If there is anything that I am well known for it is having an incredibly well-documented life. For no apparent reason, other than a strange belief that one day a group of biographers will be forever grateful for my initiative, I've basically kept track of everything in my life. As in I have kept track of every book that I have read since 1998. There is no real reason behind it, especially why I noted when I started and finished each book, but it did make it much easier when I joined Goodreads.com and was asked to upload the books that I have read.
(Admittedly I did this so I would have the largest number of books read of anyone I knew on the site. Kim found out and then trounced me to a degree that is frightening. We have a literal library room as in we had to implement the Dewey Decimal System for tracking purposes.)
So, since Goodreads allowed me to finally track and quantify all of this I can say that since January 1, 1998 I have read 467 books. Effectively 30 books a year or so, which I think is pretty good. It also told me which authors I read the most over this time frame and I've decided to use the blog to review my top twelve. Some notes to start.
1) Reading a book means that I read every page. No, I started the book, got halfway through and realized it was crap and gave up. Reading means finishing.
2) A book is a book is a book. Meaning that David Foster Wallace's "This is Water", which is just a reprinting of his commencement address at Kenyon College and has for some reason become a viral video today counts the same as his "Infinite Jest", which is 900 pages long and has 100 pages of footnotes that must be read in order to understand the book. But hey, they both have bindings and an ISBN number so they are books.
3) Plays count as books. My list, my rules.
4) Graphic novels are books if written by Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman or if I decide there to be literary merit to them. Pure super hero comic compilations don't make the cut.
Ok, the top 12...
7 Books Read:
J. K. Rowling: The only female author to break the top twelve and proof that I have read the entire Harry Potter series. One of the interesting thing about Goodreads is that you can compare what you have read with other people and see what you have in common. Everyone has the Harry Potter books in common. It is fascinating just how many people have read these books.
Julian Barnes: I am kind of surprised that I have read so many of his books. He is an award winning British author who wrote one of my favorite books of all time in "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters", which is one of those books that has the ability to change your life if you let it. Some of his other work is great, others are kind of slogged through but still worth checking out.
Chuck Klosterman: I have said this on many occassions but he has the career I dreamed of but didn't pursue because I never imagined that it could be an actual career. He writes about music and sports and pop culture in general with no real purpose behind it. Just commenting and considering and pondering pop culture, making some observations but without no real driving thesis other than, "Isn't it weird that a guy from South Dakota can somehow make a living by making an analogy comparing Real World casts to varios incarnations of KISS?" That so could have been me.
Mike Gayle: You don't know who Mike Gayle is. No one knows who Mike Gayle is. I don't even think he has had seven books published in the US. First time I was in Kim's house I looked at her bookshelves and saw that she also had a copy of Mike Gayle's "My Legendary Girlfriend". That sealed it in my mind that we were meant for each other. Oh, and he is basically Nick Hornby lite or Bridget Jones for guys, depending on how you feel at the time. Still a good read.
8 Books Read:
David Foster Wallace: My choice for the greatest writer of my generation. His essay on Roger Federer is at a minimum the best piece of sports writing if not the best short piece written in the last twenty years. He is also one of the few people who I would ever consider to be better than me at both writing and math. Lots of people are better than me at one; he was at many levels beyond me at both. I understand how many people consider him to be overrated and I still have two books to make my way through before I can complete his works but from a pure literary standpoint I am a believer.
9 Books Read:
Douglas Coupland: I have a love / hate relationship with Douglas. When he is at his best (Microserfs, jPod, Generation X) he can capture precisely what is going on in the culture around me. At his worst (Polaroids of the Dead) he makes me think that if I have to read one more word about Deadheads I am going to head up to Canada and tell him that no one cares. I think that that might be my least favorite book of all time. But when he is on he is a genius.
P. J. O'Rourke: My personal choice for political criticism. Funny, doesn't play favorites, and is at his best when he is pointing out just how stupid politicians can be. His view of the political world is probably the closest to mine that I have been able to find.
11 Books Read:
Nick Hornby: The winner for most variation in books written. I have read his novels, his young adult novel, his nonfiction books on soccer and music as well as four separate collection of magazine essays where all he does is write about what books he read that month. Someone after my own heart in that respect. I mean, he wrote High Fidelity. I really shouldn't have to say more.
Jonathan Carroll: The best writer you haven't discovered yet. Quite possibly the reason Kim and I are married is because of his book "The Ghost in Love", a story I will tell in detail one of these days. He has the best Facebook feed of anyone I know and I don't even technically know him. His stories can be described as dark fantasies or speculative fiction or however you would want to describe a world exactly like ours outside of the occasional talking dog. I have yet to find a writer who can turn phrases and set scenes in such a way that it legitimately makes you stop reading. I've literally been stunned by his work. Some of his stories have made their way into my dreams. Seriously, please read any of his books. The fact that he isn't considered one of the best writers on the planet is a travesty. (He's also the highest ranking American on my list if you discount the fact that he has lived in Vienna for the past few decades).
12 Books Read:
Neil Gaiman: Few writers can create whole worlds out of thin air the way that Neil can. Some authors have to struggle with getting one or two characters to be realistic. Neil invents entire mythologies out of whole cloth and the result is spectacular. I don't know if anything can touch Sandman in terms of graphic novels and his more traditional writing can be jaw dropping as well. Can't wait for his new book this month.
15 Books Read:
William Shakespeare: I read one play a year. I've made my way through all of the great plays, most of the good plays and now I am at the stuff he wrote just to pay the bills. At some point I have to go back and reread some of the stuff that I read when I was younger and didn't understand in the slightest. There is a reason to this yearly tradition. Over time I've learned how to read his plays without needing notes and definitions. Things make more sense now. While I appreciate being introduced to Shakespeare as a teenager I don't think you can really understand him until you have a few years under your belt.
23 Books Read:
Terry Pratchett: Ah, good old Sir Terry. The creator of Discworld, my favorite fantasy world where dwarves fight trolls, one of the cops is a werewolf and the witches are not to be messed with. His books work as fantasy, comedy and social commentary all at the same time. When I was first reading his stuff (and it was tough to find his earlier work in the US) I would come back from a trip to England with four or five of his books in my bags. Definitely an all-time favorite.
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