342 pg.
37. Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, 320 pg.

@daLai: Snow Crash was so epic! I would read it again in a heartbeat. Some of the writing is a bit immature stylistically but the story is really good and the characters are extremely believable and human. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Robinson Crusoe didn't really surprise me, but then again, I didn't really expect it to. It's a classic that I'd never read, but I'll probably never need to read it again. You can read my review here.

[Jeremy]

1. The Joke's Over; Memories of Hunter S Thompson Ralph Steadman 387pg
2. Bottomfeeder; How the fish on our plates are killing the planet Taras Grescoe 357 pg
3. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 110 pg
4. A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists David G. Myers 136pg
5. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 368pg
6. The Black Swan; The impact of the highly improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb 300pg
7. The Life You Can Save; Acting now to end world poverty Peter Singer 189pg
8. The Empire Of The Sun J.G. Ballard 351 pg
9. The Missionary Position; Mother Teresa in theory and practice Christopher Hitchens 98pg
10. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carol 327pg
11. The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 204pg
12. The Great War For Civilisation; The Conquest of the Middle East Robert Fisk 1283pg
13. A Many Colored Glass Freeman J Dyson 154pg
14. And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac 214 pg
15. Has Science Got Rid Of God? By John Blanchard 133pg
16. Cosmos Carl Sagan 374pg
17. The Odyssey Homer (translated by Robert Fagels) 485pg
18. Seasick Alanna Mitchell 203pg
19. The Canon Natalie Angier 264pg
20. Euripides 1 Euripides 221pg
21. Microcosm Carl Zimmer 199pg
22. Ecological Intelligence Daniel Goleman 247pg
23. The Vanishing Face of Gaia; A Final Warning James Lovelock 162pg
24. Planet Of Slums Mike Davis 206pg
25. The Greatest Show On Earth Richard Dawkins 437pg
26. Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 304pg
27. The Puppet Masters Robert A Heinlein 352pg
28. Welcome to the Urban Revolution; How Cities Are Changing the World Jeb Brugmann 284pg


A really impressive book. One of the most in depth books on any subject that I've read. A good follow up to Planet of Slums - explains what we need to do to make cities sustainable and forces of "good" in the world. Empowering as well.

[daLai]

1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 197p.
2. Saul Bellow - The Adventures Of Augie March 536p.
3. Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep 220p.
4. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 519p.
5. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen 436p.
6. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go 282p.
7. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye 192p.
8. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird 281p.
9. John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold 229p.
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby 115p.
11. Philip K. Dick - Ubik 224p.
12. William Burroughs - Naked Lunch 201p.
13. George Orwell - 1984 254p.
14. George Orwell - Animal Farm 128p.
15. Charles Hucker - China's Imperial Past 560p.
16. Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey 124p.
17. Thomas Pynchon - The Crying Of Lot 49 127p.
18. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim 251p.
19. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children 446p.
20. Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest 187p.
21. Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse 193p.
22. Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian 337p.
23. Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon 200p.
24. Ernest Hemingway - Fiesta:The Sun Also Rises 216p.
25. E.L. Doctorow - Ragtime 320p.
26. Flann O'Brien - At-Swim-Two-Birds 218p.
27. Ken Kesey - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 272p.
28. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 128p.
29. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited 326p.
30. Martin Amis - Night Train 149p.
31. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five 157p.
32. Philip K. Dick - The Penultimate Truth 191p.
33. Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark 242p.
34. Albert Camus - Der Fremde 143p.
35. James Dickey - Deliverance 243p.
36. Albert Camus - Collected Essays 252p.
37. Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle 259p.
38. Martin Amis - Money 394p.
39. Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without A Country 145p.
40. Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos 237p.
41. Martin Amis - Heavy Water & Other Stories 191p.
42. Albert Camus - Die Gerechten & Die Besessenen (plays) 160p.
43. Martin Amis - Time's Arrow or the Nature of the Offence 176p.
44. Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night 212p.
45. Martin Amis - Other People 206p.
46. William Golding - Lord of the Flies 248p.
47. Kingsley Amis - I Want It Now 255p.
48. Don DeLillo - White Noise 326p.

