ITT I will read 52 classic, educational, and bizarre books for 2013 (reps)

[basshead444]

review?

My personal review? It was something different. Maybe I just like reads that are out of the ordinary idk, its not very long and I read it in a day. I think youll recognize early on whether youre going to enjoy it or not.

[gtg]

subbed

[arkskier]

brah, can you read/review this please?

Looks interdasting. Will try to look for a copy in bookstores here.

My personal review? It was something different. Maybe I just like reads that are out of the ordinary idk, its not very long and I read it in a day. I think youll recognize early on whether youre going to enjoy it or not.

for starters, what is it about? is it fiction, nonfiction. Will it require that I offer my blood and kill a virgin, etc.

subbed

I've got some long books in the offing bro. Will not disappoint.

[arkskier]

Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

rating: 8/10

Some interesting facts from this book:

1. Houdini’s fascination for locks started because he loved his mom’s apple pies and his mom tried to deter him by locking the cupboard.

2. Albedo, the stringy white stuff inside oranges, is rich in pectin, a fiber. It cleans arteries, controls blood sugar, and prevents cancer. Apples,
grapefruit, oranges, and bananas all have albedo.

3. Tomatoes are technically fruits by definition, but vegetables by law. (A fruit is defined as the part of the plant that surrounds the seeds and is derived from the flower’s ovary. Tomatoes, green beans, eggplants, and cucumbers, are technically fruits.)

4. Potassium cyanide+sulfuric acid-> hydrogen cyanide gas. This is the chemical reaction used in the Nazi gas chambers.

5. The first match was made due to the discovery of phosphorus by Brandt, who thought that by distilling urine he could get the elixir of life. Now, our matches are made of phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium chlorate, then covered in glue. By striking the match, the glue is abraded, phosphorus comes into contact with air and ignites. Chlorate provides more oxygen, and when a high temperature is reached, sulfur burns, and the wood bursts to flame. The white smoke is caused by phosphorus burning, producing phosphorous oxide. These days, our matches have sulfur and chlorate, and the striking surface has phosphorus.

6. There is silicon dioxide (sand) mixed in with artificial sweeteners to make packages bigger and make it easier to handle (since a small amount of artificial sweetener is potent).

7. Celluloid is formed by mixing cellulose (cotton) and nitric acid. Celluloid was the first plastic, which was used to make rolls of film, bringing us the “celluloid age” in 1889. But since it’s flammable, celluloid is no longer used today, except in guitar picks and ping pong balls.

8. In the 1849 California gold rush, Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss intended to sell canvas tents for miners. But they asked for strong pants, so he made pants using canvas. Then he replaced the canvas material with a cotton from Nimes, France, thus calling it “de-nim” (“de” means from).

9. Salt is hygroscopic, that is why in salt shakers, we mix in some grains of rice, to counter the stickiness caused by absorption of moisture from the air.

10. “Our cells burn glucose… and for this combustion … need a constant supply of oxygen… Oxygen breaks the chemical bonds [of glucose]. Chemical bonds are nothing more than a pair of electrons between atoms that are joined together. Oxygen strips an electron from glucose, thereby disrupting the “glue” holding the molecule… Now the oxygen is stuck with an extra electron… it has become a free radical, desperately searching for some molecule with which it can react… and there are plenty of candidates… fats and proteins are readily oxidized; so is DNA… unfortunately, when these compounds sacrifice themselves to appease the reactive oxygen, they are altered in such a way that they can no longer fulfill their function. Certain proteins lose their elasticity and our skin wrinkles. Other proteins, responsible for carrying cholesterol, are oxidized to a form that damages arteries…

The fats in cell membranes become rancid, shortening the cell’s lives. Damage to DNA can cause cancer… Sunlight, X-rays, environmental pollutants such as ozone can also trigger free-radical transformation… how is it we actually survive as long as we do? Because our bodies have some remarkable defense weapons: the antioxidants... Cells respond by synthesizing enzymes… which destroy free radicals… Vit C, E, and betacarotene all react with free radicals, thereby sparing molecules from attack… A Cornell University study showed that vit C as an integral part of fruit juice is more effective at reducing the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines than a vit C supplement… “

11. “Raw egg is mostly water in which protein molecules, along with some fat and cholesterol, are suspended. The proteins, long chains of amino acids, are coiled up like little balls of string, and they interact only minimally. Heat causes these molecules to uncoil, exposing sites on their surfaces where links to other protein molecules can be forged—it is as if the strings straighten out and then intertwine. This microscopic clustering is manifested as macroscopic hardness. The molecular clusters also reflect more light, so the cooked egg loses its transparency.”

