read the list of books i'm making amy read.

22. VALIS, philip k dick (duh) -

anyway, what from here i haven’t finished yet -

3. laurence sterne, ‘the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman’
4. herman melville ‘the confidence-man, his masquerade’
9. ron silliman, ed. ‘in the american tree’
10. lydia davis, ‘samuel johnson is indignant’
12. brian aldiss, ed. ‘space opera’ (2)
15. ian fleming, james bond books (3)
16. the upanishads
17. richard meltzer, ‘the aesthetics of rock’
18. jacques derrida ‘the post-card’
19. ludwig wittgenstein, ‘philosophical investigations’

- ive finally got round to buying a copy of the last of these to get back to recently, though; and i told my paul auster obsessed lecturer he really oughta read l davis. (what’d happen if these people, these college people i mention, actually found my online presence/s? surely i’d die)

i’ve read: #7. david foster wallace
‘a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again; and other essays’

i actually read this when i first started this list, but obviously forgot to write an entry about it. i liked this book alot (especially the title essay) but i have to admit that i skimmed through some of them, especially the one about tennis pros (mostly because i had no idea what he was talking about, quite honestly.)

3 down, 18 to go! haha. still not brave enough for ulysses.

i dunno, i always like the idea of reading history through one very daft prism: like that ‘cod’ book, which ends up subverting the discovery of the americas to the importance of fresh fish. whereas ‘guns, germs and steel’ say, that picks three things which probably did determine the course of history, it’s incredibly tedious. anyway oranges i added unread, oh dear, but i read it today, and it was good. he puts a diacritic mark in “coordinate” whenever he writes “coordinate”, and i like that in a man.

hell yeah! but okay, seriously this is my LAST booklist. five booklists is too many booklists! but then again, it is the only thing i really enjoy doing on here.

1. robert grenier, ‘oakland’
2. gilbert sorrentino, ‘imaginative qualities of actual things’
3. laurence sterne, ‘the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman’
4. herman melville ‘the confidence-man, his masquerade’
5. nicholson baker, ‘U&I’
6. eddie campbell, ‘the fate of the artist’
7. david foster wallace, ‘a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again; and other essays’
8. james mcphee, ‘oranges’
9. ron silliman, ed. ‘in the american tree’
10. lydia davis, ‘samuel johnson is indignant’
11. alan garner, ‘red shift’
12. brian aldiss, ed. ‘space opera’
13. samuel delany ‘stars in my pockets like grains of sand’
14. jonatham lethem ‘amnesia moon’
15. ian fleming, james bond books
16. the upanishads
17. richard meltzer, ‘the aesthetics of rock’
18. jacques derrida ‘the post-card’
19. ludwig wittgenstein, ‘philosophical investigations’
20. james joyce, ‘ulysses’
21. advanced dungeons and dragons dungeon masters guide, 1st or 2nd ed

edit:

22. VALIS, philip k dick

i’ve actually read red shift several times: my drama teacher in high school bought it for me, he said i had to read it. i read samuel johnson is indignant yesterday and it was delicious, of course. i’m going to aim for four or five james bonds, i think.

haha, the quote on the side of the page is:
640K ought to be enough for anybody.
bill gates (1981)

this is exciting!

1. robert grenier, ‘oakland’ (1)
2. gilbert sorrentino, ‘imaginative qualities of actual things’
3. laurence sterne, ‘the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman’
4. herman melville ‘the confidence-man, his masquerade’
5. nicholson baker, ‘U&I’
6. eddie campbell, ‘the fate of the artist’
7. david foster wallace, ‘a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again; and other essays’
8. james mcphee, ‘oranges’ (2)
9. ron silliman, ed. ‘in the american tree’
10. lydia davis, ‘samuel johnson is indignant’
11. alan garner, ‘red shift’
12. brian aldiss, ed. ‘space opera’ (2)
13. samuel delany ‘stars in my pockets like grains of sand’
14. jonatham lethem ‘amnesia moon’
15. ian fleming, james bond books (3)
16. the upanishads
17. richard meltzer, ‘the aesthetics of rock’
18. jacques derrida ‘the post-card’
19. ludwig wittgenstein, ‘philosophical investigations’
20. james joyce, ‘ulysses’
21. advanced dungeons and dragons dungeon masters guide, 1st or 2nd ed (4)

(1) very out of print, but – http://english.utah.edu/eclipse/projects/OAKLAND/html/contents.shtml
(2) late additions.
(3) as many as you can stand.
(4) 1st ed. by gary gygax, 2nd ed. by zeb cook. actually i think the first edition encapsulates the reasons for this one better. the 2nd edition is about half the word count and less ugly and disorganised, but people who actually play the game dislike it. but what do they know?