2021 50 Book Challenge

[Geoffrey Firmin]

49.Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Akutagawa Ryunosuke translated by Jay Rubin.

Prompted to read this after reading Patient X by David Peace.

An interesting selection of modernist stories both autobiographical, the dissolving of the fourth wall and with elements of Poe.

Also the title story and In a Bamboo Grove were the source material for the film Rashomon by Kurosawa.

49.5 The Captain America Omnibus Vol 1 by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Joe Sinnott.

The rejuvenation of CA into the 1960‘s Marvel Universe. Visual action and escapism abounds within.

 

[Fueco]

39. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, And More Creative; by Florence Williams

This was an impulse buy when I went into LL Bean to pick up an order a few weeks ago, but turned out to be an enjoyable read (I started reading it on Monday).

The author does a pretty good job on not just saying that things work but describing why they work. A lot of what she writes about jives with my own experience and what I’ve observed in my kids.

 

[LonerMatt]

Spoiler: List

1. Death's End
2. Piranesi
3. Living Sea of Waking Dreams
4. Uncanny Valley
5. War of Maps
6. A Constellation of Vital phenomena
7. The New Wilderness
8. Attack Surface
9. Gods of Jade and Shadow
10. The Galaxy and the Ground Within
11. Gallowglass
12. Cultural Warlords
13. A Song for A New Day
14. The Secret Life of Addie LaRue
15. Terra Nullius
16. Fall of Koli
17. A Desolation called Peace
18. Gideon the Ninth
19. Harrow the Ninth
20. Essentialism
21. Dead in the Water
22. This is how to lose a time war
23. The Calculating Stars
24. Effortless
25. The Goblin Emperor
26. Dune
27. The Backyard Adventurer
28. The fated sky
29. The Relentless Moon
30. Rogue Protocol
31. Black Sun
32. Velocity Weapon
33. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous
34. Animals Make Us Human
35. A Darker Shade of magic
36. Gathering of Shadows
37. A Conjuring of Light
38. City of Stairs
39. Never Let Me Go
40. Little Bets
41.Dark as Last Night
42. Less
43. City of Blades
44. City of Miracles

44. City of Miracles

Last book in the most recent trilogy I've been reading, really loved it, probably the 2nd best one after the first. Some cool twists and turns and exposition. Would highly recommend the trio

 

[Fueco]

40. Black Klansman, by Ron Stallworth

A black cop in Colorado Springs infiltrated the ***.

Now I need to watch the movie…

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

50. The Revenge of the Real; Politics for a Post-pandemic world. by Benjamin Bratton.

What showed promise as an interesting polemic on the potential for a post covid world dissolves into its own (lack of) Theory without offering any viable alternative or potential to find one out of our current dilemma.

To be honest nothing to see here move on…very disappointing as Verso is a very informative and mentally challenging imprint.

 

[Fueco]

41. Boundary Waters: The Grace Of The Wild, by Paul Gruchow

Stories about trips into the canoe country of northern Minnesota help illustrate Gruchow’s central theme, which is that wildness and wilderness are necessary for human life to have meaning.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

50. The Revenge of the Real; Politics for a Post-pandemic world. by Benjamin Bratton.

What showed promise as an interesting polemic on the potential for a post covid world dissolves into its own (lack of) Theory without offering any viable alternative or potential to find one out of our current dilemma.

To be honest nothing to see here move on…very disappointing as Verso is a very informative and mentally challenging imprint.

It is an absolutely terrible book. Total cash-in. The only moderately amusing chapter is the one on the decline of Giorgio Agamben, but that's only of interest to insiders.

And I say all this as a friend (of sorts) of Ben, and somene who loved his previous (completely different) book, The Stack.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

51.The Living Sea Of Waking Dreams..by Richard Flanagan.

 

[Fueco]

42. The Hive: The Story Of The Honeybee and Us, by Bee Wilson

 

[Fueco]

43. Beowulf, as translated by Michael Alexander

 

[LonerMatt]

Spoiler: List

1. Death's End
2. Piranesi
3. Living Sea of Waking Dreams
4. Uncanny Valley
5. War of Maps
6. A Constellation of Vital phenomena
7. The New Wilderness
8. Attack Surface
9. Gods of Jade and Shadow
10. The Galaxy and the Ground Within
11. Gallowglass
12. Cultural Warlords
13. A Song for A New Day
14. The Secret Life of Addie LaRue
15. Terra Nullius
16. Fall of Koli
17. A Desolation called Peace
18. Gideon the Ninth
19. Harrow the Ninth
20. Essentialism
21. Dead in the Water
22. This is how to lose a time war
23. The Calculating Stars
24. Effortless
25. The Goblin Emperor
26. Dune
27. The Backyard Adventurer
28. The fated sky
29. The Relentless Moon
30. Rogue Protocol
31. Black Sun
32. Velocity Weapon
33. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous
34. Animals Make Us Human
35. A Darker Shade of magic
36. Gathering of Shadows
37. A Conjuring of Light
38. City of Stairs
39. Never Let Me Go
40. Little Bets
41.Dark as Last Night
42. Less
43. City of Blades
44. City of Miracles
45. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

45. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

For some reason I had a hankering to re-read this book. Man it starts well and gets going but ******* DRAGGGGGGGGGGS though. There are just pages of just dithering doldrums nothingness. I wish he'd just written about motorcycles and left out all the fairly repetitive stuff about the problems with axioms and having an entirely romantic or analytic process.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

Spoiler: List

1. Death's End
2. Piranesi
3. Living Sea of Waking Dreams
4. Uncanny Valley
5. War of Maps
6. A Constellation of Vital phenomena
7. The New Wilderness
8. Attack Surface
9. Gods of Jade and Shadow
10. The Galaxy and the Ground Within
11. Gallowglass
12. Cultural Warlords
13. A Song for A New Day
14. The Secret Life of Addie LaRue
15. Terra Nullius
16. Fall of Koli
17. A Desolation called Peace
18. Gideon the Ninth
19. Harrow the Ninth
20. Essentialism
21. Dead in the Water
22. This is how to lose a time war
23. The Calculating Stars
24. Effortless
25. The Goblin Emperor
26. Dune
27. The Backyard Adventurer
28. The fated sky
29. The Relentless Moon
30. Rogue Protocol
31. Black Sun
32. Velocity Weapon
33. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous
34. Animals Make Us Human
35. A Darker Shade of magic
36. Gathering of Shadows
37. A Conjuring of Light
38. City of Stairs
39. Never Let Me Go
40. Little Bets
41.Dark as Last Night
42. Less
43. City of Blades
44. City of Miracles
45. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

45. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

For some reason I had a hankering to re-read this book. Man it starts well and gets going but ******* DRAGGGGGGGGGGS though. There are just pages of just dithering doldrums nothingness. I wish he'd just written about motorcycles and left out all the fairly repetitive stuff about the problems with axioms and having an entirely romantic or analytic process.

Back in the mid 70’s that book was all the rage…I tried at least twice to read and thought **** this. Still don’t know what the fuss was all about.

 

[Fueco]

44. Heart Of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

52.MIND PLAYERS by Pat Cadigan

Thirty years since I read this. Vintage Cyberpunk at its mind altering best.

I just hope the public library opens soon.

 

[Fueco]

45. The End Of The Tether, by Joseph Conrad