Sandydog is gunna try!

The prodigal dawg has returned. I didn't make it in the 100 Book Challenge in 2012, and have virtually no intention of hitting that mark this year. Why? Well, I've a real desire to finish some real door stops, such as Infinite Jest.

So after much soul-searching,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3rn2GQxcDo

I'm back and am looking forward to lurking among threads of some old (and hopefully new) friends!

Glad you've returned to the fold.

Welcome back!

It's about the reading, not the number, right?! I look forward to following your thread!

Of course, Karen!

Found, and starred, you! Looking forward to your reads this year.

I came to a similar realization last year. The number is just a means to keep me reading steadily - at the end of last year, given the choice to start reading short books just to make it to a number or to keep going as I had been, I stayed the path. I finished with a lower number than I'd hoped for, but I felt good about it anyway.

Good luck with Infinite Jest!

Wook! Great to here from you! I shall visit! There's no rule that says I can't read both topic threads.

Ah, ursula, 'another structured thinker!

I just received from the Amazon-God, (I believe he is related to Mercury), Elegant Complexity and a thinner guide by Stephen j. Burn.

I'm sure that they will be devoured fairly soon.

Starred you!

Oh, Jennifer you are so glamorous, and I am but a dawg...

1. Maus II ***1/2
My first of the year! I took a brief rest from IJ when I found the sequel to (my December reading of) this Pulitzer-winner. This was my first comic book in many decades; I don't recall reading too many as a kid. I enjoyed this more than the first volume. Very predictable story, but very moving and apparently, non-fiction. Highly recommended.

Oh, Maus (I and II) are incredible books. I have copies, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to re-read them, they were so emotionally upsetting at times.

2. The Worst Hard Time ***
Interesting. A bit redundant, A bit of fictional-In Cold Blood-esque flavor?

I believe it's "narrative non-fiction". A sub-genre I'm not sure of yet, although I thought In Cold Blood was marvelous.

I believe, Wook, that that is exactly the term I was looking for!

3. Othello ***1/2

This was the Naxos classic drama recording with mucho other commentaries and summaries referred to, along the way...

4. The Great Courses Shakespeare's Tragedies ***1/2
While continuing reading IJ, I thought I'd rest the weary eyes by knock off some audio Shakespeare as well. The Teaching Company is a long time favorite. TC lectures got me into listening to audio books in the car, which got me back into reading. Great stuff.

5. King Lear ***1/2
Another Naxos recording, among other essays. I actually read Sparknotes for pleasure!

Glad to see you're enjoying the audio Shakespeare. I've a few here and there, and will be taking them up on the daily walks. Quite often the audio is very helpful to understanding and appreciating the print editions, I think.

I've IJ staring at me accusingly, as it has been for a couple of years...it's a big one! I'd like to try Consider the Lobster first, as it's a collection of essays and may help me to accustom myself to DFW and his style before I plunge into the very big pond that is IJ.

'Great to hear from you, bohemima. I'm still diggin' on ol' Billy during my commutes.

I thought Consider the Lobster was very clearly-written, interesting, thoughtful, sometimes gross (you can skip his trip to that "convention") and not at ALL like IJ. Be forewarned: Your idea reminds me of all those who advocate reading Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man as a prelude to Ulysses. I found the former understandable, the latter, overwhelming. I'm on page 300 of IJ and my brow sweats when I try to read it!

6. Macbeth ***
Another group of warm, loving folks.

7. The Drunkard's Walk ****
I loved this one. It was the perfect audiobook for the commute. Although there are plenty of obligatory bad jokes, there are also a lot of very interesting biographies and a great final chapter about "randomness" during careers and lives.

Removed due to garbled touchstone...

8. David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest: A Reader's Guide (Continuum) ***1/2

A critical review as rambling and chaotic as IJ, but only 1/10 the length. The IJ chronology was invaluable.