12. Today, by law, the protein content of hot dogs must be at least 11%, but the fat content is not regulated. The average hot dog is 23% fat by weight—this means about 10-15 g of fat, most of it saturated.

13. Green tea has more catechins (e.g., ECGC) than other kinds of tea because they haven’t been fermented. Drinking 4 cups of tea a day is recommended; in China, where tea is commonly drunk, the rate of cardiovascular disease is one-fifth that found in other countries. Free radicals are neutralized more by tea than by antioxidants in fruits and vegetables.

14. The human brain is composed of 60% fat. “DHA is the primary fat found in the brain and in the retinas. Interestingly enough, supplementing the diet with DHA restored normal brain and eye development in monkeys, demonstrating that the composition of the brain responds to dietary intake… [In addition,] countries where people consume a lot of fish have low rates of depression. People who have low levels of DHA also have low levels of 5-HIAA, which is linked to depression and suicide. Elderly people who have high blood levels of DHA are 40% less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s… Breast milk is a particularly concentrated source of DHA.. The best dietary source of this substance is cold-water fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring… [But] our bodies can manufacture some DHA if fed the right raw material—ALA (alpha-linoleic acid). ALA is found in soybeans, canola, nuts, flaxseed. Cooking with canola oil, making salad with flaxseed oil, and snacking on nuts like walnuts should keep the brain well lubricated.” High blood levels of ALA also mean lower heart disease and stroke.

15. “The brown color of feces is mostly due to remnants of bile secreted by the liver into the small intestine. It is also due to bilirubin, a major breakdown product of red blood cells. Bilirubin’s precursor is a green compound known as biliverdin; this compound sometimes shows up in feces, making them green. Some of the bilirubin is absorbed into the bloodstream, and eventually excreted in the urine, giving it a yellowish tint... When the kidney secretes a lot of water, the pee is pale. When the body needs to conserve liquids, urine is darker yellow... Thus, after a person does strenuous exercise, very dark yellow urine is a sign of dehydration.”

16. Certain natural substances fluoresce under UV light—urine, quinine, and moose fur. Prisoners have been known to exploit this property by using their urine as an invisible ink.

[arkskier]

The Complete Poems 1927-1979, by Elizabeth Bishop

rating: 8/10

Review


What characterizes Bishop’s poems for me, in general, are their calmness, their silence, their control, their “smallness.” She is truly a nature poet, like Mary Oliver, but a darker, more surreal version of Oliver, with a more arcane vocabulary. In a sense she sounds like a mix of Mary Oliver and Robert Lowell. There seems always a small, but constant resistance from the part of her poems to be understood—but they are understood, nevertheless. As regards her use of blank verse, it seems that she is characteristic of early 20th-century verse—she epitomizes the transition from the fully rhyming and metrical English Romantics to the modern American free verse. She still rhymes, but the meter is silent. But what strikes me most about Bishop is her strange way of saying things (which may be partly due to her need to rhyme). One sometimes feels, as one reads her, that one is unsure what the poems are about, but they make sense somehow, yes they do.

Her first book, “North and South,” was published when she was 35 years old. It is pretty dull and uninteresting, except for the poem “The Fish.” It is full of rather confused allegories, giving the impression of an odd loner woman talking about trivial minutiae.
Her second book, however, “Poems: North and South—A Cold Spring,” published at 44, which compiles poems from her first and some new poems, acquires a lexical sumptuousness. This is where she really gets good. Her oddness acquires a pleasing gravitas, apt and not forced, a rich textured landscape, like a film, with lyric details of emotional beauty. Here she shows us that she is a master of the one-liner surprise twist at the end, a master of landscape description. No surprise that for this book she won the 1956 Pulitzer.