[Jeremy]

1. The Joke's Over; Memories of Hunter S Thompson Ralph Steadman 387pg
2. Bottomfeeder; How the fish on our plates are killing the planet Taras Grescoe 357 pg
3. Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 110 pg
4. A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists David G. Myers 136pg
5. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 368pg
6. The Black Swan; The impact of the highly improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb 300pg
7. The Life You Can Save; Acting now to end world poverty Peter Singer 189pg
8. The Empire Of The Sun J.G. Ballard 351 pg
9. The Missionary Position; Mother Teresa in theory and practice Christopher Hitchens 98pg
10. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carol 327pg
11. The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 204pg
12. The Great War For Civilisation; The Conquest of the Middle East Robert Fisk 1283pg
13. A Many Colored Glass Freeman J Dyson 154pg
14. And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac 214 pg
15. Has Science Got Rid Of God? By John Blanchard 133pg
16. Cosmos Carl Sagan 374pg
17. The Odyssey Homer (translated by Robert Fagels) 485pg
18. Seasick Alanna Mitchell 203pg
19. The Canon Natalie Angier 264pg
20. Euripides 1 Euripides 221pg
21. Microcosm Carl Zimmer 199pg
22. Ecological Intelligence Daniel Goleman 247pg
23. The Vanishing Face of Gaia; A Final Warning James Lovelock 162pg
24. Planet Of Slums Mike Davis 206pg
25. The Greatest Show On Earth Richard Dawkins 437pg
26. Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 304pg
27. The Puppet Masters Robert A Heinlein 352pg
28. Welcome to the Urban Revolution; How Cities Are Changing the World Jeb Brugmann 284pg
29. The Beach Alex Garland 439pg


A very silly book. A bit disappointing.

[mtoolan]

1. Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp
2. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
3. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
4. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
5. Rebel Giants by David R. Contosta
6. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
8. Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster
9. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
10. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen
11. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
13. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
14. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
16. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
17. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
18. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
19. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
21. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
22. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
23. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
24. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
25. Like Trees, Walking by Ravi Howard
26. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
27. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
28. Sula by Toni Morrison
29. The Sea Wolf by Jack London
30. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

[dp]

1. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells 140pg
2. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 318pg
3. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut 288pg
4. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 298pg
5. The Far Field: Last Poems by Theodore Roethke 104pg
6. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
7. Naked by David Sedaris 224pg
8. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 394pg
9. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 275pg
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 471pg
11. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 127pg
12. Amerika by Frankz Kafka 300pg
13. The Aeneid by Virgil (translated by Allen Mandelbaum) 390pg
14. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 293pg
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 325pg
16. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 120pg
17. The Histories by Herodotus 682pg
18. Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel 81pg
19. To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck 181pg
20. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace 353pg
21. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck 174pg

[daLai]

1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 197p.
2. Saul Bellow - The Adventures Of Augie March 536p.
3. Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep 220p.
4. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 519p.
5. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen 436p.
6. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go 282p.
7. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye 192p.
8. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird 281p.
9. John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold 229p.
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby 115p.
11. Philip K. Dick - Ubik 224p.
12. William Burroughs - Naked Lunch 201p.
13. George Orwell - 1984 254p.
14. George Orwell - Animal Farm 128p.
15. Charles Hucker - China's Imperial Past 560p.
16. Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey 124p.
17. Thomas Pynchon - The Crying Of Lot 49 127p.
18. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim 251p.
19. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children 446p.
20. Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest 187p.
21. Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse 193p.
22. Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian 337p.
23. Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon 200p.
24. Ernest Hemingway - Fiesta:The Sun Also Rises 216p.
25. E.L. Doctorow - Ragtime 320p.
26. Flann O'Brien - At-Swim-Two-Birds 218p.
27. Ken Kesey - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 272p.
28. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 128p.
29. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited 326p.
30. Martin Amis - Night Train 149p.
31. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five 157p.
32. Philip K. Dick - The Penultimate Truth 191p.
33. Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark 242p.
34. Albert Camus - Der Fremde 143p.
35. James Dickey - Deliverance 243p.
36. Albert Camus - Collected Essays 252p.
37. Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle 259p.
38. Martin Amis - Money 394p.
39. Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without A Country 145p.
40. Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos 237p.
41. Martin Amis - Heavy Water & Other Stories 191p.
42. Albert Camus - Die Gerechten & Die Besessenen (plays) 160p.
43. Martin Amis - Time's Arrow or the Nature of the Offence 176p.
44. Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night 212p.
45. Martin Amis - Other People 206p.
46. William Golding - Lord of the Flies 248p.
47. Kingsley Amis - I Want It Now 255p.
48. Don DeLillo - White Noise 326p.
49. Dashiell Hammett - The Glass Key 186p.

The 4th of the five novels Hammett has written. It was less good than the other ones I've read. His last novel will be my 50th book this year, I hope it can catch up with "Red Harvest" or "The Maltese Falcon", which by the way is a great movie

[dp]

I don't really know DeLillo very well but someone recommended him to me and White Noise is on my bookshelf here.

What did you think of DeLillo/White Noise?

