50 Books in 2010

2010: otherwise known as the year of the guilty pleasure read. Funny how grad school makes you crave the low-brow, like the Sookie Stackhouse series I became obsessed with mid-summer. Series fiction abounded, with a few notable exceptions, like McCann's "Let the Great World Spin" and Atwood's "Oryx and Crake". Most disappointing was Palahniuk's "Tell-All", which I'd looked forward to but found self-indulgent and predictable. Dare I say, I'm over you Chuck. The reverse-plot-surprise-ending-with-a-heap-of-the-vulgar-to-keep you-off-the-sent formula he uses in every book feels played out at this point. The man who got famous for taking so many risks needs to, well, take more risks. So here we are, 41 mediocre reads in 2010. (I resolve to make better selections in 2011.)

1 - Lost by Gregory Maguire
2 - Tess of D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
3 - My Antonia by Willa Cather
4. The Angel Experiment: Maximum Ride Series, Book 1 by James Patterson
5. School's Out Forever: Maximum Ride Series, Book 2 by James Patterson
6. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports: Maximum Ride Series, Book 3 by James Patterson
7. The Final Warning: Maximum Ride Series, Book 4 by James Patterson
8. Max: Maximum Ride Series, Book 5 by James Patterson
9. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
10. Reference and Information Services by Richard E. Bopp and Linda C. Smith
11. Foundations of Library and Information Science by Richard E. Rubin
12. The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann
13. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
14. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
15. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
16. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
17. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
18. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
19. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
20. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
21. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
22. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
23. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
24. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
25. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
26. The Appointment by Herta Muller
27. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
28. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
29. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
30. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
31. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
32. Soulless by Gail Carriger
33. Changeless by Gail Carriger
34. Blameless by Gail Carriger
35. You: Having a Baby by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz
36. Cataloging and Classification by Lois Mai Chan
37. Internet Technologies and Information Services by Joseph B. Miller
38. Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk
39. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
40. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
41. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

"Outside of a dog, a man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
-Groucho Marx

There is no one alive who is youer than you.

We made a human! Hence, I've been pondering children's books lately. As a child, my mother read to us every night until third or fourth grade. At first it was things like Golden Books and Dr. Seuss, and then we moved up to a chapter of Alice in Wonderland each night. I'm sure this is part of what fostered my own love of reading, and I want the same love for our child. I read some poetry (e. e. cummings) to my belly the other night, as they say it can hear in there now. I was born without the singing gene, so I thought I could at least give this- a rhythmic lullaby of beautiful verse. I hope he/she heard me and moved his/her tiny hands. ("nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands"...)

As I set about creating our wee thing's first library, I'm left wondering which children's books we should include in the baby's collection. Having slim-to-no contact with children in recent years, I'm not sure what people read to their kids these days. When I think children's books, I think Green Eggs and Ham (the first book I read by myself), Goodnight Moon, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs... One friend swears by How to Potty Train Your Monster and another by Click Clack Moo. There is much work ahead of us. So many books, so many gleeful trips to Borders...

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.
-Dr. Seuss

Reading maketh a full man

Hot Guys Reading Books: It's an entire blog dedicated to nothing but pictures of real men caught in the act of reading. The simplicity is beautiful. So are the men. Enjoy.

50 Books in 2009

And by 50, I mean 41. Foiled again!

Unexpected enjoyment this year - Josh Bazell's debut novel, Beat the Reaper. I'm not usually into punch-em-ups, but Reaper's scrappy wit kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more from Josh Bazell. I also really dug Brave New World. (You know I love me some dystopian fiction.) Expect more science fiction on the plate for this coming year. I have a hankering for space-y goodness in 2010. (2010! This is the future.)


