Great meme at Noble Savage that I snagged.

Below is a list of the top 106 books tagged “unread” on LibraryThing.
The rules:
bold = what you’ve read
italics = books you started but couldn’t finish
crossed out = books you hated
*= you’ve read more than once
underline = books you own but haven’t read yourself

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
6. *Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
7. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
9. The Odyssey by Homer
10. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
11. Ulysses by James Joyce
12. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
13. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
14. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
15. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
16. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
17. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
18. The Iliad by Homer
19. Emma by Jane Austen
20. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
21. *Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
23. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Mostly read. I took a upper division class at Uni.
24. *Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
25. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
26. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
27. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
28. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
29. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
30. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
31. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
32. Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
33. Dracula by Bram Stoker
34. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
35. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
36. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
37. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
38. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
39. Middlemarch by George Eliot
40. *Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
41. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
42. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
43. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
44. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
45. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
46. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
47. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
48. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
49. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
50. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
51. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
52. Dune by Frank Herbert
53. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
54. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
55. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
56. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
57. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
58. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
59. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
60. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
61. *To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
62. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
63. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
64. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
65. Persuasion by Jane Austen
66. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
68. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
69. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
70. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
71. Atonement by Ian McEwan
72. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
73. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
74. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
75. *Dubliners by James Joyce
76. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
77. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
78. Beloved by Toni Morrison
79. Collapse by Jared Diamond
80. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
81. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
82. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
83. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
84. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
85. *Watership Down by Richard Adams
86. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
87. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
88. Beowulf by Anonymous
89. *A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
90. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
91. The Aeneid by Virgil
92. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
93. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
94. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
95. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
96. *Possession by A.S. Byatt
97. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
98. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
99. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
100. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
101. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
102. Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire
103. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
104. The Plague by Albert Camus
105. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
106. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazie

What really sticks out for me, (besides there a ton of books that I need to read and a few I need to revisit because I haven’t looked at them for 15 years) is I really need to call on Mr. Dickens.

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Faggoty Ass Faggot wrote an amusing bit on how the American Press would overreact to this unexpected character back-story that you can read here.

I’m hoping that he is wrong and all of that does not come to pass. I haven’t really noticed anything here other than the initial articles saying, “Wow! Who knew? That’s kinda groovy.” Well. Not exactly that. I don’t think anyone in the British Press would say groovy.

A bit in the LA Times that I think is overwhelming in its vanilla lameness called, Seven Clues that ‘Potter’s’ Dumbledore Was Gay manages to redeem itself with the last paragraph:

“No matter how many ‘clues’ I can put down that Dumbledore was gay, no matter how many millions of people have read these books again and again, Rowling surprised even the most die-hard fans with the announcement that Dumbledore was gay. And in the end, the fact that we never would have guessed is what makes Dumbledore being gay so real. So many times I have encountered friends who are gay that I never would have predicted. It has shown me that one’s sexual orientation is not some obvious ‘lifestyle choice,’ it’s a precious facet of our multi-faceted personalities. And in the end whatever the differences between our personalities are, it is time that our world heeds Dumbledore’s advice: ‘Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.’ Today as I write this, I believe that it’s time for our aims to be loyal to what the greatest wizard in the world would have wanted them to be: love.”

Most of my gay friends are out. Darren’s homophobic and conservative parents became huge gay rights supporters after they heard the news. Other friends have had rockier experiences. Scott told me that when he tried to bring up the subject with his mother, she deftly changed the subject and everything was left unsaid.

I know we have a come a long way since Stonewall but there is so much further to go.

My Freshman year in University one of our theatre students was murdered. Tortured. For being gay.

On November 23, 1988, Gordon Church, a 28-year-old a drama student at Southern Utah University, was brutally murdered by Michael Archuleta, 25, and Lance Wood, 19. The murder was one of the most sadistic murders in the history of the state, gay or straight, but only a few people are aware of the torture killing because a judge placed a gag order over the case to shelter a prominent Mormon family in Delta from public humiliation that their son was gay.

I can’t tell you how much that disgusts me. . . the “judge placed a gag order over the case to shelter a prominent Mormon family in Delta from public humiliation that their son was gay.”

We all knew Gordon was gay. We all knew that he was targeted for being gay. I didn’t know until today doing a search for the articles for the links that there was a gag order on the truth getting out.

How I managed to last four years in Utah, I will never know.

A little under ten years later Matthew Shepard was murdered. Tortured. For being gay.

Where am I going with this. Not really sure.

I guess, while I agree with FAF that this revelation should not get the attention of the news cycle that he is afraid it will get. . . I think that one can never underestimate the power of story. Read Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung. . . Stories can change the world. That’s why one of the first people they go after to shut up are the artists.