Her third book, “Questions of Travel,” published at 55, born out of her living in Brazil for 15 years and translating Portuguese poets like Bandeira and Andrade, continues the poetic streak she had begun with her second book. Here she tackles the questions that I am now asking myself: about traveling the world, what is it that we should be doing here, etc. Possibly due to these Portuguese influences (although one could say that from the very beginning her poems already had an odd surreal quality to them), her third book gives us a slew of strangely surreal but deeply allegorical poems, using traditional forms like the sestina, and traditional techniques, like end-rhymes after every 1-5 lines. I must note here that, in the case of Bishop, rhyming actually leads to the surreal, in the sense that it forces her somehow to use almost-random words, which visually and conceptually gives a surreal and mesmerizing effect. And Bishop has the talent to use the random and the rhyme and still make sense.

Bishop's second and third books are her best.

At 60, Bishop published her fourth book, Complete Poems (1969), which won her the National Book Award. The previously uncollected work included here comprises modern prose poems, which is a bit surprising in a poet who uses traditional rhyme. “The Hanging of the Mouse” proves to me that Bishop can do as the modern French do. One can arguably say, even, that as the modern Brazilians have the French as their poetic father, so Bishop, in being influenced by the Brazilians, and writing these prose poems, is showing her true color and provenance.

After her Complete Poems, Bishop published her fifth book, “Geography III” at age 66, which shows the declining of her powers.

“The Complete Poems 1927-1979,” gathers all these 5 books, plus some uncollected work written during her lifetime, some when she was 16, some before her death at 68, and all her translations of some Portuguese, Spanish and French poets. While one is thankful for her translations, which have introduced to the American public some beautiful poems by otherwise little-known foreign poets, one should question the logic of including poems in this book that the author did not see fit included in her collections. The uncollected work are primarily bland and bad; there must have been good reason Bishop did not include them in her collections, and there is something unethical about an editor collecting them and going against her wishes after her death. By looking at Bishop’s publishing history, it seems that she is very careful about what she wants to publish. Publishing her first book at 35, she would not publish again until 44, and then at 55, 60, and 66. From this it appears that she publishes a new full-length book every 10 years, each book having only 10-30 poems, which tells us that she only finishes around 2-3 poems a year. Such care in her work must surely argue against publishing work that she did not deem worthy of collecting.

[JayGH]

I read Of Mice and Men today, OP

if you haven't already, I would recommend reading it

[arkskier]

I read Of Mice and Men today, OP

if you haven't already, I would recommend reading it

I enjoyed that book breh. Any other recommends?

[JayGH]

I enjoyed that book breh. Any other recommends?

Am currently reading 'The Brain That Changes Itself' by Norman Doidge, but only just starting. I like the idea of neuroplasticity theory so I find it interesting.

Looking back on other stuff I've read:

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)- Because it was a lot deeper thematically than I first thought, and the characters are engaging and easy to become attached to.

Losing My Virginity (Richard Branson [autobiography]) - Fantastic read if you like autobiographical work, he genuinely has an inspirational personality in not only what he does but how he does it. It shows you how much of an intelligent, entrepreneurial, determined man he is.

Only just getting back into reading books seeing as lately I've spent most my time reading journal articles for University assignments.

Will let you know if I come across anything else worth reading!

[arkskier]

The Prose Poem: An International Anthology, 1976, by Michael Benedikt

rating: 8/10


Quotes:

“Everything beautiful wants to tell you something. Everything beautiful wants to become thought.” – Ekelund

“Oh! Must we suffer forever, or else eternally flee from all beautiful things?” – Baudelaire

“Myth is at the beginning of literature, and also at its end.” – Borges

Review

This 600-page monster of an anthology, published in 1976, gives us a comprehensive, international view of the prose poem form, from its beginnings in 1842 in France up until the present. It covers the French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, Middle European, American, and British, presenting about 70 poets in all, with 500+ poems in total.

