Bobbob's 25 books in 2009

I managed 24 books last year, so hopefully this will be within my abilities.

Here's my list so far:

A Last Wild Place by Mike Tomkies
-Nature writing on the wildlife around a remote cottage in Scotland where the author lives. Split between the habitats by season and a closer examination of a few more charismatic species.
I'm heavily interested in natural history, as well as hiking and climbing, so the subject matter was right up my alley. Unfortunately I found the style of writing rather slow going. This took me about 3 weeks to read.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- A Christmas gift from my sister. I found myself thinking about it for several days after and was surprised at the route the Bladerunner film took in comparison; missing out on a lot of very interesting ideas and reducing the androids to simplistic characters searching for a cure.

Why I Write by George Orwell
- A short collection of some of Orwell's best essays regarding war, socialism, capital punishment, Englishness and political writing.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
-Very funny and very easy to read. I positively flew through this.

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
- Not sure what to make of it. I finished it last night and I'd been told that it builds up into some ridiculous mind-bending twists but I found it all rather under-whelming. This is the second Culture novel by Banks I've read and I suspect it's my last.

Currently reading: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I figured if millions of people have found it inspiring it's probably worth taking the time to read it. Unfortunately, only a few pages in, and the story has already gotten kooky and overly-simplified. At least it's short I guess....

Welcome bbtb! That's a lot of bobs.

Well, I finished the Alchemist a few weeks ago and I have little good to say about it.

I started reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau which, from everything I've heard about it, is the type of book I'd enjoy reading but while I agree with much of what Mr. Thoreau has to say, he goes about it in such an overblown and pompous manner that I'm finding it difficult to read. I'm hoping that once I get past the "Economy" section it'll be more agreeable.

In the meantime I've also picked up some lighter reading in the form of Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser.

I haven't read Walden yet, but isn't the overblown and pompous what 19th century literature is all about? In some ways, that's why I like it. :)

@#3: I enjoyed Flashman. A ripping yarn! Haven't read any more in the series yet.

tames: It's hard to put my finger on and I don't claim to be very good at literary criticism but the manner in which it's written seems deliberately dense and horribly structured. Sentences so broken up they almost have as many commas as words and repeated references not just to the Bible or Greek mythology (as you might expect from his generation) but Indian mythology and Iranian poetry too. There's a feeling he's trying to show off how well read he is.

The other thing is that he spends so much of his first lengthy chapter trying to justify his life. He frequently make claims of his success and self-reliance which are at odds with the facts recorded in the end-notes in my edition. Then to round off his first, lengthy chapter he rails against philanthropy with barely a shred of reasoning and an awful lot of complaining. After that I needed a break.

So.... it looks like Walden's going to be one of my slow project books. The type you pick up and read in small occasional bursts before changing to something else.

In the meantime I finished Flashman, read Generation Kill (an astounding piece of war journalism) and I'm currently halfway through The Great Gatsby.

I'm afraid building a new PC has allowed me to indulge in my old vice of computer gaming and I probably don't make as much time to read as I did last year.

Since the last post I finished:

The Great Gatsby
-Considering how much is said about this book I suspect I missed a lot, somehow, sometimes, I miss the opportunity to study a book carefully and get more out of it than reading the story at face value.

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers
-Great, very moody and atmospheric sci-fi. I had a brief play on the PC game STALKER which was based upon this novella and found the concept fascinating and very believable. In turn, the book has left me wanting to spend a tenner and buy the game for myself.

Candide, or optimism by Voltaire
-Hilarious and surprisingly easy reading for 18th century literature.

Conservatize Me by John Moe.
- A liberal public radio host takes a leaf out of Morgan Spurlock's book and attempts to "go conservative" for a month. He may only read and listen to conservative news outlets, listen to "conservative" music, wear stereotyped clothing and so on. It's firmly tongue-in-cheek so don't expect to be converted by it, but it shines a reasonably fair light upon conservatism and makes an honest attempt at understanding the arguments in its favour.

I'm also nearing the end of Wildwood by Roger Deakin and about 2/3rds of the way through McMafia by Misha Glenny.

So hopefully I'm on track for the 25 book target!

I also enjoyed the Great Gatsby but I always thought it was a metaphor for an age, rather than 'great literature.'

