I’ve always enjoyed Geoff Nunberg’s commentaries on language. And “Going Nuclear” certainly provides interesting reading given it gathers his commentaries and essays from about 2001 through 2004, which are then placed into neat sections on business, media, politics, war, etc.

As I dropped Portnoy’s Complaint, this was waiting in the wings. I could have plowed through it quickly, but then would’ve lost the some of the reflection on the ideas presented. 5 years ago

November: Louis L’Amour. The Haunted Mesa – mix of western and sf
December: Roger Zelazny. The Courts of Chaos – fantasy (substitute for Knight of the Black Rose)
December: Ken Follett. The Man from St. Petersburg – historical fiction/thriller set in London just before World War I. 5 years ago

I finished book 8 …

Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. This was one of the most incredible books I’ve read since Carl Jung’s Answer to Job. I’m definitely going to have to read it again in the future, just to really let it sink in and take root.

I only read 8 of the 12 (or extended to 16) books I set out to read nearly a year ago. Five of those books were finished this month.

Let that be a lesson to me. OTOH, my reading has cut into my sleeping time many nights. Time to let the schedule slack a bit and enjoy my reading (although reading this intensely has been remarkably enjoyable and I feel more alive than I’ve felt in years) and some life-balance. I do have a goal about getting to sleep at a reasonable hour! 5 years ago

I ended up having to swap out 5 of my original books with others on my TBR shelf, but it did help make a small dent in my huge tbr pile. I look forward to conquering this again in 2008. 5 years ago

Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo

This was originally for April 5 years ago

Mema AWS by Daniel Mengara

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean P. Sasson

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

Pyro by Earl Emerson

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

Amsterdam (Unabridged) (Audio) by Ian McEwan

This is a substitution TBR5 years ago

(as opposed to finished)

I just finished the fourth chapter of Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. Two more chapters to go. That will be it for my 2007 TBR, with an anticipated 8 out of 12 books read by year’s end.

I’m betting that 2008 will be much more of a book reading year. 5 years ago

My list at the beginning of the year was not interesting enough. I finished…
the crossed out ones.
1. Freakonomics
-2. Lost IN Mongolia_
3. Slow Man
4. Through Siberia
5. Catch me if you Can
6.Away with the Fairies
7. The Space Between Us
8. Historian (DNF)
9. I’m the Vampire, That’s Why10. Bypass
11. The 8.55 to Baghdad
12. Perfume

Out of the optional extra list..

1. The No1 detective agency
2. Beyond Lucas Heights
3. A Windows Across the river
4. Who Killed Angelique?
5. The end of the Affair
6. Was7. The Case of the Missing Books
8. The Alphabet sisters
9. Death’s acre5 years ago

this isn’t going to get finished. But I am glad I tried. I read some good books as a result and I didn’t buy as many new books as I would have if I hadn’t been trying to read books I already had. 5 years ago

Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, John Houghton

The second edition of this incredible book was on my original TBR list. I was several chapters into it some months ago when I realized that it was already a decade old. So I ordered the 3rd edition, only 3 yrs old (and there’s plenty good science and information that’s come out in those 3 yrs).

Whatever your beliefs on Global Warming, this book is an important read. Houghton, the author, does a very good job of explaining the issues, not just the scientific perspective, but also objections about the economic “damage” that could occur if we tackle greenhouse gas emissions. 5 years ago

I guess I’ll mark this as done. I finished 8 out of 12 books. I guess I’ll add those last 4 to my 2008 list. 5 years ago

Let’s create a community TBR list. I’ve put my 2007 list at Lists of Bests as the TBR Challenge. Add your lists, too. 5 years ago

Well, I can mark another one off my list.

I did enjoy this book. Although, not quite as much as the first one. Maybe because it had less of the main character in it.

I do have to sya at the end of it, my first thought was “Dammit, now I have to read anohter one?” I didn’t know there was going to be a third book. Oh well…2008? 5 years ago

I finished Robert Axwlrod’s excellent and germinal The Evolution of Cooperation. It was an excellent read and went much faster than I thought it might. In this book Axelrod demonstrates how a few very simple rules make mutual cooperation the only rational choice. He applies this to very simple systems (bacteria) all the way up to relationships between civilizations.

I thought that plunging into his The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration would be a repeat performance. Wrong! The second book covered considerably more ground, had smaller type and larger pages. It, too, was worth reading, but took some real digestion. In this book Axelrod explores social systems as modeled/generated by chaos/complexity (in the sense of James Gleick’s Chaos: Making a New Science). It proved very provocative – I’m wondering if I can base a class on some of the work he did.