The best prose poets are, without qualification, the French, the Russians, and the Swedish. Of the French, Baudelaire, Valery, Lautreamont, and Michaux are best. Of the Russians, Daniil Kharms is without equal. And of the Swedish, Vilhelm Ekelund hits all the right spots. The French are masters of the modern ennui. The Russians are completely absurd, telling hilarious stories. The Swedish have an aphoristic quality, a hard-won wisdom.

I also love, in addition, the Viennese Peter Altenberg (in German) and the cannibalistic Japanese Sakutaro Hagiwara. I also like the Russian Ivan Turgenev, the Polish Zbigniew Herbert, and the American Michael Benedikt.

The Spanish don’t make good prose poets, in general. And the American prose poets in this anthology are rather horrible. I feel that their surreal quality and mindset is forced, that it isn’t really immanent to the poems, unlike in the French and Russian ones. They produce strangeness for its own sake, metaphor for its own sake, without purpose. In addition, American prose poems are too conversational, more prose than poem. I believe that, at the point of this anthology’s publication (1976), its best prose poet practitioners (viz., Simic, Ashbery, and Hass) had yet to surface.

[arkskier]

Signs and Symptoms, by Robert Gal

rating: 6.5/10

Quotes:


"Whoever claims that we can reach the truth assumes that truth stands still."

"Inhumanity is all-human."

"Hidden thoughts lead to hidden actions."

"In pain we are all equal, although we do not suffer pain in the same way."

"Who aspires to heaven in thought, walks step by step through hell."

Review:

Slovakian poet Robert Gal is often compared to the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran for the aphoristic quality of his poems. I think that, in some instances, this is highly deserved. Some of Gal’s lines are condensed crystals of wisdom. You can hold them up to the light, and see how beautiful they are, how true.

The great risk of this kind of aphoristic style is that it lends itself to self-obscurantism very quickly. There is an irresistible temptation for large but ultimately empty pronouncements, to a grand style serving itself only, a stylized gravity for its own sake.

Gal has yielded to these risks. His aphorisms as a whole don’t hold well together; they are too disconnected. The ambition for density also often results not in something pithy but in something obscure and solipsistic, un-provable philosophy. And, to make it worse, Gal overuses the rhetorical device called antimetabole or antistrophe, the nest of careless thought.

[arkskier]

Cobwebs from an Empty Skull, by Ambrose Bierce, 1872

rating: 7/10

Quotes:

“The insipidity we observe in most our acquaintances is largely due to our imperfect knowledge of them.”

“An empty stomach has no ears.”

“Many a truth is spoken in jest; but at least ten times as many falsehoods are uttered in dead earnest.”

Review

Ambrose Bierce was an American fabulist and critic born in 1842. He is best-known for his The Devil’s Dictionary (which he published when he was 64). It gives satirical definitions of words, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Cobwebs from an Empty Skull is an early work of his, published when he was 32 (1874). It comprises fables, poetry, dialogues, and short tales. The quality of his work here is uneven. Of 135 fables in “Fables of Zambri,” I like only 7. Bierce’s main faults are trying to be too funny and the dull homogeneity of the fables that he strings together. However, on some rare occasions, Bierce achieves perfection. The fables that work best start out with the familiar trappings of a fable, hints at a lesson, and then doesn’t give us what we expect, or doesn’t give us any lesson, or gives a silly, random one. The hilarity that ensues sometimes approaches a special beauty.

One section, a series of dialogues between a fool and a philosopher, doctor, and soldier, titled, “Brief Seasons of Intellectual Dissipation,” is sophomoric fluff.

And of 28 short tales included here, 10 are really good. “The Following Dorg,” in particular, is a surreal masterpiece of comedy. At his best, Bierce approaches a strangeness that is wise, scathing, aphoristic.