[daLai]

Mhh, hard to say. It was a very enjoyable read, but the story of the book is not dramatically interesting. I think you have to like the topic: American suburbia in the late 1980s in a modern family's point of view. In what effect does TV actually influence our daily life, why do we need to consume to be satisfied? How valuable is my life, when I'm just thinking about dying ?
So, it does not happen too much throughout the course of the book, but it was a nice read.

[dp]

It is now in my pile of books to read. A pile I might add that is growing much faster than I can read... Probably won't be helped by the fact that Half Price Books has a 20% off sale tomorrow.

1. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells 140pg
2. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 318pg
3. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut 288pg
4. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 298pg
5. The Far Field: Last Poems by Theodore Roethke 104pg
6. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
7. Naked by David Sedaris 224pg
8. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 394pg
9. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 275pg
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 471pg
11. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 127pg
12. Amerika by Frankz Kafka 300pg
13. The Aeneid by Virgil (translated by Allen Mandelbaum) 390pg
14. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 293pg
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 325pg
16. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 120pg
17. The Histories by Herodotus 682pg
18. Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel 81pg
19. To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck 181pg
20. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace 353pg
21. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck 174pg
22. Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks 296pg

Seven separate "tales" that focus on neurological disorders and problems from an artist at the age of 65 going completely color blind to a man who had been blind his whole life having surgery and having to "learn how to see". It also goes into memory and the mind and the last two "tales" are about autism, a disorder I found somewhat uninteresting until reading this book.

Interesting stuff altogether, but also kind of eye opening.

[daLai]

1. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 197p.
2. Saul Bellow - The Adventures Of Augie March 536p.
3. Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep 220p.
4. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 519p.
5. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen 436p.
6. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go 282p.
7. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye 192p.
8. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird 281p.
9. John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold 229p.
10. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby 115p.
11. Philip K. Dick - Ubik 224p.
12. William Burroughs - Naked Lunch 201p.
13. George Orwell - 1984 254p.
14. George Orwell - Animal Farm 128p.
15. Charles Hucker - China's Imperial Past 560p.
16. Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey 124p.
17. Thomas Pynchon - The Crying Of Lot 49 127p.
18. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim 251p.
19. Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children 446p.
20. Dashiell Hammett - Red Harvest 187p.
21. Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse 193p.
22. Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian 337p.
23. Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon 200p.
24. Ernest Hemingway - Fiesta:The Sun Also Rises 216p.
25. E.L. Doctorow - Ragtime 320p.
26. Flann O'Brien - At-Swim-Two-Birds 218p.
27. Ken Kesey - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 272p.
28. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie 128p.
29. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited 326p.
30. Martin Amis - Night Train 149p.
31. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five 157p.
32. Philip K. Dick - The Penultimate Truth 191p.
33. Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark 242p.
34. Albert Camus - Der Fremde 143p.
35. James Dickey - Deliverance 243p.
36. Albert Camus - Collected Essays 252p.
37. Philip K. Dick - The Man In The High Castle 259p.
38. Martin Amis - Money 394p.
39. Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without A Country 145p.
40. Kurt Vonnegut - Galapagos 237p.
41. Martin Amis - Heavy Water & Other Stories 191p.
42. Albert Camus - Die Gerechten & Die Besessenen (plays) 160p.
43. Martin Amis - Time's Arrow or the Nature of the Offence 176p.
44. Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night 212p.
45. Martin Amis - Other People 206p.
46. William Golding - Lord of the Flies 248p.
47. Kingsley Amis - I Want It Now 255p.
48. Don DeLillo - White Noise 326p.
49. Dashiell Hammett - The Glass Key 186p.
50. Dashiell Hammett - The Thin Man 165p.

So here we are.

[LinoSphere]

good job, simon! that's really something to be proud of, imo.
i hope to join in on this, maybe next year.

[dp]

1. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells 140pg
2. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut 318pg
3. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut 288pg
4. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 298pg
5. The Far Field: Last Poems by Theodore Roethke 104pg
6. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut 192pg
7. Naked by David Sedaris 224pg
8. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 394pg
9. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 275pg
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 471pg
11. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 127pg
12. Amerika by Frankz Kafka 300pg
13. The Aeneid by Virgil (translated by Allen Mandelbaum) 390pg
14. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 293pg
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 325pg
16. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 120pg
17. The Histories by Herodotus 682pg
18. Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel 81pg
19. To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck 181pg
20. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace 353pg
21. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck 174pg
22. Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks 296pg
23. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall 282pg

A good story and a convincing account that humans evolved to run long long distances. Cool story backed it up but you could tell it was written by a magazine writer.

Good job on the 50 books! I think that's the first time in three years of the 50 book challenge someone has actually read 50 books. I've got a real good stack of books ready to go for 2010 and my goal is 50 for sure.