Fifty book challenge 2009

[Flump]

Originally Posted by Flump

1. All The Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
2. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
3. Cities of The Plain - Cormac McCarthy

4. Mute Witness - Robert L. Pike

Just rattled through that in a couple of hours, quiet night at work
The book that the film Bullitt was based on. I haven't seen the film but the book is a clever wee detective thriller.

[Jenpot]

Originally Posted by Jenpot

It's been a slow start to the year.

1. 'Bright Shiny Morning' by James Frey.
- I found this to be like a 12A version of a Brett Easton Ellis book. Reminded me a lot of Less Than Zero, but less cynical. A bit too disjointed for my liking, it's basically a bunch of short stories mixed in with random facts about LA, with the author jumping from storyline to storyline without any form of proper narrative. Some of the stories/characters I loved, some of them I didn't. I think it would work a lot better if he had just made a collection of short stories in a more conventional format.

2. 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson
- Much better than the rubbish Will Smith movie, but could do with being a lot longer. Bit disappointed by the ending aswell.

[broken]

I'm on about attempt number 5 of trying to read Catch 22. One day I WILL finish it

[*blaine*]

1) Quite ugly one morning- Christopher brookmyre
2) one fine day in the middle of the night- Christopher brookmyre
3) all fun and games until someone loses an eye- Christopher brookmyre (see a pattern)
4) A Tale etched in blood and hard black pencil Christopher Brookmyre
5) A big boy did it and ran away- Christopher Brookmyre
6) attack of the unsinakble rubber ducks- Christopher brookmyre

7) Not the end of the world- Christopher brookmyre
8) a snowball in hell - Christopher brookmyre
(thats me pretty much exhausted the brookmyre)
9) the boy in the striped pyjamas - John Boyne
10) American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story - Cynthia True
11) the Toyminator - Robert Rankin
12) Q & A (slumdog millionaire) - Vikas Swarup
13) The Looming Towers- Al qaedas road to 9/11- Lawernce wright (not as conspiracy theorist nutters as it sounds)
14) Hold tight- Harlan Coben ( really shite had to force myself to read this as i had nothing else on the train)

[endless psych]

1) The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker
2) Counterknowledge - Damian Thompson.

A really, really, really annoying book. Complains about pseudoscience, conspiracy theories and the like but from the point of view that "clearly it's nonsense" also appears to have it in for the Muslims, mistakes all Sokals description of the "academic left" (relativists and the like) for the whole of the left. But worst of all he cites teh Daily Fail to back up a number of his points. A right wing Ben Goldacre wannabe.

[unearthedenvy]

I really wanna make more of an effort to read morer. So far its..

1. Cormac McCarthy - The Road
2. Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men
3. Steven King - Duma Key

Best one so far has been "The Road". Such a beautifully written book, focusing on a struggle to survive. It is fairly bleak at times but the short structured paragraphs reflect the every day style in itself, so the focus is more on the important events that occur. I was constantly left asking a lot of questions and couldn't put the book down. I'd recommend it!!

[Fiona_B]

1. piercing - ryu murakami
2. cross country - james patterson
3. in the miso soup - ryu murakami
4. darkly dreaming dexter - jeff lindsay
5. dearly devoted dexter - jeff lindsay

6. dexter in the dark - jeff lindsay

[triggerhappy]

Originally Posted by triggerhappy

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
3. A Snowball in Hell - Chris Brookmyre (can't believe it took me so long to get round to this!)

4. Portrait of a Killer - Patricia Cornwell

Dreadful book, but mildly fascinating if you forget that she's on about a real murder case. Next to no backup for the claims she makes, but at least there are some interesting prints of Jack the Ripper's letters. I'm left in no doubt that Walter Sickert was a fucked up guy, but I'm not convinced he was the ripper.

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1) The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker
2) Counterknowledge - Damian Thompson.

3) Can robots Really think? - Peter Cave

An enjoyable (if at times basic) introduction to some philosophical paradoxes. The further reading looks a lot more interesting though and I can see why I've only seen this (and it's sequel) for sale at train stations...

[Rowsbette]

Originally Posted by princessoPUNK

It is really good. The main character never quite knows what going on, and therefor you don't either. Its quite strange, but i really enjoyed it. I read A Pale View of the HIils by him as well, and enjoyed it.

Ah... A Pale View of Hills is the only one of his I've read, which I liked, so I'll probably have a crack at t'other during the summer. Cheers.

1. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
2. Angela Carter - The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History
3. Angela Carter - Heroes and Villains
4. Angela Carter - Shadow Dance
5. Ford Madox Ford - The Good Soldier

6. Sarah Gamble - The Fiction of Angela Carter
7. Angela Carter - Several Perceptions

The irony is that I'm reading loads at the moment, but mostly just random chapters / articles. So my progress this year'll probably be very slow until May.

[princessoPUNK]

Originally Posted by princessoPUNK

1. Diary of a Wife - Anias Nin
2. Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
3. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination - Helen Fielding
4. The Weight of Water - Anita Shreve
5. A Wedding in December- Anita Shreve
6. The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Love, Etc. - Julian Barnes
8. Vienna - Eva Menasse
9. The Family Way - Tony Parsons

10. A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy - Charlotte Grieg

The story is based around a Uni student who gets pregnant in the 70's, to a boy who she is having an affair with. The upshot is that she gets pregant, and has an abortion, but its very 'oh well, I can have other babies' in the end, and is entirely too flippant for me.


11. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

I have been meaning to read this for a while, since I want to see the film.I have heard mixed reviews of it, but I enjoyed it, and am going to buy the 2nd part.

[Fiona_B]

1. piercing - ryu murakami
2. cross country - james patterson
3. in the miso soup - ryu murakami
4. darkly dreaming dexter - jeff lindsay
5. dearly devoted dexter - jeff lindsay
6. dexter in the dark - jeff lindsay

7. the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera

[Kenny Macca Doo]

1. Chandler, Raymond - The Big Sleep and Other Novels - Penguin Classics in association with Hamish Hamilton
2. Lane Fox, Robin - Alexander The Great - The Folio Society by arrangement with Penguin Books

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by endless psych

1) The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker
2) Counterknowledge - Damian Thompson.
3) Can robots Really think? - Peter Cave

4)Freakonomics - Stephen D Levitt, Stephen B. Dubner

[princessoPUNK]

1. Diary of a Wife - Anias Nin
2. Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
3. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination - Helen Fielding
4. The Weight of Water - Anita Shreve
5. A Wedding in December- Anita Shreve
6. The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Love, Etc. - Julian Barnes
8. Vienna - Eva Menasse
9. The Family Way - Tony Parsons
10. A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy - Charlotte Grieg
11. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer


12. The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve

I really like the way Anita Shreve writes. There is always a combination of past and present, and her stories never have a lovey-dovey happy ending, but there is almost always something of hope in the end, She paints her characters as truly human and flawed.

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