Showing posts with label list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label list. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

An interesting girly reading challenge

I have a long time goal of reading over 1000 books, and this year I finally exceeded my Goodreads yearly challenge - so far 30 books over the initial goal of 24, with a little help from my daughter bedtime stories reading.

I also, re-kindled with the television show: Gilmore Girls, thanks to Netflix, so when I discovered the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, it turns to be the perfect way to enhance my initial dare and combine various interests of mine.


So thanks to Patrick Lenton for compiling this list of all 337 books:


NumberBook TitleRead (Y/N)
1 1984 by George OrwellY
2 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain-
3 Alice in Wonderland by Lewis CarrollY
4 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon-
5 An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser-
6 Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt-
7 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy-
8 Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank-
9 Archidamian War by Donald Kagan-
10 The Art of Fiction by Henry James-
11 The Art of War by Sun Tzu-
12 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner-
13 Atonement by Ian McEwan-
14 Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy-
15 The Awakening by Kate Chopin-
16 Babe by Dick King-Smith-
17 Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi-
18 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie-
19 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett-
20 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath-
21 Beloved by Toni Morrison-
22 Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney-
23 The Bhagava Gita-
24 The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy-
25 Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel-
26 A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy-
27 Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyY
28 Brick Lane by Monica Ali-
29 Candide by Voltaire-
30 The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer-
31 Carrie by Stephen King?
32 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller-
33 Charlotte’s Web by E. B. WhiteY
34 The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. SalingerY
35 The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman-
36 Christine by Stephen KingY
37 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens-
38 A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess-
39 The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse-
40 The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty-
41 The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare-
42 Complete Novels by Dawn Powell-
43 The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton-
44 Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker-
45 A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy TooleY
46 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas-
47 Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac-
48 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky-
49 The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber-
50 The Crucible by Arthur Miller-
51 Cujo by Stephen King-
52 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon-
53 Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende-
54 David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D-
55 David Copperfield by Charles Dickens-
56 The Da Vinci Code by Dan BrownY
57 Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol-
58 Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky-
59 Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller-
60 Deenie by Judy Blume-
61 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson-
62 The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx-
63 The Divine Comedy by Dante-
64 The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells-
65 Don Quixote by Cervantes-
66 Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv-
67 Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis StevensonY
68 Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan PoeY
69 Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook-
70 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe-
71 Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn-
72 Eloise by Kay Thompson-
73 Emily the Strange by Roger Reger-
74 Emma by Jane Austen-
75 Empire Falls by Richard Russo-
76 Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol-
77 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton-
78 Ethics by Spinoza-
79 Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves-
80 Eva Luna by Isabel Allende-
81 Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer-
82 Extravagance by Gary Krist-
83 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyY
84 Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore-
85 The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan-
86 Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser-
87 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson-
88 The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien-
89 Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein-
90 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom-
91 Finnegans Wake by James Joyce-
92 Fletch by Gregory McDonald-
93 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes-
94 The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem-
95 The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand-
96 Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyY
97 Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger-
98 Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers-
99 Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut-
100 Gender Trouble by Judith Butler-
101 George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg-
102 Gidget by Fredrick Kohner-
103 Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen-
104 The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels-
105 The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo-
106 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy-
107 Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky-
108 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-
109 The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford-
110 The Graduate by Charles Webb-
111 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck-
112 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldY
113 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens-
114 The Group by Mary McCarthy-
115 Hamlet by William ShakespeareY
116 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. RowlingY
117 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. RowlingY
118 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers-
119 Heart of Darkness by Joseph ConradY
120 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry-
121 Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare-
122 Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare-
123 Henry V by William Shakespeare-
124 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby?
125 The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon-
126 Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris-
127 The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton-
128 House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III-
129 The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende-
130 How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer-
131 How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss-
132 How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland-
133 Howl by Allen Ginsberg-
134 The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo-
135 The Iliad by Homer-
136 I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres-
137 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote-
138 Inferno by Dante-
139 Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee-
140 Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy-
141 It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton-
142 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte-
143 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan-
144 Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare-
145 The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain-
146 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair-
147 Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito-
148 The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander-
149 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain-
150 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini-
151 Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence-
152 The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal-
153 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman-
154 The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield-
155 Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis-
156 Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke-
157 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken-
158 Life of Pi by Yann MartelY
159 Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens-
160 The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway-
161 The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen-
162 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott-
163 Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton-
164 Lord of the Flies by William Golding-
165 The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson-