While I think the Dumbledore back story is interesting and not a big deal to me, I hope that this means that it is interesting and not a big deal to the thousands that have read the books and it is just another step toward the day that when my friend tries to come out to his mother, she won’t cut him off and say, “I don’t want to hear this.” Another step forward to the day when someone won’t be murdered and tortured for being gay.

I supposed they’ll be murdered and tortured for an altogether different reason, but that’s a rant for another day.

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There aren’t many things as satisfying as reading a good book on a rainy day and having a good cry over the end of a story ten years in the making.

I love the new book.

There is one secret that I had guessed back in book three (which makes me feel smug and smart and rather superior).

Now what am going to do with the rest of the day?

I think I may re-read it.

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I couldn’t help myself. I was avoiding work by skimming the NY Times online and there was a review for the new Harry Potter by the venerable Michiko Kakutani.

I almost didn’t read it, but I got sucked in. I didn’t think she would detail important twists and turns- she is too good of a reviewer for that. Also I trusted her because I remember her review two years ago of the last HP and it is obvious that she loves the books so I knew she wouldn’t be evil. (I must say however. . . Pulitzer or not, I think she was a bit lazy for using the same line in this review as she did in the last: “. . .he is clearly more Henry V than Prince Hal, more King Arthur than young Wart.” Although it is a good line. I guess who can blame her for recycling it.)

I think people who derive joy by reveling plot points of stories are missing something in their soul.

Extreme? Maybe. I don’t care -bite me.

Funny true story. Couple of friends of mine were going to see a screening of Citizen Kane. One friend said to the other, “I’ve never seen this.” The other said, “Really? So you don’t know that Rosebud is —–”

The first friend nearly punched the 2nd friend in the teeth.

I was in a writers group of AFI alumnus right after graduation. The Sixth Sense had just come out and I had managed to squirrel myself away without hearing the big secret. The other members of the group were talking about it and I said, “I haven’t seen it. Going tomorrow, please don’t say what the secret is.”

They kept talking.

“Seriously guys. Could you just stop until I go? Please?”

And then one of the dip-shits in the group said what the secret was.

I still enjoyed the film, but it was a different experience for me.

I will never forgive that asswipe. I dropped out of the group I was so pissed.

Back to Harry. Thank you Michiko Kakutani for not ruining the story. I am terribly jealous that you have already know how it all ends.

I can’t wait to hide myself away Saturday.

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It could have been terrible- adapting a book that is big enough to be a weapon of mass destruction but Michael Goldenberg pares 870 pages down to a lean and very mean 138 minutes.

There has been much talk about how dark this film is and anyone who has read the books thinks, “Well DUH.” The only reason why I enjoy this series is that the stakes get higher each year. A mass murderer that killed your parents and your friends parents, disrupted life as you know it and is coming after you and everyone you care about is not exactly the stuff of sweetness and light. Roger Ebert’s review is deliciously off base on this issue: “My hope, as we plow onward through “Potters” Nos. 6-7, is that the series will not grow darker still.”

Roger, mate? Are you high?

Anyhoo. Imelda Staunton is spot on as Dolores Umbridge. If you aren’t certain the moment she speaks in her simpering little voice that she is evil, the collection of hundreds of cat plates in her office confirms it.

The Weasley Twins exit from Hogworts, while it doesn’t live up to what my little brain imagined is still very satisfying in its destruction.

A big win of this film is Mr. Grint has been taking acting classes or he has been reading his Stanislavski because he is finally relaxed and isn’t mugging for the camera every two seconds. (Saw him in a TV movie called Driving Lessons with Julie Walters, who plays his mum in the HP films and he was excellent.)

Is this adaptation a lot different from the book? Yes. Are there some things that when I think back that I wish could have been included? Sure. Do I think they did the right thing by cutting it down? Most definitely.

An adaptation of a book into cinematic dramatic action is a totaly different animal.

Going forward, I am a little worried that they haven’t set up certain things in this and the previous films so there is a lot of work to be done.

My three big concerns.

Neville, Ginny and especially Snape. I won’t say why for the three of you that don’t read the books but watch the films.

In any case, it’s a good film and well worth seeing.

Next weekend after I recover from my Birthday party hangover, I will be hiding myself away to read book seven. It will probably knowing me, take a day and a half.

Sometimes I wished I read slower so I could savor the things I enjoy.

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I just saw Short Cuts for the first time, which is bizarre because in the 13 years since it has come out I have developed an affection for Altman and Carver is one of my favourite writers.