I think something 1/10 the size of Infinite Jest is still a fairly mammoth undertaking. :)

Yeah, I'm sure Mr. Burn probably wrote most of it for his doctoral thesis.

What did I get out of it? Look out for references in IJ, to Hobbes, phrenology, cardiac systems, Plato, non vascular plants, masks, Cartesian patterns, and the like.

It ain't Sparknotes, that's for darn sure!

9. Walking the Bible ***

I think I'm pretty much Feilor-ed-out. I loved his heartwarmers about teaching in Japan and his biography about Western Civ's super-hero, Abraham.

It's very good, just more of the same. Some of the Geography and natural explanations of biblical miracles, were especially interesting.

10. No Easy Day ***1/2
A day of reading IJ is no easy day. This book was an effortless, easy read. I picked it up after seeing the guy on "60 Minutes."

11. Self-Discipline & Emotional Control ***1/2
I'm always hunting for entertaining audios for the commute. This campy, raucous 90s audio presentation was a real hoot. It had something to do behavioral emotive something or other. But Ellis' theory is mentioned only once. The seminar leader, Dr. Tom Miller, rants and raves in the funniest, most ungrammatical manner. If you see this sitting around, collecting dust somewhere, pick it up.

12. The Ethics of Aristotle ***1/2

I'm sure Father Koterski's effort to explain Aristotle, deserves 5 stars. I just wasn't passionate about virtue, friendship, and all these other topics. I guess I was looking for more excitement, more 'splosions. I'm glad I listened, however. The Nichomachean Ethics have moved a bit lower towards the base of my TBR pile.

13. The Battle for God ****
This was the severely abridged audio edition. Objective, emotionally-intelligent sweeping account of over 1,000 years of history. Very scary stuff. I shall read the book some day.

Still floundering with IJ...

14. Stuff White People Like ***

Very funny at times. According to the questionnaire based on the book's chapters, I am about 61% white. Figures.

15. The Alphabet of Manliness *1/2

Ok, the misogyny, perversions, scatological references that would embarrass Rabelais, and sexual violence are one thing. But to laud Heavy Metal while denigrating Hippie music? Unacceptable.

This was a truly horrible book, probably a few notches below Mein Kampf. Ok, maybe, just maybe, I chuckled over the sections on pirates, winners and (office) zombies.

'See what reading Infinite Jest is causing me to read?. 'Can't get much lower...

>28 Sandydog1: Read that one a few years ago and liked it too. Much weirdness. His follow up, More Information Than You Require hasn't grabbed me as I've had the bookmark stuck in the same place for about 4 months now.

16. The Great Book of Optical illusions ***

I took this coffee table book, a few at a time. Eight chapters ("galleries") full of optical illusions, with an explanation at the end of each gallery. There are so many, these optical illusion themes are of course, redundant. That doesn't really detract from this entertaining book, and it was well worth the 25 cents I paid for it.

17. Moo ***
This was a severely, SEVERELY, abridged audio version. I have the voluminous hard copy, kicking around here somewhere and I'll get to it someday. Apparently it's got quite a large cast of characters.

18. Talk to the Hand **1/2

A funny (at times) but rambling. dissertation on the decline of manners. I enjoyed her classic about punctuation, much more.

I don't want to be rude, but "meh."

19. World of Art ***1/2
Another short one. The only narrative - in this massive, voluminous coffee table book of paintings - is the 30+ page introduction. Plenty of old favorites, expertly reproduced. The only drawback is that there's only one painting per artist.

The Alphabet of Manliness is definitely not being added to my wishlist! Why did reading IJ drive you to this one?

I think I needed a dose of infantile.

For me Wook, IJ is like climbing Chomolungma. I keep getting cerebral hemorrhages, and stopping! The biggest issue is the total lack of chronology.

It has prevented me form knocking out a dozen or more, smaller tomes. But I'm stubborn as an ox; I'll get through it eventually.

