ILX BOOKS OF THE 00s: THE RESULTS! (or: Ismael compiles his reading list, 2010-2019)

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46. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (2006)
(50 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Dawkinssouthpark.jpg

Richard Dawkins - Anti-Christ or Great Thinker?

LBS:
I think that this is a must read for anyone, loved the style - so much better than his TV shows which are just aggressive

Red Raymaker:
It's an entertaining read and, contrary to popular belief, Dawkins is not at all strident or aggressive in the writing of this book.  It is intelligently written but it is also humorous and entertaining.  There is also a lot of common sense in there.

Also reading Dawkins' _The God Delusion_, a book I had no intention of reading, but decided to give a shot when I received it as a birthday present. It doesn't hold any great surprises, but is better than I expected after reading some of the online discussions of it last year. I've been a bit sick of Dawkins after seeing a bit too many of his television appearances.
― Øystein, Monday, October 1, 2007 8:30 PM (2 years ago)

Ismael Klata, Thursday, 4 February 2010 19:35 (fourteen years ago) link

gross u guyz ;_;

Lamp, Thursday, 4 February 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link

For what it's worth, I wouldn't recommend the book at all.

Øystein, Friday, 5 February 2010 09:21 (fourteen years ago) link

45. The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (2007)
(51 points, six votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlIAmCfHzbg

Red Raymaker:
Entertaining and very insightful examination of the build up to and the results of the Islamic Revolution.  The most fascinating part for me was the depiction of how the Islamists mobilised the socialists, communists and many liberals to oust the Shah's regime but then liquidated them once the Shah's regime was defeated.  It underlined to me how cruel, untrustworthy and morally-corrput the Islamic Revolution had been from its genesis and that the repression we are seeing now is a logical development for a sadistic regime.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 10:15 (fourteen years ago) link

Graphic Novels chart so far:

82. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel (2006)
(30 points, three votes)
50. Colonel Sweeto - Nicholas Gurewitch (2008)
(46 points, six votes)
45. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (2007)
(51 points, six votes)

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 10:54 (fourteen years ago) link

None of them picking up much in the way of comment. I liked Fun Home. With Persepolis I bought the book but decided to wait for the film, and then never got round to seeing it. Mrs K spent a couple of evenings with her nose in the book a couple of weeks back though, she seemed to enjoy it.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 10:56 (fourteen years ago) link

The book's much more striking than the movie, which doesn't add much at all. Strange that it was so acclaimed when it's basically just an animated comic book. Still think Fun Home is the decade's real graphic-novel masterpiece.

Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 11:22 (fourteen years ago) link

xp will be happy to comment dumbly on anything i've read, which isn't much so far. lol fantasy.

quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac), Friday, 5 February 2010 11:23 (fourteen years ago) link

I really wish I'd seen the voting thread in time so I could have shouldered some of my favourites further up the list but on balance I can't quibble with the results so far.

Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 11:26 (fourteen years ago) link

Not whoring for comments - most things have picked up a decent bit of discussion. I just thought it curious that none of the cartoons had got much attention when they've been doing pretty well overall - Persepolis still isn't the graphic novel #1.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 11:29 (fourteen years ago) link

Can't see it being a superhero one (although I'd have voted for the Bendis Daredevil) so has to be Chris Ware and/or Daniel Clowes still to come?

Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 11:31 (fourteen years ago) link

I think Safe Area Gorazde could be the top comic.

EZ Snappin, Friday, 5 February 2010 11:32 (fourteen years ago) link

44. Remainder - Tom McCarthy (2007)
(52 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8231/remainder.jpg

woofwoofwoof:
It's my number one for a lot of reasons: I liked it; I liked how it turned up (limited edition, looked like an old Olympia Press paperback, arthouse press funded by some combination of grants and philanthropy etc etc), which meant it appeared from the off to be playing a different and more interesting game than all other British novels; and I did like that it was British: I despair of this country plenty but feel excited and defensive when something good turns up.

The thing itself: I enjoyed its sense of restraint, that it didn't play obvious transgressive underground games; I liked its plain voice and plain observation, which fittingly slip into old Puritan trads of writing; I like how it follows an idea insanely and cleanly; how it's funny at times; how it likes images and moments and detail better than plot (I'm not a big novel reader tbh).

