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The Lady in White:
Turns out that the common scenerio, seen in innumerable mysteries, draumas, and sitcoms, in which two characters look very much alike... and are soon mistaken for each other was present in one of the very first mysteries: Woman in White. Nice enough book but no great shakes. Two stars. Rereading Pickwick Papers next.
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3/28/2011 3:03 PM
john
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Romola:
As expected, this was excellent as far as the writing is concerned. It is placed in an historical context which spoils it a bit. Like most media (books, movies, whatever) that are "based on a true story" it is a bit weak in the sequence of events (the truth-- it turns out--is generally pretty boring). Also far too many crazy/long Italian names are introduced. However, I did enjoy it and could possible listen to it again if, and when, I break both my legs.
Next--- "The Lady in White" Wilkie Collins
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1/18/2011 4:52 PM
john
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Scarlet Pimpernel:
Two thumbs down. I finished it but only because I have a neurosis about completion. As I feared it is on the order of "The Count of Monte Christo." I wonder how these two books remain popular.. probably a "tween" level book at best. Generally these old classics can be counted on for an interesting style if nothing else but not in this case.
Next "Romola", George Eliot. I have much better expectations....
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12/1/2010 11:34 AM
john
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A Prayer for Own Meany- John Irving:
Just finished this audiobook. It's a good example of a book that is probably more enjoyable as a recording since "the voice" adds considerable interest. It is well constructed and has understated descriptions in general but very nicely developed characters and outlandish plot twists. Two thumbs up... but watch out for the diamond saw.
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11/15/2010 3:48 PM
john
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Desperate Measures- Thomas Hardy:
Just finished listening (16 hours)to this audiobook. A chief enjoyment of Hardy's books (and Jane Austin, Bronte, et al) are the little verbal asides and tangential comments on the human condition that are interwoven. Hardy's books were considered pretty racy/edgy in their day. It is his first book and not as well done as his later ones but still worth listening to if you have a long car drive or long hikes. Seems like most of his books involve the town of Casterbridge in one way or the other. This one was classified as a "novel of ingenuity"-- which would now be called a mystery.
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10/28/2010 4:42 PM
john
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The tattoo'd girl series:
I listened to these three in sucession. Pretty good in a pulp fiction, made for TV type way. Not great writing and could have been edited better. I am thinking that since the author kicked the bucket shortly after turning these in to the editor that they may not have had the full treatment.
It is quite evident from these books that the Swede's drink a lot of coffee.. a whole lot.. and usually with sandwiches.
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10/7/2010 3:17 PM
john
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Never Let Me Go:
Just finished listening to this book. I chose it on impulse based on a brief book review I saw somewhere. Despite all the rave reviews, I would not recommend it. It deals with a mildly dystopian world, rather disconcertingly set in modern times. I won't give away the details but it has a rather glaring plot hole that is never addressed or alluded to, that pretty much drowns the otherwise mildly interesting story. It reminds me of "flowers in the attic" a equally misguided book choice that was maddening because the characters seem to have no engagement with the predicament... they just drift along saying "dear me." Same thing in this one.
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10/4/2010 11:03 AM
john
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Just finished Pinker's "The Blank Slate." The guy is a genius, of course. I like these far-flung, expansive works that take on over-arching, elusive, questions and provide solid data and explanations. He is a fan of Dawkins and his book unfolds like one of R.D.'s. I may even make another run at "The Stuff of Thought" which proved too dense for listening to on the elipto-cycle... I might have to read it on paper....
nick(Sunday, May 9 9:38:47 PM Pacific Standard Time): Good to know. I've had this on my bookshelf for a long time but haven't read it -- will now. I've been reading Complications by Atul Gawande. It's about complications in surgery. Interesting read, but might be boring for you I guess.
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5/3/2010 6:35 PM
john
(Modified 5/9/2010 11:38 PM)
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Best Books of 2008 : NPR:
Best Books of
2008, in which our critics name their top picks for the year. We'll add
new lists throughout the holiday season.
NPR picks the year's best books, including fiction, history, cooking, graphic
novels and memoirs.