20. Racing Odysseus ****
I'm not much of a reader. I tend to log audio books, picked up for the commute. But I read this cover-to-cover, in 2 days. How could I help it? A 61 year-old college president, who decides to become a freshman and read The Greatest Books curriculum? I couldn't pass this one up. I LOVE books about books, I reminisce about college a lot, I am incredibly curious about St. Johns College. I am almost the same age as this old goat.

I laughed, I learned, I cried, a little bit at least.

This book is written as if it's a sports memoir. 'Simple choppy sentences. And, 2/3 of the content is about crewing. Yes, getting up at 6 am and rowing up and down a damn river. 'Too bad the content wasn't 2/3 freshmen seminar at St. Johns. Now that would have been a 5-star memoir.

Can you imagine, spending 4 years discussing these?

http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/academic/readlist.shtml

Heaven. All I can say is kids, if your parents fork over 1/5 of a million dollars to go to this school, you have got really cool parents.

21. You Can't Win a Fight with your Boss ****

This is a basic, concise, common-sense listing about how to leave your emotions at home, and lead, perform, execute, behave - at work. It is much simpler and perhaps in a way better, than that extremely similar contemporary guide, The Rules of Work.

22. What Einstein Told His Barber ***1/2

This book of course, has nothing to do with Einstein. It is a compendium of interesting explanations of everyday and not so everyday phenomena, such as, how an airplane flies (the wing airflow is not just subject to phenomena described by Bernoulli), electricity and lightning, defogging windshields, chemical fertilizer explosives, etc.

I found some discourses a tad esoteric (I've little interest in demonstrating understanding of how a radiometer works) and, I couldn't stand some of the childish attempts at jokes and puns. But I love this science overview genre and overall, this was an extremely informative book.

Bryson provides more of a history rather than a concepts overview, but my suggestions based on what I've read, and in order of preference are:

A Short History of Nearly Everything
What Einstein Told His Barber
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Basics of Science
Eureka! What Archimedes Really Meant

23. Life List *** 1/2
What would you do to become the most successful birder of all time? Skip your mother's funeral and your kids' weddings? Sacrifice your marriage? Suffer a repeated rape, death threats, malaria, a severely broken wrist (and postpone medical treatment) and countless privations? Ignore the presence of malignant cancer tumors? Spend an entire huge inheritance? This was an incredible story. I'll be looking for Phoebe's memoir, Birding on Borrowed Time.

24. The Great Courses History of the English Language ****1/2

I just finished all 36 audio lectures. The first 20 lectures or so, were particularly good. The Teaching Company continues to provide me with plenty of all-time favorites.

25. A Modest proposal ****
I've been dying of curiosity over this essay and I was not disappointed! I know it's just a few paragraphs long, but I spent considerable time reading summaries, and critical essays regarding this wonderful satirical work. So, I hereby grant myself credit! :)

26. Ask the Pilot ****
This was a great, readable, meaty compilation of airline safety and security, terrorism, communications and air traffic control, pilot work lives, airports, turbulence (do ocean liners sink in large storms? airplanes don't crash from turbulence), and many, many public misconceptions.

Information is well over 10 years old, but this is irrelevant. Only sales, rankings and other stats are a bit stale. Airframe designs after all, are well over 50 years old. The questions and subjects within each chapter, jump around a bit, but this quirky organization does not affect flow or comprehension.

I know most occupants of the earth have never flown, but for those who do, this is a must-read.

27. The Graveyard Book ***
It seems like I read at least one children's book, every year. This one had deceit, magic, ghosts, an orphan (due to murder), mentors, monsters, werewolves, teen romantic complications, guardians, etc. Sounds very Potter-esque, don't it? It was.

Hey, Steve! Glad to see you back where you belong.

Stasia!!!

Thanks so much for saying hello. When do you have the time to lurk about like this?