[arkskier]

My list so far, 65 books out of 80:

1. Oulipo: A Primer of Potential Literature, ed. by Warren Motte, 8/10
2. i -six nonlectures, EE cummings, 7/10
3. Treasury of Humor, Isaac Asimov, 7/10
4. Pepsi Tastes Funny When It's Christmas Eve and You're Alone Eating Canned Tuna, Mads Bajarias, 7.5/10
5. The Light of the World to Come, Mads Bajarias, 9/10
6. Women of Versailles: The Court of Louis XV, Imbert de Saint-Amand, 9.5/10*
7. Dangling in the Tournefortia, Charles Bukowski, 8/10
8. The Art of Scientific Investigation, by W.I.B. Beveridge, 6.5/10
9. The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, 6/10
10. Poems of the Late T'ang, trans. by AC Graham, 6/10
11. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9/10*
12. Naomi, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9.5/10*
13. ROTC Kills: Poems, by John Koethe, 9/10*
14. What Passes for Answers, by MK, 5/10
15. Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems, by Tadeusz Rozewicz, 8.5/10
16. Les Trophees (translated French poems), by Jose-Maria de Heredia, 6.5/10
17. Far From the Madding Gerund, by linguists Mark Liberman and Geoffrey Pullum, 9/10*
18. Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present, edited by David Lehman, 5/10
19. The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems, Robert Hass, 9.5/10*
20. Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices, by Brenda Love, 9/10*
21. An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry, ed. by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
22. Red Bird: Poems, by Mary Oliver, 9/10
23. The Bloody Chamber and Other stories, by Angela Carter, 6/10
24. Almost Invisible, by Mark Strand, 9/10
25. Seeing Things, by Seamus Heaney, 1/10
26. On the Sublime, by Longinus (1st or 3rd century AD), 8/10
27. Man a Machine and Man a Plant, by Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1748), 8/10
28. Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, by George Berkeley, 8/10
29. The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey
into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic, by Wade Davis, 7/10
30. What the Grass Says, by Charles Simic, 1967 (first book, first edition), 10/10*
31. Antipoems: New and Selected, by Nicanor Parra (Chilean poet), 9/10
32. Selected Poems, by Manuel Bandeira (Brazilian poet), 6/10
33. A Time Between Ashes and Roses, by Ali Ahmad Said (Syrian poet), 2/10
34. The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected, by David Kirby, 6/10
35. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, by Geoffrey Pullum, 9.5/10*
36. The Art of the Poetic Line, by James Longenbach, 7/10
37. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, 6/10
38. Selected Poems, by Randall Jarrell, 8.5/10
39. New and Selected Poems 1962-2012, by Charles Simic, 7/10
40. My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, by Martin Gardner, 9/10*
41. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
42. The Horse Has Six Legs: Anthology of Serbian Poetry, translated by Charles Simic, 6/10
43. New European Poets, edited by Miller and Prufer, 9.5/10*
44. The Continuous Life, by Mark Strand, 9/10
45. The Clerk's Tale, by Spencer Reece, 8.5/10
46. Twentieth-century German Poetry: An Anthology, ed. by Michael Hofmann, 8/10
47. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
48. The Complete Poems 1927-1979, by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
49.The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax And Other Essays on the Study of Language, by Geoffrey Pullum, 7/10
50. The Prose Poem: An International Anthology, by Michael Benedikt, 8/10
51. Signs and Symptoms, by Robert Gal, 6.5/10
52. Cobwebs from an Empty Skull, by Ambrose Bierce, 7/10
53. Field Guide to Prose Poetry, ed. by McDowell and Rzicznek, 9/10*
54. The Trouble with Being Born, by E.M. Cioran, 6/10
55. Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism, by Eugene Ostashevsky, 4/10
56. Today I Wrote Nothing: Selected Writings, by Daniil Kharms, 9/10*
57. Dreaming the Miracle: Three French Poets: Max Jacob, Francis Ponge, Jean Follain, 5/10
58. Last News of Mr. Nobody: Selected Poems, by Emmanuel Moses, 9/10
59, Small Talk, by Raffaello Baldini (Romagnolo poetry), 8/10
60. Women, by Charles Bukowski, 9/10
61. The Pyrgic Puzzler, by Christopher Maslanka, 5/10
62. History of My Life (Book 2, volumes 3 and 4), by Giacomo Casanova, 10/10*
63. Jersey Rain, by Robert Pinsky, 5/10
64. Surrealist Games, by Alastair Brotchie, 8/10
65. Selected Writings, by Henri Michaux, 9/10*

*best books

I'm 15 books behind in giving reviews. Will post when I get time.

