Official Book list of 2008: Final Count!

Today is the last day of the year so it is time to record and report all the books I read this year. I finished a total of 72 books and wrote a post about each one of them (linked to below):
1) Literary Theory: An Introduction by Terry Eagleton (link)*
2) The Subject of Semiotics by [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 73: Knights by Aristophanes (trans. Paul Roche)

I enjoyed Knights — Aristophanes second extant play, fourth actual play, and first play produced in his own name — much more than Acharnians. Like the other play it too rails against war and the corrupt politicians that perpetuate it.
The play follows Demosthenes and Nicias, two servants to Demos, who recount their abuse at [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 72: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

“I have a golden ticket . . .”
When one thinks of Charlie and the Chocolate factory it is inevitable to think primarily of the two films versions. The basic plots for the book and the two films are the same. Indigent Charlie Bucket lucks out when he finds the golden ticket hidden in Wonka candy [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 71: Phaedo by Plato (trans. G.M.A Grube)

Phaedo recounts to Echecrates the final hours of Socrates. True to his nature, Socrates uses this time to engage in a dialogue with Simmias and Cebes on the nature of death and knowledge. The “dialogue,” if it can be called that given the flashback nature of the piece, discusses the place of philosophy in preparing [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 70: Acharnians by Aristophanes (trans. Paul Roche)

Before South Park combined crass humor about genitalia, political satire, colorful characters, and far-fetched situations for the sake of comedy, there were the comical plays of Aristophanes.
Like South Park, underneath the humor is a serious moral point. The Acharnians is an anti-war story that ridicules the politicians and military leaders of the day, especially [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 69: Crito by Plato (trans. G.M.A. Grube)

“My good Crito, why should we care so much for what the majority think? The most reasonable people, to whom one should pay more attention, will believe that things were done as they were done.” – Socrates

After his trial, Socrates execution had to be delayed until the return of an Athenian ship sailing on an [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 68: Apology by Plato (trans. G.M.A Grube) (re-read)

“To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 67: Euthyphro by Plato (trans. G.M.A Grube) (re-read)

While heading to court to answer charges of corrupting the youth, Socrates meets up with Euthyphro who is reporting his father for murder. Many believe Euthyphro crazy to prosecute his own father. Euthyphro seems so sure that his deeds are correct and pious. Socrates, hoping to learn the nature of piety that it might help [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 66: The Persian Expedition (Anabasis) by Xenophon (trans. Rex Warner)

Xenophon, an Athenian disenchanted with home after it is defeated by Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, provides a rare glimpse in this work into the tactics of warfare, the life of mercenaries, and the cultural powers of the period. The work details the story of the Ten Thousand, a group of Greek mercenaries, hired by [...]

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Booklist 2008 # 65: The Bacchae by Euripedes (trans. William Arrowsmith)

Many readers and scholars consider this work to be Euripedes’ masterpiece. This play depicts the insanity and wild frenzies associated with the Dionysian cult. Dionysius returns home to Thebes to punish Pentheus and the rest of his family who disbelieve his divinity; they accuse his mother, Semele, of lying about his paternity as the son [...]

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