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So, what books did you get for Christmas?

 
 
--
19:23 / 26.12.03
I'll go first:

"Simulacra and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard (how pretentious)

"The Nag Hammadi Library" (edited by James M. Robinson)

"Quantum Psychology" by RAW (oh yeah, been waiting to read this one!)

"Character Analysis" by Wilhelm Reich (read "Function of the Orgasm" recently and it made me hungry for more).

"Wholeness and The Implicate Order" by David Bohm.

"Amphigorey Also" by Edward Gorey.

"The Mystery Play" by Grant Morrison.

"Animal Man" vol. 1 by Grant Morrison (have 2 & 3 already, now I can read the whole thing in order.)

"Starry Wisdom" by various (Lovecraft tribute).

I also got the Siouxsie & the Banshees biography. Looks like I have a lot of reading ahead of me.
 
 
Icicle
20:18 / 26.12.03
Angela Carter 'The Bloody Chamber'

Gaeten soucy 'The little girl who was too fond of matches'

Marie Darieussecq 'Breathing Underwater'
 
 
pachinko droog
16:33 / 27.12.03
"Disinfo Book of Lies" was my present to myself.

Also got:

"You Are Being Lied To" (ed. Russ Kick)
"Transmetropolitan Vol.6--Gouge Away" (Warren Ellis)
"The Dreaming Universe" (Fred Alan Wolf)
"Unfinished Tales" Vol.1&2 (JRR Tolkein)
"Pattern Recognition" (William Gibson)
"Quicksilver" (Neal Stephenson)

Nothing like curling up with a good read and a warm mug of mulled wine on a cold winter's night.
 
 
invisible_al
07:55 / 28.12.03
Got the re-released 'World of the Dark Crystal' from my sis, best present ever .
Also bought myself Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson in the sale at Borders on Charing Cross road (8.99 roar!)
 
 
Madman in the ruins.
09:35 / 28.12.03
Got "Eight Days of Luke" bt Daina Wynne Jones, after reading about it here on Barbelith rekindeld my intrest it it.
 
 
Squirmelia
09:05 / 29.12.03
I got:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (something I've meant to read since I was about 15. I read it and it reminded me of being 15, although I don't really think I was that similar to the main character in it at 15, but even so, reading it back at my parents' place added to the effect. Very easy to read, but a bit too obvious at times.)

The Twenty-seventh City by Jonathan Franzen (Have started reading it, but it doesn't seem as good as The Corrections or Strong Motion.)

McSweeneys Issue 12 (Have read the 20 minute stories, which make me mainly think "woah, how can you write something as good as that in 20 minutes?")

McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Have read a few stories, some of which have been slightly disturbing in a fairytale kind of way. Some of the tales have been written by famous authors such as Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Rick Moody, Nick Hornby, etc.)

Jonathan Lethem - Amnesia Moon

A red and yellow Japanese kid's book (to improve my reading skills.)

A learn Kanji book

Think I got some other books, but can't remember what. Oh well.
 
 
Panic
16:56 / 29.12.03
From my brother:

Disinfo's BOOK OF LIES and ABUSE YOUR ILLUSIONS
The Penguin unabridged edition of Montaigne's ESSAYS

From myself:

The new AK Press edition of Vidocq's MEMOIRS, which is mightily abridged but will do til I get the scratch for a secondhand copy of the complete edition

Paul Di Filippo's STEAMPUNK TRILOGY, LOST PAGES, and FRACTAL PAISLEYS. All $2.95 from the Hamilton Books site.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
20:30 / 29.12.03
I received The Master and Margarita and am a little worried about it because it is Russian and I don't always get on with Russian translations because they tend towards muddled or too floral and I like dry writing with loads of commas or very short sentences. I shall make a valiant effort though.

I bought far more books than I received this year.
 
 
illmatic
20:56 / 29.12.03
I got ...

Two Toms Strong graphic novels and a copy of Graphotism (big ol' graf journal) from my lovely girlfriend.

Quimby the Mouse
A nice two volume editon of "The Greek Myths" by Robert Graves
The Devils Dictionary by Ambrose Biece
Dude, Where My Country by Mike Moore

erm.. that's it, I think.
 
 
illmatic
11:44 / 30.12.03
And Tim Burton's "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy".
 
