The 50 Book Challenge 2010

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 13 Apr 2010 06:01

1. Storms of my Grandchildren: The truth about the come climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity - James Hansen 277pg
2. Concrete Island - James Ballard 176pg
3. House of Meetings - Martin Amis 196pg
4. The Necessary Revolution; How individuals and organisations are working together to create a sustainable world - Peter Senge 416pg
5. Is There A Creator Who Cares About You? - Watchtower 191 pg
6. Requiem for a Species - Clive Hamilton 240 pg
7. In Defence of Food - Michael Pollan 201 pg
8. The Road - Cormack McCarthy 256 pg

Fantastic. The best fiction I've read in ages. Years perhaps. Highly recommended. Won a Pulitzer Prize apparently too. I read this in a few sittings, but the last 2 thirds all tonight. I don't want to say too much in case other people read it, but yeah - definitely worth reading.

daLai · Post by **daLai** » 22 Apr 2010 00:40

1. Lao She - Beneath the Red Banner 187p.
2. Martin Amis - The Second Plane 206p.
3. Kingsley Amis - The Alteration 208p.
4. Robert van Gulik - Richter Di bei der Arbeit (Judge Dee at work) 221p.
5. Miriam ColleÃ© - In China essen sie den Mond 266p.
6. Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint 274p.
7. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash 470p.
8. Fritz Sitte - Die Roten Khmer (The Khmer Rouge) 202p.

Additional Readings:
1. E.T.A. Hoffmann - Der Sandmann 30p.
2. Ben Kiernan - The Pol Pot Regime
3. David Chandler - A Political Biography of Pol Pot

Those new ones were the main sources of my last research paper.
I am currently reading The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth which will take my another week or two. It is quite challenging for me.

dp · Post by dp » 02 May 2010 12:49

1. One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith 222pg
2. Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America by Theodora Kroeber 238pg
3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 449pg
4. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 230pg
5. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
6. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
7. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway 157pg
8. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller 233pg
9. Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck 275pg
10. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer 329pg

True story of a German mountain climber who was in India when World War II broke out and was detained in a British POW camp. He escaped and then was captured again many times, but eventually made it out to Tibet and into Lhasa. Eventually he became a personal teacher to the Dalai Lama. Really interesting look at Tibet.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 02 May 2010 21:36

1. The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1, Hunter S. Thompson, 602 pg.
2. The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man, Guy Owen, 277 pg.
3. Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav, 376 pg.
4. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 268 pg.
5. Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy, 304 pg.
6. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, 152 pg.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, 340 pg.
8. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 210 pg.
9. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Alex Ross, 624 pg.
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling, 309 pg.
11. Island, Aldous Huxley, 354 pg.

I have been slacking lately with my reading. It took me a few months to finish Island, but I really enjoyed it. I wrote a review for it, which you can read here. This is Huxley's utopian counterpart to his dystopian novel Brave New World.

LauriA · Post by **LauriA** » 05 May 2010 11:08

1. Sophie's World (Sofies verden) by Jostein Gaarder, 437 pages
2. The Republic by Plato (Platon, Valtio), 428 pages
3. Duma Key by Stephen King, 639 pages

My first Stephen King. It was pretty good, I think i'm going to read another one next.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 05 May 2010 19:29

1. The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1, Hunter S. Thompson, 602 pg.
2. The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man, Guy Owen, 277 pg.
3. Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav, 376 pg.
4. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 268 pg.
5. Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy, 304 pg.
6. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, 152 pg.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, 340 pg.
8. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 210 pg.
9. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Alex Ross, 624 pg.
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling, 309 pg.
11. Island, Aldous Huxley, 354 pg.
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, 341 pg.

I thought this one was pretty good, although not as good as the first. Looking forward to the next though! You can read my review here.

dp · Post by dp » 11 May 2010 14:45

1. One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith 222pg
2. Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America by Theodora Kroeber 238pg
3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 449pg
4. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 230pg
5. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
6. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
7. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway 157pg
8. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller 233pg
9. Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck 275pg
10. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer 329pg
11. River Town by Peter Hessler 402pg

This is a book about Hessler's time in Fuling, a somewhat isolated city is western China along the Yangtze, as a Peace corp teaching volunteer where he taught English to Chinese students. I think he writes for the New Yorker now. Really great writer, and really interesting story/insight about China.

dp · Post by dp » 12 May 2010 19:18

1. One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith 222pg
2. Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America by Theodora Kroeber 238pg
3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 449pg
4. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 230pg
5. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
6. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
7. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway 157pg
8. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller 233pg
9. Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck 275pg
10. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer 329pg
11. River Town by Peter Hessler 402pg
12. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 287pg

I had a similar reaction to this book as Jeremy. Had me feeling sick to my stomach at times though from what was going on.

