Sandydog's Shot at 50

Again, I ended 2009 around the 35 range. Maybe this year!

1. The Histories
I finally, finally, finally finished this bad-boy, after many attempts. Most of the reading was done back in 2009 (and prior). There are a gazillion life stories. I especially enjoyed the book on Egypt and the last book(s) about Xerxes.

2. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar
The title caught my eye. This comprises about 10% philosophy overview and 90% really horrific, corny jokes. I can't really recommend it.

3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Writers would find this especially entertaining.

4. Sanctuary
I've read it was Faulkner's quickly-composed pot-boiler. This sordid story was a big commercial success.

5. The Cherry Orchard
Just a single play, but I'll take credit for it. I don't usually enjoy reading (or attending) plays. But it's Chekhov! Great writer.

6. Me Write Book
A hipper memoir than The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. I can't wait to read the prequel.

7. The Angry Clam
After that campy, celebrity memoir (#6), I decided on something more troubling, more deeply philosophical. This was an angst-ridden, chilling biography. Some day, time permitting, I will re-read this disturbing, dark story. I may never be the same person, again.

(By the way, I was trying to make a joke in the last post)

8. In Me Own Words
Another classic. I just got home, ripped open a shipping envelope from a half.com bookseller, sat down relaxed and finished this one in 7 hilarious minutes.

I'll get back to meatier stuff real soon. I've been reading Metamorphoses for ages. No time to read; I'll finish fairly soon.

I finally located your thread. Is the first one Herodotus? I have been wanting to read this for a while. I read it long ago, but I can't recall anything about it. Ovid is another one that I have been meaning to reread. Is it humorous? I can't really remember it, but I remember that I liked it when I read it.
--BJ

>4 Sandydog1:,5 I have to say I didn't get it...! But I've added both to my list anyway... lol

BJ,

Yes, Herodotus. I think I must have run into one of the more stodgy, stale translations (Harry Carter) because I found parts boring. How could anyone find Herodotus boring? However, the first book, of course the Egypt book and the latter Persian invasion books are very entertaining. The Egypt book/"chapter" reads like, "Hey, let's goof on this Greek tourist and tell him zany stories as if they are true!"

The edition (Heritage) is visually beautiful. I'm told in the LT world, that The Landmark Herodotus is an excellent translation. I just didn't have access to it. Lesson learned: If you are going to tackle something voluminous, get the best, most clear translation possible. This was a tougher read for me than The Bible and we all know how crazy the prose in THAT book, is!

There's a recent travelogue about Herodotus, in my TBR file; I just don't recall the title right now. Too many books in my head.

Lisa,

Those bigfoot books are hilarious, campy; more so I think, than The Angry Clam.

The only down-side is that they are all too short!

9. Bill Bryson's African Diary
Here's another tiny book that I really wish was quite a bit longer. In less than 50 pages Bryson tells of his 8-day tour of Kenya and provides an excellent soft sell of CARE International's efforts to give people a future. This is a wonderful book and since I bought it used (all sale proceeds go to CARE) I'll have to send some money along.

>8 Sandydog1:: Maybe you're thinking of Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski? I haven't read it but have read another of his books that was great.

I have also tried a couple of times to read The Histories, but I couldn't quite get into it. A different translation sounds like a good idea.

Yes that's it carlym. Speaking of classical stuff, I finally finished Ovid:

10. Metamorphoses
Seemingly dozens of rape stories, and the only prevention mechanism was to be morphed into a laurel tree, cow, toaster oven, you name it. And sometimes even that didn't stop these twisted deities. There were many other snippets of the well known stories of Perseus, Theseus, Icarus, Jason, etc., as well as some "new" takes on Aeneas and Ulysses. I was intrigued by the brief comments about natural history (ie, spontaneous generation).

The stories and characters are many; it can get confusing. Also, I don't think I caught much of Ovid's humor. I listened to the Blackstone Recording and the reader was excellent. Sometimes however he did sound like the possessed Rick Moranes character in the first Ghostbusters movie.

