In the course of unpacking boxes, I've discovered a truly shocking number of books I've never read. I'm getting rid of a lot of them - I've had Laurie Garrett's
ginormous tome on the collapse of global public health for several years now, and I just don't see myself ever getting around to it - but for the rest, I guess there's nothing to do but start attacking them. I picked up
Longitude the other day and, frankly, I'm bored, but I'm about halfway through and it's only 175 pages, so I'm going to try to zip on to the end.
So here's your job: any recommendations from the books you see here? This is only about half of my unread books, but I gotta start somewhere. (Click the pictures to enlarge & make legible.)
UPDATE 7/31: I realized after I posted those pictures that I have another shelf of unread books, so click to enlarge again! I've already started rearranging the books based on your recommendations, so...comment away!
UPDATE 7/31: I realized after I posted those pictures that I have another shelf of unread books, so click to enlarge again! I've already started rearranging the books based on your recommendations, so...comment away!
22 comments:
Oh, I just noticed my extra copy of Order of the Phoenix in there. Don't worry - I've read that. I just somehow ended up with two British copies, both the adult and kid covers.
Blink and Assassination Vacation are both super-fast and enjoyable reads.
Oh, that's not Order of the Phoenix, it's the Half-Blood Prince.
A-a-a-anyway.
i hear that Watchmen is amazing, and that there may be a movie in the works. if you end up reading it (or not, even), may i borrow it sometime? i'd, for once, like to say 'oh yea, i read that' before the movie comes out.
unless it's not the same Watchmen book i've heard about . . . but i'm sure it is.
On Death and Dying was required med school reading for me. I would not put it on your "required life reading list." Apollo 13 - Houston, we have borne-again Christians! But good. A Beautiful Mind- reallllly good but only if you haven't seen the movie in a long while. Griffin and Sabine will take you 45 seconds and is totally awesome. Or at least it was when I was in high school.
I really liked the Watchmen, but if it's not too late, I'd avoid the Robert Zelany. Tell me how Blink and Extravagent Universe are.
J.Vo, A Beautiful Mind, really? I bought that in the Appleton airport after your wedding and couldn't get into it at all - I went back and bought one of the Harry Potter books for re-reading purposes.
L.D., thanks for the tip on the Zelazny books. I have no idea where those came from...maybe they were my brother's.
Definitely Assassination Vacation, it's a fast read with a very snarky tone. She's great. Being a geo-dork, I also really liked Krakatoa. It's well done and full of history as well as science.
Maybe we can make a pact to read The Brothers K together?
In other news, I have found a new band for you....
Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Playing at Jammin Java a week from Saturday
www.slambovia.com
Complete Idealist, whoever you are, I will totally enter a Brothers K pact with you. Also, that is an outstanding band name.
From the first stack, I recommend Blink. Apparently I'm not alone.
You and I have a number of unread books in common in stack #2. No recommendations there. But let me know what you think if you finish any of those!
And from stack #3....
I wish I could recommend Bros. Karamazov. I've made a few attempts to get into it, but I usually read to about pg 100 and get bored. I lurved Crime and Punishment, so I thought I'd get pumped about BK, but not so much - not yet, anyway.
Yeah, J.Po, that was my experience with Dostoevsky, too - looooved Crime & Punishment in AP English, thought I'd try Brothers Karamazov, got bored. Twice.
That's been my experience with the Brothers K, I've started it 2 or 3 times. The last time I was actually liking it but something in my life (it's always something) took priority and I never got back to it.
You usually refer to me as BNich in the blog I think.
I'm hoping to go to the concert, but it's awfully late and we're planning on going to Hershey Park the next day and I would need a babysitter. I'll just tell you I saw them 3 straight days at Falcon Ridge.
Oh oh, B.Nick. Right. Ok, I'll listen to the band on its website and see what I think, although I believe that is the day of K619's wedding.
I say go with the fluff -- it's summer! I used to love Zelazny, when I was doing the teen sci-fi phase of my reading life... and In Her Shoes was fun and fast and ridiculous and is NOW A MOVIE with a CRAZY good cast. Didn't see it though...
Oh, and I did like A Sand County Almanac, but I'm a geologist, so what can I say... that goes for the McPhee too. And Z is for Zachariah -- another tweenie good one.
oo, and can I borrow some of your books??? Children of Men? The Lexus and the Olive Tree? Boy raised as a dog? What in the world is the Childless Revolution? I'm coming to your house...
Being a boy raised with a love of sci-fi and dungeons & dragons, I have to recommend the classics in your stacks: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is an adventure story (about a scientist, nonetheless!) and L'Morte d'Arthur is a classic, even in translation. Way better than Disney's "Sword and the Stone".
"Le Morte d'Arthur is a classic, even in translation." - Oh yes? And what did you think when you read it in the original, Grrrbear?
Thanks for the recommendations, everbuddy! Yes, N.Lu, you can borrow books (and tell me if I need to read them). And it looks like we need to start an online Brothers K book club.
Oops. I was referring to TH White's Once and Future King, which I always just consider a translation of Le Morte d'Arthur. Of course, it would have been more clear if I had not assumed everyone else in the universe felt the same way. Point noted.
Ohhhhhh, now I get it. I think I may have actually read The Once and Future King...so should I still try to take on Le Morte d'Arthur?
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