The 2013 Book Challenge

[Jeremy]

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

As people probably know, I'm a massive fan of Ralph Steadman, and a keen birdwatcher, so this book is virtually made for me. It's mainly consists of a little over 100 illustrations by Ralph Steadman of extinct birds, with a couple of non-extinct and some made up ones included. The drawings are amazing. Opposite each drawing is some dialogue between Ralph and Ceri, notes about each bird, and some thoughts from Ceri. The text is a little self serving, which gets tedious at times (even though I agree that the pictures are amazing, reading the producers discuss how amazing their own work is can go on for too long). But I also found parts hilarious, and being a book about extinct birds, very sad at times. It's a beautiful book, a lot bigger than I was expecting, and very high quality.

[Zac Miley]

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, (some German publishing house, several contributors)

[DTank126]

1. Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
3. Post Office - Charles Bukowski

Finished this the other night. So funny. One of my favorite authors. However I'm biased bc I heard of him through Modest Mouse (my favorite band). Anywho, it's mostly just about his alter ego going to the race track, fucking a bunch of different women, drinking ALL the time, and being a degenerate throughout the whole thing. There's one section that just represents all the warning mail he received from the post office for doing such a poor job (as in its the actual letters he received verbatim from the post office [not actually verbatim, but written bureaucratically and whatnot]). Anywho, I laughed my ass off. Sorry if this is kinda incoherent, I'm kinda drunk.

[Zac Miley]

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

Currently reading a few different books. It's getting kind of confusing.

[dp]

1. A Life of Picasso: 1907-1917 by John Richardson 500pg
2. A Life of Picasso: 1917-1932 by John Richardson 592pg
3. Vertigo by W.G. Sebald 263pg
4. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson 116pg
5. Pastoralia by George Saunders 188pg
6. Campo Santo by W.G. Sebald 221pg
7. The Success and Failure of Picasso by John Berger 210pg
8. CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders 179pg
9. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald 298pg
10. Quick Studies: The Best of Lingua Franca edited by Alexander Star 512pg
11. The Man of Feeling by Javier Marias 182pg
12. How Fiction Works by James Wood 265pg
13. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
14. The Unknown Matisse: The Early Years 1869-1908 by Hilary Spurling 480pg
15. Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard 208pg
16. On the Natural History of Destruction by W.G. Sebald 202pg
17. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse 286pg
18. At the Mind’s Limits by Jean Amery 111pg
19. Mating by Norman Rush 480pg

Phenomenal book. I will come back later and add thoughts and a synopsis. Very very good.

[Pasquar]

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.

This was a good read, but I found it hard to get through. Not usually reading history books myself, it took be a little while, and was certainly more academic than not. This book covered (as evident in the title) historical origins of racism from the time Anglos encountered Africans for the first time up until the early 19th century. I was surprised and a little disappointed that it didn't cover later developments, like the Civil War and Jim Crow era, but I definitely gained a lot from the depth of this book and the times it covered.

I wouldn't suggest it for anyone who is looking for a book to breeze through, I had to closely read this whole book.

Oh yeah, and if you weren't already aware, Thomas Jefferson was an ASSHOLE!

[Zac Miley]

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

Needed to recall one story out of the book, it was so good I had to read the rest of it. I read this collection last summer as well. Just an absolutely phenomenal thinker/writer.

[bigdirtyfoot]

7. The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, Dennis McKenna, 508 pg.

This is the story of the McKenna brothers, told from Dennis McKenna's perspective. Having familiarized myself with Terence's side of the story over the past several years, it was very enlightening and rewarding to look at things from Dennis' eyes. Terence McKenna was a well-known Irish bard who travelled the world during the '80s and '90s on a lecture circuit, speaking about esoteric subjects and advocating the use of psychedelics. I was first introduced to his work by Lorenzo Hagerty's "Psychedelic Salon" podcast in 2007, and since then have listened to many hours of Terence's lectures, watched dozens of his videos, and devoured most of Terence's books. (I still have yet to read "Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide: A Handbook for Psilocybin Enthusiasts" by the two brothers, written under the pseudonyms O.T. Oss and O.N. Oeric.) I must admit that I had placed Terence on a psychedelic pedestal of sorts; his gift of gab has a way of anesthetizing its listeners, and I have not placed as much energy into seriously investigating Terence's wild ideas as maybe I should have. This book opened my eyes to a lot more of the McKenna mindset and has further developed my understanding of Terence's work, in addition to providing background information that could only come from someone as close to him as his brother.

Dennis' attention to detail and ability to remain honest, often blunt at times, in his description of his and his brother's lives, makes for an extremely interesting read. I read this book fairly quickly, considering the extreme depths it plunges and the complex topics and events it describes. I would recommend it to anyone familiar with Terence's work or an interest in psychedelics. There are several great suggestions for reading material found within the book that I will be following up on during the next few years. In this sense it makes a great resource for someone who wants to know more about the psychedelic tribe.