Now I’m in the middle of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This book is a whole lot of fun. I don’t know why I resisted reading it for so long. It reminds me that I don’t read enough fiction these days. 5 years ago

I read five out of the twelve. I imagine that’s better than I would have done without the poke of a goal. Now it’s time to put my 2008 list together. 5 years ago

But not really. After finishing The Republican War on Science, I read Howard Bloom’s enigmatic Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine. What an interesting, puzzling book! Even with two years of biblical languages and two years of biblical studies, with auditing classes on the history and philosophy of religion, on philosophy, and on Plato, I still ended up not tracking the author all the way through.

That’s unusual for me. I feel as if I got anywhere for 35 to 80 percent of what the author alludes to, with many parenthetical excursions, depending on which part of the book I was reading.

This is part journal, part meta-literature, and part puzzle. Bloom missed one theme that naturally follows from the themes he explores – that of the vulnerability of YHWH. While he doesn’t mind looking at YHWH’s “capricious” behavior, he doesn’t look beyond to the clear vulnerability of YHWH found in the J-source.

Nevertheless, this was an incredible and thought provoking book, a masterpiece of theological/philosophical/literary/personal intrigue. 5 years ago

Not off my list but long in the TBR zone so I’m counting it. Would not have chosen to read it, if not for this challenge.

Very interesting account of a seasoned teacher who was not exactly young when she set off to teach in the most remote and needy parts of Alaska she could find. The fact that she approached working with native people and ‘civilizing’ them from a completely altruistic place made the book readable.

So often these period accounts make you squirm in places by being so superior about the wonderfulness of western society. But she has studied anthropology and is respectful and observant of the native cultures. So even though she teaches everyone about hygiene and the flag and gardens and not drinking and all, it’s done respectfully but firmly – which is really how a good teacher works.

The woman really made a difference everywhere and had some wild adventures. It’s too bad she wasn’t a more engaging storyteller. It’s all there, but it’s written so matter of factly that it’s not a gripping read. In the hands of a real writer, this could have been a best seller. 5 years ago

This is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. Diamond examines human history from the perspective of a biologist. He demonstrates the importance of a region’s native plants and animals in determining how much potential the residents of that region have for progress and expansion.

Diamond shows how the nutritional content of available food resources and the ability to domesticate any native animals determine whether people will be able to convert from hunter-gatherers to farmers, develop technology, and spread to other regions.

I want everybody to read this book! 5 years ago

The book is a series of satirical critical essays focused on Winnie the Pooh, where each essay is written using a different critical theory, or persona of the professor. Don’t confuse this with Post Modern Pooh, which was the author’s follow-up some forty odd years later.

A few essays were amusing, most were not. The Marxist and Freudian critiques were the best, for my money. Perhaps, if I were part of the target audience, literary professors, I would have laughed heartily.

I have carried stored this book for more about fifteen years. Time to pass it on. 5 years ago

This was a great little book, the first in a science fiction trilogy by C. S. Lewis, of whose work I had not read anything since The Chronicles of Narnia in the fifth grade. It’s reminiscent young adult adventure fiction, not a dark tale. More, fantastical. I look forward to digging into the other two novels. 5 years ago

Rereading the 1st 6 Harry Potter novels and reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and watching too many episodes of Stargate SG-1 Season I’m way behind on my TBR challenge! But, I just finished Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science! And I’ve got two other distractions going now, Thich Nhat Hanh’s True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart(DONE!) and a book on geocaching. 5 years ago

I kind of dreaded reading Stargirl. I could tell what the subject matter was going to be and I was not looking forward to it. I’m not really a fan of torment – emotional or physical and I try to avoid revisiting my own adolescent scars when possible.

And yeah, this was an uncomfortable book, but well written enough to make up for it. Glad I read it and would really like to pass it on to someone else – possible a teen or pre-teen – Emelle?

More here5 years ago

I haven’t been choosing TBRs that are short on purpose – just books tha fit my mood of the moment.

So I burned right through The Venetian’s Wife – partly because it wasn’t that long, but partly because I was ready for it!

More here5 years ago

I’ve got too much going on to keep track of my reading at this point, but I do know I got over 30 books off my TBR pile to date this year and that’s a great feeling of accomplishment for me! Hopefully things will calm down after the holidays and I can try this again in 2008. 5 years ago

I might actually make it through half of the books I originally planned. I guess that’s better than nothing. Without this, they probably would have sat on the tbr a bit longer. 5 years ago