166 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold-
167 The Love Story by Erich Segal-
168 Macbeth by William ShakespeareY
169 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert-
170 The Manticore by Robertson Davies-
171 Marathon Man by William Goldman-
172 The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov-
173 Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir-
174 Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman-
175 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris-
176 The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer-
177 Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken-
178 The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare-
179 The Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaY
180 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides-
181 The Miracle Worker by William Gibson-
182 Moby Dick by Herman Melville-
183 The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin-
184 Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor-
185 A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman-
186 Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret-
187 A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars-
188 A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway-
189 Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf-
190 Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall-
191 My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh-
192 My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken-
193 My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest-
194 Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo-
195 My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult-
196 The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer-
197 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco-
198 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri-
199 The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin-
200 Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen-
201 New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson-
202 The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay-
203 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich-
204 Night by Elie Wiesel-
205 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen-
206 The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan-
207 Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell-
208 Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski-
209 Of Mice and Men by John SteinbeckY
210 Old School by Tobias Wolff-
211 On the Road by Jack Kerouac-
212 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey-
213 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez-
214 The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan-
215 Oracle Night by Paul Auster-
216 Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood-
217 Othello by ShakespeareY
218 Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens-
219 The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan-
220 Out of Africa by Isac Dineson-
221 The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton-
222 A Passage to India by E.M. Forster-
223 The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan-
224 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky-
225 Peyton Place by Grace Metalious-
226 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WildeY
227 Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington-
228 Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi-
229 Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain-
230 The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby-
231 The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker-
232 The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche-
233 The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind-
234 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-
235 Property by Valerie Martin-
236 Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon-
237 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw-
238 Quattrocento by James Mckean-
239 A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall-
240 Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers-
241 The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe-
242 The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham-
243 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi-
244 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier-
245 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin-
246 The Red Tent by Anita Diamant-
247 Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman-
248 The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien-
249 R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton-
250 Rita Hayworth by Stephen King-
251 Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert-
252 Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton-
253 Romeo and Juliet by William ShakespeareY
254 A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf-
255 A Room with a View by E. M. Forster-
256 Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin-
257 The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition-
258 Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi-
259 Sanctuary by William Faulkner-
260 Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford-
261 Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James-
262 The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum-
263 The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne-
264 Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand-
265 The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir-
266 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd-
267 Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman-
268 Selected Hotels of Europe-
269 Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell-
270 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen-
271 A Separate Peace by John Knowles-
272 Several Biographies of Winston Churchill-
273 Sexus by Henry Miller-
274 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon-
275 Shane by Jack Shaefer-
276 The Shining by Stephen King-
277 Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse-
278 S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton-
279 Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut-
280 Small Island by Andrea Levy-
281 Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway-
282 Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers-
283 Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore-
284 The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht-
285 Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos-
286 The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker-
287 Songbook by Nick Hornby-
288 The Sonnets by William Shakespeare-
289 Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning-
290 Sophie’s Choice by William Styron-
291 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner-
292 Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov-
293 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach-
294 The Story of My Life by Helen Keller-
295 A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams-
296 Stuart Little by E. B. White-
297 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway-
298 Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust-
299 Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett-
300 Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber-
301 A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens-
302 Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald-
303 Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry-
304 Time and Again by Jack Finney-
305 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger-
306 To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway-
307 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee-
308 The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare-
309 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith-
310 The Trial by Franz KafkaY
311 The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson-
312 Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett-
313 Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom-
314 Ulysses by James Joyce-
315 The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath-
316 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe-
317 Unless by Carol Shields-
318 Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann-
319 The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers-
320 Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray-
321 Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard-
322 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides-
323 Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett-
324 Walden by Henry David Thoreau-
325 Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten-
326 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy-
327 We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker-
328 What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles-
329 What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell-
330 When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka-
331 Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson-
332 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee-
333 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire-
334 The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum-
335 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte-
336 The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings-
337 The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion-