I liked it, but I wish I had watched it before I ever heard Raymond Carver’s name. I wish I was watching the characters weave in and out of the inter connecting story without recognizing the clothes that they used to wear. I normally don’t have that problem with an adaptation. Usually I am able to separate the story from the film very cleanly in my head. I get grade A annoyed at people that say, “Well, it wasn’t like that in the book.” –Not recognizing that an adaptation of a book into a film is a translation into another language. Sometimes some children are killed on the way. It’s like King Solomon, except different.

I think the problem for me was I forgot, (except for a few – ‘Small good. . .’, ‘So much water. . .’) what stories were being used in Short Cuts.

What is right and true in the film are those rhythms between men and women. He gets Carver there, hook line and sinker.

It’s silly. Ridiculous. I’m feeling annoyed with the film for being a B+. This film could have been an A. Who the hell am I to get lairy over a film being a very respectable B+.

Whatever. A few of my, why it needed oregano thoughts.

A Small, Good Thing is one of those stories that can make me cry just thinking about it, but Lyle Lovett bless his little heart sucks ass as the baker in this. That said, I still cried. . . but I’m a shill.

Jindabyne gives a lot more credit to “So Much Water So Close To Home” but that is to be expected- you can’t compare an entire film to a snippet in another one. . . but certain moments screamed false. The guy is pissing in the river. He realises he is pissing on a body and he keeps going. I don’t know about you boys, but I can stop certain things mid steam. At least aim in a different direction when you see what you are doing. The entire story didn’t have the gravitas that it deserved.

While I wished I didn’t know Carver, my jaw dropped when I realised that “Tell The Women We Are Going” was one of the threads weaved into the rug. The climax of it doesn’t work however. Maybe it doesn’t really work in the story and I am connecting dots in my head that aren’t really there.

I dunno.

However, even with my nitpicking- I liked this movie. I dig characters interweaving, big city that is really a small city everyone just wanting to be loved man, just loved- stories. . .

And Altman catches Carver’s soul in this. Parts are wonderful. Inspired. The clown cop scene. (Note to self. Add Tim Robbins to celebrity crush/fuck list.)

And it makes me want to sit down to the computer and write this play that has been kicking around my synapses for the last year.

If I didn’t have to go to work in the A of the M, I might start it now.

All I know about it? There is an Elvis Impersonator. And a cannibal.

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Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday after suffering brain injuries from a fall. So it goes.

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The collection of tales from UK bloggers that I mentioned a few days ago has been completed and you can buy it from lulu.com at www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk.
Some great news- Lulu has agreed to donate their share of the profits to Comic Relief also. Go get your copy today. It’s for a good cause and you will have something amusing to read!

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All week I read Northern Lights the first part in the His Dark Materials Trilogy. . . Fantastic book. I don’t care that it’s considered children’s literature.

Yesterday I started the 2nd book, The Subtle Knife. I stopped about 100 pages before the end last night so I could enjoy the end after a good nights sleep.

Stuart and I woke up around 6:30 and were lying there talking a little before we fell back asleep.

“How far did you get in the book?”

“I have another 100 pages or so.”

“Did XXX die yet?”

!!!!!!

“NO XXX didn’t DIE yet! What is wrong with you!”

“You said that you had a 100 pages left.”

“I do! But they haven’t. . . WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!” I rolled away and the gulf in the bed was wide with his sin.

At nine I woke up and finished the last 100 pages and I cried when XXX died. It would have been a lot more painful if I hadn’t known about it. I would have enjoyed the story that much more.

Stuart is only now on the third book. I think I will need to finish it before he does, which won’t be hard because I read faster than anyone I’ve ever met, and then I can tell him how the whole shebang ends. . .

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Dude!

I’ve arranged to get some Cal-i-for-ni-a rays in April and May. Going to La La Land for the LA Times Festival of Books and I’m going to hang out for a week. It’ll be AWESOME.

Then I’m going to Vegas Baby for the weekend to catch up some of the peeps there and to see my nephew. . .

I know it’s three months away but I am already planning what I am going to eat.

Pancakes and French Press coffee at The Griddle.

Tuna Melt and onion rings at Fred 62.

A reuben and a black and white from Cantor’s.

Dim Sum from Ocean Seafood.

Pizza at Village Pizza.

If I can get friends to splurge with me, a steak at The Palm.

A burrito from Yucca’s.

A burrito from Burrito King.

Mexican Food and margaritas from a variety of locations: El Chavo, El Compadre, El Conquistador, El Coyote. . .

What am I forgetting? Oh yes! Noodles at Sanamluang and curry at Palms Thai.

Sushi at Sushi Afloat.

Chili cheese dogs at Pinks.

Chili Cheese fries from Tommy Burger.

Double-Double Animal Style from In and Out.

It is really sad but I could go on and on. . .

I can hardly wait.

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