Updated for the end of May-beginning of June. Total number of books read: ten.
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1. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy- 8.5
2. Devil Red by Joe R. Lansdale- 8
3. The Mourner by Richard Stark- 8
4. Dead Aim by Joe R. Lansdale- 7.5
5. Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale- 7
6. The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman- 7
7. Cell by Stephen King- 7
8. The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder- 6
- Selected poems and letters (Keats, 1816-1820) - 8
- Philosophy of Existence (Karl Jaspers, 1938) - 8
- Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth and Coleridge, 1798) - 7.5
- The Courage to Be (Paul Tillich, 1952) - 7
- Pensees (Blaise Pascal, 1669) - 7
- Ice (Anna Kavan, 1967) - 7
- The Third Policeman (Flann O'Brien, written 1940/published 1967) - 7
- All-Star Superman (Morrison and Quitely, 2009) [graphic novel] - 6.5
- Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger, 1961) - 5
I've been starting a lot of books and finishing few. Pensees was interesting. I'd previously read a short selection from it that describes Pascal's wager, but I didn't know that much of the book is made up of Pascal's extreme pessimism and loathing. That bleak context aside, or perhaps because of it, Pascal's wager struck me as very compelling this time through. Of course he wants the wager to apply only to Christianity, but it really applies to belief in any kind of infinite transcendence of our known, finite existence. If you're gambling with your existence, and you have nothing to lose except a meagre claim to following the dictates of "reason" (a vague term I see obnoxiously claimed by proponents of so-called new atheism), then betting on transcendence is a good bet to make.
1.) Way Station (Clifford D. Simak, 1963)
2.) The Divinity Student (Michael Cisco, 1999)
3.) House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski, 2000)
4.) Horns (Joe Hill, 2010)
5.) The Crimson Petal and the White (Michel Faber, 2002)
6.) My Work is Not Yet Done (Thomas Ligotti, 2002)
7.) The Light is the Darkness (Laird Barron, 2011)
8.) Come Closer (Sara Gran, 2003)
9.) The Hoard (Alan Ryker, 2012)
10.) Penpal (Dathan Auerbach, 2012)
...
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1. Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
2. Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol
3. Albert Camus's The Plague
4. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
5. Willa Cather's O Pioneers!
6. Don Lee's Country of Origin
7. Kevin Powers's The Yellow Birds
8. Sherman Alexie's Indian Killer
9. Françoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse
10. Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye
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Read my first three books of the year all on my trip. All were quite good.
1. Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
2. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
3. The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
1. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
2. Battle Cry of Freedom - James M. McPherson
3. Don Quixote - Miguel Cervantes
1. Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
2. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
3. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
4. The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
5. Charlotte Street (Danny Wallace)
6. Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
1.) Way Station (Clifford D. Simak, 1963)
2.) It (Stephen King, 1985)
3.) The Divinity Student (Michael Cisco, 1999)
4.) House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski, 2000)
5.) The Crimson Petal and the White (Michel Faber, 2002)
6.) My Work is Not Yet Done (Thomas Ligotti, 2002)
7.) The Light is the Darkness (Laird Barron, 2011)
8.) All You Need is KILL (2004, Hiroshi Sakurazaka)
9.) The Pilo Family Circus (Will Elliott, 2006)
10.) Horns (Joe Hill, 2010)
...
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1. Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
2. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
3. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)
5. The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
6. Charlotte Street (Danny Wallace)
7. Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
- Essays in Pragmatism (William James, 1880-1907) - 8.5
- Selected poems and letters (Keats, 1816-1820) - 8
- Philosophy of Existence (Karl Jaspers, 1938) - 8
- Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth and Coleridge, 1798) - 7.5
- The Courage to Be (Paul Tillich, 1952) - 7
- Pensees (Blaise Pascal, 1669) - 7
- Ice (Anna Kavan, 1967) - 7
- The Third Policeman (Flann O'Brien, written 1940/published 1967) - 7
- All-Star Superman (Morrison and Quitely, 2009) [graphic novel] - 6.5
- Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger, 1961) - 5
- Rabbit, Run (John Updike, 1960) - 4.5
I didn't mind the large quantity of descriptions, since Updike at least has a flair for them. He makes things stand out in distinctive ways. (Maybe not so distinctive nowadays. His style has seemed to permeate contemporary literary fiction.) But the narrative was decreasingly interesting after its opening section. The more the book explored Rabbit, and his reasons for being an irresponsible, self-centred jackass, the less interesting he and his story became. And then the final section diverged from realism into an ill-fitting ridiculousness.
1. Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
2. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
3. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Brian Selznick)
5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)
6. The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
7. Charlotte Street (Danny Wallace)
8. Heart-Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
1. Being & Time (Heidegger)
2. Discipline & Punish (Foucoult)
3. Underworld (DeLillo)
4. The Big Money (Dos Passos)
5. Telegraph Avenue (Chabon)
6. 1919 (Dos Passos)
7. The Stars My Destination (Bester)
8. Crash (Ballard)
9. White Teeth (Smith)
- The Stars My Destination (Alfred Bester, 1956)
- The Tao Te Ching (tr. Sam Hamill, 2005)
- A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway, 1929)
- Full Dark No Stars (Stephen King, 2010)
- The End of Faith (Sam Harris, 2004)
- Horns (Joe Hill, 2010)
- The Essential Kabbalah (Daniel C. Matt, 1995)
- Writing Movies For Fun and Profit (Thomas Lennon & Ben Garant, 2011)
- Do the Work (Steven Pressfield, 2011)
1.) Way Station (Clifford D. Simak, 1963)
2.) It (Stephen King, 1985)
3.) The Divinity Student (Michael Cisco, 1999)
4.) House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski, 2000)
5.) The Walls of the Castle (Tom Piccirilli, 2012)
6.) The Crimson Petal and the White (Michel Faber, 2002)
7.) Kin (Kealan Patrick Burke, 2011)
8.) My Work is Not Yet Done (Thomas Ligotti, 2002)
9.) The Light is the Darkness (Laird Barron, 2011)
10.) Headstone City (Tom Piccirilli, 2006)
...
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- The Stars My Destination (Alfred Bester, 1956)
- The Tao Te Ching (tr. Sam Hamill, 2005)
- Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847)
- A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway, 1929)
- Full Dark No Stars (Stephen King, 2010)
- The End of Faith (Sam Harris, 2004)
- Horns (Joe Hill, 2010)
- The Essential Kabbalah (Daniel C. Matt, 1995)
- Writing Movies For Fun and Profit (Thomas Lennon & Ben Garant, 2011)
- Do the Work (Steven Pressfield, 2011)
1. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy- 8.5
2. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris- 8.5
3. Flashfire by Richard Stark- 8
4. Devil Red by Joe R. Lansdale- 8
5. The Mourner by Richard Stark- 8
6. Every Shallow Cut by Tom Piccirilli- 7.5
7. Dead Aim by Joe R. Lansdale- 7.5
8. Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale- 7
9. The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman- 7
10. Cell by Stephen King- 7
11. The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder- 6
1. The Book of Disquiet (Fernando Pessoa)
2. Wittgenstein's Mistress (David Markson)
3. The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake (Breece D'J Pancake)
4. A Naked Singularity (Sergio De La Pava)
5. The Street of Crocodiles (Bruno Schulz)
6. Bartleby & Co. (Enrique Vila-Matas)
7. Stories in the Worst Way (Gary Lutz)
8. Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear (Javier Marias)
9. Omensetter's Luck (William H. Gass)
10. A Balcony In the Forest (Julien Gracq)
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