Here is an incomplete list of books that I can remember having read over the past two years. If you have any questions about any of them or want recommendations based upon your personal taste, let me know.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thomspon
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thomspon
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thomspon
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thomspon
The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thomspon
Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen
A Primate’s Memoirs by Robert M. Sapolsky
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Island by Aldous Huxley
Naked Lunch by William S. Borroughs
Cien Anos de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway
The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemmingway
Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemmingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
Who Shall Live? By Victor Robert Fuchs
The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
Money by Martin Amis
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Riding Freight Trains in America by Duffy Littlejohn
Down and Out in London and Paris by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon
Riding High by Ted Simon
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Tibetan Book of the Dead
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Analects by Confuscius
War and Peace by Tolstoy
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
Everest to Arabia by Jaime Clark
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Gandhi: An Autobiography by Mohandas Gandhi
The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng translated by Shambhala
Valuing the Earth edited by Herman E. Daly and Kenneth N. Townsend
Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo by Oscar Zeta Acosta
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
Pages: 345
Genre: Fiction
Year: 1904
Summary/Review: A fictional account of a South American nation during imperialist times. Costaguana is a republic rich in resources that attracts many foreign opportunists looking to make their fortune. The story centers around Nostromo, an Italian dock worker beloved by all of the towns people, and the Gould Family that controls the San Tome mine in the town of Saluco. Conrad deeply hones in on the variety of relationships and motives that exist in this diverse boom town. Exploitation and violence, but also love color the underlying reality of the almost everybody’s existence here.

The writing of Conrad is very vivid to the point that it borders on verbose at points, but ultimately it builds the fictional setting with a depth that I haven’t seen from another author. The intertwined web of characters, ranging from foreign capitalists to lowly dockworkers to pugnacious dictators, are beautiful caricatures of power hungry expatriates driven by avarice that recognize no sovereign power.

The book has a rich and unique plot that kept me decently engaged and made the book really enjoyable. It is such an interesting account with a lucidity that gives it a historical feel where the names, places, and dates could have been substituted with many of the turbulent South American republics during this era.

I would recommend it to almost anyone unless the plot sounds particularly uninteresting to them. Linguistically it may be challenging and is therefore not for some. For those interested in knocking off important pieces from literary history, I believe this would fall into that category.

Other Similar Books:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Cien Anos de Soledad by Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
You have a good memory. I would have a hard time naming the last 10 books I read! LOL.

But, most of the books you have read I have either read recently or are on my list.

I actually just finished Cat’s Cradle yesterday. The book was strange because I didnt think it was great but I couldnt seem to put it down. Now that I have finished it, I appreciate it much more. It was the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and definately plan on reading more. I just purchased Slaughterhouse Five the other day.

That’s how most Vonnegut is, I think. Slaughterhouse Five was my first book by him, and I felt the exact same way you feel about Cat’s Cradle.
Gandhi: An Autobiography by Mohandas Gandhi
Pages: 505
Genre: Non-Fiction – Autobiography
Year: 1957 – Translation
Summary/Review: A personal account of Gandhi’s life beginning from childhood, covering his time in South Africa, and ending by detailing some of his political battles in India upon his return. It is instrumental in giving a background to how Gandhi developed his theory of Satyagraha and many of his other world changing ideals. A large portion of the book is spent on Gandhi’s examination of every aspect of his life, primarily his diet, sexual habits, and search for religious truth. These are all instrumental pieces in the development of Gandhi and his practices.

It can seem frustrating as you read about Gandhi grappling with aspects of his life to a point that most would find superfluous or pedantic. He is one of the most important figures in world history, so I think that it would behoove anyone to have at least some knowledge of his life, but maybe not to this degree.

Therefore I am not sure I would recommend this book to anyone unless they are interested in Gandhi, his political methods, Eastern Religions, or India’s history. There is much wisdom to be had if you are looking for it, but if you have a fixed set of ideals or view from religion or elsewhere, it is probably not a good book for you.

Other Similar Books:
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What’s your opinion on Gatsby? I have a strange feelings about it. I feel like the ignorance of that time has made a comeback nowadays. Kind of like foreshadowing.