[arkskier]

My list so far, 70 books out of 80:

1. Oulipo: A Primer of Potential Literature, ed. by Warren Motte, 8/10
2. i -six nonlectures, EE cummings, 7/10
3. Treasury of Humor, Isaac Asimov, 7/10
4. Pepsi Tastes Funny When It's Christmas Eve and You're Alone Eating Canned Tuna, Mads Bajarias, 7.5/10
5. The Light of the World to Come, Mads Bajarias, 9/10
6. Women of Versailles: The Court of Louis XV, Imbert de Saint-Amand, 9.5/10*
7. Dangling in the Tournefortia, Charles Bukowski, 8/10
8. The Art of Scientific Investigation, by W.I.B. Beveridge, 6.5/10
9. The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, 6/10
10. Poems of the Late T'ang, trans. by AC Graham, 6/10
11. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9/10*
12. Naomi, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9.5/10*
13. ROTC Kills: Poems, by John Koethe, 9/10*
14. What Passes for Answers, by MK, 5/10
15. Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems, by Tadeusz Rozewicz, 8.5/10
16. Les Trophees (translated French poems), by Jose-Maria de Heredia, 6.5/10
17. Far From the Madding Gerund, by linguists Mark Liberman and Geoffrey Pullum, 9/10*
18. Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present, edited by David Lehman, 5/10
19. The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems, Robert Hass, 9.5/10*
20. Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices, by Brenda Love, 9/10*
21. An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry, ed. by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
22. Red Bird: Poems, by Mary Oliver, 9/10
23. The Bloody Chamber and Other stories, by Angela Carter, 6/10
24. Almost Invisible, by Mark Strand, 9/10
25. Seeing Things, by Seamus Heaney, 1/10
26. On the Sublime, by Longinus (1st or 3rd century AD), 8/10
27. Man a Machine and Man a Plant, by Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1748), 8/10
28. Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, by George Berkeley, 8/10
29. The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey
into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic, by Wade Davis, 7/10
30. What the Grass Says, by Charles Simic, 1967 (first book, first edition), 10/10*
31. Antipoems: New and Selected, by Nicanor Parra (Chilean poet), 9/10
32. Selected Poems, by Manuel Bandeira (Brazilian poet), 6/10
33. A Time Between Ashes and Roses, by Ali Ahmad Said (Syrian poet), 2/10
34. The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected, by David Kirby, 6/10
35. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, by Geoffrey Pullum, 9.5/10*
36. The Art of the Poetic Line, by James Longenbach, 7/10
37. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, 6/10
38. Selected Poems, by Randall Jarrell, 8.5/10
39. New and Selected Poems 1962-2012, by Charles Simic, 7/10
40. My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, by Martin Gardner, 9/10*
41. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
42. The Horse Has Six Legs: Anthology of Serbian Poetry, translated by Charles Simic, 6/10
43. New European Poets, edited by Miller and Prufer, 9.5/10*
44. The Continuous Life, by Mark Strand, 9/10
45. The Clerk's Tale, by Spencer Reece, 8.5/10
46. Twentieth-century German Poetry: An Anthology, ed. by Michael Hofmann, 8/10
47. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
48. The Complete Poems 1927-1979, by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
49.The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax And Other Essays on the Study of Language, by Geoffrey Pullum, 7/10
50. The Prose Poem: An International Anthology, by Michael Benedikt, 8/10
51. Signs and Symptoms, by Robert Gal, 6.5/10
52. Cobwebs from an Empty Skull, by Ambrose Bierce, 7/10
53. Field Guide to Prose Poetry, ed. by McDowell and Rzicznek, 9/10*
54. The Trouble with Being Born, by E.M. Cioran, 6/10
55. Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism, by Eugene Ostashevsky, 4/10
56. Today I Wrote Nothing: Selected Writings, by Daniil Kharms, 9/10*
57. Dreaming the Miracle: Three French Poets: Max Jacob, Francis Ponge, Jean Follain, 5/10
58. Last News of Mr. Nobody: Selected Poems, by Emmanuel Moses, 9/10
59, Small Talk, by Raffaello Baldini (Romagnolo poetry), 8/10
60. Women, by Charles Bukowski, 9/10
61. The Pyrgic Puzzler, by Christopher Maslanka, 5/10
62. History of My Life (Book 2, volumes 3 and 4), by Giacomo Casanova, 10/10*
63. Jersey Rain, by Robert Pinsky, 5/10
64. Surrealist Games, by Alastair Brotchie, 8/10
65. Selected Writings, by Henri Michaux, 9/10*
66. Another Silent Attack, by Franck Andre Jamme, 5/10
67. Another Republic: 17 European and South American Writers, edited by Simic and Strand, 8/10
68. A Barbarian in Asia, by Henri Michaux, 7/10
69. History of My Life Book 3 (Volumes 5 and 6), by Giacomo Casanova, 9/10
70. Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes, 9/10*

