1. Abbott Abbott, Edwin: "Flatland"2. Austen, Jane: "Emma"3. Beckett, Samuel: "Collected Short Prose"4. Berrigan, Ted: "On The Level Everyday"5. Berrigan, Ted: "Train Ride"6. Bénabou, Marcel: "Why I Have Not Written Any Of My Books"7. Cage, John: "Silence"8. Cortázar, Julio: "Cronopios And Famas"9. Creswell, J. & J. Hartley: "Teach Yourself Esperanto"10. Darragh, Tina: "'on the corner' to 'off the corner'"11. de Maistre, Xavier: "Voyage Around My Room"12. Delany, Samuel: "The Motion Of Light In Water"13. Delany, Samuel: "Times Square Red, Times Square Blue"14. Dickinson, Emily: Poems15. Federman, Raymond: "Double Or Nothing"16. Fitzhugh, Louise: "Harriet The Spy"17. Flaubert, Gustave: "The Dictionary Of Received Ideas"18. Fowler, H.W.: "Modern English Language", 1st or 2nd ed.19. Goldsmith, Kenneth: "No. 111, 2.7.93-10.20.90"20. Grenier, Robert: "Sentences"21. Hejinian, Lyn: "My Life"22. Herriman, George: "Krazy Kat"23. Hopkins, Gerard Manley: Poems24. Joyce, James: "Finnegans Wake"25. Juster, Norman: "The Phantom Tollbooth"26. Kochalka, James: "Sketchbook Diaries"27. Mac Low, Jackson: "Representative Works, 1938-1985"28. Markson, David: "Wittgenstein's Mistress"29. Mathews, Harry & Alastair Brotchie: "Oulipo Compendium"30. McCloud, Scott: "Understanding Comics"31. McPhee, John: "Oranges"32. Orwell, George: "Collected Essays"33. Orwell, George: "Down And Out In Paris And London"34. Perec, Georges: "Species Of Spaces"35. Perec, Georges: "W, or The Memory Of Childhood"36. Queneau, Raymond: "Exercises En Style"37. Retallack, Joan: "Errata 5uite"38. Rothenberg, Jerome & Pierre Joris, eds.: "Poems For The Millennium"39. Schulz, Charles: "Peanuts"40. Silliman, Ron: "The New Sentence"41. Silliman, Ron: "Tjanting"42. Smullyan, Raymond: "Alice In Puzzle-Land"43. Stein, Gertrude: "Tender Buttons"44. Sterne, Laurence: "The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman"45. Stone, Jon & Michael Smollin: "The Monster At The End Of This Book"46. University of Chicago Press Staff, "The Chicago Manual Of Style"47. Wall, Larry & Tom Christiansen & Jon Orwant, "Programming Perl"48. Weber, Bob: "Saskatchewan History Along The Highway"49. Wiener, Hannah: "Code Poems"50. Wodehouse, P.G.: Any later work
I'm totally unhappy with this list, and I think in another 10 years I'll be able to make a much better list. But it's a start.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 05:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 05:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 05:49 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:08 (twenty years ago) link
― the junefox, Monday, 7 June 2004 10:33 (twenty years ago) link
beckett 'mercier and camier'.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:33 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:36 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:40 (twenty years ago) link
Is there a tech-minded someone who has the knowhow?
― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:44 (twenty years ago) link
― the pomefox, Monday, 7 June 2004 11:07 (twenty years ago) link
― Moti Bahat, Monday, 7 June 2004 14:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 16:40 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 7 June 2004 17:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Moti Bahat, Monday, 7 June 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link
That's if somewhat surrealist poetry books I like qualify...
― bnw (bnw), Monday, 7 June 2004 20:42 (twenty years ago) link
i've read: less than ten, i think.