[bigdirtyfoot]

8. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, Joseph Heller, 231 pg.

This is Heller's last novel, and it is about an elderly writer who has written many books and is having trouble finding a plot for his final novel. It is full of false starts, chapter notes, and odd transitions. I think I mainly liked it because it was shorter than the rest of his books. After reading all of his novels in order of publication date, I have to say that the only one that's worth its merit is "Catch-22." This is a shame because Heller has a great writing style - it just doesn't seem polished or well-edited. During each of his books I stumbled across words, sentences, and paragraphs that I would have removed entirely from the book; each book is much too long. At any rate, I am glad to have finally finished all of his novels and plan on reading the collection of his posthumous works, "Catch as Catch Can." I do not intend to read any of his plays or autobiographies. I was originally hoping to race through the complete works of Heller in 2012 but was shocked by how difficult some of his later works are to finish. At any rate, it's been a learning experience. To those wondering, I would suggest sticking with "Catch-22" and maybe "Something Happened."

[Zac Miley]

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

Read it in a few different stints, mostly while my girlfriend made ravioli. I was vaguely disappointed. I liked it a lot in high school, but it seems sort of silly and childish now.

[Jeremy]

So does your girlfriend make a lot of ravioli, or are you a really fast reader? Also a shame you didn't like it. I *really* like it and might read it again this year, since I just bought the Ralph Steadman illustrated edition (my Ralph Steadman collection of books is up to 6 I think, not counting the books like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that only have a few little scribbles).

David that book sounds painfully "meta." I'm struggling a lot with what I'm reading at the moment though, I feel your pain. I'm reading Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn, and it's so depressing just thinking about reading more makes me feel bad.

[Zac Miley]

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

Voltaire's funny.

Jeremy: she made it very slowly, I read it pretty fast (Ithink Animal Farm reads quickly anyways), and it was 4 different stints, I think. I can see why people like it, but it's just not for me.

[dp]

1. A Life of Picasso: 1907-1917 by John Richardson 500pg
2. A Life of Picasso: 1917-1932 by John Richardson 592pg
3. Vertigo by W.G. Sebald 263pg
4. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson 116pg
5. Pastoralia by George Saunders 188pg
6. Campo Santo by W.G. Sebald 221pg
7. The Success and Failure of Picasso by John Berger 210pg
8. CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders 179pg
9. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald 298pg
10. Quick Studies: The Best of Lingua Franca edited by Alexander Star 512pg
11. The Man of Feeling by Javier Marias 182pg
12. How Fiction Works by James Wood 265pg
13. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
14. The Unknown Matisse: The Early Years 1869-1908 by Hilary Spurling 480pg
15. Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard 208pg
16. On the Natural History of Destruction by W.G. Sebald 202pg
17. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse 286pg
18. At the Mind’s Limits by Jean Amery 111pg
19. Mating by Norman Rush 480pg

20. The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald 296pg
21. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe by Mary Elise Sarotte 321pg
22. Whites by Norman Rush 150pg

Shoot, I've been bad about keeping this updated as I go.

I read The Rings of Saturn in December and Sebald is so good (and this book in particular) that I had to read it again. I could foresee reading this book again in the calendar year. I really do need to try to give some longer synopses because I feel I need to get better at talking about the books I read and that would help, but I'm never in the mood when I post.

!989 was a book for class, a pretty well-written account that pretty much followed Chancellor Kohl's actions to re-unify Germany, why he did what he did, why others let him do what he did, and what the consequences were.

Whites is a short story collection. Similar to Mating, it occurs in Botswana (where Norman Rush was the peace corps director with his wife for a number of years (after being a rare books dealer for 15 years and then a teacher at a community college)). It was his first published book (at the age of 53) and feels very much like a warm up for the (tremendous) second book, Mating.

(Also, I think I overuse parentheses.)

[Pasquar]

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

Frederick Douglass's Narrative was a nice quick read, very interesting to hear it from a first-person perspective. Especially interesting given the time that it was written, Douglass had to omit very important parts of his story such as his escape from slavery, arguably a very important part of the story, out of fear of persecution. I would suggest this to anyone.

La Raza was GREAT! It goes over essential history and context of Mexican Americans in the Southwest, California, Colorado, etc. It was written in 1968 and Stan Steiner wrote it almost in the style of an ethnography, living around and speaking to the prominent figures of Chicano history like Reies Tijerina, Cesar Chavez, Rodolpho Gonzalez. It cover the famous walk-out, the grape strike in the west coast (la huelga), and the fight to reclaim Atzlan. It was all nonfiction obviously, but really easy to read as it was a narrative tone, but frequently cited very concrete figures.

[Zac Miley]

(Also, I think I overuse parentheses.)

you should try hyphens!