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Proust Questionnaire

What is your idea of happiness?
Reading by the sea

What is your favourite virtue?
Quietness

What do you most value in your friends?
Art of listening for the male. Confidence and humor for the women.

What is your biggest weakness?
Constant criticism

What is your most marked characteristic?
Beard and disorganised hair style

What is your idea of misery?
Losing my daughter

What is your favourite bird?
Red robin

Who are your favourite writers?
China Mieville, Philip K. Dick, Jules Vernes, J. Prevert, Henri Michaux.

Who are your favourite musicians?
Bach, Beck, Jethro Tull, Radiohead.

Who are your favourite heroes and heroines in fiction?
Hatteras, Mary Poppins.

Who are your favourite heroes and heroines in history?
Louise Michelle, Socrates, Isaac Newton, Grace Hooper.

What is your favourite food and drink?
Andouillettes. Diabolo menthe.

What event in history do you most admire?
The fall of the Berlin wall.

What social movement do you most admire?
May 1968 ... even if it failed. La commune de Paris.

What is your present state of mind?
Curious, optimistic, anxious.

Which fault in others do you most easily tolerate?
Rudeness.

Which fault in yourself do you most easily tolerate?
Extreme Introversion

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Irish bucket list (outside Dublin )

Continuing from Dublin bucket list and that old post from 2008, on the 10 best things to do in Ireland, here's my Irish bucket list (omitting Dublin ):


  • See Fungi the dolphin in Dingle, and have a swim with Dustin in Doolin.   ✔ ✔
  • Visit Newgrange   ✔
  • Visit the Titanic exposition in Belfast   ✔✔
  • lock-in a pub ( not necessarily drunk).  ✔
  • See the Giant Causeway  ✔
  • Games Of Thrones film location road trip:
    • Tollymore Forest Park.
    • Castle Ward.
    • The Dark Edges.
    • Downhill Strand.
    • Ballintoy.
    • Shillanavoghy Valley.
  • Walk to the top of Croagh Patrick
  • A road trip along the Atlantic Film Trail:
    • Leenane (Movie: The Field)
    • Cong (Movies: The Quiet Man, The Purple Taxi) ✔
    • Roundstone (Movie: Into the west)
    • Dingle Peninsula (Movies: Far and Away, Ryan's daughter) ✔
    • Derrynane (Movie: Excalibur)
    • Union Hall (Movie: The War of the button) ✔
    • Kilmichael - Co Cork (Movie: The wind that shakes the barley)
    • Youghal (Movie: Moby Dick)
  • See the Cliffs of Moher ✔ - bonus: On a boat from the sea. ✔
  • Walk the Wicklow way / St Kevin's Way
  • Climb Mount Brandon (Kerry)
  • Mountain bike in Ballyhoura. ✔
  • Cycle the Great Western Greenway (Mayo)
  • Cycle the Dublin-Galway Greenway (once completed)
  • Visit the Japanese Garden in Tramore
  • Cycle the Great Southern Trail
  • Pub in session in the Salty dog in Kilkee. ✔
  • Surf on the Clare coast. ✔
  • Scuba-diving the following sites:
    • Down the Skelligs. ✔
    • Kilkee. ✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔✔
    • Inishboffin. ✔
    • Hook Head. ✔
    • U boat in Cork.
  • Spend a week on an island off the west coast of Ireland. ✔
  • Father Ted Festival
  • Electric Picnic. ✔ ✔
  • Body & Soul. ✔
  • Sea Session. ✔
  • Climb Carrauntoohill. ✔
  • Attend a Munster Hurling Final in Semple Stadium.
  • Listen to ghost stories in Kinsale. ✔
  • Watch the sunset over Rock of Cashel. ✔
  • Circumnavigate Ireland in a sea kayak.
  • Sea Kayak expedition in the following:
    • Kerry
    • Tramore ✔
    • Cork
    • Dublin Bay
    • Clare Coast.
  • A night out in a Doolin or Brandon pub. ✔
  • Spend a night on one of the Aran Island, after a day of cycling, you'll enjoy the best Guinness in the world. ✔
  • Drink a pint in the South Pole Inn, on your way to Dingle. ✔
  • Have an unexpected encounter with sharks on the west coast of Ireland (basking or blue). ✔
  • Climb all the way up to the Skelligs.
  • Participate to a Currach race down in Kerry or a Galway Hooker race up to the Arans.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Reading and watching Science Fiction

I have rekindled recently with reading Science Fiction books, in great part because I discovered ( probably a bit late compare to everyone else ), this "weird" author that is China Miéville.
So far I devoured "Embassytown" and "Perdido Street Station". The universe he described are something I rarely seen before, mixing steam-punk, with insects and other weird world descriptions, pulp, horror.

