reading
i like reading books.
books finished in 2011, chronologically:
1. the ten conversations you must have before you get married, dr. guy grenier (self help)
2. billions of virgins in ecstasy, strange de jim (genre: wacky fun) (seriously? this is only the second book i’ve finished in 2011?)
3. ocean of mercy, atoma ziv (novel)
4. committed: a skeptic makes peace with marriage, elizabeth gilbert (memoir) (ok, so the edition i have has the newer subtitle a love story, which, really, publishing industry? really?)
5. mink river, brian doyle (novel)
6. the music room, namita devidayal (memoir)
7. the voice of the earth: an exploration of ecopsychology, theodore roszak (nonfiction)
8. the case for god, karen armstrong (nonfiction)
9. chronic city, jonathan lethem (novel)
10. the fifth sacred thing, starhawk (novel)
books finished in 2010, chronologically:
1. the world without us, alan weisman (nonfiction)
2. 1491: new revelations of the americas before columbus, charles c. mann (nonfiction)
3. the lost language of plants: the ecological importance of plant medicines for life on earth, stephen harrod buhner (nonfiction)
4. always coming home, ursula k. le guin (fiction, or “anthropology of the future”)
5. infinite jest, david foster wallace (novel) (yup.)
6. nine kinds of naked, tony vigorito (novel)
7. bad behavior, mary gaitskill (stories)
8. for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, ntozake shange (play/choreopoem)
9. still life with woodpecker, tom robbins (novel) (third(?) reread)
10. PiHKAL: a chemical love story, alexander & ann shulgin (fictionalized memoir)
11. the snow leopard, peter matthiessen (memoir)
12. hey nostradamus!, douglas coupland (novel)
13. how to be an adult in relationships: the five keys to mindful loving, david richo (yup, self help)
14. american gods, neil gaiman (novel)
15. bury my heart at wounded knee, dee brown (nonfiction)
16. the omnivore’s dilemma: a natural history of four meals, michael pollan (nonfiction)
17. courage: the joy of living dangerously, osho (spiritual/self help)
18. the fairy tales of hermann hesse, trans. jack zipes (stories)
19. psychotherapy east and west, alan watts (nonfiction)
20. a brief history of philosophy from socrates to derrida, derek johnston (nonfiction)
21. the unsettling of america, wendell berry (nonfiction)
22. poems new and collected, volume one, mary oliver (poetry)
23. eating animals, jonathan safran foer (nonfiction)
24. this timeless moment: a personal view of aldous huxley, laura huxley (memoir/biography)
25. my mother she killed me, my father he ate me: forty new fairy tales, edited by kate bernheimer (stories)
26. a field guide to getting lost, rebecca solnit (essays/memoir)
27. wilderness and the american mind, roderick frazier nash (history)
28. ecotherapy: healing with nature in mind, edited by linda buzzell and craig chalquist (essays)
29. nonviolent communication: a language of life, marhall b. rosenberg (self help)
books finished in 2009, chronologically:
1. motherless brooklyn, jonathan lethem (novel)
2. geek love, katherine dunn (novel)
3. emma, howard zinn (play)
4. a people’s history of american empire, howard zinn, mike konopacki & paul buhle (graphic nonfiction)
5. the ladies of grace adieu, susanna clarke (stories)
6. the stranger, albert camus, trans. matthew ward (novel) (reread)
7. ishmael, daniel quinn (novel/parable)
8. stranger things happen, kelly link (stories)
9. a different kind of intimacy, karen finley (memoir/collected writings)
10. a relative stranger, charles baxter (stories)
11. as the world burns: 50 simple things you can do to stay in denial, derrick jensen & stephanie mcmillan (graphic novel)
12. my stroke of insight, jill bolte taylor (memoir)
13. the word for world is forest, ursula k. leguin (novel)
14. fun home: a family tragicomic, alison bechdel (graphic memoir)
15. the story of b, daniel quinn (novel)
16. the monkey wrench gang, edward abbey (novel)
17. girlfriend in a coma, douglas coupland (novel) (reread)
18. endgame, volume i: the problem of civilization, derrick jensen (nonfiction)
19. the mad farmer poems, wendell berry (poems)
20. ecotopia, ernest callenbach (novel)
21. secrets of the talking jaguar, martin prechtel (memoir)
22. all about love: new visions, bell hooks (nonfiction)
23. the legacy of luna, julia butterfly hill (memoir)
24. a gate at the stairs, lorrie moore (novel)
25. into the wild, jon krakauer (biography)
26. my abandonment, peter rock (novel)
27. the spell of the sensuous, david abram (philosophy)
28. farm city: the education of an urban farmer, novella carpenter (memoir)
29. the botany of desire, michael pollan (nonfiction)
30. the world made by hand, james howard kunstler (novel) (i do not recommend this book)
31. the history of love, nicole krauss (novel)
favorite books, writers, etc
kurt vonnegut jr., angela carter, ursula k. le guin, lorrie moore, amy hempel, charles baxter, tennessee williams, tony kushner, constance congdon, tom robbins, jonathan lethem
i wrote my undergrad thesis on the bell jar by sylvia plath and 4.48 psychosis by sarah kane.
i also love:
wide sargasso sea, jean rhys
the search for signs of intelligent life in the universe, jane wagner
cat’s cradle, vonnegut
four ways to forgiveness, le guin
from my childhood: the enchanted forest chronicles by patricia c. wrede; harry potter of course; catwings by ursula k. le guin.
