Fifty book challenge 2008

[PrincessGarnet]

The only Beckett play i have seen is Happy Days, what's that about- (i think i missed something)??? I find it strange when in writing groups that people list him as their favourite playwright - ok i probably should see more to judge him.

[supernothing]

Originally Posted by supernothing

15. James Kelman - how late it was, how late
16. Noam Chomsky - Profit over people
17. Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and it's Discontents

18.David Frisby - Fragments of Modernity
19.Catherine Belsey - A very short intro to Poststructuralism

disertation and finals revision have ruined my reading, i only get to read boring stuff and even then rarely the whole book. Plodding through The Master and Margerita though, which is pretty good.

[Rowsbette]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa

Wow that was excellent, i hadn't realised until now that all of Beckett's plays had been adapted, there's an incredible amount of acting and directing talent involved. Even Harold Pinter pops up as the director in 'Catastrophe'.

They've all been compiled into a DVD boxset which i'd like to see at some point, when it's not, you know fucking extortionate.

According to one of our lecturers the boxset really isn't worth the money. I wouldn't mind having a swatch at Pinter's contribution though.

What did you think of "Atomised"? Been meaning to read it for ages.

Originally Posted by PrincessGarnet

The only Beckett play i have seen is Happy Days, what's that about- (i think i missed something)??? I find it strange when in writing groups that people list him as their favourite playwright - ok i probably should see more to judge him.

Haha, even though I wrote an essay that relied a lot on Happy Days I don't really know how to answer that... maybe the idea that companionship and an optimistic attitude are the only ways in which we can experience happiness in a bleak, Godless world? Technically I like Beckett but I don't really understand how people can enjoy his plays, they're just so horribly depressing.

[Fiona_B]

1. Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted
2. Neil Gaiman - Stardust
3. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
4. Gary Gibson - Stealing Light
5. Iain Banks - Steep Approach to Garbadale
6. Jed Rubenford - Interpretation of Murder
7. James Patterson - 7th Heaven
8. Tom Reynolds - Touch Me, Im Sick
9. Belle De Jour - Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
10. Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels

11. Nikki Sixx - Heroin Diaries

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1. Discurrsive Research in practice - Hepburn and Wiggins Eds.
2. Obedience to authority - Stanley Milgram
3. The lucifer effect - Phillip Zimbardo
4. Developing a questionnaire - Bill graham
5. About Behaviourism - B.F. Skinner
6. Language and Gender: a reader Jennifer Coates (Ed)
7. Tricks of the Mind - Derren Brown
8. Virtual Ethnography - Christine Hine
9. Wild Minds - Marc Hauser
10. The collected writings of Jung - C. G. Jung (Anthony Storr ed.)
11. Learn to remember - Dominic O'Brian

12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence

[Fiona_B]

1. Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted
2. Neil Gaiman - Stardust
3. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
4. Gary Gibson - Stealing Light
5. Iain Banks - Steep Approach to Garbadale
6. Jed Rubenford - Interpretation of Murder
7. James Patterson - 7th Heaven
8. Tom Reynolds - Touch Me, Im Sick
9. Belle De Jour - Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
10. Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels
11. Nikki Sixx - Heroin Diaries

12. Philip Pullman - Northern Lights

[Hayabusa]

Originally Posted by Rowsbette

According to one of our lecturers the boxset really isn't worth the money. I wouldn't mind having a swatch at Pinter's contribution though.

What did you think of "Atomised"? Been meaning to read it for ages.

Despite it's subject matter it's pretty intoxicating, although it's one of those books were there seems to be no middle ground. You'll either love it or hate it.

[caitlinjae]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa

Despite it's subject matter it's pretty intoxicating, although it's one of those books were there seems to be no middle ground. You'll either love it or hate it.

Don't go pretending you can actually read. You're fooling no one.

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1. Discurrsive Research in practice - Hepburn and Wiggins Eds.
2. Obedience to authority - Stanley Milgram
3. The lucifer effect - Phillip Zimbardo
4. Developing a questionnaire - Bill graham
5. About Behaviourism - B.F. Skinner
6. Language and Gender: a reader Jennifer Coates (Ed)
7. Tricks of the Mind - Derren Brown
8. Virtual Ethnography - Christine Hine
9. Wild Minds - Marc Hauser
10. The collected writings of Jung - C. G. Jung (Anthony Storr ed.)
11. Learn to remember - Dominic O'Brian
12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence
12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence

14. Look To Windward - Iain M Banks

[Rowsbette]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa

Despite it's subject matter it's pretty intoxicating, although it's one of those books were there seems to be no middle ground. You'll either love it or hate it.

Cheers, I'll check it out. Although an article I had to read for my cyberspace class gave away the ending.

1. Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
2. D. H. Lawrence - The Rainbow
3. Evelyn Waugh - A Handful of Dust
4. James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
5. Evelyn Waugh - The Loved One
6. Philip Pullman - Northern Lights
7. Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
8. D. H. Lawrence - Women in Love
9. Ford Madox Ford - The Good Soldier
10. Virginia Woolf - To The Lighthouse
11. Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime & Punishment
12. Joseph Conrad - Under Western Eyes
13. Laura Hird - Born Free
14. Harold Pinter - The Birthday Party
15. Samuel Beckett - Play
16. Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot
17. Samuel Beckett - Happy Days
18. Samuel Beckett - Krapp's Last Tape
19. Muriel Spark - A Far Cry From Kensington
20. Hilary Mantel - Eight Months on Ghazzah Street
21. Harold Pinter - The Room / The Dumb Waiter
22. Harold Pinter - A Slight Ache
23. Harold Pinter - The Caretaker
24. Milan Kundera - Immortality
25. William Shakespeare - The Tempest
26. Kurt Vonnegut - A Man Without a Country

27. Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1. Discurrsive Research in practice - Hepburn and Wiggins Eds.
2. Obedience to authority - Stanley Milgram
3. The lucifer effect - Phillip Zimbardo
4. Developing a questionnaire - Bill graham
5. About Behaviourism - B.F. Skinner
6. Language and Gender: a reader Jennifer Coates (Ed)
7. Tricks of the Mind - Derren Brown
8. Virtual Ethnography - Christine Hine
9. Wild Minds - Marc Hauser
10. The collected writings of Jung - C. G. Jung (Anthony Storr ed.)
11. Learn to remember - Dominic O'Brian
12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence
12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence
14. Look To Windward - Iain M Banks

15. Matter - Iain M Banks (should count as three bloody books tis a tome)

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1. Discurrsive Research in practice - Hepburn and Wiggins Eds.
2. Obedience to authority - Stanley Milgram
3. The lucifer effect - Phillip Zimbardo
4. Developing a questionnaire - Bill graham
5. About Behaviourism - B.F. Skinner
6. Language and Gender: a reader Jennifer Coates (Ed)
7. Tricks of the Mind - Derren Brown
8. Virtual Ethnography - Christine Hine
9. Wild Minds - Marc Hauser
10. The collected writings of Jung - C. G. Jung (Anthony Storr ed.)
11. Learn to remember - Dominic O'Brian
12. No Country for old men - Cormac McCarthy
13. The memory palace of Matteo Ricci - Jonathan Spence
14. Look To Windward - Iain M Banks
15. Matter - Iain M Banks

16. The Step approach to Garabdale - Iain Banks

[Fiona_B]

1. Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted
2. Neil Gaiman - Stardust
3. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
4. Gary Gibson - Stealing Light
5. Iain Banks - Steep Approach to Garbadale
6. Jed Rubenford - Interpretation of Murder
7. James Patterson - 7th Heaven
8. Tom Reynolds - Touch Me, Im Sick
9. Belle De Jour - Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
10. Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels
11. Nikki Sixx - Heroin Diaries
12. Philip Pullman - Northern Lights

13. James Patterson - The 6th Target
14. Duncan Staff - The Lost Boy

[johnnie walker]

1. Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
2. Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age
3. Joe Abercrombie - The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One)
4. Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon
5. Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic
6. China Miéville - The Iron Council
7. Ian Irvine - The Curse on the Chosen (Book Two of the Song of the Tears trilogy, part of the Three Worlds Cycle)
8. Richard Dawkins - Unweaving the Rainbow
9. Joe Abercrombie - Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two)
10. Terry Brooks - The Sword of Shannara (Book One of the Sword of Shannara trilogy)
11. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash.
12. Richard Morgan - Broken Angels
13. Raymond E Fiest - Wrath of a Mad God (Book 3 of the Darkwar saga)
14. Stephen Donaldson - The Power that Preserves (The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Book 3)
15. Neal Stephenson - Quicksilver (Volume One of the Baroque Cycle)

It's taken me quite a while to read this book, but it was worth it. It is such an amazing book. It consists of 3 novels, Quicksilver, The King of the Vagabonds and Odalisque. The amount of real life characters in astonishing, characters such as Isaac Newton, Samuel Peyps, Benjamin Franklin (though he is still a boy in this volume) , William of Orange, King Louis XIV and many more. It's a historical novel with a focus on Natural Philosophy (Including cryptology) and its written in such a way that frequently i was left wondering which bits really happened, which were invented and which were distortions to fit the plot.

For example i know that Bonaventure Rossignol was a cryptanalyst who worked for Louis XIV and ran the Cabinet Noir but in real life he did not decrypt letters between Eliza (Fictional Character) who is the Countess de la Zeur / Duchess of Qwghlm (Fictional Islands of the coast of England) and Gottfried Leibniz (Not Fictional).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle

It also ties in to Stephenson's other book, the cryptonomicon (the name of which applies to a book on cryptology named the cryptonomicon which was written first by John Wilkins (Again real person) in Quicksilver then expanded upon over the years until it is present in Cryptonomicon. The book seems to be based upon his real book "Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger" which is about cryptology.)

[Aislinn]

1.Bill Bryson - Notes From a Small Island - I laughed. Alot.
2.Terry Pratchett - Mort - revisiting a favourite
3.Roald Dahl - Matilda - Found it in the bookcase and couldn't help myself. Love it!
4.Terry Pratchett - Hogfather - Had to read it again before I FINALLY watched the TV thing.
5.Terry Pratchett - Colour of Magic - As above
6.Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - So glad I finally got round to reading this.
7.Tom Sykes - What did I do Last Night? - Funny but quite scary if you like yer booze!
8.Neil Gaiman - Smoke and Mirrors - Loved it
9.Preacher - 7- i know it's officially a graphic novels but I love it
10.Andrew Kurkov - Death and the Penguin - 1/4 way through and it's well good.


ais x