Latest Additions to My Book Collection

...1. The Great Indie Discography by M.C. Strong (Canongate Books, 2003) – I bought this "bible" last year, for C$47.95; a bit expensive but it's worth my money. This book provides the histories and discographies of many artists and bands classified under Alternative Rock / Indie Rock—from The Stooges, Captain Beefheart, and Velvet Underground to The Cure, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, to The Lemonheads, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, and Blur. Also, this book continues to be a big help in downloading essential MP3s.

2. The Great Rock Discography by M.C. Strong (North Atlantic Books, 2002) – Originally priced at C$44.95 but which I got for only C$9.99! Great deal, wasn't it? This discography book covers a far wider range of Rock artists, and it's a great companion to the one above.

3. Pocket Kama Sutra by Anna Hooper (Dorling Kindersley, 2004) – a new guide to the ancient arts of lovemaking

"The warm glow that follows lovemaking is all too easily dissipated if you simply go to sleep, or do anything that is either physically or intellectually demanding. Most lovers want to sustain the feeling of harmony; some like simply to lie quietly in each other's arms."

4. 4 000 Things You Should Know by John Farndon (Miles Kelly Publishing, 2003) – I've always been a big enthusiast of trivia and general knowledge

' still remember the names of the three ossicle bones of the ear? What about the two moons of Mars? Who was the second man to set shoes on Earth's moon?

"The world's biggest fish is the whale shark, which can grow to well over a length of 12 meters. Unlike most sharks, it feeds mainly on plankton and is completely harmless."

5. The Portable Jung, edited by Joseph Campbell (Penguin USA, 1976) – Fresh from reading Jung by Anthony Storr and Freud and Jung: Years of Friendship, Years of Loss by Linda L. Donn, I decided finally to buy this definitive book, which contains Carl Gustav Jung's biography and a lavish introduction to his key writings on analytical psychology and the adaptation and interpretation of mythology and anthropology.

6. 1 000 Poems from the Manyōshū (The Complete Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation) (Dover Publications, 2005) – the best companion to my Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse

Manyōshū is the oldest existing, and most highly revered, collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime in the Nara period, which covered the years from about AD 710 to 794.

"Slight not these flowers!
Each single petal contains
A hundred words of mine."

So, that means I need to allot more time on my readings, lest I'd soon be buried under my growing book collection, many of which I am yet to read.

At the moment, I am reading simultaneously the following books:

1. Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Dover Publications, 1993) – I'm nearly finished with this one.

2. Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer by Ann Rule (Free Press, 2004) – ' finally reached the half part.

3. A History of Language by Steven Roger Fischer (Reaktion Books, Ltd., 2003) – I'm reading this one slowly, taking down notes.