Overall however, it was a very fanciful and worthwhile experience.

11. Idiot America
"This is still the best country ever in which to peddle complete public lunacy."

This book was derived from a magazine article and still reads like one. Sad and disturbing topics included Donnelly's 19th century bunco about Atlantis, dinosaurs with saddles at the Creationism museum, denial of global warming, the horrible and twisted reaction to the Terri Schiavo case, Iraq's WMD (including the "fact" that Iraq was importing MILLIONS of tons of highly-accounted-for yellow cake uranium), the prohibition of the Surgeon General to mention AIDs, and other cases of Americans following the lead of various cranks.

The book is fascinating but is only a study of the recognition of the gullibility of Americans. The book spends little time on evaluation of these bizare cases of outrage or ways to abate this strange and perverted public opinion.

The subtitle is, "How stupidity became a virtue in the land of the free." I think the proper term is gullibility. I don't think the author really explained the root cause for America's stupidity.

12. Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine

My son asked me to read this because he has it as a school assignment. I remember Pre and all the other runners of that period. I believe that they were more famous in 1974 than runners of today.

13. Jaguars Ripped my Flesh
Cahill has probably had one of the most interesting and exciting careers of anyone. I'm looking forward to reading more of his magazine compilations.

13a. In a Nutshell: The Renaissance
I just finished this 78-minute audio lecture. Excellent!

>14 Sandydog1:: Cahill has the most amazing adventures and willingness to try all sorts of things. I really enjoy his books.

14. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

It was ok; it wasn't a particularly funny set of stories. However, this was the audio version, and it included a couple readings from his Carnegie Hall album. Those were hilarious!Note to self: Sedaris Memoirs, no; Sedaris humor essays: 5-stars.

15. In Trouble Again

I have a colleague who was an explorer in the 1970s, back when you couldn't buy batteries or camera film in the African bush. I LOVE exploration/adventure stories from the 1960s to 1980s, when there were still lost lands, and the earth hasn't shriveled up from all the stressors so elequently described by Thomas Friedman.

This book describes a 4-month exploration of Amazonia and although it ends rather abruptly, is a classic example of one of my all-time favorite genres.

O'Hanlon tells us that, when you shoot a Howler Monkey out of tree, and run over to kill it, IT COVERS ITS HEAD WITH ITS HANDS. I don't miss too many meals, but that kind of fellow-primate cannibalism would stop me cold. I'll stick with 12 hours of shuttling around Central American habitats in the beautiful eco-tour buses. When the sun sets, its off to a delicious meal, cold local beers and luxury ecolodge beds, free of black fly swarms, ticks, tarantulas, mosquitoes, fer de lances, botflies, bullet ants, chiggers, etc.

I'll skip the yoppo pipe that causes your head to explode in projectile brown snot and puke. I'll skip the fear of 6-foot long silent curare arrows. And I'll definitely skip dining on any primate body parts.

But I WILL continue to read Redmond O'Hanlon!

That one is going on my TBR list! (I definitely prefer reading about dangerous adventures and living vicariously through the author's experiences than having those adventures myself--I want a bug-free, snake-free hotel!)

Great review of a book that I have wondering about for a while. Thanks!
--BJ

Just found your thread. Nice list of books so far. Chekhov is one of my favorite authors. I studied his plays extensively in grad school and The Cherry Orchard is pretty darn amazing work. I highly recommend Uncle Vanya, as well. There's a very, very good movie adaptation called Vanya on 42nd Street. It's not, as the title might suggest, a modernization of the play, but instead a straightforward performance by some very good actors in what was then an abandoned old theater on 42nd Street in New York.

Thanks again for the kind words, BJ. Good to hear from you again.

And thanks for the recommendation, rocket; Uncle Vanya is definitely on my "TBR" list, regardless of the delivery format.

16. The God Delusion
Brilliant and well, inspirational. I will definitely have to read this classic again, in order to fully understand all the arguments and essays.

