Off topic: recent readings

In the past, I've posted reviews of books that were vaguely finance related and, more recently, some non-finance related books (here here and here).  Going forward, I intend to keep a (loose) record of most of the stuff I am reading (other than work related materials which take up quite a bit of time).  The most recent things read:

• Paper, Scissors, Stone: this is a volume of poetry by Kit Fan which won the HKU International Poetry prize for 2010.  While poetry is something I blow hot and cold about (I really struggled with the Wasteland, and that was just the bits that were written in English), I did find some of the language quite mesmerising
• The Sense of an Ending: Julian Barnes won the Man Booker prize for 2011 for this story about a man looking back on his life, specifically his relationships with a small group of friends and one former girlfriend in particular.  I hope when I reach the age of his protagonist, I will have better things to do with my remaining time.  I was surprised at how short the book was
• The Birth of Plenty: William Bernstein's explanation for why some countries become and stay wealthy and others do not.  A more detailed review is here
• The Hunger Games Trilogy:  Suzzane Collins very successful post-apocalyptic novels for young adults.  The first book was the best of the three
• Bad Science: Ben Goldacre's denunciation of people who peddle rubbish dressed up as good science.  Review is here

I've also made a start on Ulysses - quite frankly, it's very heavy going and hard to follow.  This one is probably going to take a few months to get through in small doses.