27.2.09

More Books For the List

32. The Shipping News. E. Annie Proulx. 1993. 337pgs
33. The Sound and the Fury. William Faulkner. 1929. 427pgs.
34. I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya Angelou. 1969. 246pgs.
35. Under the Hill. Aubrey Beardsley & John Glassco. 1959ed. 142pgs.
36. Candide. Voltaire. 1962ed. 212pgs.
37. The Shaking of the Foundations. Paul Tillich. 1948. 186pgs.
38. The Enchantress of Florence. Salman Rushdie. 2008. 357pgs.
39. A Farewell to Arms. Ernest Hemingway. 1929. 297pgs.
40. Deadeye Dick. Kurt Vonnegut. 288pgs.
41. The Mermaid Chair. Sue Monk Kidd. 2005. 335pgs.

I know, I know. I'll try and read Tillich and Beardsley back to back and see if my brain breaks. Cheers!

25.2.09

The First 31

In no order whatsoever, I present the first 31 books on the list.

1. The Princess Bride. William Goldman. 1973. 253pgs
2. Collected Poems. T.S. Eliot. 1909-1962. 223pgs
3. Life After God. Douglas Coupland. 1994. 360pgs
4. Beyond This Dark House. Guy Gavriel Kay. 2003. 106pgs
5. The Architecture of Oppression. Paul B. Jaskot. 2000. 147pgs
6. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 1983. 120pgs
7. The White Rose. Igne Scholl. 1970. 160pgs
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde. 1890. 288pgs
9. Moses and Monotheism. Sigmund Freud. 1939. 178pgs
10. The Lesser Evil. Michael Ignatieff. 2004. 170pgs
11. The Book of the Law. Alistair Crowley. 1926. 158pgs
12. Dark Age Ahead. Jane Jacobs. 2004. 224pgs
13. Utopia. Thomas More. 1910ed. 148pgs
14. The Myth of the Eternal Return. Mircea Eliade. 1954. 162pgs.
15. Beowulf. 1926ed. 58pgs
16. Klee Wyck. Emily Carr. 1941. 152pgs
17. An Open Book. Orson Scott Card. 2003. 92pgs
18. Alabaster. Caitlin R. Kiernan. 2006. 179pgs
19. The Museum at Purgatory. Nick Bantock. 1999. 113pgs
20. The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen. R.E. Raspe. 1865. 216pgs
21. Quotations from Chairman Mao-Tse-Tung. 1967. 312pgs
22. A Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee Williams. 1947. 142pgs
23. A Room of One’s Own. Virginia Woolf. 1928. 112pgs
24. Cyrano de Bergerac. Edmond Rostand. 1923ed. 196pgs
25. Beloved. Toni Morrison. 1987. 275pgs
26. The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell. Aldous Huxley. 1954. 135pgs
27. Marcovaldo. Italo Calvino. 1963. 121pgs
28. Goethe’s Faust: Notes for a Jungian Comm. Edward Edinger. 1990. 104pgs
29. C.G. Jung & Herman Hesse. Miguel Serrano. 1966. 112pgs
30. Anima and Animus in Fairy Tales. Marie-Louise Von Franz. 2002. 121pgs
31. Gilead. Marilynne Robinson. 2004. 247pgs

23.2.09

100 (short) books in 100 days

To someone as easily distracted as myself, the idea of doing anything for 100 days is intimidating at best. To actually read with intention and retention 100 books verges on the terrifying. However, comments such as, “You’re completely crazy!” and, “What about your social life?” have failed to dissuade me, for I am quite aware of the first and quite lacking in the second. Also, I can honestly say that reading has never come at the expense of my social life, rather it is what I do instead of sleeping.

The idea for this project came out of yet another top100 list of books that seem to be so pervasive in the media. Everyone’s got their own version informally lolling about in their heads, and the more self-important of us seem to feel the need to share. With no small amount of discipline and a firm sense of “doing what should be done” I’ve meandered through the more interesting picks off the must-read lists for many years now- only to feel that I’ve gotten not very far at all.

If I were more serious I could dispense with the need to read frivolous fiction that obviously takes me away from reading things of importance. This attitude, though, of sombre intellectualism, is only one I can keep up for a limited amount of time before I need to do something rebellious, like read Christopher Moore while drinking Tequila. So, in light of this acknowledged failing I have decided to capitalise on my transient feelings of seriousness by exploiting them in a marathon fashion.

100 books, 100 days. Now, in all reasonableness, while it would be funny (and wickedly reckless) to blow through War and Peace in one night I don’t think it would be terribly helpful. So, to keep the project somewhat sane I’ve decided to put a cap on the length of the books I’m considering for inclusion. No doorstops, behemoths or tomes allowed (no matter how much I’m dying to get through the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili – it’s just not going to happen). I’m currently collecting titles, so suggestions are welcome. I’m looking for books that are either:

1. Commonly considered literary classics, or

2. Wickedly good and deserving of being read, or

3. Bad books masquerading as good books, or

4. Brilliant but misunderstood, or

5. Simply important to someone whose opinion I value

I’m hoping to have the list together by March 1st (at least most of it). I’ll leave a trail of reviews as well so folks can keep up with how the marathon is going. In the interests of keeping track of the process overall I will try to keep things updated here as well.