I like that other readers find different things in it - the theory boys can talk up the Deleuze & Blanchot & all that, but a romantic all-about-characters friend of mine saw it more as a book about a lonely man who can't find love and just wants to be somewhere happy.

She still liked it.

I haven't reread it. I thought back in the day that it might be a work that alters things, or marks a point where things are altering; a fresh flourishing outside the broadsheet-and-hardbacks world of publishing. I guess I still feel that world is dying, but I haven't seen anything else that convinces me the new thing is here.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 11:49 (fourteen years ago) link

As you saw from my comment above, I really enjoyed the Persepolis graphic novel. I preferred the book to the film. The only thing I didn't like about the story was the bit where the young girl grew up and went to Europe; I wasn't attracted to the woman the little girl became - she became quite an unsympathetic character by the end. However, I wouldn't let that over-shadow the positive attributes of the book as it is a brilliant depiction of what happened in that society in 1979. Having visited that country I know at first hand what wonderful people Iranians are; I just hope they manage to escape the repression they are currently experiencing.

RedRaymaker, Friday, 5 February 2010 11:53 (fourteen years ago) link

YES. In your face everything at 45 and lower.

nothing good came of it (woofwoofwoof), Friday, 5 February 2010 11:55 (fourteen years ago) link

that blurb does make me want to read it

thomp, Friday, 5 February 2010 12:00 (fourteen years ago) link

I have Persepolis from an old charity shop raid but never read it. (like oh so many books. one day I am just going to have stop buying anymore so I can read the ones I have.)

80085 (a hoy hoy), Friday, 5 February 2010 12:11 (fourteen years ago) link

^ the man city of readers

quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac), Friday, 5 February 2010 12:13 (fourteen years ago) link

Good strategy. I made myself do that while back when I realised how many classic novels my wife owned that I'd never bothered opening. But there's something about a new book that shouts "read me!" while something that's sat on the shelf for 10 years has a tendency to look forlorn.

Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 12:13 (fourteen years ago) link

I am still reading like a novel a week. It's just the Benjani's that look alright for the first 50 pages and then I forget to carry on...

80085 (a hoy hoy), Friday, 5 February 2010 12:16 (fourteen years ago) link

43. Our Band Could Be Your Life - Michael Azzerad (2001)
(53 points, four votes)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/2678939672_177398f95c_o.jpg

Our Band Could Be Your Life : c/d?
OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE (the book) S or D?
Michael Azerrad - Our Band Could Be Your Life C/D?

Anyone read an advanced copy or whatnot yet? Sounds kinda good.
― Nude Spock, Tuesday, July 24, 2001 12:00 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've read it already--it's quite good, well worth reading. The spread of facts is AMAZING; fans of those bands will gobble it up like a starving person let loose on a banquet. The writing's not as funny or sharp as Azerrad's Nirvana book. But that's a minor quibble in the face of the trove of great info and anecdotes.
― M. Matos, Tuesday, July 24, 2001 12:00 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

HE FUCKIN LOVED IT is what he's sayin. ;)
― Josh, Tuesday, July 24, 2001 12:00 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

*The writing's not as funny or sharp as Azerrad's Nirvana book...*
Jesus Christ man, where are you from - Salt Lake City? I've seen Michael's writing called many things, but funny?! Sharp?!
― Jerry, Tuesday, July 24, 2001 12:00 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I wouldn't say I loved it at all. I'd say it's very good and leave it at that. And the "funny"/"sharp" thing was purely by contrast--trust me on this one.
Besides, "Jerry," I've read you. And people who live in glass houses....
― M. Matos, Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:00 AM (8 years ago)

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 12:58 (fourteen years ago) link

harsh!

thomp, Friday, 5 February 2010 13:02 (fourteen years ago) link

smackdown

quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac), Friday, 5 February 2010 13:05 (fourteen years ago) link

42. Fooled By Randomness - Nasim Taleb (2001)
(53 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)

http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/WindowsLiveWriter/stat.png

Taleb's life tips

probably not as smart as he seems to think he is, but still manages to be provocative, if you have an interest in markets especially ... somewhat lazy and repetitive but makes a few worthwhile points ... I think he overstates his case a bit, but he does it with wit and is thought-provoking in a good way.
― o. nate, Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:00 PM (2 years ago)

History has been extremely kind to the book: Of all the books published in 2001, it seems to be currently among the 2 or 3 highest selling ones, if not the highest (across all categories, fiction, nonfiction, etc.).
― and what, Thursday, June 5, 2008 5:44 PM (1 year ago)