IN THIS SERIES
December 17, 2008 · You know you have a terrific book
in your hands when you encounter language or elegantly presented research that
startles you into fresh awareness; you know it when the atmosphere of a novel
doesn't leave you for days, or years. (1) (49)
December 16, 2008 · Don't let the capes and external
underwear fool you; no longer escapist entertainment, superhero comics capture
the timbre of the times as no pollster can. And this year, the mood is
dark. (1) (4)
December 15, 2008 · Dear reader, sitting down with a
collection of letters — or a vivid reflection on them — affords a singularly
intimate encounter with a writer, so please give a look to these exercises in
mail bonding. (0) (14)
December 12, 2008 · If reading a story is — as John
Gardner said — like falling into a vivid and continuous waking dream, then is
giving a book like giving someone a dream? Reviewer Alan Cheuse puzzles over the
perfect books for your loved ones this year. (3) (52)
November 20, 2008 · Reading shouldn't be work; it
should be pleasure, even as it teaches us something about ourselves, or about
the world of history and time. (1) (237)
December 11, 2008 · Small-town America may or may not
be the heart of the country, but it sure is at the heart of many of the books
suggested by the independent booksellers this year. (8) (89)
November 18, 2008 · To swipe the immortal lines
uttered by Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, a great mystery should take
"the lid off life and let [you] look at the works." Maureen Corrigan's picks for
the top five crime novels of the year do just that. (1) (109)
December 8, 2008 · This holiday season, as we stand
at the brink of a new administration, there's a thrill of history in the air.
These books will help anyone, whatever his or her politics, understand what the
nation has come though to reach this moment. (10) (57)
December 1, 2008 · Works of humor, wisdom, supreme
originality and stunning ambition top Jessa Crispin's foreign fiction list.
Engage the global conversation with these five novels from five countries. (2) (62)
December 4, 2008 · No longer only for kids, geeks,
nerds and aging baby boomers longing for a second childhood, graphic novels are
showing themselves a medium of startling breadth and grace. Don't call them a
genre anymore; cutting-edge graphic novels exist for everyone. (3) (36)
November 26, 2008 · The events of 2008 raised a raft
of controversies to national consciousness. These powerful books wrap the issues
in compelling narratives — and provide the perspective of history. (4) (68)
December 3, 2008 · Nothing bridges the gap between
here and there, then and now like a story. These powerful, personal books
examine the exile's life and celebrate lost cities of memory. (0) (33)
November 24, 2008 · The season of giving makes us
think big, and that means picture books — from coffee-table extravaganzas to
smaller stuff that's big on surprise and ambition. (2) (50)
November 23, 2008 · If there's any unforeseen upside
of the economic crisis, it's this: People are cooking again. This year's
collection of cookbooks promises surprisingly delicious weeknight dinners that
don't dirty every pot you own, made from ordinary ingredients. (6) (58)
November 25, 2008 · A novel about a notorious Florida
outlaw and a history of Thomas Jefferson's hidden slave family were among the
winners at the 59th annual awards. (0) (48)
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12/17/2008 11:32 PM
john
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Omnivore's Dilemma is a pretty interesting analysis of where food comes from these days. It's always been slightly disconcerting to me to not have seen the animals I eat live and die. The author, Pollan, goes from where the grains that fed the animal were grown, to the animal, to the processing plant, and to the store. He does a pretty good job of describing the scene, but gets a bit too philosophical/grandiose at times for my taste. He also makes some logical leaps that are not well supported. I would have enjoyed the book more if it kept to the facts. In any case, it is packed with little-known and intriguing facts about how our diets have changed over the past 100 years and definitely makes me think more about what's going on before I buy or eat food. Recommended.
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8/19/2008 11:13 PM
nick
(Modified 8/19/2008 11:23 PM)
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Couple of interesting and recommended recent books:
Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria
The former is a bit shocking at times but he makes some convincing arguments that will make you rethink some assumptions. The latter draws a line between liberty and democracy and explores the distinction and what happens if you have democracy without guarantees of liberty, with a poor or uneducated populace, etc.
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8/18/2007 3:22 PM
nick
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Top 100 - Project Gutenberg:
Top 100 EBooks yesterday
Manual of Surgery by Alexander Miles and Alexis
Thomson (670)
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) by J. Arthur
Thomson (566)
Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and
During the Renaissance Period by Paul Lacroix (449)
Jokes For All Occasions by Anonymous (357)
Searchlights on Health by B. G. Jefferis and J. L.
Nichols (357)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (280)
Kamasutra by Vatsyayana (266)
Our Day by William Ambrose Spicer (266)
Illustrated History of Furniture by Frederick
Litchfield (264)
Woman as Decoration by Emily Burbank (255)
A First Spanish Reader by Alfred Remy and Erwin W.
Roessler (226)
The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain
English by Ray Vaughn Pierce (223)
A Master of Mysteries by Robert Eustace and L. T.