*best books

[arkskier]

That's it bros, 81 books. I'm trying to finish 2-3 more for this year. I'm a bit behind on writing reviews.

1. Oulipo: A Primer of Potential Literature, ed. by Warren Motte, 8/10
2. i -six nonlectures, EE cummings, 7/10
3. Treasury of Humor, Isaac Asimov, 7/10
4. Pepsi Tastes Funny When It's Christmas Eve and You're Alone Eating Canned Tuna, Mads Bajarias, 7.5/10
5. The Light of the World to Come, Mads Bajarias, 9/10
6. Women of Versailles: The Court of Louis XV, Imbert de Saint-Amand, 9.5/10*
7. Dangling in the Tournefortia, Charles Bukowski, 8/10
8. The Art of Scientific Investigation, by W.I.B. Beveridge, 6.5/10
9. The Melancholy of Resistance, by László Krasznahorkai, 6/10
10. Poems of the Late T'ang, trans. by AC Graham, 6/10
11. The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9/10*
12. Naomi, by Junichiro Tanizaki, 9.5/10*
13. ROTC Kills: Poems, by John Koethe, 9/10*
14. What Passes for Answers, by MK, 5/10
15. Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems, by Tadeusz Rozewicz, 8.5/10
16. Les Trophees (translated French poems), by Jose-Maria de Heredia, 6.5/10
17. Far From the Madding Gerund, by linguists Mark Liberman and Geoffrey Pullum, 9/10*
18. Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present, edited by David Lehman, 5/10
19. The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems, Robert Hass, 9.5/10*
20. Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices, by Brenda Love, 9/10*
21. An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Brazilian Poetry, ed. by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
22. Red Bird: Poems, by Mary Oliver, 9/10
23. The Bloody Chamber and Other stories, by Angela Carter, 6/10
24. Almost Invisible, by Mark Strand, 9/10
25. Seeing Things, by Seamus Heaney, 1/10
26. On the Sublime, by Longinus (1st or 3rd century AD), 8/10
27. Man a Machine and Man a Plant, by Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1748), 8/10
28. Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, by George Berkeley, 8/10
29. The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey
into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic, by Wade Davis, 7/10
30. What the Grass Says, by Charles Simic, 1967 (first book, first edition), 10/10*
31. Antipoems: New and Selected, by Nicanor Parra (Chilean poet), 9/10
32. Selected Poems, by Manuel Bandeira (Brazilian poet), 6/10
33. A Time Between Ashes and Roses, by Ali Ahmad Said (Syrian poet), 2/10
34. The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected, by David Kirby, 6/10
35. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, by Geoffrey Pullum, 9.5/10*
36. The Art of the Poetic Line, by James Longenbach, 7/10
37. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, 6/10
38. Selected Poems, by Randall Jarrell, 8.5/10
39. New and Selected Poems 1962-2012, by Charles Simic, 7/10
40. My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, by Martin Gardner, 9/10*
41. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
42. The Horse Has Six Legs: Anthology of Serbian Poetry, translated by Charles Simic, 6/10
43. New European Poets, edited by Miller and Prufer, 9.5/10*
44. The Continuous Life, by Mark Strand, 9/10
45. The Clerk's Tale, by Spencer Reece, 8.5/10
46. Twentieth-century German Poetry: An Anthology, ed. by Michael Hofmann, 8/10
47. Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs: Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life, by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, 8/10
48. The Complete Poems 1927-1979, by Elizabeth Bishop, 8/10
49.The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax And Other Essays on the Study of Language, by Geoffrey Pullum, 7/10
50. The Prose Poem: An International Anthology, by Michael Benedikt, 8/10
51. Signs and Symptoms, by Robert Gal, 6.5/10
52. Cobwebs from an Empty Skull, by Ambrose Bierce, 7/10
53. Field Guide to Prose Poetry, ed. by McDowell and Rzicznek, 9/10*
54. The Trouble with Being Born, by E.M. Cioran, 6/10
55. Oberiu: An Anthology of Russian Absurdism, by Eugene Ostashevsky, 4/10
56. Today I Wrote Nothing: Selected Writings, by Daniil Kharms, 9/10*
57. Dreaming the Miracle: Three French Poets: Max Jacob, Francis Ponge, Jean Follain, 5/10
58. Last News of Mr. Nobody: Selected Poems, by Emmanuel Moses, 9/10
59, Small Talk, by Raffaello Baldini (Romagnolo poetry), 8/10
60. Women, by Charles Bukowski, 9/10
61. The Pyrgic Puzzler, by Christopher Maslanka, 5/10
62. History of My Life (Book 2, volumes 3 and 4), by Giacomo Casanova, 10/10*
63. Jersey Rain, by Robert Pinsky, 5/10
64. Surrealist Games, by Alastair Brotchie, 8/10
65. Selected Writings, by Henri Michaux, 9/10*
66. Another Silent Attack, by Franck Andre Jamme, 5/10
67. Another Republic: 17 European and South American Writers, edited by Simic and Strand, 8/10
68. A Barbarian in Asia, by Henri Michaux, 7/10
69. History of My Life Book 3 (Volumes 5 and 6), by Giacomo Casanova, 9/10
70. Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes, 9/10*
71. The Case of the Persevering Maltese: Collected Essays, by Harry Matthews, 6/10
72. 420 Characters, by Lou Beach, 7/10
73. Mole Notes, by Michael Benedikt, 6/10
74. Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal, ed. by Peter Johnson, 7/10
75. Haunted Castles: Complete Gothic Stories, by Ray Russell, 9/10*
76. Nice Weather, by Frederick Seidel, 8/10
77. Kiosk, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (German poet), 8/10
78. Scent of the Unseen, Mila Haugova (Slovakian poet), 2/10
79. DIAGRAM III, ed. by Ander Monson, 7/10
80. Instructions on How to Read a Newspaper, by Valerio Magrelli (Italian poet) 5/10
81. Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Surgery, by Sander Gilman 6/10