28. The Great Hurricane 1938 ***

When I saw this audio version, I just had to pick it up. My Ma lived through it. She was a kid in East Hampton, when her science teacher told her class, "Aw, don't worry, it's just that crazy 'Bonnac weather"

This is a journalistic account (sometimes maybe even slipping into that narrative non-fiction) based on interviews with "LI", RI and CT survivors. The reader really gets the awareness of how these coastal folks had absolutely no warning whatsoever.

>46 Sandydog1:: My mother used to talk about that storm often, almost weeping with grief over huge old trees lost to the howling winds. Our little town was on the coast of MA. It must have been horrifying; certainly she never got over it.

So, how's IJ coming? I admire your tenacity. Is it harder than, say Ulysses or The Sound and the Fury? For my monster read this year I picked Norwich's History of Byzantium in 3 volumes. I must have been mad, but it's entertaining and clear enough. Just l-o-n-g.

A lot of East Hampton Town school kids lost their fisherman fathers that September day. Soon afterwards National weather reports came out 4X per day instead of 2X.

Thanks for asking about IJ. Actually, it's not going. I'll get back to it though. 'A public commitment! The chronology is a real confusing nightmare.

Ulysses had some tough chapters indeed (the guys hanging out in the maternity ward, a narrative of all kinds of arcane literary styles, was particularly incomprehensible to me). As for The Sound and the Fury, once you understand that ol' Bill is switching characters every sentence or so, it starts to fall into place. I don't care a hoot about spoilers, so I'm sure I read a whole bunch of summaries prior to reading both of those.

The only problem with Byzantine history is all those Greek and Latin names. I love reading about all those Byzantine descriptions of Europeans as total tasteless Barbarians!

29. Them Adventures with Extremists ***
Bizarre stories about hanging out with 2-bit Islamic extremists, Ruby Ridge survivors, KKK presidents and Bilderberg Group attendees.

30. The Psychopath Test ****
Whew, enough of that. I'll wait on reading The Men Who Stare at Goats. This was another entertaining, scary series of mad peoples' lives, all wrapped around the theme of somewhat arbitrary psychiatric classifications. Well, of all the Jewish Gonzo Journalist Brits I know ;), Ronson has to be my favorites.

31. Shakespeare's Sonnets ***
'Still whittling away at the entire Shakespeare canon. Now I know why there are so many Modern English translations of Shakespeare, who of course wrote in...Modern English. I can't recall seeing a word that I wasn't familiar with, but when you string 'em together, it took a ton of concentration. I listened to most of the 154, and read some (note I just happened to grab this touchstone). Some of them do jump out, such as the parody # 130, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun..."

#45: I am off school for a bit and trying to catch up!

#46: I have had that book in the BlackHole for at least 7 years now, but have not been able to get my hands on a copy.

>49 Sandydog1: Yes, 154 sonnets in a row could make the eyes glaze over. Who was the reader?

It was Highbridge audio and the sonnet recital-thonner was none other than Simon Callow!

32. Gone to New York ***1/2
Some nice essays about the Big Apple, several of which were published in the New Yorker. It ends with "Sandy" Frazier's story about how he started his career in the City.

33. The Peloponnesian War: The Teaching Company ***1/2

36 lectures! What a long, chronic slog through diplomacy, scams, ramming triremes, hoplite battles, city states, Persians, Ionians, Dorians, Peloponnesians, generals, hegemons, demagogues, tyrants, etc. etc.

Hey it's Teaching Company. It was excellent.

34. Descarte's Bones ****

A rambling essay on reason and religion, with smatterings of taxonomy, phrenology, mesmerism, the metric system, museums, embryology, comparative anatomy, the French Revolution, chemistry and a few other choice topics. Shorto deals with Cartesian philosophy and the Enlightenment the same way the fossil record and the Renaissance are handled in The Seashell on the Mountaintop. I highly recommend both.

35. The Man Who Loved China ****1/2
A little redundant (an aid to comprehension) and gossipy and speculative (an aid to entertainment). Overall very fascinating. Winchester did a great job with a great subject (Joseph Needham).

One LT reviewer said Winchester could make a book about mulch, interesting. I agree 100%.

