52 Books in 1000 Weeks

This year I'm not setting a similar goal to last year's 40 Books in 40 Weeks.  
It would only drive me insane.  I'm crazy busy and trying to tackle some
thicker works.  So fuck it.  I'll keep count though.  Just to see what
pathetic number I get up to.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk  (15)
This is what happens when frat guys get ahold of a typewriter.  It's sparingly
insightful, amusing, gross, and absurd.

Lolita by Nabokov  (14)
A tale that is all together human, poignant, and repulsive, as told through the
pen of a brilliant, but demented mind in perfect prose.

Alice's Adventures Underground / Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll  (12 & 13)
I was fortunate to get an old paperback containing both the hand-written copy
of Carroll's original Alice's Adventures Underground as well as the final 
version of his classic story.  Both are a delight to read, and it's fun to
compare the two.  If I have a son or daughter some day, I hope to read both
versions of the story to them.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse  (11)
Aldous Huxley minus the shrooms.  A brilliant novel and a delightful read.

The Tracker by William Jon Watkins  (10)
Mr. Watkins expresses the legends of Tom Brown Jr. - the famous tracker,
explorer, and survival expert - with eloquence and beauty.  For anyone with an 
appreciation of nature, these stories are intriguing.  For anyone who is 
completely enamored with nature, and wishes to give themself wholly over to it,
this book could be life-changing.

The Gifted and the Worthless by Matthew Lotti  (9)
Mr. L is a friend of mine.  I just finished breezing through the most recent
draft of his latest opus.  It's good.  It's a quick account of some of the 
insane debacles he's encountered while working as a substitute teacher in 
the local school district.

You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers  (8)
I wouldn't call it "heartbreaking" or "staggering genius," but Egger's 
Velocity shows scattered brilliance.  Is it just me or does it seem to 
be a requirement of all popular young contemporary writers to be clinically 
diagnosed cases of ADHD?  Eggers can write with the best of them, but his story
flies off in a dozen directions, amounts to nothing, says nothing, and therefore
may be worth nothing.  All complaints aside, I managed to thoroughly enjoy his 
work.  I have been fortunate (unfortunate?) enough to know his characters in one 
form or another.

Dave Barry Talks Back by Dave Barry  (7)
I've been working on this book for many years, slowly reading it bit-by-bit 
during my brief stops in my bathroom.  It's as though Dave Barry has been my 
longtime bathroom companion and friend.  Instead of a cordial bearded black
man (like the one at Croc Rock in Allentown), my bathroom attendant at home is 
a doofish, moppy-haired, baby-booming white dude with a Pulitzer calibre sense 
of humor.  I have spent more time on my toilet laughing at Dave's jokes than
anywhere else.  The girl in the neighboring apartment must wonder what the hell
is so funny about doing you know what in you know where.  The resonance of my
booming guffaws are clearly bouncing off porcelin.  She has probably purchased
extra locks for her doors since I moved in.

Peanutbutter & Jeremy's Best Book Ever by James Kochalka  (6)
Yay!  Comics!  Nothing holds my attention like a kitty-cat in a fedora hat 
(and tie).  Adorable.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: A Very Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket  (5)
Shhhh!  Don't tell anyone ... but I'm really a kid masquerading as an adult.
(This book was a delight to read.  I hope if I have children I make the time
to read this and many other books to them.)

Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway  (4)
At first an insightful look into the world of early 20th Century bullfighting
in Spain, this work dissolved into a boring laundry list of matadors and their
various strengths and weaknesses.  It must be fascinating reading for the 
aficionado, but for a layman, it became a tiresome bore.  However, I stuck with
the work and was rewarded many times by fascinating accounts of cowardice,
bravery, honor, and a handful of digressionary and unrelated short tales from
the master writer.  (By god the man can end a story.)

Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway  (3)
A voluminous work of epic proportions.  Three acts and three stories about
one man.  Each of the stories is tremendously written.  The work reveals
Hemingway's passion for life, it's pleasures, and his seemingly equally 
passionate obsession with death.  As one might expect, masterfully written.

Lord of the Flies by William Sir Goulding  (2)
The timeless and powerful tale of young boys, and their social decay into
maddening violence.  Imposed a powerful gloom upon me, and struck me with
awe much in the same way Brave New World did.  It's a stupid idea
to have children read books like this.  They can't appreciate them.  Just
because something is about children, does not necessarily mean the target
audience is children.

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonegut  (1)
What a great way to start the year!  With crazy fucking Kilgore Trout and 
Dwayne Hoover (and Wayne Hoobler!) and Kurt Vonegut and his leaky eyes! Another
Vonegut masterpiece.  I think I'll read the rest of his work.  Much joy.

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