So, you are wondering, who is this guy? He was born in 1960 in Lebanon, though he casts doubt on both these “facts”. The year is “close enough” – he doesn’t like to give out his birth date because of identity theft and he doesn’t believe in national character.
for a guy telling us to not be skeptical because everything is totally random this is crazy paranoid
― and what, Thursday, June 5, 2008 5:48 PM (1 year ago)

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 15:48 (fourteen years ago) link

sounds liek a professional troll. would read.

quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac), Friday, 5 February 2010 15:52 (fourteen years ago) link

Remainder looks v interesting.

jed_, Friday, 5 February 2010 15:53 (fourteen years ago) link

Of this kind of pop-soft-science thing (ie Gladwell, Freakonomics) Taleb's the only one I'm tempted to read, mostly because a cursory reading of articles about him suggested that he is personally crazy & that his books are basically like some 'be not proud, for Fortuna will f*ck you up' c16th lecture-sermon. Prob shouldn't read them, likely to be a disappointment.

I was hoping that Remainder would place a little higher. My ballot was unordered, but I pretty much unhesitatingly chose it as the #1, and I know one other ilxor who would have placed it highly (later found he didn't vote). Maybe not for everyone, but there's a type who goes a bit mad for it. Here's Zadie Smith writing about Remainder and Netherland.

nothing good came of it (woofwoofwoof), Friday, 5 February 2010 16:13 (fourteen years ago) link

God I hate Taleb. Sure, it is better in some ways that Freakonomics and Gladwell, but that does make it a long way from being anything good. I guess Academia-lite books don't agree with me.

sjj247, Friday, 5 February 2010 16:21 (fourteen years ago) link

Yep, I would definitely have placed it highly (feeling slightly guilty about not voting now - partly a time thing and partly getting virtual gob-on, but should have made time dammit).

But yes, this - I like how it follows an idea insanely and cleanly

It's entertainingly inventive and impressively clear - ideas come tumbling out of it when you read. but it's not cluttered or laboriously referential. It's fun as well, and unusually for something that cd easily have been too abstract has lyrical feel. A clear voice as well, which is hellish difficult to do I think, especially with an idea like this.

It's a testament to McCarthy's skill that it all feels easy and unforced.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 5 February 2010 16:28 (fourteen years ago) link

xpost sorry.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Friday, 5 February 2010 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link

41. On Beauty - Zadie Smith (2005)
(54 points, five votes)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2009/11/13/1258121787991/Zadie-Smith-001.jpg

Guayaquil (eephus!):
Less spectacular than White Teeth, but way more disciplined and not so obviously choreographed.

Zadie Smith: she's very, very bad
― the pinefox, Monday, February 23, 2009 2:00 PM (11 months ago)

White Teeth ... I don't think it's robotic and alien (Swedes are more likely to be that), but it is totally, incredibly, offensively abysmal, and having started badly it gradually gets worse and worse.
― the pinefox, Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:14 AM (11 months ago)

I'm not really planning on reading more ZS after this one, but that's not because I don't like it. It's actually astoundingly good compared to her first novel - astoundingly, miraculously, because 5 years (2000 / 2005), or even more, if you want to push WT back into the 1990s, doesn't seem like enough time to have evolved so much. But she really did.
Then again I'm still only less than 50% through it, having had to stop for other things; quite possibly it goes downhill.
― the pinefox, Monday, March 9, 2009 11:37 PM (10 months ago)

what are your favourite novels post-2000?
Provoked suddenly by finishing Zadie Smith's On Beauty and wondering if it should be on such a list - of ten, say? I wondered what else would be on my list and realized it would be very mainstream indeed.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, March 17, 2009 1:14 PM (10 months ago)

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link

i'm confused

take me to your lemur (ledge), Friday, 5 February 2010 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link

A book good enough to turn a pinefox on a sixpence.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 17:08 (fourteen years ago) link

101 to 41:

