Contest Closed

21/12/06 22:43 Filed in: Books
Ok, I have decided that I have enough books for the new year, primarily because I am not sure I can afford to buy this many books! Here is the list of my own choices:

The Collected Short Stories - Dahl (already about half done)
The Odyssey - A Modern Sequel - Kazantzakis (just started, pretty awesome, heavy Nietzschean influence, very long)
Getting Things Done Allen (2nd read)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People Covey (2nd)
If You Want to Write - Ueland (2nd)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (ugh, I have to read an Oprah book)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy - yay postapocalyptic fiction!
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Thompson - I am breaking down and finally reading it.
Guns, Germs and Steel - Diamond
Remembering the Kanji 1 - this is a textbook with all 2000 main use Kanji - I intend to learn them all.
The Magus - Fowles
The Old Capital - Kawabata
I am a Cat - Soseki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
Lightweight Backpacking and Camping: A field guide to wilderness hiking equipment, technique and style
Fixing your Feet - Vonhof
The Complete Walker IV - Fletcher and Rawlins
Four Pairs of Boots - McLachlan
Lost Japan - Kerr
Collected Fictions - Borges
On the Road - Kerouac
20th Century Poetry and Poetics - ed Geddes
Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry

Because no one made any suggestions for subscriptions, I am going to subscribe to the Malahat Review and The Fiddlehead, because the former was my first rejector and the latter may dare to be my second, and because they are fairly prestigious. Lastly, because I am turning hardcore and because it is cheap, I am going to subscribe to Backpackinglight's print mag. It is $15USD with my membership, though shipping costs double the price. Still, $30USD for 4 issues is pretty good.

Here are the submissions:
Financial Peace - Ramsey - Matt
The Tipping Point - Gladwell - Matt
Nausea - Sartre - Ty
On the Road - Kerouac - Ty (unofficial submission)
A Pale View of the Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro - Naben
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis - Naben
The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis - Naben
The Collected Poems of Philip Larkin - Naben
Hitching a Ride with Buddha: Travels in Search of Japan - Ferguson - Melia
True North - Harrison - Dad
The Road Home - Harrison - Dad
Dalva - Harrison - Dad

As Naben, cocky ass that he is, pointed out, if the same person suggests both the 1st and 2nd place books, or if he or she already owns the prize, I'll figure something else out.

37 Books all told! Some of them are ridiculously huge, as in entire anthologies, but I have a whole year, so I'll give it my damnest. I'll start with the ones I actually own, in addition to the subscriptions. Here's a tentative starting list:

The Collected Short Stories - Dahl (already about half done)
The Odyssey - A Modern Sequel - Kazantzakis
Financial Peace - Ramsey - Matt (loaned)
Getting Things Done Allen (2nd read)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People Covey (2nd)
If You Want to Write - Ueland (2nd)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Guns, Germs and Steel - Diamond
The Magus - Fowles
The Tipping Point - Gladwell - Matt (loaned)

These are so big that I'll have to read them gradually.
20th Century Poetry and Poetics - ed Geddes
Remembering the Kanji 1
Collected Fictions - Borges

Wish me luck and look forward to the reviews!

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How the hell am I going to afford this?