List SF authors and books  which had the most influence on me:
  • Jules Vernes: 20000 miles under the sea but more importantly Robur the Conqueror.
  • Philip Kindred Dick: The Man in the high castle, Dr Bloodmoney, Time out of JOint
  • H.G.Wells: the invisible man, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The Time Machine
  • Frederic Brown: Martians Go Home, What Mad Universe
  • H.P.Lovecraft
  • Richard Matheson: I am a legend
  • John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar
  • Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers
  • Arthur C.Clarke
  • A.E. Van Vogt

-----

Christophe's sf book montage

The Forever War
The City & the City
Railsea
Perdido Street Station
Embassytown
Foundation and Earth
The World of Null-A
The Incal
Rendezvous with Rama
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A Scanner Darkly
The Man in the High Castle
Ubik
Time Out of Joint
The Silkie
The Martian Chronicles
Lost Souls
The Time Machine
Anno Dracula
Snow Crash


Christophe's favorite books »

Friday, January 30, 2015

Failures, successes and lessons learned from 2014




"There are years that ask questions, and years that answer." Zora Neale Hurston
As much 2013 (and the year before ) was an exciting year, full of change, and challenge.. the past year 2014, did not turn out to be as promised, mainly of my own fault.

2014 mark a failure on my part on few areas. First and foremost I failed in finalizing the Msc I started in 2013, only managing to scrape a Higher Diploma in the process.
I somehow neglected my friendships and myself.
I  did not go scuba diving as much as I had initially envisaged, stop going to Aikido, my lack of exercising. All this also resulted in some extra gain weight, basically regaining all I had lost in the past two years.

But at the same time, I had a couple of interesting opportunities and encounters.
I went for the first time to Body & Soul, and it was a refreshing experience.
I started to go to meetups, mainly related to R, Data Analytics, hackers and Python related subjects, and discovered a vibrant community.
As a result of one of this encounter, I was part of a team who entered the Kaggle Epilepsy challenge ; we ended up in the first tier, not that bad for a first participation.
I engage myself in more projects, and used online resources (Coursera, Checkio ) to practice and learn more about python, programming and data analysis.


So what did I learn from all that...

  • Always ask questions, question everything. Ask for help and advice to mentor and veterans. This is something I was doing all the time when I started my engineering career, but somehow during my thesis, I forgot about it.
  • Be relentless, and focus. Only chase one rabbit at a time. Focus on the task at hand, then move on.
  • I need my own alone time, to reflect on my own project. Somehow I forgot that about myself.
  • Exercise, make it a habit. Either be going dancing (salsa/swing) every week, snorkelling, hiking or diving. 
  • Have project and objectives, those might change depending on opportunities arising.
  • Not only seize opportunities, but also thrive to create them.
  • Embrace friendship and be present when needed.


I intend for 2015, to learn from those errors and not reproduce the same mistakes again.

Friday, August 17, 2012

25 Things To Do Before You Turn 25

I stumbled a while back on that list from : http://misseducation.tumblr.com/ ; and at 36 I still thinks that's a good list and advice, though I may not agree with all, they certainly make you thinking.


25 Things To Do Before You Turn 25


1. Make peace with your parents. Whether you finally recognize that they actually have your best interests in mind or you forgive them for being flawed human beings, you can’t happily enter adulthood with that familial brand of resentment. ✅💗
2. Kiss someone you think is out of your league; kiss models and med students and entrepreneurs with part-time lives in Dubai and don’t worry about if they’re going to call you afterward.
✅💗
3. Minimize your passivity. ❓
4. Work a service job to gain some understanding of how tipping works, how to keep your cool around assholes, how a few kind words can change someone’s day.
5. Recognize freedom as a 5:30 a.m. trip to the diner with a bunch of strangers you’ve just met.
✅💗
6. Try not to beat yourself up over having obtained a ‘useless’ Bachelor’s Degree. Debt is hell, and things didn’t pan out quite like you expected, but you did get to go to college, and having a degree isn’t the worst thing in the world to have. We will figure this mess out, I think, probably; the point is you’re not worth less just because there hasn’t been an immediate pay off for going to school. Be patient, work with what you have, and remember that a lot of us are in this together.
7. If you’re employed in any capacity, open a savings account. You never know when you might be unemployed or in desperate need of getting away for a few days. Even $10 a week is $520 more a year than you would’ve had otherwise.
8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.
9. Go on a 4-day, brunch-fueled bender.
10. Start a relationship with your crush by telling them that you want them. Directly. Like, look them in the face and say it to them. Say, I want you. I want to be with you.
✅💗
11. Learn to say ‘no’ — to yourself. Don’t keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don’t keep smoking if you’re disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you’re going to complain about missing the sun.
12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won’t be.
13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.
14. Think you know yourself until you meet someone better than you.
15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.
16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don’t settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you’re afraid of getting on a plane.
17. Make a habit of cleaning up and letting go. Just because it fit at one point doesn’t mean you need to keep it forever — whether ‘it’ is your favorite pair of pants or your ex.
18. Stop hating yourself.
19. Go out and watch that movie, read that book, listen to that band you already lied about watching, reading, listening to.
20. Take advantage of health insurance while you have it.
21. Make a habit of telling people how you feel, whether it means writing a gushing fan-girl email to someone whose work you love or telling your boss why you deserve a raise.
22. Date someone who says, “I love you” first.
23. Leave the country under the premise of “finding yourself.” This will be unsuccessful. Places do not change people. Instead, do a lot of solo drinking, read a lot of books, have sex in dirty hostels, and come home when you start to miss it.💗
24. Suck it up and buy a Macbook Pro.
25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open.