36. A Thousand Paths to a Long Life ***
Everything gets listed this year. Everything.

37. The Story of Philosophy ***

Artie Schopenhauer once said, "Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can't expect an angel to look out."

With Durant's book, I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm angel, or...something else.

I found its 1920s prose arcane, dated and well, sometimes boring. Essays on the "easier" philosophers (Voltaire, Russell) were entertaining. The tough guys (eg. Spinoza) made my eyes glaze over.

38. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff 100 of the Best Inspirations from the Best-selling Series ***

This was the compilation of 100 essays from a variety of books in the series, such as "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Paleobotanists", "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Process Schizophrenics", etc.

I skimmed it, at the very least, all the titles.

Motherhood and apple pie.

39. Rude hand Gestures of the World ***
Didn't I say I was going to list everything?

This one one was (peep this) a Fathers' Day gift.

I shall cherish it always.

40. Elegant Complexity ****

I'm almost done with Infinite Jest and, IJ has just about "done me in". I had so much trouble with the chronology, I gave up several times. (Gee, what a surprise; I bet I'm the first reader ever, to have had this problem).

Greg Carlisle's book is mostly a dry, emotionless re-hashing of some key passages (He reminds us a couple times that his guide is, LOL, "spoiler free"), followed by some more useful but very terse, reminders of character/plot/theme.

The value of this guide, is its structure. Mr. Carlisle has painstakingly broken down DFW's book into chapters AND sub-chapters. At the end are about a dozen of pages of chronologies, character relationships, staffing lists of the tennis academy and rehab center, references. These are alone worth the purchase of this excellent reference book.

The guide follows my 1st paperback edition of IJ, perfectly. Whenever I get an hour or so, I flip through post-it note markers of the 28 arbitrary IJ chapters, the bookmarked end-notes, and the half-dozen flagged sections of Elegant Complexity. After finishing a section, I dutifully jot it down (20.2, 27.23, 27.14, 27.11, 27.9...) in a tiny inscription on a long, large, thin, sheet of paper.

Sound' like fun? It ain't The Hunger Games, folks.

My anterior singulate cortex will be forever grateful to Greg Carlisle.

41. 50 Rules for Sons ****
An Early Reviewer copy and a reverse Father's Day gift for my son.

These are 50 really fresh, creative, almost heart-warming snippets of lessons learned from an experienced, hard-working father, attorney and business leader.

I've many, many favorites, including: #42 "If you see someone who is alone, go out of your way to tell them hello". #04 "Offer someone less fortunate a helping hand even though some may not appreciate it." #28 "If the police officer or a professor is talking, you're listening."

I had some mixed feelings about this one. It is so entertaining that it is too short; there could have easily been 100 rules for our sons. It's a tad gender-centric. I have no daughter, but there is absolutely nothing that couldn't have been said to, and considered of great value to, "her". And there's some real minor ambivalence about the formatting. Maybe the crucial, must-read "back story" passage could have been positioned immediately after each rule?

This book will entertain anyone and again, alas, is too short.

42. The Teaching Company Argumentation ***

A massive series of the art and science of polite argument. It was almost as if the professor was scrapping and scraping for lecture topics (eg. "arguments among friends"). Many sections were a tad dry. Two stars for entertainment value; four stars for typical TC academic excellence.

43. The No Sweat Exercise Plan ****
Some doctor (Simon) from some obscure medical university (Harvard) came up with a simply written and concise masterpiece. Excellent introductory treatments of cardiac, strength, flexibility and balance exercises. This is well-worth multiple readings. Highly recommended, stick with it.

<63--looks great, I'll definitely read it!

,,,and read it again, karspeak!

44. Reading the OED ****

Light, short, easy-to-read, interesting, entertaining. Mr. Shea read the OED so I don"t have to!

45. The Weather Makers ****1/2
I picked up this audio CD from a library, started listening, and realized that I'd listened to it back in 2011. With so many atop Mount TBR, how could I do such a thing. I "re-read" this book; it was well worth it.

