2018 50 Book Challenge

[Geoffrey Firmin]



Spoiler

1. A Tale for the Time Being
2. The Sun is God
3. The Keeper of Lost Causes
4. Lost and Found
5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower
6. How to be Both
7. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
8. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
9. Levels of Life
10. The Seventh Day
11. Fortunately the Milk
11b. The Sleeper and the Spindle

12. The Agile Project Management Handbook

I spent an entire week battling my way through this eye-glazing 200 page melange of methodology, product definition and myth, so I figure I ought to get to count it. Agile is a “recent” approach to project management that has got everybody excited but is in reality just a slightly different emphasis on the classic triple constraints. The Agile approach dictates that the schedule and cost constraints are sacrosanct and that project scope gets cut in a prioritised fashion to meet it if necessary. Anything that can’t be done this way - a heck of a lot of projects IMO - is just dismissed as “not agile”. I sat a detailed exam in this and passed, earning an internationally-recgnised qualification, and now I can forget that I ever read it and get on with doing things the way that works.

I imagine as a Victorian you would have had a problem with "scrums"

 

[California Dreamer]



I imagine as a Victorian you would have had a problem with "scrums"

One guy shoving two guys’ heads up three guys’ arses? What’s not to like?

 

[California Dreamer]

Spoiler

1. A Tale for the Time Being 2. The Sun is God 3. The Keeper of Lost Causes 4. Lost and Found 5. Murder on the Eiffel Tower 6. How to be Both 7. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore 8. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth 9. Levels of Life 10. The Seventh Day 11. Fortunately the Milk 11b. The Sleeper and the Spindle 12. The Agile Project Management Handbook

13. Reykjavik Nights

​

Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indriðason
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am a fan of the gloomy, haunted Icelandic detective Erlendur, so Reykjavik Nights went straight onto my reading list when it was published.

In this prequel we meet Erlendur as a young uniformed patrolman, working the night shift. As the story starts, he is called to the scene of an accident where a tramp has drowned. When Erlendur pulls out the body, he recognises Hannibal, a vagrant that he has encountered on the streets before. As he looks into how Hannibal met his end, the plot thickens.

Erlendur is already the taciturn loner that we know well, and his obsession with missing persons is clear, and it is this that draws him deeper into the case.

Indridason has been playing around with his formula recently, shifting the focus between different members of the team, relocating the action and now writing a prequel. I think that this has delivered mixed results, with the strongest of his recent novels being Strange Shores, which was probably closest to his older style anyway. Given what has gone before in this series, I can only rate this one as average.

P.S. Interesting to note Indridason giving a tip of his hat to Sjowall and Wahloo, by having Erlendur reading The Laughing Policeman. An acknowledgment of an early inspiration, perhaps?
View all my reviews

 

[Fueco]

Just finished #6...

Spoiler: My Completed Books List So Far in 2015

Sorry, all non-fiction so far this year... 1. The Race Within: Passion, Courage and Sacrifice At The Ultraman Triathlon (Jim Gourley, 2015) -I'm biased towards this book because I'm mentioned in it, and I know the author. It's a pretty solid glimpse into the world of ultra distance triathlon... 2. Wild! -Cheryl Strayed -Yeah, it's an Oprah book club selection, and is clearly aimed at women, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It probably helps that I've visited a number of the places she mentions in the books and can vividly imagine a lot of the scenes. I haven't seen the movie yet... 3. Let My People Go Surfing -Yvon Chouinard. I finally got around to reading the business/responsible living manifesto by one of my climbing heroes. It didn't disappoint. 4. Unsurpassed: The Story Of Tommy Goodwin, The World's Greatest Distance Cyclist -Godfrey Barlow 5. A Fighting Chance -Elizabeth Warren 6. RIDE: From Ultra-Cycling Rookie To Race Across America -Josh Kench (Josh was the first Kiwi to finish RAAM. I'm always drawn to books about ultra-endurance sports, especially RAAM, as my wife is a two time finisher (and going back for #3 this year).

I'm currently working my way through the following books: True Fit: A Collected History Of Denim Lord Jim: Joseph Conrad Expressions Of Aging -John Keston Marathon Man -Bill Rodgers

 

[noob in 89]

EPIC. LARGE, RUDE, ROWDY, AND EFFING EPIC.

.​

 

[noob in 89]

THE SCARIEST, THE MOST PRESCIENT AND HAUNTING, THE MOST NECESSARY BOOK YOU WILL OR WILL NOT READ ALL YEAR.