LauriA · Post by **LauriA** » 16 May 2010 07:03

1. Sophie's World (Sofies verden) by Jostein Gaarder, 437 pages
2. The Republic by Plato (Platon, Valtio), 428 pages
3. Duma Key by Stephen King, 639 pages
4. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King, 244 pages

Good book. I'm going to continue with the Dark Tower- series.

skankin · Post by **skankin** » 18 May 2010 16:04

1: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 2003,230 pages Mark Haddon
2: L'inspecteur Specteur et le CurÃ© RÃ©, 2001, 233 pages Ghislain Taschereau
3: Fear and Loathing in America , 2000,750 pages Hunter S.Thompson
4: Comme une odeur de muscles, 2005, 144 pgs, Fred Pellerin
5:99 francs
6: Aventure sans pareil d'un certain Hans Pfaal
7:Les animaux dÃ©naturÃ©s

I'll post the resumes later and more info about the books, my latest reads are in french, so my brain can do other things than analyse everything.

mtoolan · Post by **mtoolan** » 20 May 2010 01:47

1. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn 263 pages
2. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 131 pages
3. The Stranger by Albert Camus 154 pages
4. 1984 by George Orwell 256 pages
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 180 pages

Post by **Zac Miley** » 20 May 2010 10:46

1. Civilwarland in Bad Decline by George Saunders.
2. Anthem by Ayn Rand
3. You Are Just A Little Bit Happier Than I Am by Tao Lin
4. Night by Elie Wiesel
5. Defense of Socrates, Euthyphro, Crito by Plato (translated by David G).
6. Art on the Edge and Over by Linda Weintraub.
7. Oedipus the King by Sophocles.
8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I thought that its significance as a literary work was pretty minimal and uninteresting, but it's historical context is pretty fascinating. Overall an enjoyable book.

East of Eden next.

dp · Post by dp » 20 May 2010 11:39

East of Eden is the best!

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 25 May 2010 10:24

1. The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1, Hunter S. Thompson, 602 pg.
2. The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man, Guy Owen, 277 pg.
3. Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav, 376 pg.
4. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 268 pg.
5. Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy, 304 pg.
6. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, 152 pg.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, 340 pg.
8. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 210 pg.
9. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Alex Ross, 624 pg.
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling, 309 pg.
11. Island, Aldous Huxley, 354 pg.
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, 341 pg.
13. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne, 176 pg.

What a great book! I don't think I've read this in about two decades. It came with the iBooks app on my new iPad, and was the first book that I finished on the new device. I've been enjoying reading on the iPad so far but it will take a little to get used to. Right now there isn't a great selection of psychedelic lit on the iBookstore, but hopefully that will change in the next few months. Anyways, Winnie the Pooh was pretty great - I was glad to revisit it after so long. You can read my review here.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 26 May 2010 05:53

Completely agree - Winnie The Pooh is awesome. I love A A Milne

Haven't read any for nearly 20years too, but maybe I will.

1. Storms of my Grandchildren: The truth about the come climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity - James Hansen 277pg
2. Concrete Island - James Ballard 176pg
3. House of Meetings - Martin Amis 196pg
4. The Necessary Revolution; How individuals and organisations are working together to create a sustainable world - Peter Senge 416pg
5. Is There A Creator Who Cares About You? - Watchtower 191 pg
6. Requiem for a Species - Clive Hamilton 240 pg
7. In Defence of Food - Michael Pollan 201 pg
8. The Road - Cormack McCarthy 256 pg
9. Safarnama - Ikram Naqvi 174 pg

Finally finished a book. Have been too busy/lazy lately to read but got around to reading this. I have managed to read a fantastic selection of books this year and but I think personally this was the best, although as I will describe it is pretty personal. I picked up this book because I happened to be meeting a girl at a bookshop and the launch of this was on, so we sat around and drunk free wine and heard his daughter and then the Author speak. This book is basically his memoirs and letters. Ikram Naqvi is an Indian Muslim who came to Hobart to study half of the same degree I'm studying (he studied geology and geography, I'm studying biology and geography, but I have done a little geology too). For me this book represents both something very familiar but from two completely different perspectives - first from a Muslim Indian immigrant and secondly from a generation before my time (he was studying in the 1960s). After university Ikram worked as a geologist around Tasmania and also in Canada, before changing professions to manage a number of charities. All the proceeds from this book go to some kind of charity for underprivileged kids. It's so cool to read a book set around where you live. In fact his daughters went to a school I can see from my house. Most of all this book is the most powerful tribute and argument for multiculturalism. It's a beautiful story and I'm so glad that I bought a copy. I don't think it's possible for people to get a copy since it was a very limited local print, and probably without the connection of the place and study it wouldn't be so interesting, but I recommend it anyway.

daLai · Post by **daLai** » 29 May 2010 04:13

1. Lao She - Beneath the Red Banner 187p.
2. Martin Amis - The Second Plane 206p.
3. Kingsley Amis - The Alteration 208p.
4. Robert van Gulik - Richter Di bei der Arbeit (Judge Dee at work) 221p.
5. Miriam ColleÃ© - In China essen sie den Mond 266p.
6. Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint 274p.
7. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash 470p.
8. Fritz Sitte - Die Roten Khmer (The Khmer Rouge) 202p.
9. John Barth - The Sot-Weed Factor 756p.