101. Nixonland - Rick Perlstein (2008) (22 points, two votes)
100. Suite Française - Irène Némirovsky (1942, translated 2004) (22 points, two votes)
99. A Storm of Swords - George Martin (2000) (22 points, two votes)
98. Veronica - Mary Gaitskill (2005) (22 points, three votes)
97. How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The World - Francis Wheen (23 points, three votes)
96. On Green Dolphin Street - Sebastian Faulks (2004) (24 points, two votes)
95. No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (2005) (25 points, three votes)
94. Experience - Martin Amis (2000) (25 points, three votes)
93. Look To Windward - Iain M. Banks (2000) (26 points, two votes)
92. Nostalgia - Mircea Cărtărescu (translated 2005) (26 points, two votes)
91. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (2009) (26 points, two votes)

90. Stasiland - Anna Funder (2004) (27 points, two votes)
89. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett (2001) (27 points, two votes)
88. Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach (2003) (28 points, three votes)
87. The Elementary Particles also known as Atomised - Michel Houellebecq (2000) (28 points, four votes)
86. Sinai Diving Guide - Alberto Siliotti (2005) (28 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
85. The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein (2007) (29 points, three votes)
84. Freakonomics - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (2005) (29 points, five votes)
83. Death With Interruptions - Jose Saramago (2008) (30 points, two votes)
82. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel (2006) (30 points, three votes)
81. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories - Wells Tower (2009) (30 points, three votes)

80. Black Swan Green - David Mitchell (2006) (31 points, two votes)
79. Rabbit Remembered - John Updike (2001) (31 points, two votes)
78. Engleby - Sebastian Faulks (2007) (31 points, two votes)
77. An Episode In The Life Of A Landscape Painter - Cesar Aira (2006) (31 points, three votes)
76. Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson (2005) (31 points, two votes)
75. The Whole Equation - David Thomson (2005) (31 points, two votes)
74. What's Left? - Nick Cohen (2007) (31 points, three votes)
73. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize - David Cavanagh (2001) (32 points, four votes)
72. Nothing - Paul Morley (2000) (33 points, two votes)
71. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (2000) (33 points, four votes)

70. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell (2005) (33 points, four votes)
69. Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century - Patrik Ouředník (2005) (34 points, two votes)
68. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro (2001) (34 points, five votes)
67. Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar - Simon Sebag Montefiore (2003) (35 points, two votes)
66. Words and Music - Paul Morley (2003) (35 points, three votes)
65. Against The Day - Thomas Pynchon (2006) (35 points, four votes)
64. Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson (2007) (37 points, two votes)
63. Death And The Penguin - Andrey Kurkov (2001) (37 points, two votes)
62. London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd (2001) (37 points, three votes)
61. The Year Of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion (2005) (38 points, four votes)

60. White Teeth - Zadie Smith (2000) (40 points, two votes)
59. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer (2005) (41 points, two votes)
58. Youth - JM Coetzee (2002) (41 points, two votes)
57. Saturday - Ian McEwan (41 points, three votes)
56. No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July (2007) (41 points, four votes)
55. Perdido Street Station - China Miéville (2000) (42 points, three votes)
54. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling (2000) (45 points, four votes)
53. Netherland - Joseph O'Neill (2007) (45 points, four votes)
52. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson (2004) (45 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
51. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris (2000) (46 points, five votes)

50. The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial Of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories - Nicholas Gurewitch (2008) (46 points, six votes)
49. 45 - Bill Drummond (2000) (47 points, three votes)
48. House Of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski (2000) (49 points, five votes)
47. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon (2007) (49 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
46. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (2006) (50 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)
45. The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (2007) (51 points, six votes)
44. Remainder - Tom McCarthy (2007) (52 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
43. Our Band Could Be Your Life - Michael Azzerad (2001) (53 points, four votes)
42. Fooled By Randomness - Nasim Taleb (2001) (53 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
41. On Beauty - Zadie Smith (2005) (54 points, five votes)

I think I'll let the countdown hang there for now and tackle the top forty next week. I promised a few interludes to give attention to some oddities and curios which didn't make the top 101. I'll see if I can get a few of those up over the weekend.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link

Ismael, at the end of the results process will you list the results by category as well?