17. The World is Flat
This was the updated version. As good as its successor, Hot, Flat and Crowded and that book was one of my favorites.

18. Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking
A good, basic, obvious self-help easy read. It has heavy emphasis on younger children, rather than teenagers.

19. Isaac Newton by James Gleick
Short with flowery language, especially because there are a ton of 17th Century quotes. I especially liked the last chapter which described Newton's legacy. A fascinating life.

20. Our Man in Havana

21. A Brief History of Time
Probably one of the best, most concise books about the universe, that are out there. It was a bit like reading Ulysses. As I'm getting through it I'm thinking, "Damn, I'm going to have to read this a few times".

I have wanted to read A Brief History of Time for years. Wonder where my copy is? I read Our Man in Havana last year after seeing the movie. I liked it. But then, I like spy books in general.
--BJ

22. Canoeing With the Cree
A light boyhood adventure, written like a stilted "Boy's Life" article. But heck, Eric was 17 when he wrote this!

23. The Quiet American
I liked this much, much more than the funnier Our Man in Havana. This short novel had everything: colonialism, sexual competition, loneliness, and a very honest helping of deceit. This has become one of my all-time favorites.

I liked that one, too. Have you read The Human Factor? I am thinking about getting it, but I don't know too much about it.
--BJ

No BJ, but it is now on my list! Looks good.

24. Three Men in a Boat
I'm "cheating" again; I just finished this severely abridged Argo Audio version read by Jeremy Nicholas. I usually avoid abridged books like the plague, but it was all I had. It was very Wodehouse-esque.

25. A Year in the Life of Shakespeare 1599

I did it again. I really do usually avoid abridged books like the plague. Or Ebola. Or Legionella pnuemophilla. Or Syphyllis. Aw, you get my point.

One can never know what one has missed, and it is therefore unfair to the author to try to provide a review.

This was a very clear, understandable, accessible narrative of a single year in Shakespeare's long career. The format works well. There are plenty of discussions of what is going on in England at this time, and how it directly affected Mr. Shakespeare's plays.

I even skipped the entire last CD. It comprised excerpts from plays written in 1599. Strange. Wouldn't it had been better used for material that made it to the cutting floor?

But actually, this abridged audio version was plenty of book for me. Wonderful.

I'm still chugging along with The End of Oil and when that gets too meaty, and for my commute, I'm listening to Down and Out in Paris and London.

26. Down and Out in Paris and London

5 stars. Orwell is a masterful writer.

27. Blue Latitudes
Anything by Mr. Horwitz is wonderful.

28. Lost on Planet China
Mr. Troost is not as entertaining as Tony Horwitz, but this too, was a good read.

I've really picked up the pace for me, and a lot of titles that I'm reading concurrently, are coming to an end.

29. 1000 Most Challenging Words

According to the subtitle, this book is "entertaining" and "fun and instructive". It is, from "a fortiori" to "zeugma".

But sometimes it does get bogged down in origins, derivations and ostentatious definitions. You must pay attention. You can end up reading a quarter page description and still miss the definition. Definitions and examples could be made a bit more clear, concise. This would help to keep the eyes from glazing over.

Take it in small bits and like some other books that are must reads - How to Read a Book comes to mind - stay with it. It may not always be entertaining, but it is good for you.

>35 Sandydog1:: Have you read Troost's other books? I thought Sex Lives of Cannibals was hysterically funny but that the second one (can't remember the name now) wasn't quite as good. I have Lost on Planet China on the shelf but haven't read it yet.

I believe the other one was, Getting Stoned with Savages. I've read neither but both are on my TBR pile!

Thanks for the comment! Sex Lives of Cannibals has moved up the list a bit.

30. Suburban Safari
Ms. Holmes is no Bernd Heinrich, but this is a somtimes fun seasonal story of a Southern Maine yard.

31. The Checklist Manifesto
Gawande describes the necessity of simple, clear checklists to complete complex tasks with few errors. Examples come from surgery, construction, airlines, and investments. He also provides eloquent explanation of the resistence to checklists. They are percieved as denigrating, mundane and obvious.

