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The Keanu Reading List
Anakin McFly
2009-09-26 09:48

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Books he's read or mentioned or been directly related to his films...

LucaM probably has a headstart here, but let's make a list, maybe read some, and get educated.

1. "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot
2. "Simulacra and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard (Matrix reading list)
3. "Rabbit, Run", "Rabbit Redux", "Rabbit Is Rich", "Rabbit At Rest", "Rabbit Remembered" - by John Updike
4. "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates
5. "Remembrance of Things Past" aka "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust
6. "A Sport and a Pastime" by James Salter
7. "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell
8. "The Butcher" by Alina Reyes
9. "The Elementary Particles" by Michel Houellebecq
10. "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly (Matrix reading list)
11. "The Moral Animal" by Robert Wright (Matrix reading list)
12. "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Plays:
Hamlet
The Tempest
Romeo & Juliet
Waiting for Godot
Ubu Roi
True West
The Cherry Orchard

Ok there's more, but I've got to go. Keep on adding what you have.

LucaM
2009-09-26 16:47


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eh, I never made a list, just picked up titles here and there...
and I'm proud of having read "The Elementary Particles" before that interview ;) :D

ok. adding to your list, in no particular order

"The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" - Philip K.Dick
"Uncut" - Klaus Kinski's autobiography
"Doctor Fausuts" - Thomas Mann ( mentioned in one of the early interviews)

... and so on. the man has probably read a mountain of books.

because of him and The Matrix, I'm planning to read Derrida. don't know when that will happen, though. and don't know if I'll understand anything of it. but then... one doesn't know until one tries, right ? ;) :D

Anakin McFly
2009-09-28 23:25

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Ok, this is really weird but:

I just did a search and there's no record of Keanu having mentioned 'The Holographic Universe' in any of the articles. Yet I kind of definitely remember him doing so, and if not, how did I get the title?

Do you remember him mentioning it?

What's doubly creepy is that the book itself - which I just started reading today and am loving very much - mentions this thing about the collective human unconscious where people somehow have pieces of knowledge that they would have had no way of obtaining, such as this mental patient coming up with something really weird that was almost exactly identical to this ancient Persian ritual that no one but scholars with nothing better to do knew about.

and basically when starting this thread I thought: 'books Keanu has read', and that was the first book that popped into my mind. :\

so um. Do you recall Keanu mentioning that book? Maybe in a video interview, though I'm fairly certain I saw it mentioned in text.

Or else this is going to bug me forever.

-

Meanwhile:

"The Horseman on the Roof" by Jean Giono
"Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
"The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann
The Encyclopaedia Britannica
"2666" by Roberto Bolano
"Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour" by Hervé This
"Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler

LucaM
2009-09-29 00:07


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you know what's even weirder ?
that I definitely remember the title - or at least a reference at the book - mentioned somewhere in an article... but can't find it :(
and yes, it was mentioned in text.

:\

Anakin McFly
2009-09-29 09:07

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Could be a question of the search engine not working properly though... the Google search usually does that. The one on my computer is usually much more accurate, but it's sometimes failed with titles (if they're in italics, for example) so I don't know if that's the problem.
ARYA
2010-08-31 08:25


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Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstein
ARYA
2010-08-31 08:29


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I do wonder if he took the time to read Door to Door by Tobi Tobin?
inkhuldra
2010-08-31 16:12


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I do wonder if he took the time to read Door to Door by Tobi Tobin?

I bet he did.

On another note, here's (possibly) another book for the reading list: "Freedom" (I assume it's the one by Jonathan Franzen). Somebody tweeted that he asked for it in a bookstore the other day. I checked it out on Amazon and it looks like an interesting read: http://kea.nu/3h0

Oh, and kea.nu has raised over US$500 in Keanu's name for Stand Up To Cancer. I love that SU2C has sent an acknowledgement to Keanu, so that he can see that the SadKeanu meme spurred some positive results. :-)

ARYA
2011-03-23 04:16


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I am in the process of listening to Sarah Vowells audio book called Unfamiliar Fishes. It is so much fun! I came to one small Keanu reading on the 2nd disk where he reads as a character called David Malo (sp?). VERY short. I'll listen to the rest over the course of the day. Much as I am enjoying the book there had better be more...
ARYA
2011-03-24 01:43


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I am about halfway through the audio cd's and so far this is all the keanu content I heard

http://keanuquotes.livejournal.com/41736.html

ARYA
2011-03-24 04:43


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one more line from David Malo

"The feathers of birds were the most treasured possessions of ancient Hawaiians".

ARYA
2011-03-25 04:12


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David Malo has a bit more to say on disk 5

http://keanuquotes.livejournal.com/42991.html


Just FYI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Malo


ARYA
2011-03-27 01:33


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I am going to take down the voice recordings from Keanuquotes soon. They are not on topic and I only put them there to share the keanu content of the book. BTW I now am crazy about Sarah Vowell and I know more about Hawaii than I ever thought possible...:)
LucaM
2011-03-27 02:16


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ARYA - thanks for sharing :)
nafsunaek
2011-03-27 04:06


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Yes, thank you so much for sharing, ARYA! :)
inkhuldra
2011-03-27 06:03


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His voice sounds rather flat and contained compared to the way Sarah Vowell (or whoever the female voice belongs to) reads her lines. I'm constantly amazed at how even his intonation is. Perhaps because my own native Norwegian is very varied in intonation, and my particular dialect especially so.
ARYA
2011-03-27 23:58


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I got the impression he was speaking as David Malo and Sarah was reading as herself.
ARYA
2011-05-19 00:19


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http://www.tricycle.com/special-section/merry-go-round-desire?page=0,0

http://www.tricycle.com/special-section/merry-go-round-desire?page=0,0

This is a very enlightening article by the author of Thoughts Without a Thinker that I got interested in when I read that Keanu read the book. This year they've released a 10 year edition. Also the audio book is wonderful to listen to.
Please do not get the impression I am up on Keanu's reading list. I would have to dedicate the rest of my reading days to do that and it's not happening.

Giladora
2011-05-19 09:32


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- "Neuromancer" By William Gibson
ARYA
2011-05-19 10:05


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Oh yes, I know he recommended that one several times. I tried to read it once.
No Maps for These Territories is a doc about Gibson that I found riveting. View it if you can.

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