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

Dave Hickey is one of the best contemporary art writers (neither a critic nor a historian), so it's half a shame and half awe-inspiring that he completely denounced the art world recently. I would consider him something like Christopher Hitchens for the arts. He is a great writer and an effective critical mind. If someone is interested in reading about fine art but have very little idea where to begin, he might be a good place to start. The ideas are complicated and require a foundation in aesthetic theory to really grasp them (I think), but the writing is definitely entertaining.

[dp]

1. A Life of Picasso: 1907-1917 by John Richardson 500pg
2. A Life of Picasso: 1917-1932 by John Richardson 592pg
3. Vertigo by W.G. Sebald 263pg
4. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson 116pg
5. Pastoralia by George Saunders 188pg
6. Campo Santo by W.G. Sebald 221pg
7. The Success and Failure of Picasso by John Berger 210pg
8. CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders 179pg
9. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald 298pg
10. Quick Studies: The Best of Lingua Franca edited by Alexander Star 512pg
11. The Man of Feeling by Javier Marias 182pg
12. How Fiction Works by James Wood 265pg
13. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg
14. The Unknown Matisse: The Early Years 1869-1908 by Hilary Spurling 480pg
15. Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard 208pg
16. On the Natural History of Destruction by W.G. Sebald 202pg
17. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse 286pg
18. At the Mind’s Limits by Jean Amery 111pg
19. Mating by Norman Rush 480pg
20. The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald 296pg
21. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe by Mary Elise Sarotte 321pg
22. Whites by Norman Rush 150pg
23. The Art of Making Magazines edited by Victor Navasky and Evan Cornog 179pg

This was a collection of lectures and talks given at the Columbia School of Journalism by various magazine editors, writers, etc. I had read one of the talks and found it really interesting so I got the book out of the library. In my opinion, the quality of each talk was directly related to the quality of the magazine the person giving the talk was associated with (the editor who had worked on a number of women's lifestyle magazines was quite dull).

And Zac, I read that last year and enjoyed it a lot. I feel like it may have been you that recommended it?

I'll be in Croatia from May 25 until early August. What books should I bring?? I don't know how many it is reasonable to take, but so far I'm thinking I'll bring a complete collection of Jorge Luis Borges since I can read him over and over again, The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano because he rules and that book is pretty long. I dunno what else besides these. Maybe East of Eden? I've been meaning to re read that. Or maybe The Odyssey, since I figure it would take me a little while to read.

What's a nice long book that's dense, but not too dense, that would be good to bring along.

[Zac Miley]

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

Been meaning to do this one for a while.

I may have recommended it Danny, who knows.

I would suggest bringing Moby Dick, myself - I've been meaning to read it for about a year but keep putting it off because it's kind of intimidating. If you haven't read it.

[Jeremy]

I'll be in Croatia from May 25 until early August. What books should I bring?? I don't know how many it is reasonable to take, but so far I'm thinking I'll bring a complete collection of Jorge Luis Borges since I can read him over and over again, The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano because he rules and that book is pretty long. I dunno what else besides these. Maybe East of Eden? I've been meaning to re read that. Or maybe The Odyssey, since I figure it would take me a little while to read.

What's a nice long book that's dense, but not too dense, that would be good to bring along.

I think you'd fly through The Odyssey. It's not that big, and easy to read. I'd try to get an annotated version though. I read it through studying a uni course on classical literature and was really glad I did, because I felt like I gained a lot more insight than I would have if I read it by myself.

On the topic of what to take with you, when I've been away I like to have books that relate to what I'm doing - so like when I spent a month sailing I took Moby Dick and a bunch of books about various marine issues. I dunno of many books about Croatia though. Perhaps some general Eastern European literature though? There are a few long books in that genre

[Pasquar]

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 Etahn Watters 256 pg.

This book was an incredible insight into how the American study and pursuit of Psychology/Psychiatry imposes our beliefs across the world and undermines different cultures' conceptions of mental illnesses (and the term 'mental illness' is itself an extension of that). There are plenty of examples of this, but Watters focuses on 4 case studies: the rise of anorexia in Hong-Kong, the FEMA-like rush of psychiatric 'aid' that went to Sri-Lanka after their massive tsunami aiming to help PTSD, schizophrenia in Zanzibar, and the manufacturing of depression in Japan.

The last two chapters were the best, IMO. The anthropologist who studied schizophrenia in Zanzibar was there because the way they conceive it actually produces shorter periods of illness and quicker recovery times despite the West's 'advanced' technologies and knowledge. The last chapter is literally about how GlaxoSmithKline and other pharmaceutical companies hire academics, decide what is published, and advertise to make people believe they are depressed and need drugs like Paxil. Crazy shit (pun intended )

[DTank126]

1. Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 729 pg
2. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 303 pg
3. Post Office - Charles Bukowski 196 pg
4. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 180 pg

Wanted to read this again when I saw they were making a movie. Didn't like it as much as I did in high school, but it was still fun. At this rate I should read 12 books this year. One for each month.