Fifty book challenge 2008 - Page 16

johnnie walker · 5th June 2008, 11:56am

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)
16. Terry Brooks - The Elfstones of Shannara (Book Two of the Sword of Shannara trilogy)
17. Cory Doctorow - Little Brother (Released on Creative Commons Licence - download for free )
18. Allen Carr - The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
19. John Gribbin - Science: A History
20. Arthur C Clarke & Stephen Baxter - The Light of Other Days
21. Dan Abnett - The Horus Heresy book 1: Horus Rising (Warhammer 40k)
22. Ian C. Esselmount - Night of Knives (A Novel of the Malazan Empire)
23. William Gibson - Idoru

Rowsbette · 5th June 2008, 12:49pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by triggerhappy

Aye, the title was "Art for art's sake: The Function of Decadent Art in the Work of Oscar Wilde." Pretty uninspired subject - I decided it five minutes before the proposal was due in (which pretty much set the tone for the rest of the project!)

Yours sounds interesting though, who else are you looking at?

Damnation, I wrote a response to this straight after yours but my shit internet connection must not have registered it...

That sounds a pretty decent topic... no wonder it was rushed though, the date for handing in the propasals is stupidly early. I'm not really sure who else I'm gonna look at, I've seen a few bits in Eliot, Lawrence etc I wanna use (plus traditional fairy tales that use mirrors) but I'll need to give it WAY more thought. I stupidly mentioned Lacan and Althussar in my proposal though, and I've ended up with the guy who lectures on Literary Theory as my tutor. Whoops. So I guess I'll need to brush up on that aspect.

CHUCK LIDELOL · 5th June 2008, 1:26pm

Aw fuck, just bumped the 2007 version of this.

Fucked if I can remember what I've read before last week. However;

A Child Called 'It'. This was sitting at my desk in work, quite randomly. I'd heard a bit about it and the blurb piqued my interest. I fired through it in a few hours while 'working' (although it is a really easy - structurally if not content-wise - read). Great piece of non-fiction. Harrowing isn't the word.

Some Russell Brand Biography. Rubbish. Tat. Extracts from stand-up, magazine interviews and his own autobiography mixed in with useless info about West Ham and radio hosting. Again, a quick read in the workplace.

Gigantic; The Story of Frank Black & The Pixies. Without question, the worst book I've ever read. An abhorrent, useless, insulting and insipid waste of time, effort and paper. It's a shoddy, short run though the history of the band that shows a complete lack of understanding of Pixies' music. No significant background on any of the band members aside from a shallow analysis of Black's early life. The author is so condescending and pompous, often taking digs at Frank's song writing and weight (unnecessarily) seemingly because the band refused to give him an interview. What really takes the cake is that half of the book is made up some fictional story about a teenage brat who loses the plot, called Vicky. This story is ENTIRELY unconnected to the band (aside from a lose obsession twist). Woeful fiction. A terrible read that doesn't do justice to the band - it actually lessened my enjoyment of Pixies & Frank Black's work.

The Most Evil Men & Women in History. This is a compilation of short histories of evil bastards from back in the day, beginning with Caligula, right up to Edi Amin. Really gruesome and quite interesting but not really a book you'd feel like you couldn't put down. It was taken from a channel five TV show but despite that, I enjoyed the work. Easily accessible due to the short stories nature and educational too.

Junkie by William S. Burroughs. This was fine stuff. I'd tried to read Naked Lunch a few months ago but I couldn't make hide nor hair of the nomenclature. 'Junkie' comes with a handy glossary, so this problem is non existent here. A really enjoyable read, short too, which is a bonus when dealing with the grimy subject of drug addiction. Quite humorous in places however the author comes across as cold a lot of the time in this autobiographical tale. I'll try Naked Lunch next.

Currently reading Dharma Bums by Kerouac. Probably finish this today. Quite enjoying it so far, Kerouac's writing is beautiful.

Also, is this just a list thread or what?

triggerhappy · 5th June 2008, 2:52pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rowsbette

Damnation, I wrote a response to this straight after yours but my shit internet connection must not have registered it...

That sounds a pretty decent topic... no wonder it was rushed though, the date for handing in the propasals is stupidly early. I'm not really sure who else I'm gonna look at, I've seen a few bits in Eliot, Lawrence etc I wanna use (plus traditional fairy tales that use mirrors) but I'll need to give it WAY more thought. I stupidly mentioned Lacan and Althussar in my proposal though, and I've ended up with the guy who lectures on Literary Theory as my tutor. Whoops. So I guess I'll need to brush up on that aspect.

It wasn't just the proposal that was rushed - I wrote the entire thing in 19 hours from start to finish. Do not do this!

It was a very unpleasant nineteen hours, but it serves me right for being a lazy bastard.

Dr. McKenzie was my supervisor and was great, although I did struggle to understand what he was saying most of the time. I'll have think about the mirror thing and let you know if I can come up with ay others that might be interesting to look at. Did you do the literary theory module?

Rowsbette · 5th June 2008, 3:02pm

Owch! That sounds horrendous.

Cheers, and no I didn't do the lit-theory module, although I went to a few of the lectures. I reckon I'll have a fair amount of time to have a swatch at some of the theory stuff, and (considering I only mentioned it as an afterthought) I don't reckon they'll expect me to focus too much on that aspect of it.
I'm kinda glad I got the tutor I did as I found all his lectures really interesting... I found Dr McKenzie's lectures a bit hit n miss (some amazing, some a bit irrelevent) and there was a couple of folk in the dept I was praying NOT to get as my advisor!

CHUCK LIDELOL · 5th June 2008, 10:11pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiona_B

1. Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted

10. Hunter S. Thompson - Hell's Angels

What did you think of these?

