Tag Archives: 101010 challenge

Reading Log: Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare)

Julius Caesar is a play with three– count ‘em three– central protagonists. There is Caesar himself, of course, whose presence remains (literally, at one point) despite being brutally murdered halfway through the play… as Caesar himself puts it just before … Continue reading

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Reading Log: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)

I’ve had The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my shelf since it was first released (a spontaneous purchase courtesy of a significant sale price and a prominent floor display). I’d tried to get into it at least three times … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Matter (Iain M. Banks)

Matter, the latest novel in Iain M. Banks’s speculative fiction series (loosely defined) set in the far-future, inter-galactic world of the “Culture” is a glorious mess. On the glorious side are all the things I’ve liked—and sometimes loved—about the other … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Oedipus at Colonus (Sophocles)

Thanks to the one serious flaw in the 3-volume set of Grene and Lattimore’s Greek Tragedies—they have Oedipus the King and Antigone in the first volume, but not Oedipus at Colonus– I read the “Oedipus Cycle” out of chronological order. … Continue reading

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Reading Log: No Happy Ending (Paco Ignacio Taibo II)

No Happy Ending was one of those fortuitous discoveries made while browsing the used book shelves when I should’ve been working. Previously unknown to me, Paco Ignacio Taibo II appears to be one of Latin America’s most renowned authors. Reading … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Antigone (Sophocles)

Antigone is a compelling play. Reading it again as an adult I’m struck by themes (and questions) that I never noted before… or that were given to me by a teacher and promptly forgotten. For instance, why does Antigone go … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Oedipus the King (Sophocles)

Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (aka Oedipus Rex) is second only to Hamlet in my personal canon of touchstone plays, works that are so "big"– of such archetypal and architectonic importance to my aesthetic apparatus– that it’s hard to write about … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Bloom (Wil McCarthy)

Bloom is a tale of nanotech gone wild. Seemingly insatiable nanotech spores of unknown and accidental origin– the Mycora– have taken over Earth and the inner solar system, consuming most of humanity and creating what the humans eking out an … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Hippolytus (Euripides)

[CC Licensed image by Sebastià Giralt] Hippolytus (another work I’d, to my shame, not read before now) is a strange play, at once obviously overt in its "lessons" and quite beautiful. And there are many lessons: worship as many gods … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus)

[CC licensed image by Camus Live Art] Tough time of the year to find time to write, so my notes are even less cohesive than usual… Prometheus Bound is one of many Ancient Greek plays I should have read long … Continue reading

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Reading Log: The Oxford Murders (Guillermo Martínez)

While perusing the (only) local used bookstore I came across The Oxford Murders) by Guillermo Martínez, which fit nicely into my 10*10*10 Challenge (in "international mysteries"). Only when searching for the Wikipedia link I just used did I discover it … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

[CC licensed photo by Ell Brown] Writing anything about Hamlet is to be a decided amateur, a devoted duffer. The hopelessly amateur golfer likely loves the game, knows the course(s) he plays inside and out, immerses herself in the world … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Roseanna (Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö)

It’s hard not to include the adjectives phlegmatic, tired, and brilliant to describe Inspector Martin Beck, the main character in Roseanna, the first of 10 Swedish detective novels written in the late 60s and early 70s. I get tired and … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Usurper of the Sun (Housuke Nojiri)

Picked this Japanese sci-fi novel up on a whim, inspired by the front-cover blurb that included the words and phrases: “poetic first contact,” “alien peril,” and “think Arthur C. Clarke meets Haruki Murakami.” Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama is one of … Continue reading

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Reading Log: The Infinity of Lists (Umberto Eco)

I "finished" "reading" Umberto Eco’s fantabulous essay/anthology The Infinity of Lists. The scare quotes are necessary because Eco’s 400+ page volume is two books in one: an extended essay on the idea and example of lists in art and literature … Continue reading

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10*10*10 Challenge for 2010

[CC licensed photo by Assbach]  After talking with some friends about the 10*10*10 reading project (in short: read and blog about 10 books in 10 categories in the year 2010), I’ve decided on the following 10 topic areas for my … Continue reading

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Pondering a 10*10*10 Challenge

[CC licensed images by Leo Reynolds] Despite not quite reaching the final goal in my 999 challenge– I did read quite a few more volumes than I got around to noting here, but not quite all– I’m considering trying a … Continue reading

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Reading Log: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)

You know all those adjectives people like to use in book blurbs, things like: tender, moving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud-funny? They actually apply to Sherman Alexie’s hilarious and powerful novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Here’s my blurb: … Continue reading

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Reading Log: Every Man Dies Alone (Hans Fallada)

Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone crashed into my reading life like a bolt from the blue. I came across the book while randomly browsing through the thin selection of “literature” at our only locally owned bookstore (specified not to … Continue reading

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