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

[dp]

Yay Bluebeard! What did you think of it?

[mtoolan]

It was great, I'm definitely going to be checking more of his books out of the library.

[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

He's a humorist. A bunch of connected short stories about his life. Good read, not what I was looking for but had some real funny moments and some good ideas to think about.

I've read every novel by Vonnegut and Mother Night and Bluebeard are my favorites by far and I disliked Slapstick and Galapagos if that affects your choices for more Vonnegut.

[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.

Very interesting indeed. Had never read the book, but have been a fan of Alice for a long while. I'm excited that Tim Burton will be coming out with a new Alice film next year. The stills look amazing. You can find my review for this book here.

[renke]

you got some interesting reads in this list

[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.

[mirra]

1. Septuagenarian Stew by Charles Bukowski
2. Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski
3. Mockingbird Wish Me Luck by Charles Bukowski
4. South Of No North by Charles Bukowski
5. The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills by Charles Bukowski
6. Notes Of A Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
7. Book Of Dreams by Jack Kerouac
8. Selected Poems by Malcolm Lowry
9. Love Is A Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski
10. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
11. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
12. June 30, June 30 by Richard Brautigan
13. The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Salinger
14. Collection Of Poems by Richard Brautigan
15. The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966 by Richard Brautigan
16. Siddharta by Herman Hesse
17. Peter Camenzind by Herman Hesse
18. Vanity Of Duluoz by Jack Kerouac
19. Poems from the classic Persia by Various Poets
20. A Seperate Reality by Carlos Castaneda
21. Post Office by Charles Bukowski
22. The Happy Prince And Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
23. A House Of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde
24. Shakespeare Never Did This by Charles Bukowski
25. The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
26. Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson

[Langstaff]

Wow I'm really lagging behind... Damn you video games.

1.The Ancestor's Tale - Richard Dawkins (520 pages)
2.Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche (150 pages)
3.Dead Beat; #7 of the Dresden Files (448 pages)
4.Human, All Too Human - Friedrich Nietzsche (395 pages)
5.Path of Destruction; #1 of Star Wars: Darth Bane series - Drew Karpyshyn (416 pages)
6.The Count of Monte Cristo; ebook - Alexandre Dumas (2276 pages)

[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.

Great book. Very slow but deep thoughts. It's the second book in McCarthy's Border Trilogy. I only have one more to read - so far it's been one of the most unique trilogies I have ever read. Check it out if you get a chance. You can read my review for the book 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


Fantastic. I really enjoyed this. Read it for my classical literature subject at uni. A lot easier to read than I thought it would be. I found the different view of right and wrong fairly interesting. Also the end was brutal, but righteous Glad I read this and recommended.

[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

I found a lot of this book annoying because I like facts and knowing what's true, not endless metaphors and anecdotes. Indeed I'm sure this book isn't aimed at people like me, but at the apathetic general public. If you feel like that about the environment I really strongly recommend you read this.

This isn't exactly about about collapsing fisheries, it's more a book about the collapse of the oceans and how that will lead to the collapse of our planet. In this book over fishing is just one of the many problems facing our oceans, and by far the easiest to fix. It's said many times that perhaps instead of calling it "climate change" we should call it "ocean change." The biggest threats from climate change aren't what it will to temperatures or sea levels, they're what it will do ocean life. Life on land would die within weeks if life in the oceans died.

I found the message of hope at the end of this book most unconvincing.

[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

I've been slacking

[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.

[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, 343 pg.

Great book. I learned a lot and want to start growing some edible mushrooms in the near future. Check out my review here.

[Langstaff]

1.The Ancestor's Tale - Richard Dawkins (520 pages)
2.Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche (150 pages)
3.Dead Beat; #7 of the Dresden Files (448 pages)
4.Human, All Too Human - Friedrich Nietzsche (395 pages)
5.Path of Destruction; #1 of Star Wars: Darth Bane series - Drew Karpyshyn (416 pages)
6.The Count of Monte Cristo; ebook - Alexandre Dumas (2276 pages)
7.Rule of Two; #2 of Star Wars: Darth Bane series - Drew Karpyshyn (320 pages)

Sith ftw.

[Asmus]

1. "Oh, Romeo" by Merete Pryds Helle (126 pages)
2. "I sammenbrudets tjeneste" which means "In the service of the breakdown" by Das Beckwerk and Mikkel Bolt (237 pages)
3. "Mr. Vertigo" by Paul Auster (313 pages)
4. "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami (217 pages)
5. "Kunsterns Køtere" which means "Bastards of Art" by Ole Lindboe (97 pages)
6. "Monument - Contemporary Art in the Urban Space" by alot of people (154 pages)
7. The Vasek Klouda Manual: How To Play Footbag" by Dan Ednie and Vasek Klouda (90something pages)

[Asmus]

1. "Oh, Romeo" by Merete Pryds Helle (126 pages)
2. "I sammenbrudets tjeneste" which means "In the service of the breakdown" by Das Beckwerk and Mikkel Bolt (237 pages)
3. "Mr. Vertigo" by Paul Auster (313 pages)
4. "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami (217 pages)
5. "Kunsterns Køtere" which means "Bastards of Art" by Ole Lindboe (97 pages)
6. "Monument - Contemporary Art in the Urban Space" by alot of people (154 pages)
7. The Vasek Klouda Manual: How To Play Footbag" by Dan Ednie and Vasek Klouda (90something pages)
8. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (337 pages)

[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.

You can check out my full review here.

[boyle]

1. Occy- Mark Occhilupo & Tim Baker- 309 pgs
2. On The Road- Jack Kerouac- 291pgs
3. Five Months In A Leaky Boat- Ben Kozel- 419pgs
4. Love In The Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez- 348pgs
5. Going Solo- Roald Dahl- 210pgs
6. The Riders- Tim Winton- 377pgs
7. Bad Boys- Roy Masters- 320pgs
8. Dopeland- John Birmingham- 258pgs
9. Sleeping Around: A Couchsurfing Tour Of The Globe- Brian Thacker- 379pgs
10. How To Beat The Australians- Richard Beard- 236pgs
11. How To Drink Absolutely Everything- Ben Canaider- 239pgs
12. Down Under- Bill Bryson- 427pgs
13. High Fidelity- Nick Hornby- 245pgs
14. Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World- 380pgs
15. It’s Only A Game: A Life In Sport: John O’Neill- 386pgs
16. Neither Here Nor There- Bill Bryson- 256pgs
17: Inside George Orwell- Gordon Bowker- 434pgs
18: A Long Way Down- Nick Hornby- 257pgs
19. A Clergyman’s Daughter- George Orwell- 263pgs
20. American Hardcore: A Tribal History- Steven Blush- 302pgs
21. Tolkien: A Biography- Michael White- 250pgs
22. Into Thick Air- Jim Belusha- 316pgs
23. The Surgeon of Crowthorne- Simon Winchester- 207pgs
24. Of Mice And Men- John Steinbeck- 120pgs
25. Notes From A Small Island- Bill Bryson- 379pgs
26. The Autobiography- Eric Clapton- 364pgs
27. A Year In The Merde- Stephen Clarke- 383pgs
28. No Logo- Naomi Klein- 458pgs


Currently reading Paul Theroux- The Great Railway Bazaar