It is a great primer on global warming, climate change, the Kyoto Accords, Peak Oil, rainforest, agricultural, polar and oceanic changes, energy policy (including political obstructionism, particularly from the USA and Australia), and energy alternatives.

Everyone should read it.

....at least once.

<66--Looks excellent, will add it to the list. I am currently reading 2 NF along similar lines, both very good: Food Matters by Bittman, and How Bad are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything. My book club will read Hot: The Future of Life on Earth this fall, at my behest, which is a very approachable intro book to climate change, I think. The author approaches it from the perspective of a parent who is worried about his daughter's future (and he's also a science reporter), so I think that might appeal to some of the women in my book club who would usually avoid science-based NF.

Ach! more titles to toss upon the TBR pile!

46. Getting to Know William Shakespeare ***1/2

Extremely brief (1 CD, 1 and 1/4 hours) overview of the Bard's life and works. The history of Shakespeare - his theater, his sonnets, long poems and plays - is highlighted by several dramatic readings.

Well done and produced. Two or three CDs would have been a much better length!

47. Joe Gould's Secret ***1/2
This is apparently comprised of a pair of New Yorker articles. Redundant and odd story about a redundant and odd New York bohemian.

48. The Power of Nice ***
More wholesome, common-sense, motherhood-and-apple-pie, self-help business advice. A very fast read, indeed.

49. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter ***1/2
A lyric Southern Gothic character study very reminiscent of works by Anderson and Harper Lee

50. Chernobyl A Russian Journalist's Eyewitness Account ***

Patriotic Soviets dealing with conflagration, radiation, instrumentation, evacuation, encapsulation, etc. A choppy, somewhat poorly edited, apparently hastily translated news account that came out immediately after the accident. I'm sure it served its purpose, and it is very interesting to see the comments related to US/USSR relationships. For example, there were comments in the FAQ section regarding delays of US notifications of Three Mile Island. Three and a half stars in 1987; closer to 2 1/2 stars, today.

51. The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell ***

Crawford mentions that many of his National Guard unit's soldiers are in it for the College benefits. If his memoir of Baghdad was a freshman English theme, he'd probably get a C. It's mildly interesting reading about the misery of the populace, poor hand-me--down equipment, intense heat and rotten conditions, inept leadership, 20 year-olds being mean, etc. - but don't expect literature.

3 generous stars.

52. The War Prayer ****

Exceedingly short -- and powerful. I think I shall try to read it each and every year.

53. Early Spring: A Naturalist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World ***

This one's by Amy Seidl (squirrely touchstones), Beacon press, 2009

Part Vermont country life, part natural year chronology, part layperson's view of emerging environmental research issues, part cuddly mommy/daughter interactions. The recipe works, sometimes.

54. The Greatest Battle ***1/2

What a horrible conflict (Barbarosa and the Battle for Moscow, the largest battle in all of WW II), pitting two of histories most psychotic of despots against one another.

55. Sudden Sea ***
An ok read for these balmy, humid, murky, New England, September days...

56. Why You Say It ***

A very long glossary of 600 mostly out-dated words and phrases. It is appropriate that the cover is decorated with gay (happy, not homosexual) nineties (1890s not 1990s) silhouettes. Some of these (moron, shindig, bootlick, bulldozer, fly off the handle) have somewhat interesting origins. Some (boner, flash in the pan, lay an egg) are certainly obsolete. Perhaps this is a good compliment to something like the Urban Dictionary.

57. Thermopylae The Battle that Changed the World ***

An ok re-hash of Herodotus, and a nice readable summary of this ancient Persian War. The author provides interesting accounts of Spartan society. The later chapters provide a description of Western Civilization's artistic and literary response to this epic battle. There's some redundancy throughout the book, but it's not too tedious. There is very little about how this battle changed the world.

