I’m behind on book review reading and had a little binge this afternoon to make an effort to catch up. I didn’t catch up, but my TBR list has gotten longer. I thought I’d share a list of the additions with you.
- Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain and Other Lessons From the Biology of Consciousness by Alva Noe. Noe is a cognitive scientist and philosopher and argues that consciousness is a complex achievement, not a biological process.
- Loneliness as a Way of Life by Thomas Dumm. An unfortunate last name. Saw this in an ad that included a blurb noting the book had a “rousing chapter on Emerson.”
- Berlin by Michael Mirolla. The fall of the Berlin Wall, escaped mental patient, a “surreal adventure in transcendental philosophy,” transvestite bars, adultery, murder, the kitchen sink is probably in there somewhere too. This was also an ad.
- The Love Song of Monkey by Michael S. A. Graziano. Forgiveness and mercy, dark humor, love triangles, surreal (a pattern seems to be developing), also from an ad and published by Leapfrog Press as is the previous one. I like Leapfrog Press because they tend to publish books that are a little different. And it is run by Marge Piercy and her husband Ira Wood.
- The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. This has gotten so much press I doubt it needs a blurb here. I find myself attracted and repelled by it at the same time. Is anyone reading this or planning on reading it?
- The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited by John Carroll. All about why humanism is a failed idea. I disagree but the reviewer made it sound interesting and it is good to get my blood boiling now and then.
- What are Intellectuals Good For? by George Scialabba. He’s the guy that reviewed the previous book and his byline notes this book to be published this spring.
- Lowboy by John Wray. A sixteen-year-old paranoid schizophrenic having a mental break who imagines there is a mythical city below Manhattan that mirrors the one above. Lyrical sentences and a brisk plot.
- Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov. A new translation of this Russian novel that was first published in 1859. Apparently for the first 180 pages the protagonist never leaves his sofa. For some reason I find this intriguing.
- Amberville by Tim Davys. Every child’s dream or nightmare, stuffed animals are alive and have lives of their own. I can’t summarize the plot but it sounds really bizarre but also thoughtful.
- Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know by Randall Stross. What Google is doing to collect all the information about you that it can and what it plans to with it.
It didn’t seem like there were so many until I listed them all out. Eek! When am I going to have time to read these not to mention the books I already own that are piled around me as I type? I’m aiming for immortality (I’ll be the only literate person in the post-literate world 
) or I’ll have to win the lottery when it’s one of those $100 million+ jackpots. Even better if I could have both!
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Ooh, Amberville sounds good, that is totally MY childhood worst fear! Lots of interesting ones here…
Oblomov has been on my reading list for years. (I get you on the sofa thing. It made me go, “Hmmmm, interesting”)
Ironically, I have procrastinated on reading the ultimate book on procrastination.
Oblomov is really funny! I have to read it again.
Out of Our Heads sounds interesting. I love books on neuroscience/consciousness/philosophy.
I don’t know if winning the lottery would help. You’d have more time, but with all that moolah, you’d surely be tempted to pick up a new book or two or three….
Readers are a little like quilters. If you’ve ever known a diehard quilter, you know how they stash away monumental amounts of fabrics…for someday…some quilt. Woe is the avid reader who is also an avid quilter. I can’t even imagine.
I don’t think even winning the lottery would help me because I would still need more time to read everything I want to, plan to, and hope to! Looks like a great pile of books
The Berlin book sounds odd but I’m kind of intrigued! And, while it’d be great to win the lottery I think what I need is just more freakin’ time. Like a 48 hour day or something like that. I’m not working right now and still find it hard to stay on top of things.
I’m also in two minds about The Kindly Ones – it was all the rage here two years ago when it hit the French shelves and I ignored it at that point….but it’s tempting me. Mostly because I want to see if he pulls it off and makes something meaningful despite all the violence.
Daphne, I know. I was always afraid my toys were watching me.
Dark Orpheus, the irony couldn’t be more perfect.
Bonnie, Oblomov is funny? It moves up the list then!
Will, I love books on neuroscience/consciousness/philosophy as well. It is so fascinating. And you have a point about winning the lottery. Might not be such a perfect thing after all.
Grad, I have a friend who is a quilter and she is always buying fabric for someday. And then she spends hours organizing it and reorganizing it all. Nothing like readers at all
Gentle Reader, well if we won the lottery at least we wouldn’t have to work. And maybe we could afford bookshelves for all our books
Iliana, Berlin does sound odd but I think it is the oddness that is appealing. A 48 hour day would be nice. I am still trying to figure out how to read in my sleep though.
Verbivore, I am curious about the same thing you are. From the various reviews I’ve read it’s about half and half on whether he pulls it off or not. They haven’t been very helpful.
My stuffed animals all had names and rich inner lives. (Their outer lives were more prosaic. Can you tell I had a sickly childhood?)
Interesting additions to your library! John Carroll’s sounds especially intriguing. I’ve been on a bit of a book buying binge. Something about working all the time makes me plan for my 180 pages on the couch.
I knit. My yarn stash is only rivaled by my bookcases. It’s why one day I’m going to need a 4000 sq foot loft.
I’ve been interested in reading Oblomov for a while, although that’s only because I want to read more widely in Russian literature, not because I actually new something about it. Your description is intriguing!
Oblomov sounds hilarious. I need to add a Russian to my 2009 list…
I can’t say I am at all interested in reading The Kindly Ones although I do like the title better than what I heard was the original title, “The Furies”. I guess like lots of people have said, there has been so much discussion and to-and-froing about the book, and that creates a sort of static muddle that I find bewildering. But you are brave to take it on. I will be interested in how you find it.
I actually have a review copy of The Kindly Ones. I didn’t really know much about it when I requested it (I was offered several titles and this one had an interesting blurb, but not many details), but now that I have it and am reading the very different reviews–ranging from wonderful to really awful, I’m not sure about it. In any case I can’t fit in such a big book right now, and am not sure if it’s the right book for me. I’d be curious to hear what you think of it, if you do get around to reading it.
Carrie, my stuffed animals all had names but I did not want them to have a rich inner life! I’d be too afraid of what they did while I slept or was away. I think your future 4000 sq ft loft sounds like heaven
Dorothy, I had never heard of Oblomov but it seems like everyone else has! I’m definitely going to have to read it!
Estelle, I am sadly lacking in the reading of Russian literature. The Kindly Ones actually are The Furies. The Furies were renamed at the end of Aeschylus’ Orestia trilogy to the Kindly Ones (I only know this because I read the play recently). The title is what actually makes me most interested in the book because I want to see if it somehow connects to the Greek tragedy. Whether I get to reading it remains to be seen.
Danielle, Lucky you to have a review copy! And I will be curious to hear what you think of the book is you get around to reading it.