But they work and Gawande has provided objective evidence that checklists prevent mistakes.

32. Back from Tuichi

This is a 3-week long Amazon survival story written in terse English by an Israeli backpacker. Ghinsberg had joined three other relative strangers on an ill-concieved trip in the Bolivian rainforest. He suffers the usual afflicitons (heat, cold, fungal rashes, mosquitoes, fire ants, botflies, etc.) before being miraculously discovered.

33. The End of Oil
The back cover states, "You live in this world. You use the oil. You must read this book." Published in 2004, with an afterword added in 2005, this book is surprisingly current. Clear, concise a mere 340 pages on a massive topic) and well written. 5 stars.

34. The Reader's Companion
Oh no, just what I need, another source for more TBR books! I just breezed through this 244-page compendium of experts' recommendations of books for all subjects. I did so, while punching in titles into LT. Add books, Add books, Add Books, wish list, wish list, wish list. Highly recommended (as if you can't find enough great stuff already, from the wonderful LT members!)

35. Against the Day
I FINALLY finished this 1100-page surreal amalgam of historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, obscenity (not erotica; I knows it when I sees it), travel-adventure, post-modernism, violence, greed, anarchy, allusions, capitalism, and early 20th century zaniness.

Whew! That one made Joyce's Ulysses seem like The Pokey Little Puppy.

#34: Book lists are so much fun!

#35: I'm not sure I'm up for that one. I've never read any Pynchon, though, and I feel like I should at some point.

Aw c'mon Carly, give AtD a try (he says, with a sadismo gleam in his eye). There are some good annotations and references online.

I'm looking at maybe joining a slew of other LTers, and reading Infinite Jest next. Another goal is to go after Gargantua and Pantagruel and Anatomy of Melancholy, as prerequisites for Tristam Shandy.

My my, the lazy old dog sure sounds ambitious, today...

BTW Carly, you've got some library, especially a great NF collection! My wishlist grows and grows.

36. The Happiness Project

I enjoyed this simply-written, pop self-improvement guide. Rubin embarked in a year of happiness projects, and encourages the reader to do so also. She demonstrated enormous drive and energy in tackling a new subject (organization, friendship, spirituality) each month, while retaining most new happiness habits throughout the year.

The book is worth skimming, and adopting those activities that make sense to you. You will probably find that some examples, blog reader submittals, heck, entire chapters, are just not that interesting or relevant to you.

Take what you want. Check out her blog as well.

#46: I just read a review of another Pynchon book, Inherent Vice, and the reviewer described it as funny and as his most accessible work. I think I might give that a try first!

Thanks for the compliment. I've certainly added a lot of books based on recommendations from others on LT.

37. Night
Simple, eloquent, profound.

38. Fugitives and Refugees
The dawg pound is heading out to Oregon for vacation soon, so I thought I'd prepare. This is very short, gritty, raunchy fun guide about Portland, written by the author of Fight Club.

Carly, you are reading my mind. I picked up an audio version of Inherent Vice from the library, just the other night.

Horrors! I've gone all these years and haven't read To Kill a Mockingbird. I am thoroughly enjoying reading it during its 50th aniversary.

Pynch will have to wait a few.

39. Nature Walks in Connecticut
This isn't a cover-to-cover type book. I skimmed this one, stopping to read all the descriptions and footnote stories along the way. For such a small State there are many similar CT hiking guides, all with a similar format. This is one of the best.

#50: You'll probably get to it before I do, then. I'm interested to read your thoughts on it!

Will do carly; I'll start soon!

40. Insider's Guide Oregon Coast Third Edition
(I'm having trouble with the touchstone.)

This is a very generic and brief description of attractions, lodging, restaurants, etc. organized by northern, central and southern portions of the coast. Surf the net instead.

And, Insider's Guide Driving the Pacific Coast. Different author, same story. An AAA book would provide more information. I'll add this 200-page, large print edition to item 40 because it took me minutes to thoroughly scan both.