WELL-MEANING, BUT EMPTY. VANISHING. ANECDOTAL. VOID OF SCIENCE AND FACT. UPLIFTING, BUT UNHELPFUL, AND ULTIMATELY HARMFUL. NATURALLY, A BEST SELLER.

 

[noob in 89]

A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME, A TOTAL GRAB FOR YOUR HARD-EARNED DOLLARS.

BETTER, AND MORE INFORMATIVE, AND SOMETIMES MORE CHARMINGLY PERSONAL -- BUT STILL A BIT OF A REHASH OF ALL THE VARIOUS STUDIES THAT WIND UP IN BOOKS LIKE THESE.

VAIN, VULGAR, AND INCOHERENT. AN ASSAULT ON OUR COMMON DECENCY. NOT ONLY A REHASH OF HIS FIFTY OTHER TITLES AND A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME, THE WORDS INSIDE DON'T EVEN RELATE TO THE GD TITLE. ZERO STARS.

 

[Fueco]

Are the all caps necessary?

 

[noob in 89]

A MAGNANIMOUS DEBUT FROM A FUTURE-PULITZER PRIZE-WINNER
THAT IS OVER 500 PAGES LONG
AND WILL STICK IN YOUR MIND
LIKE ******* OATMEAL.

RECOMMENDED!



*NOT COUNTED -- A SLEW OF SHORT STORIES BY MARY GAITSKILL, ROBERTO BOLANO, AND VARIOUS OTHERS*



...NEXT UP: FEBRUARY!

 

[Steve B.]



I've loved everything I've read by and about Ed Abbey. Have you read much of his work? The Fool's Progress was my favorite.

No. Nor will I based on this book. I read so many books that if I read one by an author I don't like I won't double back for anymore.

 

[Fueco]

No. Nor will I based on this book. I read so many books that if I read one by an author I don't like I won't double back for anymore.

Fair enough. May I ask which books you've read of his?

When I first picked up an Ed Abbey book, I was a "hardcore conservative" (what you'd now call a Tea Partier and was offended by some of what I read. Abbey was one of the first authors who opened my eyes to a broader world beyond what I knew. I strongly feel that I shouldn't only read what is comfortable and what I agree with and to broaden the scope of my thinking. The bonus is that now, when I drive through the desert Southwest, I constantly see place names that remind me of his books.

 

[California Dreamer]



I actually read this as an eBook, and felt quite self-conscious about that by the end, particularly when reading the material on why e-reading is inferior to reading physical texts.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]



EPIC. LARGE, RUDE, ROWDY, AND EFFING EPIC.

.​

Christ on bike i read that twenty one years ago looking at my copy of it on the library shelves as I write.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

40 The Whites by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandat I read a couple of reviews of this recently one in the NYT that did not explain why Richard Price adopted a pseudonym more so when it mentions his real name on the cover. Probably explains why i am not in marketing.

As stories go its the story of midnight to dawn detective sergeant on shift in NY working with a motley crew of rejects who while investigating a murder realises that other older murderers from his past are turning up dead. Throw in a vicious dysfunctional detective with his own agenda and ability to administer justice, a father with dementia, a wife carrying excess baggage from her past and you have both an entertaining and morally ambiguous read. Read it on a Sunday with nothing in particular to do. Language is interesting in particular that perpetuators are now actors amongst others.

 

[LonerMatt]

1. A Wrong Turn at the Office on Unmade Lists
2. Acceptance
3. Shipbreaker
4. Winter's Bone
5. Dhmara Bums
6. Istanbul
7. On the Trail of Genghis Khan
8. Holy Bible
9. The Boat
10. Collected Stories
11. Lost and Found
12. Blind Willow, Sleeping woman
13. White Noise
14. Clariel
15. Off the Rails
16. Sabriel
17 Hitler's Daughter
18. Quack this Way
19. Grapes of Wrath
20. Every Man in this Village is a Liar


20. Every Man in this Village is a Liar

One of the best books I've read in years. I'm struggling to even articulate this book. It manages to be coherent and work its way methodically through a mire of difficult, dangerous and convoluted history and events. The prose is gorgeous and the author refrains from making any conclusions, leaving her experiences as a correspondent in the Middle East and North Africa to speak for themselves.

Beautiful, unsettling, challenging and complex. But, most of all, it is relevant.