― tom west (thomp), Monday, 7 June 2004 22:02 (twenty years ago) link
― the pinefox, Monday, 7 June 2004 22:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 23:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 23:26 (twenty years ago) link
― prima fassy (mwah), Monday, 7 June 2004 23:27 (twenty years ago) link
Douglass, Jack: "Shut Up And Eat Your Snowshoes"Feinberg, Davd: "Eighty-Sixed"
But, nah.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 23:29 (twenty years ago) link
I hate it when I borrow books from friends or the library, I totally forget about them.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 7 June 2004 23:49 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 10:33 (twenty years ago) link
Yayyyyyy!!! Jack made my "5 books that define your personality" list. But not for snowshoes. For "The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf".
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 10:49 (twenty years ago) link
Cozen, what do you think of 'Cling To The Old Dreams', on ILM? (I am just pointing you towards it - you needn't bother writing on it, or whatever, if you don't want.)
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 8 June 2004 10:52 (twenty years ago) link
i kind of really want to find that other delany now.
― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 12:57 (twenty years ago) link
But I might argue that it's better to be influenced by The Pound Era than actual Pound. Besides, I couldn't think of what Pound I'd actually have anyone read. Maybe "Cathay".
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 18:03 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 18:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 18:11 (twenty years ago) link
david markson sa: kenner whitewashed pound. i think that's a good word.
i laughed at his one mention of woolf (..i think, i only read a couple hundred pages of it..) being about eliot lowering himself in the company of such "slushy minds": things HAVE changed, haven't they?
― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 22:03 (twenty years ago) link
― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 22:04 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 22:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 8 June 2004 22:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:00 (twenty years ago) link
― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:04 (twenty years ago) link
I don't think he was fat. He was deaf, though.
― the finefox, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 18:58 (twenty years ago) link
similar: the bit where kenner tries to casually lead up to his explanation of 'papyrus', somewhere in the first couple chapters.
― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 19:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Jens Drejer, Sunday, 13 June 2004 13:19 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 13 June 2004 14:47 (twenty years ago) link
― Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Sunday, 13 June 2004 20:47 (twenty years ago) link
(Keep in mind that I don't like fiction.)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 13 June 2004 21:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Jens Drejer (Jens Drejer), Sunday, 13 June 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 19 June 2004 10:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:29 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 19 June 2004 16:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 19 June 2004 17:48 (twenty years ago) link
If you're just looking for games to play, check out Sid Sackson's books. The only one I've read is "A Gamut Of Games" and I've just gotten it, so I haven't played anything in it yet, but it comes recommended.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 20 June 2004 03:37 (twenty years ago) link
Have you?
― the lightfox, Saturday, 17 July 2004 12:57 (twenty years ago) link
I've read a few stories about a mister mulliner (who entertains guests at a club with stories about his weird family), I never a read a jeeves-story.
― erik, Saturday, 17 July 2004 17:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 16 October 2004 21:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 18 October 2004 23:11 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 08:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 15:51 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 19:28 (twenty years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago) link
(sorry for swearing on ilb)
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 23:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:43 (twenty years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 02:17 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 08:07 (twenty years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 10:56 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 16:24 (twenty years ago) link
Do you still think a poem is a translation of silence?
― the bellefox, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago) link
but tomorrow, I have planned to buy a notebook which means I will write a book.
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 18:36 (twenty years ago) link
my book might be a manifesto. no-one writes them anymore.
maybe there is a manifesto in that, somewhere.
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 18:40 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 18:41 (twenty years ago) link
just buy the notebook.
― cºzen (Cozen), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:10 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:29 (twenty years ago) link
― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:32 (twenty years ago) link
― the bellefox, Thursday, 21 October 2004 08:21 (twenty years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 21 October 2004 09:06 (twenty years ago) link
― the bellefox, Thursday, 21 October 2004 11:59 (twenty years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 21 October 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Sunday, 24 October 2004 17:42 (twenty years ago) link
So, did you like Hendrie's goal on Saturday?