Additional Readings:
1. E.T.A. Hoffmann - Der Sandmann 30p.
2. Ben Kiernan - The Pol Pot Regime
3. David Chandler - A Political Biography of Pol Pot

The Sot-Weed Factor took me almost 2 months to read through. It wasn't easy to read, but all the way through highly entertaining. I had to look up a decent amount of words while reading this, but in the end it was worth the time I invested.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 29 May 2010 19:49

1. The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1, Hunter S. Thompson, 602 pg.
2. The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man, Guy Owen, 277 pg.
3. Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav, 376 pg.
4. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 268 pg.
5. Cities of the Plain, Cormac McCarthy, 304 pg.
6. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, 152 pg.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, 340 pg.
8. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 210 pg.
9. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Alex Ross, 624 pg.
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling, 309 pg.
11. Island, Aldous Huxley, 354 pg.
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling, 341 pg.
13. Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne, 176 pg.
14. The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Don Lattin, 256 pg.

I really enjoyed this book - it was a quick read and a great refresher on Timothy Leary and Ram Dass. I had never known much about Andrew Weil or Huston Smith before reading this, so it was interesting to learn about the parts that they played in the psychedelic community in the sixties. You can read my review here.

dp · Post by dp » 01 Jun 2010 07:10

1. One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith 222pg
2. Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America by Theodora Kroeber 238pg
3. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 449pg
4. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 230pg
5. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
6. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 1079pg
7. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway 157pg
8. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller 233pg
9. Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck 275pg
10. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer 329pg
11. River Town by Peter Hessler 402pg
12. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 287pg
13. White Noise by Don DeLillo 326pg

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 01 Jun 2010 10:45

1. JÃ¸rgen Leth & Morten Sabroe - "That's why they fuck so much in this country" (333 pages)
2. Malcolm Jacobson - "Writers United: The WUFC Story. A Swedish Graffiti Crew" (160 pages)
3. Lars Movin - "Torben Ulrich: Jazz, ball and buddhism" (491 pages)
4. Carsten RenÃ© Nielsen - "Circles" (70 pages)
5. Jack Kerouac - "On The Road (The Original Scroll)" (199 pages)

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 03 Jun 2010 11:22

1. Storms of my Grandchildren: The truth about the come climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity - James Hansen 277pg
2. Concrete Island - James Ballard 176pg
3. House of Meetings - Martin Amis 196pg
4. The Necessary Revolution; How individuals and organisations are working together to create a sustainable world - Peter Senge 416pg
5. Is There A Creator Who Cares About You? - Watchtower 191 pg
6. Requiem for a Species - Clive Hamilton 240 pg
7. In Defence of Food - Michael Pollan 201 pg
8. The Road - Cormack McCarthy 256 pg
9. Safarnama - Ikram Naqvi 174 pg
10. The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Art Spiegelman - 296 pg

Can I count comics? I am anyway. I saw an amazing documentary today about non-fictional comics about wars. It's amazing how powerful these are, and the doco brought this up and suggested that it was because we didn't trust photos any more due to photoshop, but I don't accept that. I think it's partly because we're desensitised to this kind of stuff a lot, and also because comics and drawings can capture the essence of what the author wants to portray in a more refined manner than photos can. Anyway Maus is the biography of Art Spiegelman's father, who survived Auschwitz. It's an incredible story, and I think I understand the holocaust and how the survivors of it feel a lot better now. I especially think of Israel, which is topical at the moment, and the incredible human rights abuses that they commit, in ultimately the name of their religion. While it's easy to condemn them over their actions and particularly the phoney justifications for it, I now feel like I can understand their actions a lot more, and I think the way to bring about peace in the region isn't to condemn and antagonise them, but to be reassuring and tolerant. Of course, if only it were that easy, but there also needs to be justice for the Palestinians, and I doubt the Zionists will ever approve that. Indeed given what's happened to both groups of people now, I think they'll be fighting forever. I am, of course, generalising, and I apologise if that annoys anybody. Anyway I really highly recommend this book. It's very powerful, very sad, a little bit funny and conscious raising.