Meade (222)
Ulysses by James Joyce (219)
The Mafulu by Robert Wood Williamson (212)
Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney
(210)
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci ? Complete by
Leonardo da Vinci (203)
Custom and Myth by Andrew Lang (191)
The Bontoc Igorot by Albert Ernest Jenks (187)
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (184)
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8/10/2007 11:32 PM
john
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What Should I Read Next?:
Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our database of real
readers' favourite books (over 32,000 and growing) to suggest what you could
read next. (You can register
on the results page and build your own favourites list)
Title:
Author:
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7/26/2007 10:09 PM
john
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Classic Short Stories:
This Web site is dedicated to the short story and to those interested in reading
light prose.
Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This
is unfortunate--so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work
can give. The goal of this site is to give a nice cross section of short stories
in the hope that these short stories will excite these people into rediscovering
this excellent source of entertainment.
Happy reading!
An Affair of State--Guy de Maupassant
(1850-1893) Afterward--Edith Wharton
(1862-1937) The Ambitious
Guest--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) Araby--James Joyce (1883-1941)
The Baron of Grogzwig--Charles Dickens
(1812-1870) Bellflower--Guy de Maupassant
(1850-1893) The Bet--Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov (1860-1904) Beware of the Dog--Roald
Dahl (1916-1990) Beyond the Wall--Ambrose
Bierce (1842-1914) The Black Cat--Edgar
Allan Poe (1809-1849) A Blackjack
Bargainer--O. Henry (1862-1910) The
Boarded Window--Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) The Burial of the Guns--Thomas Nelson Page
(1853-1922) A Burlesque
Biography--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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7/15/2007 10:53 PM
john
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Mission Earth (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Critical reactions
In spite of its sales success, Mission Earth was lambasted by critics,
receiving many negative reviews. It is frequently cited within science fiction
circles as one of the worst science fiction novels of all time. The influential
Encyclopedia of Science
Fiction comments on the series as "one of the great embarrassments of
modern science fiction." More forgiving literary critics usually cite
Battlefield Earth as Hubbard's best work of the later years of his life.
(i.e. better than Mission Earth, his only other later work).
The New York
Times review of the first volume, The Invaders' Plan, describes
it as "... a paralyzingly slow-moving adventure enlivened by interludes of kinky
sex, sendups of effeminate homosexuals and a disregard of conventional grammar so global as to suggest a satire
on the possibility of communication through language."[1]
In L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, a survey of Hubbard's literary
career, Marco Frenschkowski of the Johannes Gutenberg
University of Mainz described the Mission Earth series:[2]
The satire is not humorous, but biting and harsh, which makes the novels not
easy to read. Also Hubbard somehow had lost contact with developing narrative
techniques: he writes exactly as he had done 40 years earlier. When read as
entertainment Mission Earth is disappointing: it does not entertain. Many
of the scenes (especially some sexual encounters) are incredibly grotesque, not
in a pornographic sense, but they are violently aggressive about modern American
ideals. The Mission Earth novels on the whole are a subversive, harsh,
poignant attack on American society in the 1980s. As such they have so far received almost no
attention, which perhaps they do deserve a bit more. They also have some quite
interesting characters, especially when read with a deconstructionist approach.
These 11 later novels by Hubbard are not Scientology propaganda literature, but
have some topics in common, especially the very strong opposition against 20th
century psychology and psychiatry, which is seen as a major source of evil. All
open allusions to Scientology are strictly avoided. They are not as successful
in their use of suspense and humour as Hubbard's early tales, but have to say
perhaps more about the complex personality of their author.
In 1991, the town of Dalton, Georgia attempted to remove the Mission
Earth books from its public library, citing what was described as "repeated
passages involving chronic masochism, child abuse, homosexuality, necromancy,
bloody murder, and other things that are anti-social, perverted, and
anti-everything." The attempt was unsuccessful, though this placed the
Mission Earth series into the category of banned books that have been challenged in the
United States. [2]
[edit]
Sales controversy
The Mission Earth books were a major sales success, particularly the
earlier volumes in the series, with all individual volumes reaching the New York Times bestseller list.
The extent to which this reflects actual popularity is strongly questioned.