41. To Kill a Mockingbird
It's not maudlin, predictable, or God forbid, YA. It is a masterpiece; as good as anything by Melville, Crane, Twain, Faulkner.

42. Not So Funny When it Happened
These were short travel magazine articles with even shorter vignettes and corny cartoons sprinkled in. Trite, campy, sometimes gross, sometimes funny. Great title, though.

43. 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast
Very useful and informative.

44. The Hidden Forest
Using a Willamette National Forest study area as a backdrop, this book provides a clear, useful, entertaining and concise overview of important ecology topics. Microrhizomal relationships, nitrogen fixation, forest fragmentation, species diversity, forest economics, the Spotted Owl controversy, salmon fisheries, pressure on academics to generate woefully short-term studies, and US Forest Service politics are some of the fascinating topics.

Very highly recommended.

45. Gem Trails of Oregon

When roaming the stacks at Powell's Books, I noticed the staff recommendation tag. Book in hand, I recently spent a peaceful 90 minutes at Short Beach (Cape Meares), relieving the state of Oregon of about 3 pounds of agates and jaspers.

Walking down the hundred steps to the beach, I took a quick left on the trail and 2 steps later was over the wooden flume overlooking the beach. Scrawled on the wooden frame was the word "CHILL". Learning about that location alone, was well worth the price of this book.

46. World War Z
A clever, Turkel-esque allegory for any end-of-the world or meta-war scenario.

47. The Zombie Survival Guide Clever and funny in a sick dystopian way. Although not as good as Brooks' docudrama "World war Z", it is still a unique and fun book.

48. And No Birds Sang
Mowat's chilling account of his Canadian Regiment's close-combat in the Italian countryside. This tale of the usual WWII fare - confusion, poor equipment, poor planning, bravery, tenacity, fatigue and terror - ends abrubtly as Mowat fights exhaustion and battle fatigue in the heat of battle.

49. Inherent Vice
On this one, Pynch has mixed in a bit of Tony Hillerman, along with his usual Christopher Moore and James Joyce. This hippy detective romp is much more accessible than say, Against the Day, but this too has a dizzying array of characters.

50. I'm a Stranger Here Myself
I read this back in 2003 and frankly, had forgotten. I think Bryson is a bit more clever than Barry or Bombeck; probably because he spent 20 years in the UK!

50! Woohoo!

Congrats on reaching 50!

I"m glad to see the good review of Inherent Vice. I still haven't even gotten the book, so I'm way behind!

Aw shucks, some of those were 10-minute reads. I promise to keep going to legitimize things! Thanks so much both of you, for the encouragement! This is definitely the most I've ever read in one year, during my entire, very long, lifetime.

51. The Road
Jaunty, heartwarming, picaresque, father-son Hallmark After School Special. NOT!!! Great book. Beautifully written and a fast, easy read.

I took out On the Road at the same time, from the library. I muttered to the librarian, I've a theme here. She said, "Are you going on a trip?" Yeah sure, a wild drug-crazed, dystopian one.

Congratulations on reaching 50!! Happy Reading!!--Tammy

52. On the Road
Revolutionary writing immediately following WW II (!) Today these characters just seem like another bunch of opportunistic asshats. Although I wasn't swept off my feet, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

53. I Hate People

A detailed how-to guide for a business "soloist", written in a classic airport business book format. Full of trite "studies have shown", anecdotes. Sections on how to regulate the behaviors of obnoxious co-workers seemed useful. Practical guidance on email, phone and cube procedures were less useful. Catchy title, though.

#64 Thanks so much! Again, some of those books listed amount to not much more than childrens books, but I will keep going!

54. Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion
I didn't read this monster cover-to-cover. It is not meant to be read like that. I did read a significant number of the articles about all of North America's birds. There is no longer any need to accumulate a birding library. Buy a Sibley Field Guide, pick up a copy of this door-stop, and your reference library is complete. Plus you get all sorts of classic Dunne-isms and quaint nicknames. Five stars.

