I was able to accomplish the goal I set in early 2004 this year.
The list says 52 books, but that includes a couple of children’s books that I have a hard time counting toward my goal.
Strangely, 45 of the books are Non-Fiction, 7 books (including the two children’s books) were fiction. That’s more skewed than I would have thought!
I went to see one of my favorite authors yesterday: Chuck Palahniuk.
He was in town to do a reading of his work.
Long time readers (and friends) will know that I have seen Chuck before. This time, though, my lovely fiancee came with me.
This was a bit of a surprise, since Erin is not a big fan of the twisted stuff that Chuck writes.
When I followed Chuck’s website’s advice and got there an hour and a half early, that kind of got her off on the wrong foot.
Fortunately, Chuck read a gripping story called ‘Guts’ which gave Erin alot of entertainment. While she seemed to enjoy the story, she really enjoyed watching me squirm while he read it. Apparently, a bunch of people faint while hearing Chuck read this story. And it happened when he read it last night. While he seemed somewhat sympathetic to the guy who fainted, he quickly said “56″… His count of the number of folks who have fainted while hearing this story.
Erin (the nurse), thought the story was pretty gross (and fun), but was really enjoying watching me squirm. Meanwhile, I once again marvel at the man who appears to be “living the dream”.
In my (apparently vain) pursuit of 50 books in a year, I have become intimately familiar (and somewhat enamored) with the UNC Library.
While I was in school, I avoided the library. Not so much because I was a philistine, but because I figured I’d be forced to go there on a regular basis…
My argument was something like:
“One day, I’ll be required to go to the library (I mean, I’m in college for pete’s sake), and then I’ll regret volunteering to spend time there.”
The thing is, I was never required to go to the library.
Surprisingly (ha!), a computer science major is not expected to log alot of time in the library. (Instead, they are expected to be hunched over a computer in their dorm room.)
So, flash-forward to my present situation… I’m strapped for cash after changing jobs and paying for parts of an upcoming wedding. Plus, I have committed to do my best to acheive reading 50 books in a year.
Enter: The UNC Library.
Nowadays, I take time out of my daily schedule to find books that I may want to read. And I look forward to the weekends as a time that I can go to the UNC Library.
My feelings toward the library have affected me so deeply that I’m kind of regretting my tech-support/programmer/techie career and instead, I wish I had become a librarian…
I am doing my best to meet a New Year’s resolution that I made at the beginning of the year… Read 50 books in a year.
Here is my list so far:
I also listened to an audio book
But some people (Ed) say that audio books do not count toward my total.
As you can see, I am behind in where I ought to be by the middle of April to meet me my goal.
I have my nose in some books right now, though:
Hopefully I can finish some (all) of the books above in the next week-or-so to get back on track.
I have been eagerly waiting for Chuck Palahniuk’s next book.
(He’s the author of Fight Club.)
When I saw that “Diary: A Novel” was coming out August 26th (next Tuesday), I got excited.
When I went to www.barnesandnoble.com, I saw that they had the book available right now as an ‘eBook’.
While the idea of sitting in front of a computer to read a whole book doesn’t seem too appealing (even to a geek like me), there were a few reasons that I favored getting it in eBook format:
1. I have a laptop (which isn’t as portable as a book, but it can allow me to read in more than just one place and position)
2. It’s cheaper than the hardcover book ($9.45 vs. $16.59)
3. It’s available NOW as an eBook (I’m all about some instant gratification)
I’ll try to give an update later to let folks know how this experiment works out…
I just finished a book Quarantine by Greg Egan.
I’m not sure why I don’t read more ‘hard’ science fiction.
I enjoy speculative fiction and I also like stories that don’t make the reader/viewer swallow too much in order to get going.
I just finished Bruce Campbell’s ‘Chins Across America’ autobiography.
He’s been in a lot of movies that I enjoy, and it was cool to read about his thoughts ‘on-the-set’ of those movies.
Although there was not as much ‘Army Of Darkness’ material as I thought there should have been, he made up for it by dishing dirt on the ‘Quick and the Dead’ cast (which was directed by his long-time friend Sam Raimi).
I totally forgot that Bruce Campbell was coming through Chapel Hill the other day.
Man, I really blew that one!
I saw him speak at the Bull’s Head Bookstore at UNC and he seemed like a very cool guy.
While the stories he told were a little disturbing (and fun), he seemed to be very approachable. I’d characterize him as ‘living the dream’ (a/k/a Joseph Campbell would say: ‘following his bliss’.)
He mentioned that he has two books coming out next year…
I can’t wait. I finished ‘Lullaby’ a couple of days ago, so I would be sure that going to see him talk wouldn’t give away anything.
I was able to get him to autograph a copy of ‘Fight Club’ and Matt Cabe’s younger brother Alex took a picture of me shaking Chuck’s hand.
(I hope to have that up on this site soon)
The picture was finally developed. (Thanks Erin)
I picked up Chuck Palahniuk’s new book ‘Lullaby’ the day it came out.
Unsurprisingly (see previous entries), I love it.
His books are so twisted.
I’m looking forward to seeing him at UNC October 1st.