I loves Hell's Angels, brilliant stuff, when it actually got going. A good job of demystifying the beast too. Haunted was interesting until it got too unbelievably gruesome (even for Palahniuk!). I didn't finish it.

johnnie walker · 6th June 2008, 6:58am

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)
16. Terry Brooks - The Elfstones of Shannara (Book Two of the Sword of Shannara trilogy)
17. Cory Doctorow - Little Brother (Released on Creative Commons Licence - download for free )
18. Allen Carr - The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
19. John Gribbin - Science: A History
20. Arthur C Clarke & Stephen Baxter - The Light of Other Days
21. Dan Abnett - The Horus Heresy book 1: Horus Rising (Warhammer 40k)
22. Ian C. Esselmount - Night of Knives (A Novel of the Malazan Empire)
23. William Gibson - Idoru
24. Stephen Fry - Hippopotamus

Absolutely loved this book. After watching a few programs recently about Stephen, i can see parts of him in some of the characters.

endless psych · 6th June 2008, 1:11pm

Quote:

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
17. Mutants - Armand Marie Leroi
18. Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks - Christopher Brookmyer
19. Your memory - Kenneth Higby (PhD)

20. The Practice of Critical Discourse analysis - Bloor and Bloor (eds)
21. Methods of Crticial discourse analysis - Wodak and Meyer
22. Fugitives and Refugees - Chuck Palahniuk

endless psych · 9th June 2008, 4:04pm

Quote:

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
17. Mutants - Armand Marie Leroi
18. Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks - Christopher Brookmyer
19. Your memory - Kenneth Higby (PhD)
20. The Practice of Critical Discourse analysis - Bloor and Bloor (eds)
21. Methods of Crticial discourse analysis - Wodak and Meyer
22. Fugitives and Refugees - Chuck Palahniuk

23. Non Fiction - chuck Palahniuk
24. The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland

endless psych · 10th June 2008, 10:01pm

Quote:

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
17. Mutants - Armand Marie Leroi
18. Attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks - Christopher Brookmyer
19. Your memory - Kenneth Higby (PhD)
20. The Practice of Critical Discourse analysis - Bloor and Bloor (eds)
21. Methods of Crticial discourse analysis - Wodak and Meyer
22. Fugitives and Refugees - Chuck Palahniuk
23. Non Fiction - chuck Palahniuk
24. The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland

25. Snuff - Chuck Palahniuk

Fiona_B · 11th June 2008, 9:08pm

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
15. Kevin Smith - the Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith
16. James Patterson - You've Been Warned
17. Marian Keyes - Sushi For Beginners
18. Jane Moore - dot.homme
19. Kevin Smith - Tales from the Clerks
20. Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
21. Mark Oliver Everett - Things the Grandchildren Should Know
22. Philip Pullman - Once Upon a time in the North
23. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
24. Jodi Picoult - Nineteen Minutes

25. Michel Houellebecq - Atomised

Fiona_B · 15th June 2008, 11:22pm

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
15. Kevin Smith - the Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith
16. James Patterson - You've Been Warned
17. Marian Keyes - Sushi For Beginners
18. Jane Moore - dot.homme
19. Kevin Smith - Tales from the Clerks
20. Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife
21. Mark Oliver Everett - Things the Grandchildren Should Know
22. Philip Pullman - Once Upon a time in the North
23. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
24. Jodi Picoult - Nineteen Minutes
25. Michel Houellebecq - Atomised

26. Haruki Murakami - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Rowsbette · 16th June 2008, 4:19am

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
28. William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice
29. Muriel Spark - Loitering with Intent
30. Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
31. William Shakespeare - Anthony and Cleopatra
32. Dodie Smith - I Capture the Castle
33. William Shakespeare - Macbeth
34. William Shakespeare - Othello
35. William Shakespeare - King Lear
36. Philippe Dijan - Betty Blue
37. Jean Rhys - Good Morning, Midnight

38. Kate Atkinson - Human Croquet
39. Ian McEwan - Atonement

johnnie walker · 16th June 2008, 6:55am

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)
16. Terry Brooks - The Elfstones of Shannara (Book Two of the Sword of Shannara trilogy)
17. Cory Doctorow - Little Brother (Released on Creative Commons Licence - download for free )
18. Allen Carr - The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
19. John Gribbin - Science: A History
20. Arthur C Clarke & Stephen Baxter - The Light of Other Days
21. Dan Abnett - The Horus Heresy book 1: Horus Rising (Warhammer 40k)
22. Ian C. Esselmount - Night of Knives (A Novel of the Malazan Empire)
23. William Gibson - Idoru
24. Stephen Fry - Hippopotamus
25. Neal Stephenson - Confusion (Volume Two of the Baroque Cycle)

Loved thisbook, the writing is superb and the storyline is wonderfully complex.

johnnie walker · 18th June 2008, 7:52am

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)
16. Terry Brooks - The Elfstones of Shannara (Book Two of the Sword of Shannara trilogy)
17. Cory Doctorow - Little Brother (Released on Creative Commons Licence - download for free )
18. Allen Carr - The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
19. John Gribbin - Science: A History
20. Arthur C Clarke & Stephen Baxter - The Light of Other Days
21. Dan Abnett - The Horus Heresy book 1: Horus Rising (Warhammer 40k)
22. Ian C. Esselmount - Night of Knives (A Novel of the Malazan Empire)
23. William Gibson - Idoru
24. Stephen Fry - Hippopotamus
25. Neal Stephenson - Confusion (Volume Two of the Baroque Cycle)
26. Stephen Hunt - The Court of the Air

Really enjoyed this book. Can't remember why I decided to buy it, It might have been on the recommendation of Amazon or of pats fantasy hotlist (was definitely one of the two), but I'm really glad I did.