55. Bad Trips
This is a huge compilation of travel "horror" stories, most of which come from chapters of travel books. In spite of some great books represented, and great authors (Greene, Updike, Mathiesson), the format just doesn't seem to work.

56. The Canon
I had no sooner finished reading the painfully long introduction, thinking, "wow, this sounds like NPR," when I actually heard a Ms Angier essay, on NPR. The essay on the radio wasn't too bad. The chapters in this ostentatiously-titled book however, seemed to get progressively worse.

As I read further and further, I began to wonder, what do these incessant, distracting, cutesy, corny, quips, remind me of? Sedaris? No. 'Maybe that Carrie Bradshaw character on Sex and the City? Yeah. 'Or even better, a Saturday Night Live charicatured skit based on Sex and the City? That's it!

I learned quite a bit. But Pulitzer Prize winning science writers shouldn't describe space as "inky-dinky" and really shouldn't call solvent vapors from nail salons, "fumes".

If you have the urge to read this book I suggest reading a wittier compilation, like Bill Bryson's effort, first. Better yet read it twice. Then tackle this one. You will find about 50% of it fascinating. The remainder are puns for 9-year old girls.

Two stars for the writing style and blather. A full extra star for some of the most fascinating topics in all of non-fiction.

Great review of The Canon! And my congrats also on passing 50 books.
--BJ

57. Born to Run

Best-book-on-running-ever. I got a bit kerflempt at the end.

This book is full of contradictions. Disjointed chapters but flawlessly written and readable. Funny but sad. Orthotics or barefoot. Wilderness or civilization. Desert beauty or dehydration and death. Four stars, wait, what about the final finish? Five stars.

58. The Planets

Short, lyrical and sometimes interesting.

59. Everyman
A beautifully written lonely and poignant story of a philandering Ad man. It's Ivan Ilyach in New Jersey.

60. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
I particularly enjoyed the essays and lecures on teaching, science in general, Los Alamos and religion. I found the details of nanocomputers and the Space Shuttle investigation, a bit boring. Overall, an enjoyable read.

61. 100 One-night reads: A Book Lover's Guide

I really enjoy reading about books on LT and I enjoy books about books. Do you see a trend here?

This book about really good books, is written by a co-author of The New Lifetime Reading Plan. It's got some great titles. I'm looking forward to moving on and reading many more, of them.

62. Naked Lunch
Uh, EEEWWWWW...

I'm glad my audio version was chock full of essays, postcripts and other fascinating explanations by the author. Note to self: stay clear of the ol' opiates.

63. Good Birders Don't Wear White

If you're a beginning birder who just "got bitten" by the birding obsession, here's your 5-star book. 50 short essays by the top names in birding. Most essays are corny, quaint, comic and cute. Others have valuable bits of sage advice that are well-explained. These topics include prepare for comfort, choose quality tools, be courteous, slow down, watch the weather, go out in all kinds of weather, learn species distributions, take field notes, conserve natural resources where you can, take sketches, question authority, enjoy birds wherever you go. This is a short book and a fast read; great for situations where you have snippets of reading time.

As for the reading year, I'm humming along. I'm still ticking off light fare such as this along with the more meatier tomes.

#75: I tried to read that one a while ago and couldn't get through it. After reading a little bit of it, I felt like I got the point and did not need any more grossness.

Exactly, carly. You can read the chapters in any order, you can read any or all of it, it simply didn't seem to matter. Burroughs set out to disgust and he did an excellent job of it.

There are a lot of critically acclaimed forms of art out there. Examples include Lolita and Eminem's early albums. 'Don't mean I have to enjoy them, though.

64. Gobal Warming: Global Threat
This is a The Modern Scholar series of audio lectures by a Harvard Professor.

It is an excellent primer on this complicated climatological subject. There are 14 lectures from 2002(!) and many of them described existing earth history and natural systems.

