Reading List
on 11.30.04, 09:08pm in life • comments (2)
Since I’ll be on vacation for 4 weeks starting next Monday, I’m really going to try to make a dent in the massive pile of books on my nightstand (I know I’ve said it before). Here’s what I’m currently planning on reading (in no particular order):
- The Art of the Start
- The Time Travelers Wife
- The Curious Indicident of the Dog In the Night-Time
- Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity
Any other suggestions?
Tom Vanstraelen (December 1, 2004 @ 2:25 pm)
I’m reading ‘The Curious Indicident of the Dog In the Night-Time’ at the moment. Have just finished ‘A Million Little Pieces’ by James Frey, a story about a guy in addiction treatment, liked it a lot, but it’s a depressing, sad story. So it’s good to read something funny now. Other books that are lying on the floor next to my bed are ‘Platform’ by Michel Houellebecq and ‘Oracle Effective By Design’ by Thomas Kyte
Jim (December 2, 2004 @ 8:03 pm)
Great choices. Read them in that order for maximum enjoyment (not that Joel isn’t great — but, hey, you can always read him online).
I did little thumbnails reviews of “Time Traveler’s Wife” and “Curious Incident” on the Currently Reading section of my blog (here:
http://www.bellbits.com/booklist/index.php ).
Couple others from that list you might like:
- “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel — premise sounds weird and it has some slow patches, but it’s one of those books that you keep thinking about long after you’ve finished.
- “Codex” by Lev Grossmann — didn’t blow me away but gets points for some real “Twin Peaks” surreality and extra credit for geek plot elements including LAN parties, a cool computer adventure game, and Easter eggs.
- For sci-fi, I hear John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” (coming out in January ‘05) is supposed to be pretty good (Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” meets “Grumpy Old Men”:)). Just got done with David Brin’s “Kiln People” — that was a cool book about what life would be like with disposable clay clones.
- for a pseudo-scientific/magical 19th century England , “Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clark — interesting read but twice as thick as a Stephen King or Neal Stephenson book (and they’re sold by the pound).
- Always looking for better organization ideas, so just finished “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Larry Bossidy’s “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” is good too, also emphasizing deliverables over vision statements.
- For science/history - “The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary” by Simon Winchester. Very interesting book about how the OED was first compiled using a world-wide army of unpaid volunteers from all walks of life. Hmmm, sounds a bit like a certain operating system I know…
- Anything by Tony Horwitz, esp. “Conferates in the Attic” and “Blue Latitudes” — equal parts history lessons and gonzo adventures. Haven’t read his “Baghdad without a Map” yet — but it’s on my To Do list.
- Just now reading “Who We Are Now” by Sam Roberts. Talks about the changing demographics of America in the last century and how that’s impacted our lives.
I live a mile or so away from a library so am always running across new things there to read. Even have a little IE bookmarklet app that lets me check availability of books I run across on the web at my local library. Books I really like I tend to eventually buy, but the freedom to just browse and check out anything that looks interesting has really encouraged me to read more and more widely. Didn’t used to like Books on Tape, but I’m hooked on them too now and my library has good selection of unabridged (the *only* way to go) titles — perfect for exercising, mowing the lawn, commuting.
Now if I just had some more time …