 
Sax
13:25 / 30.12.03
Thursbitch by Alan Garner.

The book that inspired the mountain movie Touching The Void, by someone whose name I can't recall.

Um, that's it.
 
 
Sax
13:53 / 30.12.03
Just to clarify, Thursbitch was written by Alan Garner. He didn't give it to me for Christmas.
 
 
moriarty
04:28 / 31.12.03
Animation-The Art of Layout and Storyboarding by Mark T. Byrne. From my mom, which she brought over from Ireland. She remembered that I was having trouble in this department, so it's a very thoughtful gift.

I bought myself a few books. Tarzan Chronicles, which is a "making-of" book for the animated feature, and a Mutts comic strip collection, both from a remaindered bookstore that was having amazing sales. Finally picked up Ghost World and Louis Riel. Louis Riel is a real page-turner, and combines my love for Harold Grey's Little Orphan Annie with my interest in Canadian history.

I also bought a few books as birthday gifts that I flipped through. The Making of Casablanca, and Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles, which I devoured.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
09:54 / 31.12.03
Grimm's Fairy Tales, illustrated by a selection of contemporary luminaries, which is a beautiful thing

Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss - this is the punctuation book that's been all over the shop lately

Flesh in the Age of Reason, by Roy Porter

Reformation: Europe's House Divided, by Diarmaid MacCulloch

Richard Newton and English Caricature in the 1790s, and I forget the author
 
 
sleazenation
12:03 / 31.12.03
I got the fountain a the centre of the world by post-comedian robert Newman. I really like his stuff but have both high hopes and low expectations for his latest novel.

i also got to afghanistan and back by ted rall - an intersting miscellany of information and reportage rather than a coherant whole.
 
 
sleazenation
12:06 / 31.12.03
oh yeah i also got eats, shots and leaves but i haven't even started that yet...
 
 
cusm
15:43 / 31.12.03
Breaking Open the Head : A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, by Daniel Pinchbeck

Chaldean Account of Genesis, George Smith, from the Secret Doctrine collection, with a lovely black hard cover and gold inlay making it look all scholary and shit.

Mister Rogers Parenting Book: Helping to Understand Your Young Child, by Fred Rodgers.

A veritable crossection of my life at present.
 
 
_pin
20:25 / 01.01.04
Can someone please read Eat, Shoots and Leaves and tell me is the women ever appologises for attempting to make us all write "s's" in public when it's clearly the single most unattractive, non-sensical and frankly unforgivable thing one human being can do to another.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
20:36 / 01.01.04
Death Sentence by Don Watson on the death of public language, as well as The Covert War Against Rock which is just hilarious.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
20:46 / 01.01.04
I got three lovely books;

It's a good life if you don't weaken, by Seth
I never liked you, by Chester Brown
and 32 Stories, which collects Adrian Tomine's early work.

I'm really pleased with them all, although I haven't even read them yet, because I'm saving them. They're just lovely little packages, and they feel nice. Drawn and Quarterly do make lovely books.

I also bought all the earthsea books for my family, as I felt they'd appreciate it (and so I can read it, and remind myself of being little. Nice wintery and comfortable!) and Big Sur for my Dad.
 
 
I rose like the phoenix
12:27 / 03.02.04
I got a book of childrens poems from Spike Milligan and I love it
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
14:42 / 03.02.04
"Mysterious of Pittsburgh," by Michael Chabon. I really enjoyed this the first time I read it and craved a copy.

"If on a winter's night a traveller," by Italo Calvino. It's next on the pile of about twenty books I have waiting to be read. Loved "Invisible Cities," and I really enjoyed a lot of "Difficult Loves." Thought it was time to get another of his awfully experimental books. I've been on this extreme magical realism kick lately. Marquez et al.

I also got the Abridged OED. Wheee! Dictionary! I desperately needed a good one. I sat around most of Christmas Day reading this. Word words words!

And for Yule, my roommate got me a books of interviews and essays written by and about the Dalai Lama. I got her the first Promethea graphic novel.
 
  
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