1 - Endurance; Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
2 - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
3 - Mozart’s Wife by Juliet Waldron
4 - A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
5 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
6 - The Host by Stephanie Meyer
7 - Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
8 - Me : Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn
9 - The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes by the Editors of McSweeney's
10 - March by Geraldine Brooks
11 - Crazy Cock by Henry Miller
12 - Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
13 - The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
14 - America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart
15 - Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
16 - Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
17 - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
18 - Wifey by Judy Blume
19 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman
20 - The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
21 - Year Zero by Jeff Long
22 - Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
23 - Emma by Jane Austen
24 - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
25 - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
26 - The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
27 - Possession by A.S. Byatt
28 - The Last Apprentice - Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney
29 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
30 - Storm Front by Jim Butcher
31 - Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
32 - Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
33 - The Pluto Files by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
34 - The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
35 - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
36 - The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike
37 - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
38 - The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
39 - Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
40 - The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
41 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

In Honor of The Father- Year Zero

Last time I was home, my father recommended to me the book Year Zero, by Jeff Long. He excitedly recounted the plot and told me how he'd not been able to put it down. Prior to this moment, I was unaware my father even read books. Despite my life-long passion for reading, he'd never once mentioned a book he enjoyed. I've never seen him reading a book; I didn't know he owned any books. My father and I don't share many interests; his main hobbies include riding his motorcycle and nascar, and though I love my dad, I've never felt like our passions could find a middle ground. So when he recommended a book to me, it was like a dream come true. My father and I sitting around discussing a book-- fantasy!

Needless to say, next time I was at Borders, I bought said book... with a groan. The cover reads "New York Times bestselling author" and has a byline by Dan Brown calling it, "A superbly original thriller," ... just the kind of mass market paperback I normally avoid- like the plague. It sat on my shelf for several months while my snobbery precluded me from picking it up. Then last week a friend's father died unexpectedly, and that night I started reading Year Zero. How could I not want to share something with my dad while I still had the time?

And it was great! Just the kind of page-turner summer read that you'd want to talk about with your dad. It's packed with enough action to keep it going, enough meat to give you something to talk about, enough "what if" to make you think. In a summer where Angels & Demons is likely to make millions, pick up Year Zero if you're in the mood for a different religious thriller experience... then call your dad and tell him you love him, because you never know- the world could end tomorrow. ;)

50 Books in 2008

I had a quest to read 50 books in 2008- I made it to 39. 

Not a failure, says I, because in the process I discovered the intensity of Jose Saramago, whose Blindness ranked among my favorites of the year, Steve Martin, whose acting efforts have always left me lukewarm, but whose Shopgirl was an unexpected pleasure, and Sarah Vowell, whose Assassination Vacation made me interested in US history for maybe the first time ever. (Books I'd recommend are marked with asterisks below.)

#1- My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
#2- Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
#3- Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates
#4- The Snapper by Roddy Doyle*
#5- Shopgirl by Steve Martin*
#6- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers*
#7- The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
#8- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
#9- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
#10- Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
#11- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
#12- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
#13- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
#14 - The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
#15 - The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
#16 - The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
#17 - The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
#18 - Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
#19- I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles*
#20- Little Birds by Anais Nin
#21- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
#22 - New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
#23 - Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
#24 - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
#25 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
#26 - When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
#27 - Blindness by Jose Saramago*
#28 - Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
#29 - Persuasion by Jane Austen*
#30 - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
#31 - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
#32 - The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#33 - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austin
#34 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
#35 - Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell*
#36 - The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike
#37 - Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
#38 - Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
#39 - The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Luckily, the coldest winter in recent history has me well on my way to 50 in 2009. 

“The mind can weave itself warmly in the cocoon of its own thoughts, and dwell a hermit anywhere.”

-James Russell Lowell

26 Years of Jane Austen Aversion -- Cured

I haven't blogged in quite some time, mostly because I was busy getting married... the strangest consequence of which is I suddenly love Jane Austen.

How can this be, after 26 years of finding Romantic Lit tame and dry, (dare I say boring?) I've woken up one day with an appreciation 4 years of university English study couldn't create? Perhaps my scant months of marriage have taught me to appreciate subtly, where before I wanted the bold, raw meat of Modernism?

Whatever the cause may be, my foray into Austen so far includes Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and I just started Northanger Abbey. I enjoyed Sense least, mostly because I found Elinor a little cold and had no sympathy for Mr. Willoughby, (that scoundrel!) Persuasion is the easiest and shortest, if you're looking for a quick taste to get you in the mood.

If you haven't tried the classics in awhile, I urge you to give Jane another chance. You may find you suddenly adore using words like "signify" and "insipid" about the house, or suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to plan a vacation to Bath. (Though I hear Jane wasn't really a fan.) Now, how to convince Hubs to be Mr. Darcy for Halloween. hmm....

"It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before. "

-Jane Austen

(here's hoping!)