Is that a book in your pocket?

15 August 2005 @ mid-morning | Comments (1)

I’ve been relatively quiet as of late, for no particular reason other than I’ve had nothing much to say. I was just passed, the “book baton“ by Alicson, and what’s a better way to break a long silence than with a well-worn infectious meme?

I don’t particularly read a whole hell of a lot. On average I read about one book every two months, so this post will likely resemble another not long ago. In addition, I recently went through a phase of re-reading all my old favorites, so this list will seem a bit repetitive.

I’ve recently begun the habit of forcing myself to read in bed before falling asleep — if not for only five minutes — to keep myself actively reading. Having a girlfriend that assimilates books like Borg also helps. So maybe next time around I’ll have a fresh batch of book suggestions to dispense.

Number of books on the shelf

Probably somewhere around 200 books split between two bookshelves and a box or two in my tiny apartment, the majority being Orwell and O’Reilly.

Last book I purchased

The last book I purchased was Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami. It pawns itself off as a dystopian cyberpunk tale of revenge in contemporary Japan, but it suffers from monotonic dialogue (_this is either due to a poor translation or poor writing_), two-dimensional character development, and superfluous plot devices. I’d give it 65/100. editor’s note: man, if that last paragraph wasn’t a cheap attempt at getting people to think I’m smarter than I really am, I don’t know what is…

Books I’m reading right now

I’m currently reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I began reading this book quite a while ago (sometime in June 2003) but put it aside because of distractions. I recently picked it back up and it is fantastic.

Other books I’m reading include Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez (_I’ve been slowly working my way through the original Spanish version for over a year_), and Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (_also a long-term read_).

My current goal is to finish the books on my long-term book list and then start practicing literary monogamy.

Last four books read

• Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig
• Neuromancer by William Gibson

Books of interest

This is a tough one; “favorite” is always relative. But off the top of my head…

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is by far the most beautiful novel I’ve ever read.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson is the source of all things cyberpunk.
• Anything by Philip K. Dick.
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon: this book has a near-perfect combination of history, fiction, fantasy, and pop culture.
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens I read when I was 14. It was the first book I consider “literature” to captivate my attention.
• Surfing California by Bank Wright is the inspiration for dozens of road trips throughout my life. Its sun-bleached cover is testament to the countless hours it spent on my dashboard under the hot summer sun.

Passing it on

To carry on the next leg, I offer the baton to my friend Sourbot... who will most likely beat me silly for offering such memetic nonsense.