I was also thinking how I have been doing on this list, so here it is :


1. Done, not before I was 25 though.
2. Done, and I see no reason not to continue.
3. Still work in progress, but improving.
4. Done that, as a teenager, working in a supermarket.
5. Done, a couple of times when I was in Grenoble, a bit less in Ireland. Again I should not stop doing it.
6. Did not apply to me, as I got a job just off my degree, even before I graduated.
7. Done, still doing it.
8. Yes doing it every-time I can, but still thinking I could go more outside, surf tonight anyone ?
9. Nope, had few heavy drinking sessions and realize binge is not for me, there's much more interesting things to do.
10. Done once, She did not reciprocate... that happens. But yeah that's a good thing, never regret, I definitely do it again, should the opportunity arise.
11. Done, but still some progress at times. But definitely improving every day on that one.
12. Done, and doing it every-time the opportunity arise.
13. Yes, have a couple from the Lego building - no kidding, to photography... thinking of taking up knitting too.
14. I am meeting a lot of people a lot better than me, every day. Actually it encourages me to improve myself.
15. That's a good one, i probably never done it completely, never completely forgot who i was. I did and still do redefines my priorities at times. And I certainly have no strong opinion how somebody should be, but I do know how I'd want to act.
16. Still working on some of my fears, but definitely did loads o progress on that.
17. Done.
18. Done, long time ago.
19. Need to do more of that, but yes.
20. Done.
21. Still have work to do on that one.
22. Oups
23. Done.
24. Done.
25. Done.

Not bad I think, don't think i had all that by 25 ... but it's a long road.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

2011 - A summary, top events...

Top things which happen in 2011:

  • A lost
pp_cg_travail
Me in green ... helping somehow my grand father :)
IMAG0010
Inishboffin
IMAG0026
Post dive relaxing guinness....
  • Seeing Jethro Tull in concert (Dublin, March 2011)
IMG_0566
Masts .....
The singer of The Answer.
  • Discovering Hook Head on a dive trip
xhh
  • Going back surfing
IMG_1336
Ready to go in the water in Spanish Point
  • Working trip to Arizona, and making the 12 pubs of christmas over there.
No Pic available, thank god.
octopussy
Octopus (photo: B.Donnelly)
  • A trip to Dublin to see the Guinness museum and the French rugby team in Landsdowne Road.
IMG_1415
Inside the Guinness Storehouse

And all the friends talks and activities...



Top  Movies seen in 2011. Poor year for cinema attendance at least for me.


  • Black Swan (D.Arronofsky)
  • Tangled (Disney)
  • True Grit (Cohen)
  • Exit through the gift shop (Bansky)
  • Super 8 (JJ Abrahams)
  • Crazy Heart  (Scott Cooper) 

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Three things about me ....

In 2010, I've definitely bad at blogging ( 8 post so far compared to the 87 i did four years, ago ) let's try to improve on this. This one came through FB, where you get tagged and have to write 3 things about you, so here it is:

Three names I go by:
1. Christophe
2. Tof ( only in France )
3. Christopher ( by most Irish who suppose there is final R in my name)

Three Jobs I have had in my life: ( by decreasing time length sentence )
1. Chip Design Engineer
2. Student
3. warehouse man / shop assistant

Three Places I have lived:
1. Grenoble France
2. Monza Italy
3. Clermont-Ferrand France

Three Favorite drinks:
1. Sparkling Mineral Water ( St Yorre / Chateldon )
2. Spiced Rhum ( Actually just finished filtering a 2 liters batch ready for consumption)
3. Tariquet Premieres Grives

