There’s a thing that Elke did last year that I thought was really cool – she was going to try and read a book a week (more or less, I think 52 books in 52 weeks was the actual goal.) I thought this was admirable and something I’d like to do, but realized that it’s unlikely I’d do it. Regardless, I decided to make a list of books that I did want to read, and see how many of them I’d get through. Then I started to think about it a bit too much, and did I include books that I already read, but wanted to read again? Finally I decided to just list books that I hadn’t read, and actually wrote down the first few. Then I forgot about it for a month. Then last week I got it out when I was going to the used book store and wrote down a few more, and then afterwards put down some off of my Amazon wish list. Anyways, here’s what I have so far:

1. Going Postal – Terry Pratchett ( I recently read he’s got some horrible disease. How awful.)
2. Quicksilver – Neal Stephenson (I read Cryptonomicon and it was excellent, and heard nothing but good stuff.)
3. Eleanor Rigby – Douglas Coupland (After reading Microserfs I wanted to read lots more of his stuff, then after JPod, I didn’t. My brother left this at my house 2 years ago and It’s been calling to me.)
4. Walden – Thoreau
5. Generation X – Douglas Coupland (heard this was one of his best.)
6. Hey Nostradamus – Douglas Coupland
7. Leaves Of Grass – Walt Whitman (I’ve read bits and pieces of this on and off over the last 2 years and really want to spend some time reading the whole thing.)
8. How to talk so your kids will listen – Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish
9. Managing Humans – Michael Lopp (Jon turned me on to his blog (I think Jon, anyways) and it’s been a staple.)
10. Hackers & Painters – Paul Graham (I’m a student of cyberanthropology.)
11. Joel On Software – Joel Spolsky (Also love his blog, and want to both have this in book form as well as contribute something so that he keeps writing.)
12. Expect the Unexpected – Roger Von Oech (I loved his other two books)
13. The Cult Of Mac – Leander Kahney (I think I mentioned I’m into CyberAnthropology)
14. Cyberia – Douglas Rushkoff (I’ve started this book 3 separate times and something has come up each time. Plus, cyberanthropology.)
15. In The Garden Of Iden – Kage Baker (Jon told me about this and I think it sounds cool.)
16. Labyrinths Of Reason – William Poundstone
17. 21 Dog Years – Doing time @amazon.com – Mike Daisey (Cyberanthropology)
18. The Bug – Ellen Ullman (Cyberanthropology)
19. Smart & Get Things Done – Joel Spolsky
20. Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town – Steven Leacock (Again, have read bits and pieces, but want to read the whole thing.)

I also did read Anansi Boys by Neal Gaiman, which was awesome, but need to write about it in another post.