RedRaymaker, Friday, 5 February 2010 20:22 (fourteen years ago) link

Immeasurably better than White Teeth. So thematically rich, and funny with it.

gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link

I'll do a full rundown, yes - from memory about 23 multiple-vote-getters missed out on the rundown; plus another 80 or so single-vote-getters before I BANNED THEM. I'll see if any categories are exhausted already, maybe have a quickfire rundown over the weekend.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 20:47 (fourteen years ago) link

I always discounted On Beauty after it was the hand-wringing liberal's book of choice in various satirical pieces post-Iraq. I don't even know what it's about, but the pinefox's volte-face has got me intrigued

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 20:57 (fourteen years ago) link

I ignored it completely after it was shamelessly plugged by Richard Curtis in the Vicar of Fucking Dibley (and because I disliked White Teeth) but I'm glad I changed my mind.

gotanynewsstory? (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 5 February 2010 21:02 (fourteen years ago) link

I can't fathom why Nasim Taleb raises so much ire above, given that his central point: gaussian distributions underestimate market risk, can't be that controversial at the end of the decade. Like a number of other quant apologia (Satyajit Das being my fave) he offers a corrective picture of 7-figure income traders at at prop desks being all too often jocks out of their depth. That sort of perspective saves millions...

strange obsession was for certain vegetables and fruit (Derelict), Friday, 5 February 2010 21:21 (fourteen years ago) link

One thing I don't get: his whole thing in his day job is supposed to be about taking small losses day-on-day, then cleaning up big time when the once-in-a-generation market condition comes along. But when that happened last year, instead of working hard the guy was never off the telly.

Ismael Klata, Friday, 5 February 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link

his central point: gaussian distributions underestimate market risk

No! His central points is that this kind of risk actually CAN'T be estimated by a probability distribution; saying that a Gaussian underestimates the risk suggests that the risk could be correctly estimated if you used a distribution with fatter tails, but I take Taleb to be saying that you're already halfway to ruin once you undertake the project of assigning a numerical probability to this kind of event at all. And I agree with him. On the other hand, I'm sympathetic to the other side of the argument, which is that -- "we have to price things, which means that whether we like it or not we're assigning expected value to instruments whose future behavior is radically uncertain." Maybe a kind of uneasy medium would be to accept that the market sets prices for such entities but to be radically skeptical that these prices bear any fixed relation to future value, or indeed that they mean anything at all beyond "this is what a buyer and seller agreed on."

Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 6 February 2010 04:40 (fourteen years ago) link

40. The Damned United - David Peace (2006)
(55 points, four votes)

http://www.e-clipsblog.co.uk/wp-content/brian-clough.jpg

David Peace, Novelist
Brian Clough RIP

I'm a little under half way through "The Damned United" by David Peace. Certainly the best football novel I've ever read*, maybe the best football book. It's an oddly conflicting experience though, because the baddies in the book are my ultimate footballing heroes.
*Yes I'm including even Jimmy Greaves's series concerning the adventures of star striker Jackie Groves.
...
"The Damned United" doesn't really reach closure, but then since I know the story involved, it would be madness to expect it to.
It is really a very excellent book indeed and I heartily recommend it, though I do wonder whether it might be a bit light on background for anyone to whom the name "Billy Bremner" (for example) means little or nothing.
― Tim (Tim), Thursday, November 2, 2006 10:40 AM (3 years ago)

It is very good, once you get over the notion of Brian Clough as Joycean narrator. I have read lots, and I only started last night. I keep thinking I am bound to get bored soon, but I haven't so far. In fact it was making me very nervous and uneasy last night. Perhaps it is because of Clough, in real life, looking like a ghost, at Burton Albion. I don't think I have ever readf a book narrated by som,,eone I have seen in real life.
Apart from Ned Kelly, of course.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, November 14, 2006 9:05 AM (3 years ago)

Ismael Klata, Monday, 8 February 2010 10:11 (fourteen years ago) link

I read this and enjoyed very much, but I have to admit I never did fully get over Clough-as-Joycean-Narrator.

quiz show flat-track bully (darraghmac), Monday, 8 February 2010 10:29 (fourteen years ago) link

interesting book. the week in week out routine of a football season is a pretty good subject for a dude who likes to repeat himself so much (meaning peace, not clough).

jabba hands, Monday, 8 February 2010 11:41 (fourteen years ago) link

39. Notable American Women - Ben Marcus (2002)
(55 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)

http://i46.tinypic.com/20rae4g.jpg

JL:
His Age of Wire and String is brilliant, but somehow I couldn't get into this one. Some day I'll try again.