Three TV Shows that I watch:
1. Try to reduce my TV consumption so...
2. Any documentary by the BBC ( Ian Hisllop Do gooders, Empire of the sea, The story of Kellogs cereals.... )
3. How I met your mother

Three places I have been:
1. Red Sea
2. Corsica
3. Belfast

Three favorite foods:
1. Andouillette
2. Potato Omelette (French style)
3. Pasta alla carbonara

Three friends that I think will respond:
1.NA
2.NA
3.NA

Three Things that I am looking forward to:
1. Christmas in Auvergne ( family and mountain biking in the snow )
2. Arcade Fire Concert in Dublin in 5 days
3. Getting back in the water ( scuba-diving, snorkeling ... )

Three Things that are always by my side:
1. Camera
2. Nokia cell phone
3. pen and paper

Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 - A summary, top ten things....

A summary of the 2009 year in picture.



And to get in line with the annual top ten from Time, here's my personal top ten for 2009.


  • Movie: Pixar Up
    The 10 first minutes are absolutely fantastic in term of story telling. And I got my quote of the year: "I hid under your porch, because I love you"....

  • Galway Volvo Ocean Race
    In June, the Volvo Ocean Race visited Galway, fantastic atmosphere in town.
    IMG_9115

  • Halloween in Mickey Martin
    IMG_0435
    One of the best party of the year.

  • Irish seals
    2009, will be the year where I saw most seals, the first one were down in Cork in Union Hall basking in early march/april
    Then we saw one or 2 venturing regularly near Kilkee.
    Who's there ?

  • 90 years ago, my granddad was born, just had to celebrate his birthday.
    pp_cg_travail

  • Concert: Mick Flannery in Dolans
    Mick Flannery

  • Snorkel with Dolphin in Milton Malbay
    On of the most amazing encounter in the sea, as i was training for duck diving in Miltown Malbay, a curious dolphin came to see what i was doing...

  • PS3 Game: Assassins Creed 2
    Finished it but still addicted to that game by now... have to wait for the third installment, now.

  • Obama election / French politics
    Big hope from the USA with Obama election, and at the same time in France... the left wing are left arguing between themselves in front of a media omnipresent president.

  • ASM 10th final... lost again....
    No comment. Congratulations to Perpignan.




Top ten Movies seen in 2009
1. Inglorious Bastard - Q.Tarantino
2. Up - Pete Docter / Pixar
3. Moon - Duncan Jones
4. (500) days of summer - Marc Webb
5. District 9 - Neill Blomkamp
6. The Wrestler - D.Arronofsky
7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Woody Allen
8. Fantastic Mr Fox - Wes Anderson
9. Where the wild things are - Spike Jonze
10. The Ugly Truth - Robert Luketic

Additinal interesting movies:
Bolt - B.Howard/C.Williams/Disney
The Men who Stare at goats - ??
A Serious Man - Cohen
Waltz with Bashir - Ari Folman
The imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - Terry Gilliam

Monday, September 07, 2009

Week End Summary - 20090906

Movie of the WE
(500) days of Summer


Good comedy about an hopeless romantic :o, and as so rightly said this is not a love story, but it has brilliant ideas.

Things I learned this weekend
5. I've got concentration issues.... should I blame internet ????
4. Edinburgh seems to be a nice city to live in, and there is a bar called the Tass ( like the french word cup )
3. The last and only other time a team won four Senior All Ireland in a row was in the fourties (Cork at the time)
2. There is stuff I know but which keeps surprising me, like Winter can start early in Ireland... here we go for the real dark rainy months...
1. Loads about myself, other interesting people, and how wrong i can sometimes be.

Songs of the week end
- Mick Flannery "I wish you well"
- Hall & Oakes "You make my dreams come true"
- Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends"
- The Smiths "There is a light that never goes out"
Take me out tonight....
- The Eagles "Take it easy"

And an interesting blog about expat experience: Lyonnaise in Vancouver

Monday, August 31, 2009

Top 5 things I learned this Weekend

Top 5 Things I Learned This Weekend

5. A movie with Matthew McConaughey must contains a scene where is shirt is off, bad (Sahara) or good (How to loose a guy in ten days)
4. I should not trust my horoscope, even the Chinese one, and it's funny to see that my French horoscope is completely different from my English and at the same time both are completely wrong.
3. Irish radio show are brilliant, a full hour of Radiohead on Sunday night (great)
2. I am curiously incredibly productive on Saturday and Sunday early morning, when left alone.
1. I am proportionally more inclined to procrastination on Sunday evening.....