58. Rocket Men ****1/2

Wow! What a rousing, fun adventure! Tom Wolfe wrote a fantastic story of cowboy dare-devil test pilots. Nelson produced a great sequel about the brilliant Engineer test pilots of the Apollo 11 mission. A sweeping overview of the Space program, from WW II V2 production to the 1990s, with all the requisite homage to the astronauts and astronaut wives.

59. Me of Little Faith ***1/2

This is a 4.5 star book. IF you listen to it on audio. And IF you forgo the dated, early-career, unsophisticated, 80s-centric, totally mis-placed play/comedy skit, at the end. We all know that Black is 30% brilliant wit, 69% delivery and 1% twitching (you can almost SEE it, in this audio version). There are great essays on a lot of topics, including cultists, tel-Evangelists, mediation, astrologers, Mormons, Amish etc. (but not Islamists - discretion is the better part of valor). The first couple chapters on Catholics and Jews, are priceless.

60. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do ***
Interesting first couple chapters, but a bit technical. I'm glad I read it.

I've a true story; as they say in Brooklyn, "Why would I lie?" I was in traffic, listening to the strategies of merging, considering moving to the left lane (the one to be eventually eliminated), concentrating on this audio version of the book, when, I hear brakes squeal and CRASH! Someone just wasn't paying attention. Ironic.

I assume you resisted getting out of your car to analyze the situation ;)

I'm just glad I didn't contribute to the cause of the accident!

61. The Geography of Bliss ***1/2
A mindless, fun travel memoir about a neurotic 40-something NPR reporter, traveling about Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Qatar, Bhutan, Thailand, India, etc., in search of the happiest of places.

62. The Ghost Map ****1/2
A great, true epidemiological thriller about a famous Dickens-era anesthesiologist. Dr. Snow found the root cause of a localized, horrific cholera epidemic in a matter of a couple days. Fascinating, from the very beginning (graphic descriptions of unsanitary, scatological, scavenging trades) to the epilogue (diversions about modern nuclear terrorism in urban areas).

63. Religions of the East Paths to Enlightenment ***1/2
Very good, very detailed, very overwhelming. I will have to listen to these lectures at least once more.

64. Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work ***1/2

65. The Razor's Edge ***3/4

Entertaining "Lost Generation" soap opera. It is touted as a "true story" (Maugham serves as a central character/narrator) where everyone gets what they want in life, a happy ending for all (well, not exactly). There are some interesting spiritual passages from the protagonist, a (young) WW I vet trying to find himself.

Have you ever seen Bill Murray's adaptation of The Razor's Edge? It's been a while, but I remember liking it. I saw it before reading the book, which usually makes me a bit more open minded about movie versions. :)

Now that I've read the book I'd love to see the movie - any version!

66. Lost in Shangri-La ***

Fairly-well researched and engaging account of WW II crash survivors in a Papua New Guinea valley filled with primitive villagers. Zuckoff did great job with describing the culture of American men and women. An interesting survival story that ends rather abruptly.

67. Clouds and Weather ***
I usually don't "read" field guides. I simply remove the ol' TBR designation after referring to them for some time. I had high hopes for this YA guide. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and for the amount of time I spend reading about weather, you'd think I'd retain something. This one is painfully short. 'Wish there was a bit more weather description associated with the common cloud formations, a bit less about the rare clouds, a better description of weather and fronts (and again, clouds associated with same), etc. 'A solid 2.857621. I'll round up.

68. The 5-Minute Iliad ***
Silly. Be sure you read every story covered, before you read Nagan's corresponding parody.

69. The Hinge Factor How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History **1/2

A great premise and a great selection of battles and major conflicts (but mostly battles; 4 1/2 stars). Crude, horribly confusing battle maps and awkward, disjointed prose. You'll get so much more from the better-written maps and articles from Wikipedia (1 star). Phony, contrived historical fiction dialogs that reminded me of those very early and poorly-funded days of the History Channel. (Remember when they'd show Pickett's Charge consisting of 6 portly 50-something re-enactors, bumbling over a split wood fence? And, they'd show some guy with a "Santy Clause" beard and gray uniform and call him General Lee? The narrative reminds me of those kind of production values - 1 1/2 stars.). Interesting obscure battles such as Tanga (1914) and interesting treatments of more well known events such as Tet. the Berlin Wall and Desert Storm (3 1/2 stars). Cryptic but interesting Bibliography (3 stars). All in all, a big amalgam of starry ambivalence.