dear Jesus, it's brilliant. And mad. But mostly brilliant. And mad.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, November 13, 2002 3:13 AM (7 years ago)

it takes the semiotics stuff thought to stream OUT of novels and folds it INTO the actual fabric of the narrative (about the power of names, language, etc.) Barth and lots of others have done that in the past, but it could stand as an interesting realization of the wave you're talking about (if you want to read it that way).
― Andy, Wednesday, November 13, 2002 4:39 AM (7 years ago)

everyone really, really should read 'notable american women'
― thomp, Friday, March 20, 2009 6:06 PM (10 months ago)

i am slogging through notable american women and thinking that if i'm going to invest this much effort, i wish it was in something i was more involved in.
― corps of discovery (schlump), Wednesday, April 29, 2009 7:00 PM (9 months ago)

Ismael Klata, Monday, 8 February 2010 12:15 (fourteen years ago) link

38. Rip It Up And Start Again - Simon Reynolds (2005)
(60 points, six votes)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GPG6KJZSL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Rip it up and start again
Simon Reynolds - C or D
Simon Reynolds is a gobshite
Simon Reynolds' 'Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews & Overviews'
The Dutch: RipIt Up & Start Again
Does Postpunk even actually exist?

I have to say I found Rip It Up And Start Again pretty disappointing. It would be good as a primer for someone who doesn't know much about post-punk. But who in hell is going to buy a book about post-punk who isn't already into it to a fair degree? Books ain't cheap. In any case, I don't expect Reynolds to be writing primers for people who don't know the subject, I expect him to write something interesting, to spark off novel takes and ideas and so forth. But the book is just one journalistic portrait after another, and the points he makes tend to be the obvious ones that will have already struck anyone listening to the music.
― James Russell, Thursday, October 6, 2005 7:58 AM (4 years ago)

I am actually interested in [Welcome to the Pleasuredome] in the light of Simon R.'s use of it and Frankie as the end-point of Rip It Up and Start Again. As he sees it, it was the conclusion of 'post-punk/new pop' in terms of The Future -- "On one level, you could see Frankie as punk's last blast. But on another deeper, structural level, Frankie were a taste of pop things to come -- the return of the boy band. Perhaps that accounts for the curious hollowness, even at the height of Frankiemania, to the phenomenon."
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, December 10, 2005 8:03 PM (4 years ago)

smart but v. accessible, well-written and thoruoughly researched, though somewhat less-than-earth-shattering so far. This has more to do w/my advanced age and firsthand exp of postpunk than it does w/Reynolds efforts.
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:34 AM (3 years ago)

Ismael Klata, Monday, 8 February 2010 13:48 (fourteen years ago) link

! did not think notable american women would place anywhere near so high; awesome

thomp, Monday, 8 February 2010 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link

37. Anathem - Neal Stephenson (2008)
(60 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/04/xkcd_anathem.jpg

Anathem by Neal Stephenson: Kinda Like 'The Name of the Rose' If It Were About Pythagoreans

i read the latest a few months ago. it's good - well written - but
ultimately it feels like three different books
1) mathy portrait of the artist as a young man
2) paul theroux on a different planet
3) rama w. monks
-- remy bean, Monday, 15 September 2008 17:40 (1 year ago) Bookmark
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this (from another thread) is otm except it neglects to mention the
awesomosity of those three ideas.
-- surfing on hokusine waves (ledge), Tuesday, 13 October 2009 14:24 (2
months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i am midway through an advance reader's copy of neal stephenson's anathem and, after some initial rough going, feel v. privileged to be checking it out this soon. it is a super duper book.
― remy bean, Friday, June 20, 2008 5:05 PM (1 year ago)

I went to the library to get Anathem and I have the following initial observations: 1) omg it's really huge to be carrying around in my purse for however long it takes me to read it; 2) I think I am almost to the point of finding Neal Stephenson insufferable; and 3) this might be because in his dust jacket picture, Neal Stephenson looks like a less sinister version of my Worst Boyfriend Ever (not the Joy Luck Club/crying jag boyfriend).
― home of the vain (Jenny), Tuesday, March 3, 2009 8:26 PM (11 months ago)

jenny are you at the part of anathem yet where it's basically just monks talking for like 300 pages? (spoiler alert)
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, March 26, 2009 7:17 PM (10 months ago)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSss
― home of the vain (Jenny), Thursday, March 26, 2009 7:19 PM (10 months ago)

Ismael Klata, Monday, 8 February 2010 14:52 (fourteen years ago) link


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