I thought that it was a good book and captured that era beautifully. It was not that great of a seller as far as I am aware until we saw the consequences fully manifested from that time and the preceding decades. These included: WWI, Great Depression, WWII. The most important developments in all of the affected nations were the creation of the welfare state and the ceding of a certain degree of power for the greater good. We seemed to have forgotten many of the lessons from this time and are thus bound to repeat the same mistakes.

There are a multitude of similarities between that era and today. I graduated with a degree in economics, so I am quick to note the wealth disparity, conspicuous consumption, heedless exuberance, high degree of technological change, tremendous demand for natural resources, and rapidly increasing globalization of both capital, commodities and product markets that occurred then and now, so the atavism that you feel is well founded.

These all create much strain on our economic and political systems. It is likely there will be severe consequences as institutions are unable to adjust to the rapidly changing external environment. I have written a paper arguing that we will see similar, but not as severe, consequences as a result. One main difference between then and now is the environmental variable that is a new constraint on our economies and nations. We will just have to see how this plays out.

Here is a good article on The New Gilded Age:

Ha I was going to say that a comparison of that age and the present would be a great paper, but it seems you have beaten me to it. I am unoriginal. Thanks for the insight and article.

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I got asked to go in someone?s limo today for Prom. She said it was only like $40 per person, which is cheap but I don’t think we will go. Dee asked us to go in there limo for free but I’m not sure about that ether. I’m just afraid they’ll want to go somewhere with the limo and we will be suck without a ride or will be suck at Eric’s apartment with them fucking or something. I don’t think there going to the post prom party though. Plus we have to be at Raindancer at 5:30 so I’m not sure if well ride with them. But then again it?s free. Doug found 3 people to ride in our limo for Guilderland with us; we need one more person now (6 passenger). We might go to Great Escape the day after his prom though. I’ll probably get a season pass this year again.

Oh I got one of those stick on back-less bras this weekend for my one dresses because it is open in the back. I also got a shawl that matches almost perfectly to my pink dress and a tiara.

I went to Doug’s school yesterday. The whole school is one big circle, there?s never an end to the hallways. They just continue forever. I can’t even tell what side of the building I?m on. I look out the window and all I see is another side of the school. The classes are so long though, there like 1:30 long. I told him I would bring him to BP some day he didn’t have school.

Doug got me a basket of candy in little plastic eggs and a BIG 3 or 4 foot bunny, which I?m not sure where to put right now. I got him a watch and some peeps for Easter. His mommy got us a box of the 40 flavored Jelly Belly jellybeans. She also brought back a turtle that have a magnetic belly and arms/legs and a key chain with the letter “S” on it from Las Vegas. Doug felt bad for forgetting to tell me to bring down something nice to wear for church on Sunday so he bought me a tee shirt at Bobs. Sammy sent me 6 packs of crispy M&M and a stuff chicken that?s legs and wings move! Thank you Sammy. Sammy lives in NH. My mom also sent me $20 and 3 rings.

I got a 93 on my English presentation.

Dee has this huge red mark around her lips. She says its because she has sensitive skin and Eric’s beard makes it turn red. Well I heard today I guess it was because of her giving head to Eric with a condom on. I guess its something about you can get pregnant by giving head or something. Untrue, 1. the month doesn’t lead in anyway to the egg 2. they cant swim that far before they die 3. the stomach acid will kill them. Still believes I got drunk at that party, she’s telling people now. Great.

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Dee came to school the other day with one of those college things from one college (you know the things you get in the mail from a certain college asking if you want information.) Well she was all excited she like ???look what I got??? haha. I??™m like that??™s great, I get them in the mail everyday. I think she was so excited she brought it to one of her teachers or the guidance councilor. I??™m going to a community college anyways so I don??™t have to worry about them too much. And I don??™t have to write a college essay or take the SATs.

I??™m going down to Doug??™s tomorrow. We are going to the mall Saturday, church Sunday, and school Monday.

Doug’s mommy came home from Las Vegas tonight.

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