Javier Marias - Dark Back of Time
Natsuo Kirino - Grotesque
Henning Mankell - Before the Frost
Miyuki Miyabe - Crossfire
Yiyun Li - A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Simon Singh - The Code Book
David Weber and Steve White - In Death Ground

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Dan Simmons - The Hollow Man
Elizabeth Moon - Engaging the Enemy
Henning Mankell - Faceless Killers
Patrick O'Brian - The Nutmeg of Consolation
Patrick O'Brian - The Truelove
Jonathan Lethem - As She Climbed across the Table

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Philip Pullman - The Amber Spyglass
Yasunari Kawabata - The Sound of the Mountain

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Jeanette Winterson - Tanglewreck
Allison Weir - The Life of Elizabeth I
C.S. Forester - Lord Hornblower
Leo Marks - Between Silk and Cyanide:, A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945
Alexander Kent - Stand Into Danger
Kyril Bonfiglioli - Something Nasty in the Woodshed
Dan Simmons - Endymion

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Watching Elizabeth again earlier this year (as well as enjoying various kinds of historical fiction lately) inspired me to seek out some books about her era. I've already read books about Walsingham and the armada, so I decided to find a good biography of Elizabeth herself: Allison Weir's The Life of Elizabeth I.

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Patrick O'Brian - The Letter of Marque
Patrick O'Brian - The Thirteen-Gun Salute
Dan Simmons - The Fall of Hyperion
Henning Mankell - The Fifth Woman
Philip Pullman - The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife

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Apropos of halloween... whenever I hear a bit of Poe's "The Raven" I think it must be one of the best-sounding poems ever. There is something so good about the rhythms and the rhymes and repetitions. It's structured and rhythmic, almost musical, and not in an obvious or annoying way.

Anyway, I heard Garrison Keillor reciting it on the radio this past weekend, literarily, and accompanied by some dramatic yet classy music. It was not bad, but it only made me think of the vastly superior, perhaps definitive version from the simpsons.

Nothing beats when Homer says "Take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door!" seriously. Doesn't hurt that they got James Earl Jones too.

Isaac Asimov - The Robots of Dawn
Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Stephen Fry - Revenge
George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman
Vyvyane Loh - Breaking the Tongue

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Laura Joh Rowland - The Dragon King's Palace
Laura Joh Rowland - The Assassin's Touch
David Weber - On Basilisk Station
David Weber - Path of the Fury
Cornelius Ryan - A Bridge Too Far

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RW sent me this interview with a guy who spent a year following every rule in the bible (and here's the book). It's insane, but also pretty interesting. I especially found his comment about wearing white interesting, that the way you look and behave affects the way you think. I in particular like to think of myself as purely self-driven and rational, and systematically underestimate the effect on me of external emotional factors (e.g. seattle weather, or having a good haircut). But I really liked what he says about the bible giving him structure; I'm one who often has a lot of ideas floating around but can slip into a sort of structureless mess. I can see where putting some rules and rigidity around things not makes it easier to not slack off, but makes you feel better about doing the things you want to do but are too lazy to organize.

and now there follows a long IM discussion with E about rational choice, precommitment, the paradox of choice, and structuring parts of your life so that your future less-rational self can't undo your decisions. and how that relates to things like buying ice cream at the store and going to the gym when you don't feel like it. which I won't reproduce here because it gets kind of personal. but hey, interesting stuff.

The Space Opera Renaissance
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot
Yasunari Kawabata - Beauty and Sadness
Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential
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Ryu Murakami - In the Miso Soup
Patrick O'Brian - The Reverse of the Medal
Li Yu - The Carnal Prayer Mat
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potters 6 and 7
Leigh Brackett - The Long Tomorrow

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Patrick Neate - City of Tiny Lights
Henning Mankell - Sidetracked
C.S. Forester - Hornblower and the Hotspur
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Kind of a slow month for reading.
C.S. Forester - Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Stephen Budiansky - Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage
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Amy Gray - Spygirl
Patrick O'Brian - The Far Side of the World
Jay Worrall - Sails on the Horizon
Patrick O'Brian - The Mauritius Command
Laura Joh Rowland - The Way of the Traitor
Cao Xuequin - The Story of the Stone Vol. 1: The Golden Days
Howard Hibbett - The Floating World in Japanese Fiction
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Naomi Hirahara - Gasa-Gasa Girl
Charles Yu - Third Class Superhero
Iceberg Slim - Death Wish
Henning Mankel - The Dogs of Riga
Garrett Mattingly - The Armada
P.G. Wodehouse - Right Ho, Jeeves
David Rakoff - Don't Get too Comfortable
C.S. Forester - Ship of the Line
Rudyard Kipling - Captains Courageous

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Patrick O'Brian - The Ionian Mission
Julian Barnes - Talking It Over
CS Forester - Lieutenant Hornblower
Patrick O'Brian - Treason's Harbor
Akira Yoshimura - On Parole

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C.S. Forester - The Happy Return (aka Beat to Quarters)
Liberman & Pullum - Far from the Madding Gerund
Ryonosuke Akutagawa - Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
C.S. Forester - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower

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rather than waiting until I write reviews that I usually never write, I've decided to just list the books I've been reading and maybe include some capsule reviews. so here's what I read this month. it was a good month for reading.

Patrick O'Brian - Desolation Island
Patrick O'Brian - The Fortune of War
Laura Joh Rowland - Shinju
Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife
Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls
Neil Gaiman - American Gods
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights (already reviewed)
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Charlotte Bronte - Villette
Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate

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I heard an interview with edward norton on NPR the other day, about his current movie "the painted veil" which sounds sort of good. but anyway, by far the most interesting part of the interview was when he offhandedly mentioned that he's working on an adaption of "motherless brooklyn" -- he said they're still working on the script. omg yes. eat me bailey.

I wonder if a motherless brooklyn movie would inspire "eat me bailey" t-shirts, a la napoleon dynamite. maybe I should market them now, beat the curve.