Best seller lists are based on books ordered by stores, not on books actually
sold to customers, which is how books can premiere at number 1 on lists, as the
books are ordered before they are released. This method had been demonstrated
decades before by radio personality Jean Shepherd who got the wholly imaginary book
I, Libertine onto
the best-seller lists with the help of his radio audience (and created such
demand that a novel was eventually written to match the details of Shepherd's
hoax and published.) Scientologists ordered dozens of copies of Hubbard's books
at every store in their area, and the resulting orders drove the books up the
charts. The books were never claimed, so in the years following their
publication, unprecedented quantities of remaindered Mission Earth books
were delivered to second-hand and discount bookstores.
A large number of booksellers, publishing executives, and former
Scientologists state that, as with other Hubbard books, the Church of
Scientology engaged in a massive book-buying campaign, similar to the campaign
to promote Battlefield Earth, so as to deliberately
inflate sales of the series in order to promote it as a best-selling literary
work. Stories of the books being sent to stores with another store's price tags
circulated in the science fiction fan community [3].
In a two-year span, Hubbard logged 14 consecutive books on the New York Times
list. Adam Clymer, a New York Times executive, said that, while the books have
been sold in sufficient numbers to justify their bestseller status, "we don't
know to whom they were sold." He said the newspaper uncovered no instances in
which vast quantities of books were being sold to single individuals.
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7/14/2007 6:47 PM
john
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The Modern Library | 100 Best | Novels:

About the Lists | 100 Best Novels | 100 Best Nonfiction | Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
ULYSSES by James Joyce
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
CATCH-22
DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
1984 by George Orwell
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
KIM by Rudyard Kipling
A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
LOVING by Henry Green
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
IRONWEED by William Kennedy
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
1984 by George Orwell
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
ULYSSES by James Joyce
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
DUNE by Frank Herbert
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
SHANE by Jack Schaefer
TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE STAND by Stephen King
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
YARROW by Charles de Lint
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
TRADER by Charles de Lint
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
IT by Stephen King
V. by Thomas Pynchon
DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie
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7/14/2007 6:42 PM
john
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Online Books, Poems, Short Stories - Read Print:
A warm welcome to Read Print, your free online library. Our website offers thousands
of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast. To find the
book you desire to read, start by looking through the author index. If you need help with
something, feel free to drop us a line.
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7/8/2007 7:35 PM
john
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Edge 207:
Five Best Nobel-winning scientist Eric Kandel chooses unforgettable works on
memory By Eric Kandel
1. Ficciones By
Jorge Luis Borges; 2. Memories Are Made of This By Rusiko Bourtchouladze; 3.
Memory and Brain By Larry R. Squire; 4. The Seven Sins Of Memory By Daniel L.
Schacter; 5. Memory From A to Z By Yadin Dudai
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4/13/2007 5:21 PM
nick
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Prince of the Marshes by Rory Stewart - Interview - Harcourt:
This was a very interesting, and at times quite discouraging book. The book itself is narrative and doesn't spend much time analyzing what is going on. Basically the reader is left to make their own conclusions. -Nick
Q: At this point, what hope is there of
achieving democracy in Iraq, or even of stabilizing the country? How?and for how
long?should the Coalition be involved? A: The best hope of stabilizing Iraq lies with the Iraqi
politicians, who are much cannier and more flexible than we acknowledge, and of
course have a much better understanding of the limits and possibilities of local
politics than any foreigner has. Shia and Sunni Arabs in Iraq have a strong
sense of Iraqi national identity that they can use to avoid civil war. The
Coalition?s continued presence in Iraq deters politicians from making the
necessary compromises with their opponents, since they rely on us to bail them
out. Despite our best intentions, the Coalition often interferes in politics
because we do not approve of a candidate?s human rights record or attitude
toward us. We invaded talking about democracy; we should, therefore, respect the
results of elections, empower local politicians, and allow them to make
compromises. This will probably create an Iraq that is more Islamist, less
humane, and less progressive than the Coalition would like, but it is the best
chance we have. I don?t believe that our presence is improving the situation.
There is very little that the Coalition is achieving or is able to achieve in
Iraq?and we need to empower Iraqi politicians to discover the solutions that we
have failed to find.
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1/8/2007 10:18 PM
nick
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I recently read the Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. It is a slow, dense read but provides an overall quite interesting tour through philosophy from Socrates through Dewey. It's structured around indidividual people throughout history and moves quickly enough that when there is a philosophy you like you occasionally feel like reading the originals, which are well-referenced.
I've also noticed that the knowledge gained here is useful in reading other books, which often tend to reference these guys. For those of us that have not spent the time to read much Spinoza or Kant, this is a good primer.
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5/12/2006 11:55 PM
nick
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