zeptember

A few friends of mine have started to keep track of how many books they read in a given year, and this inspired me to start reading books again myself.
As it stands right now, I tend to do most of my reading online via web browsing or daily newsfeeds. When it comes to reading actual physical books, mostly I just scan books to dig some knowledge out, but compared to being able to keyword search online, paper books have become annoying to me.

To get back to basics as it were, beginning February 21, 2004, I have been keeping track of all books that I am reading and have finished, to see how many I can get through before the end of each year. I will then take that list and increase it for the next year.

I’m doing this because ya know, readin is BAD, mmkay? The gubment doesn’t like a well-educated citizen. The gubment wants you to be a good little capitalist worker. The gubment wants you to be a vast consumerist - for the good of the country. The gubment wants you to believe that the country you live in is the Good Guy (at any cost).
So naturally I should read everything to the contrary that I can get my unpatriotic little hands on.

I started this list fresh in 2004, as though I’ve read nothing before. I’m going back through my bookshelves and re-reading books I haven’t read in years. I’m reading books I’ve received through gift certificates in the last 2 years. I’m reading books that people recommend to me in passing. I’m checking out the Banned Books list.

Books I’m Currently Reading:

• The Anti-Bride Guide - Carolyn Gerin & Stephanie Rosenbaum (recommended by a friend)
  
• The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
  
• Leaving the Fold - Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists - Edward T. Babinski
  

Books I finished in 2008:

• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown
  
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Books I finished in 2007:

• Will Storr vs. The Supernatural - by Will Storr (recommended by a friend)
  
• Two Ravens: The Life and Teachings of a Spiritual Warror - by Louis Two Ravens Irwin and Robert Liebert
  

Books I finished in 2006:

• The Light Beyond - Raymond A. Moody
  
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich
  
• The Mind of the Dolphin - John Cunningham Lilly, M.D. (recommended by a friend)
  
• The Bride of Science - Benjamin Woolley (recommended by a friend)
  
• The Metamorphosis and Other Stories - Franz Kafka (Barnes & Noble compilation) (recommended by a friend)
  

Books I finished in 2005:

None.
But I did try to get through a quarter of the book Debt-Proof Living: The Complete Guide to Living Financially Free, by Mary Hunt. (recommended by a friend)
I found the book too Christian and couldn’t get past that bent so took the formula “Save 10% of each paycheck” and tried to adhere to that for awhile. I failed again in 2006 however.

Books I finished in 2004:

• How To Survive Without A Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle - Charles Long (recommended by a friend)
  
• Your Money Or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money And Achieving Financial Independence [2ND Edition] - Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (recommended by a friend)

• Cradle to Grave; Life, Work and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines - Larry Lankton
  
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Siebold (gift from my sister)
  
• Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan (recommended by a friend)
  

Books I started reading in 2004 but have not finished yet:

• Gender Outlaw - Kate Bornstein
  
• Beyond the Boundaries; Life and Landscape at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, 1840-1875 - Larry Lankton