An update:

Wildwood by Roger Deakin
-Wonderful nature writing from a guy who can ramble all over the place as he goes yet manages to maintain interest and sustain some beautiful prose, especially in the first half. Towards the latter half it falters a little but considering the man was dying from a brain tumour while writing it I couldn't possibly complain. All in all it felt like a surprisingly edifying and engaging chat with one's grandfather.

McMafia by Misha Glenny
-A fascinating work of journalism investigating the globalisation of organised crime. Taking in everything from the misappropriation of the former Soviet Union's resources to massive drug cartels to people trafficking to cyber crime.

American Fascists by Colin Hedges
-Despite the rather inflammatory title, this was quite a reasonable book arguing that the Christian far-right are the would-be inheritors of fascism in the United States. This didn't feel quite so pertinent now that Obama has been voted in but their rhetoric remains in the arguments and voices of the Republican representatives. Frankly, I'd read of and heard a lot of the information within just by paying attention to the news the last 8 years but the conclusion of the book is well worth a read and slams both the fundamentalist dominionists and the ineffectiveness of liberals in tolerating the intolerant.
Also possibly the book with the loudest cover that I've ever seen. I got some weird stares on the bus reading this one.

Animal Spy by Terry Spamer
A scattering of stories from a former member of the RSPCA's special operations unit. It's a sad litany of abuse and poaching and an interesting insight into the efforts to infiltrate everyone from ivory traders to dog fighters. However, the author has such a high opinion of himself that it all has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Currently reading:
A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Secret Life of Trees by Colin Tudge

Still slowly reading The Secret Life of Trees

In the meantime I've finished A Handmaid's Tale and read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks and American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

So far that makes 20:

Fiction
1) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
2) Use of Weapons
3) The Alchemist
4) Flashman
5) Candide
6) Roadside Picnic
7) The Great Gatsby
8) The Handmaid's Tale
9) Wasp Factory
10) White Tiger
11) American Gods
12) The Heart of a Dog
13) Disgrace
14) Starship troopers

Non fiction
15) A Last Wild Place
16) Why I Write
17) A Walk in the Woods
18) Generation Kill
19)Wildwood
20) Conservatize me
21) McMafia
22) Animal Spy
23) American Fascists
24) The Secret Life of Trees
25) Introducing Romanticism

Did you like The White Tiger? It has interested me.

The White Tiger put a human face to the poverty, corruption and rigid caste system I'd heard about in India. As a tale I found it perhaps too straightforward? As the story is told to you by the protagonist (Balram) himself, all the characters come across as caricatures and there was little scope for any depth to the story beyond the main plot and Balram's own thoughts. Still, it was a good story and incredibly hard to put down. There aren't many books that I find myself ploughing through so fast.

I've got 3 more to add:

The Secret Life of Trees by Colin Tudge
-An incredibly fascinating book about trees but could also be treated as a good intro to botany for the layperson (it lays the groundwork first for understanding plants before studying the woody species). I learnt how plants evolved, how they work, how they communicate, how they affect and are affected by their environment; and quite how diverse trees are. That last bit is possibly the books only downfall: the mid-section is an inventory of all the major genuses of tree in the world. Some particular specimens are quite interesting but a good chunk of it is a list of latin names.

The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
-A Russian friend of mine harped on about this long enough that when I found it in my local library I had to pick it up. It's funny as heck - a famous surgeon/professor living in 1920s Moscow transplants the pituitary and testicles of a recently deceased man into a dog only for the dog to slowly change into a talking, thuggish apparatchik. It's a satire on the then new communist system, the idea of the new Soviet man and the rage at the time for eugenics and experimental surgery.

Introducing Romanticism by Duncan Heath
-A simple overview of Romanticism as a school of thought from the early 1700s through to the present day.

Well, I've reached the big #25!

Disgrace by JM Coetzee
-Wow. This book chewed me up and spat me back out again. One of the few books that have really hit me emotionally with such intensity.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
1 part fun (all the power armour and weaponry brings me back to being a 12 year old boy again) and 1 part slightly uncomfortable reading as Heinlein forgets to write a story and lectures you on his military utopia that sounds awfully fascist in many respects.

Currently reading: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

My reading has slowed up somewhat. I've taken to listening to podcasts and lectures during my commute and don't make the time to read as much any more.

26) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

27) Nature Cure by Richard Mabey

28) Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

29) A Tranquil Star by Primo Levi
- a collection of short stories. Quite a mixed bag but a couple of quotes from the story "Bear Meat" will stick with me for a long time.