2007 total: 100 books
2008 total: 66 books
In my defense, there were many more children's books and comic/graphic novels read in 2007. Also it was not until this year that I started following the news somewhat, and started the daily reading of blogs. This year we also moved, Grant got a new job, and I was scenic charge of a huge opera and (hopefully soon) Broadway show.
PS: see The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol 1 - which includes 3 books, and 23 short stories. Maybe I should up my score by 26!
Notable books from 2008:
Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) January - The account of a personal trip up Mount Everest during a particularly treacherous season. Wonderful, no-nonsense writing. It inspired an entire month of research into all things Everest. (thanks to Dan for the recommendation).
A Year in the World (Frances Mayes)March - Probably my favorite travel writer. Using her Tuscan house (which we befriended in Under the Tuscan Sun [another one of my favorites]) as a home-base and her wonderful writing speckled with the local languages, this book documents her impressions of a wide variety of a few select parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. I've added several locations onto my places to go list.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol 1 (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)May - I spent an entire month on these. There is a second volume, but I decided I needed to take a breather. How one man could think up so many different scenarios is beyond me.
The Twilight series (Stephanie Meyer) July, December - Not earth-shattering, but highly enjoyable. And superfun to discuss with everyone. Brings back fond remembrances of first love and the distress and joy that it can bring.
The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell) August - Gladwell does it again. Extremely thought provoking essays on statistics and interpreting the effects they illuminate in our lives.
Blindness (Jose Saramago)October - Could I call this a must read? Maybe a should read. Speculations on the possibilities of human dignity and depravity is a weighty subject, and should not be undertake lightly. I honestly didn't know if the ending would be uplifting or would merely foreshadow the end of humankind. The lack of all but obligatory punctuation was bit of a challenge at first; but it was purposeful, and I soon adapted to it. It is an amazing read, and fully deserving of it's Nobel Prize for Literature.
Disappointments from 2008:
The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman)January - The last book in the Golden Compass trilogy. Largely anticlimactic, the book seems to have fallen apart at then end. Pity - I thoroughly enjoyed the first two. Remember how the Matrix movies fell apart at the end? yeah...
Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follet)March - I read 250 pages into it and couldn't take it any more. The Middle Ages were bad, Mr. Follet, we get it. But you, however, seem to think it was an ideal age for the males of our species. Maybe Tyler Durden would agree. ugh.
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)July - Could there be two less likable characters in all of literature? Catherine and Heathcliff treat each other and everyone around them terribly, and they weren't even really in love. I suffered through the whole thing and it didn't even have a good ending.
The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway) November - Not a huge disappointment, but a minor one. The entire book was dialogue - mostly pointless. Remember that one chapter of The Great Gatsby that seems to have no purpose and just drags (the group is hanging around talking drunkenly in someone's apartment) - that's this entire book. I get the themes of ex-patriotism, gender issues and self-reliance, however, I think I could have gotten most of them from an essay about the book. I understand the dialogue was poignant and enlightening to its contemporaries, but I felt like I was constantly sifting through it trying to find meaning.
Currently reading:
Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama)
Seeing (Jose Saramago)
On my list for 2009:
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama)
Saving Darwin (Karl Giberson)
Hide and Seek with Angels (Lisa Chaney)
The Memory of Earth (Orson Scott Card)
Sentimental Tommy (J.M. Barrie)
Probably a re-read of the Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)
The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
100 Years of Solitude (Gabriel Carcia Marquez)
and that's the short list
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2 comments:
What about The Graveyard Book? I thought that would have made your year in review list.
The very first book on your 2009 list needs to be The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I don't have my copy currently or I would have to drive it to your place so you can start with haste.
I highly recommend The Kite Runner. Excellent book. I hope you enjoy it!
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