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!)

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Peter Boxall's new work, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, as reviewed by the NYT today (Volumes to Go Before You Die), lead me to create my own personal list of "must reads". Upon starting the task, I found myself breaking things into mental categories:

*Literature: Imperative to my intellectual growth- ie: Ulysses;
*Nostalgia: This book made me love books back when we are just discovering what we love- ie: Little Women;
*Guilty Pleasures: I stayed up until 3 reading this book in one night, though I wouldn't admit it to my friends- ie: Eregon

I've decided to lump them all into a shmorgasborg of booky goodness, disreguarding whether I consider it part of the valid cannon and going purely on whether I enjoyed it enough to read again. As I can't possibly choose from every book I've ever read, (though in the last 3 years I've started keeping a list,) I perused my LibraryThing catalog and picked only from among my own collection. I've left out those which I know will probably belong on the list eventually but that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. (That was harder than you might think, as many of the "snobbery books" are on the yet to read list.) I've also left out plays and books of poetry (I sense future lists for the like...) So here goes, though I've probably forgotten many treasures, I humbly offer:

50 of My Favorite Books (in my collection)(in no particular order):

1. Ulysses - James Joyce
2. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
3. Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -Douglas Adams
5. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
6. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
7. The Blind Assasin- Margaret Atwood
8. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
9. Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski
10. Post Office - Charles Bukowski
11. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
12. The Awakening - Kate Chopin
13. (Any of the Hercule Poirot mysteries)- Agatha Christie
14. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
15. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
16. The Sound and The Fury - William Faulkner
17. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
18. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
19. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
20. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
21. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman
22. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
23. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
24. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
25. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
26. (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) - J.R.R. Tolkien
27. The Children of Men - P.D. James
28. Fear of Flying - Erica Jong
29. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
30. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
31. The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
32. Fall on Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald
33. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
34. Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
35. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
36. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
37. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
38. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
39. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
40. Anthem - Ayn Rand
41. Harry Potter (yes, all of them) - J.K. Rowling
42. Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
43. The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
44. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
45. Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy
46. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
47. A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf
48. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
49. Night - Elie Wiesel
50. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. " - Ayn Rand

I Has a Grammar

I occasionally read the tongue-in-cheek blog Stuff White People Like and thought you might share my amusement in this recent post on Grammar. I chuckled while reading because it's true; I get a not-so-secret satisfaction at pointing out obvious flaws in the newspaper, my coworkers' emails, the regulations coming from our elected officials that I edit everyday... Only yesterday I found myself scoffing at a set of new laws which used that when it should have been who. The caste system is alive and well in America, and you can tell the Sudras by their choice of there vs. their.

To err is human, to forgive divine.

-Alexander Pope

Quiz Thyself!

Wondering what to do with all your useless literary knowledge? Take the Never-ending Book Quiz and prove your worth!

Report back.

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays 

there is so little useless information."

                  - Oscar Wilde