70. The Arabian Nights Their Best Known Tales ***

The Arabian nights is on my literary bucket list. This audio selection marked the start of this considerable effort. From what I can determine, these tales are all dealing with treasure, revenge, poor somewhat evil spirits punished by King Soloman (and stuffed into jars, lamps, cans, Tupperware and all number of containers), magical transportation, etc. Who knew these stories were so... so religious?

I have a Lane translation kicking around here somewhere. I'll have to dig in sometime, but I'm a bit intimidated by the size and redundancy of this collection of stories. (If anyone can suggest a briefer, perhaps annotated volume, I'd be obliged.)

71. Captains Courageous ****
A fun, almost heart-warming (almost YA) 20th century version of The Prince and the Pauper and Moby Dick.

72. Infinite Jest ***1/2
Finished. Every Freakin' word. 'Too tired and overwhelmed to even consider any semblance of a review.

73. Elegant Complexity ***1/2
The chapter summaries were mostly a simple re-hash of the narrative. The author touts this book as spoiler free - uhm no kidding.

Thematic summaries were somewhat helpful.

Out of the 512 pages the 21/2 entitled "A More-or-less Chronological Ordering of IJ Subchapters", was invaluable.

74. Shorebirds (Peterson Field Guides: Young Naturalists) **

I read the whole thing; I hope I wasn't too blunt; here's my review:

"Really? Let's make a NA field guide with a couple dozen birds. What's the poor kid do? 'Think every Least Sandpiper is a Semi? 'Every Royal Tern is a Caspian? Every Greater Corm is a DC? Every Yellowlegs is a Greater? Every Great Egret is a Snowy, or a Cattle?

Bull hockey! 'Give the kid a real Petersons. Or a Sibley Guide. What is the little tyke's head gonna do, explode?

Whatta a crappy marketing ploy... "

75. Journeys of the Great Explorers: Columbus to Cook ****

Amazing. We've all seen movies of bare-footed "swabbies" scurrying around on the decks of sailing ships. But to think that they walked through Arctic snow -- with no additional clothes and the same bare feet. Incredible. History is stranger than fiction, indeed.

This Modern Scholar lecture series runs from Columbus to the time when the problems of scurvy and latitude, were licked, and there were virtually no more dotted lines on the maps. A very entertaining series.

76. Tender is the Night ****

A complex soap opera filled with unsavory, wealthy, dysfunctional characters.

Congrats on blowing past 75!

Congratulations!
I read Tender is the Night last year, I think, and loved it.

Thanks Doc and Jenn!

I needed to cleanse the ol' dawg palate after all that heady Fitzgeraldesque blather of facial reactions, neuroses, emotional responses, etc.

Hmm, then what next? Wodehouse! Perfect!

77. Love Among the Chickens ****
The hilarious introduction of that horrible rascal Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge. An early classic.

Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to be your favorite sports hero? I apparently haven't grown out of those urges. Ah, to think, speak or write like Wodehouse. One would certainly be the life of the party...

76. Nothing's Sacred ***
I impulsively picked this audiobook book (there is absolutely no sense in READING Lewis Black, again, it's all in the delivery) off the library shelf. A quarter-way through, I noticed it was a memoir! Very good narration of his personal experiences in the 60s. Among the cast of fascinating characters are a socially conscious Dad and a satirical Mom.

77. Books, Books, Books A Hilarious Collection of Literary Cartoons ***

A couple cartoons worth a chuckle or two.