*best books

[ChernobylResist]

read a few paperbacks:

Drown by Juno Diaz
The fall of moondust by arthur c clarke
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (really good book)

re-read some of the Republic by Plato, also read Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein

didn't get to read much this year, definitely next year, as they all say

[arkskier]

2014 thread is up for 52 books/52 weeks challenge. Get busy reading again..

link?

read a few paperbacks:

Drown by Juno Diaz
The fall of moondust by arthur c clarke
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (really good book)

re-read some of the Republic by Plato, also read Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein

didn't get to read much this year, definitely next year, as they all say

Is On Beauty a novel?

[Smolovicus]

interdasting OP. thread has actually got me interested in reading a bit over winter break. I've had my fair share of classics (Dostoevsky, Camus, Hemingway, Huxley, etc) but my most recent endeavor was over the summer reading Stieg Larsson's Millenium series. Really only a step above your average John Grisham / Dan Brown crime thriller, but it served me with well over 1000 pages in entertaining material for a couple months.

I think I'll scope through your best reads and keep an eye open next time I'm in the book store. If you haven't, I'd suggest looking at Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle. A lot of it will probably sound like review since it is so echoed by subsequent philosophies, but it is interesting nonetheless.

brb feeling self conscious of my grammar due to OP's actively expanding knowledge of it