65. Preventing Arthritis: A Holistic Approach to Life Without Pain

This is a very brief primer on a variety of arthritis subjects. It covers all treatments, but not in detail. It lacks a lot of references to peer reviewed studies. This is particularly bothersome for controversial treatments such as use of magnets.

66. God is Not Great

Hitchens' angry diatribe against (mostly, organized) religion.

67. Eaarth

This book resembles a portion of Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded. It's four chapters seem a bit unrelated. Still, it is a very interesting and disturbing short read.

68. Field Days
Here's yet another book of musings by a naturalist country dude.

69. The Ambassadors
Dense, dense, dense! This one was much tougher than any of the similar soap operas penned by his contemporary and friend, Edith Wharton.

James must hold the world record for commas...

70. How to Spot an Owl

This is a little, concise, presumably out-of-print (already?) book about finding owls. The Suttons, of course, somewhat emphasize New Jersey and Northeast Owling, but this doesn't detract from the unique information provided. Pete Dunne's forward describing a night at Cape May Meadows, will make you gasp. The section on owling ettiquete is essential and the species profiles are excellent. The profiles do cover the entire US (of course) and contain very specific locating information such as temporal activity, roost and nest preferences, etc. These species accounts are much more valuable than those found in any of the dozens of "owl picture books".

The photos are stunning. This book is full of familiar owl shots such as those previously published by Art Wolfe.

If you haven't found one of those rare, old, local, owlers, if you otherwise don't have access (and the trust and friendship of) a sage who spends countless hours peering under trees at whitewash, this is the book to get you started. The Suttons (with decades of owl finding/banding experience) are outstanding substitutes.

Go search for this book and go find some owls. Owls are much harder to find than the book implies. Be patient, keep quiet, walk softly.

71. Cry, The Beloved Country

Released just 2 years before the official beginning of Apartheid (1946). Lyrical and poignant.

72. In Cold Blood
After that last book, I guess I hadn't had enough of breaking and entering - and murder.

'An investigative reporting masterpiece.

73. Common Sense
Brief and very accessible and "readable". That is, Paine has a simple, easy to understand 18th century writing style. Very interesting.

74. The Confessions
Ok, unlike the previous post, this one by a our rhetoric-loving Bishop of Hippo, was a real tough read. I finally got through it though. I thought I would prefer the first 9 autobiographical chapters. But some passages in the last 4 chapters were of interest, especially comments about time, memory and Genesis. I have to admit, other passages seemed reminiscent of Monty Python monologues.

Wow - great reading recently!

Thanks, NMRM!

Hoo-wee, was it The Confessions ever BORING!

Translation: The reader knows very little of early Western Catholicism, the nuances of Latin translations, 5th Century rhetoric, Manichaesim, Neo-Platonism, etc.

You get what you put into it. At least I gave it the College try!

75. An Underground Education
It was indeed, fascinating and sometimes deeply weird.

76. Invisible Man
Camus, with soul. Dripping of symbolism. As a matter of fact, it's all symbolism.

76 titles; wow.

My first year of getting to 50, and it was a busy year indeed. Some books were essays, kiddie books or stories a few pages long; some were voluminous monsters. However, I did list 76. Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement, folks! I'm off to join the big boys and girls at the 75-Book Challenge. Come along!

I will of course, visit and lurk here, often.

Congratulations on 50+!! I'll look for you in the 75-ers group.

#94> Have fun with the 75ers. This "big boy" is staying keeping his thread in the 50-Book Challenge group, however. :)

An awesome reading year. Congratulations!

Thanks so much Carly, Rocket, Tropics et al. There are great conversations and book ideas all over both the 50- and 75-Book Groups.

Here's where I am for 2011 so far:

1. Holy Cow
2. Good Dog, Stay
3. The Guinea Pig Diaries
4. Stumbling on Happiness
5. No Country for Old Men
6. The Preservationist
7. My American Journey
8. Dispatches
9. Buddha
10. The Seashell on the Mountaintop
11. The Last River
12. Start Late, Finish Rich