What I read in 2008

For this part of the year in review I am going to peruse the books that I read during 2008. I finished 29 books over the course of the year (book being a loose definition here as you will soon see), which is actually higher than typical over the past five years or so. It is still a lot less than I would like and I have set a goal to read 40 books this year, which will match the total I read in 1998. And yes, I have documented every book that I have read since 1998 often indicating exactly how long it took me to finish the book. Doesn’t everyone do that? Anyway, here are some synopses of a portion of my reading list.

“God Save the Fan” by Will Leitch: Written by my fellow Illini and founder of Deadspin this is a look at sports from a fan’s perspective. It is essentially just an expansion of the Deadspin web site, in which no sports figure is safe. If you are an athlete and got drunk at a party Deadspin will have the pictures. If you are, say, Hannah Storm and decided to host SportsCenter dressed like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman than will be discussed. I think it is some of the funniest and most on point writing about sports out there right now.

“The Polysyllabic Spree”, “Housekeeping vs. the Dirt” and “Shakespeare Wrote for Money” by Nick Hornby: These three books are collections of Nick Hornby essays on his reading habits. Every month he would list the books that he had purchased, the books that he had read and write an article for The Believer discussing all of them and how they influenced his day to day activities. Basically just like this blog post except better written and with more references to soccer.

“Born Standing Up” by Steve Martin: I am a big Steve Martin fan and have been for a long time. I’ve always been surprised at just how good of a writer he is. His style is very laid back and laconic and it brings a bit of dreaminess into everything that he writes. This is his memoir on his time in standup comedy and how he walked away when he was selling out arenas and never looked back. Fascinating story about how someone goes about creating art.

“Schulz and Peanuts” by David Michaelis: Consider this to be the counterpoint to the Steve Martin book. Now my love for Peanuts and Snoopy is well known (a Snoopy painting is the highlight of my decorating scheme) so I was interested in reading about how all of the characters came to be. And you do get to find out though it takes you about 300 pages of background until Charles Schulz actually draws Snoopy. I’m not sure I needed to know about every family member and how they influenced his life. It does change the way you read the strip as you find out that Charles Schulz was depressed, reserved, extremely insecure and not that nice of a guy. I’ll stick with my comic strips.

“The Bro Code” by Barney Stinson: Words to live by. Literally. A book that can be summed up in one word: Legen…. Wait for it…. Dary.

(I’m not making it up. It’s a real book.)

“How to Talk to a Widower”, “The Book of Joe”, “Everything Changes” by Jonathan Tropper: Every year I find myself reading a bunch of books by one particular author. What is interesting in this case is that I’m still not sure if I like Jonathan Tropper’s work. It is Nick Hornby light and half the time you get a sense that you are reading the script for a below average romantic comedy. There are moments of pure brilliance (the phrase “the pilot missed the sky” was breathtaking) but every book seems to have one moment of wackiness that makes you realize that what you are reading is fiction. Books are meant to be an escape but there is always something in his work that makes me go “No way that could ever happen in real life.”

“Henry IV, Part II” by William Shakespeare: The Back to the Future, Part II of Shakespeare plays. The similarities are stunning. Both follow up extremely successful ventures and have minimal plots of their own. In fact, the stories only exist to move our characters ahead in the plot so we could get to Part III or Henry V where all of the fun stuff happens. Luckily, like the movie the play has some fun scenes with hoverboards and Biff gets a few good lines in so as Shakespeare plays go it’s not that bad. Oh, and he dies at the end but it’s not a tragedy.

“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell: Another in a long line of magic beans and superpowers books by Gladwell in which he explains how people are successful in this world. Turns out it is mainly blind luck. When you were born, where you were born, the number of letters in your last name, they all matter more than anything you ever do with yourself. Well, except for the fact that you apparently have to spend 10,000 hours doing something to be an expert at it. Let’s see: I blog half an hour a night, have made 1,000 posts in 4 years, so I’ll be a good blogger in….I really don’t want to do that math.

“Hitman” by Bret “The Hitman” Hart: Every year I allow myself to read one wrestling book. This still creates a degree of awkwardness in my life. When I bring a woman to my apartment she doesn’t notice the artwork or the impressive and eclectic music collection or the diplomas on the wall. Nope, her only thought is “This guy has a whole shelf dedicated to books on pro wrestling?” Sigh. Some guys have to hide porn; I have to hide books about Ric Flair.

Anyway, if you want to get a true view inside the world of pro wrestling this is probably the best one. Bret pulls absolutely no punches about what goes on behind the curtain discussing everything from drug use to what goes on back at the hotel. I’ve described it as an “unauthorized autobiography” because one of the people who comes off worst is Bret who drops any façade of being a superhero and shows himself as a flawed man. Fascinating and tragic at the same time.

“The Wordy Shipmates” by Sarah Vowell: I was really disappointed by this book. Sarah missed the boat (hah, see a pun) with her latest book on the Puritans. It was much more scholarly than I would like and seemed to be missing an introduction. Still, as long as she writes sections in which she daintily removes snow with her ballet flats from a plaque that is set in the sidewalk I will read whatever she writes.

“The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z” by Max Brooks: Are you prepared for the zombie onslaught? Have you determined the most effective ways to defend your office in case you are forced to make a last stand against the living dead? You haven’t? Well, then these books are for you. From a literary perspective you really owe it to yourself to read World War Z, which works as a horror novel, social satire and strategy manual for when the G’s come for you.

“Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris: Every writer struggles with the choice between writing in the first person or the third person. Joshua decided to throw that all aside and write in the first person plural so the entire book is written with “we’s” and “us’s” and it takes you a good fifty pages to not want to bang your head into the wall because of it. A great book about an ad agency during a period of downsizing and what really goes on in an office. Great for anyone with a white collar job that involves mainly sitting around and wasting time until you can go home.

“Barrel Fever” by David Sedaris: I think it took me something like five years to finish this book. I have no idea why it took that long. It’s not a long book, nor particularly challenging. I’d just start reading it, get about a third of the way through, flip through and read a story, and then never bother to finish it. Some books are like that.

“The Ghost in Love” by Jonathan Carroll: The story opens with a ghost and a dog having a conversation. It gets weirder from there. Ever wonder what it means to be alive? Or what our purpose really is? Or maybe just how love manifests itself in the universe? Those are the questions that Jonathan tackles in his works. He may not always succeed in bringing you to the answer but the journey is one you will never forget. He is simply my favorite author that no one knows about.

Wednesday Night Music Club: Since I mentioned it twice already this week I felt that I should post a video by the group She & Him. You typically worry about any act that features an actress but this one beats expectations. First off, it is Zooey Deschanell who not only starred in The New Guy but played Trillian in the Hitchhiker’s Guide movie and looks so amazing in the party scene at the beginning that it hurts my eyes to watch it. On top of that she has a really fun singing voice and M. Ward does a great job with the music. Lots of people have this as the album of the year and I have to say they have a point.

She and Him MTV Music