― the bellefox, Monday, 25 October 2004 19:45 (twenty years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 07:31 (twenty years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 13:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― cozens secret lover., Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Donald Barthelme's Syllabus
― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 26 February 2006 06:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 26 February 2006 06:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 26 February 2006 07:46 (eighteen years ago) link
I am not, actually, a writer, but yes, if I were, then I would write such a book.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 26 February 2006 08:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 26 February 2006 19:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 26 February 2006 20:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 27 February 2006 00:20 (eighteen years ago) link
1. robert grenier, ‘oakland’ (1)2. gilbert sorrentino, ‘imaginative qualities of actual things’3. laurence sterne, ‘the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman’4. herman melville ‘the confidence-man, his masquerade’5. nicholson baker, ‘U&I’6. eddie campbell, ‘the fate of the artist’7. david foster wallace, ‘a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again; and other essays’8. james mcphee, ‘oranges’ (2)9. ron silliman, ed. ‘in the american tree’10. lydia davis, ‘samuel johnson is indignant’11. alan garner, ‘red shift’12. brian aldiss, ed. ‘space opera’ (2)13. samuel delany ‘stars in my pockets like grains of sand’14. jonatham lethem ‘amnesia moon’15. ian fleming, james bond books (3)16. the upanishads17. richard meltzer, ‘the aesthetics of rock’18. jacques derrida ‘the post-card’19. ludwig wittgenstein, ‘philosophical investigations’20. james joyce, ‘ulysses’21. advanced dungeons and dragons dungeon masters guide, 1st or 2nd ed (4)
(1) very out of print, but – http://english.utah.edu/eclipse/projects/OAKLAND/html/contents.shtml(2) late additions.(3) as many as you can stand.(4) 1st ed. by gary gygax, 2nd ed. by zeb cook. actually i think the first edition encapsulates the reasons for this one better. the 2nd edition is about half the word count and less ugly and disorganised, but people who actually play the game dislike it. but what do they know?
― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
i.q. got added somewhere around the second paragraph, though i have finished it in the meantime. this list is very much not definitive and for-all-time, i doubt i could compile one of those.
― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:40 (eighteen years ago) link
I was thinking earlier that a good book on games could be done 'uncreatively'? Like, with Chris just recreating, to the best of his ability, one game of Princes of Florence or something.
― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 19:49 (eighteen years ago) link
Golly those "Oakland" scans are huge. I love being able to see the detail of the Tuumba book, but that's a bit hard to read on the screen. Still, Grenier is great.
I have not read that particular Delany, since its sequel isn't out yet. (Nor does it seem like it will be any time soon...)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link
hey cozen! how's it going?
― j., Monday, 6 June 2011 03:28 (thirteen years ago) link
(reminded of this thread when searching for 'upanishads')
Not sure why D&D books are on these lists - though I own many of them.
― the pinefox, Monday, 6 June 2011 08:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Flatland / Emma: I can see thatPeanuts / Finnegans Wake: each illuminates the otherPhilosophical Investigations / Harriet the Spy: yes!Upanishads / Chicago Manual of Style: a reachWodehouse / Programming Perl: still doubtful about this one
― alimosina, Monday, 6 June 2011 14:28 (thirteen years ago) link
I did read a number of these books in the end actually...
― this you irl http://i.imgur.com/v3kw8.gif (cozen), Monday, 6 June 2011 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
specifically...
1. Abbott Abbott, Edwin: "Flatland" 6. Bénabou, Marcel: "Why I Have Not Written Any Of My Books" 8. Cortázar, Julio: "Cronopios And Famas" 11. de Maistre, Xavier: "Voyage Around My Room" 13. Delany, Samuel: "Times Square Red, Times Square Blue" 14. Dickinson, Emily: Poems 23. Hopkins, Gerard Manley: Poems 28. Markson, David: "Wittgenstein's Mistress" 32. Orwell, George: "Collected Essays" 36. Queneau, Raymond: "Exercises En Style" 43. Stein, Gertrude: "Tender Buttons" 46. University of Chicago Press Staff, "The Chicago Manual Of Style"
― cozen, Monday, 15 April 2013 18:59 (eleven years ago) link
those are good books
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Monday, 15 April 2013 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
this is a cool list, i like everything i've read on it.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 15 April 2013 22:35 (eleven years ago) link