As I
mentioned in the New Year’s Resolutions post one of my goals for the year is to
read forty books. Last year I hit thirty seven, which might sound impression if
it wasn’t for the fact that Kim probably read somewhere between 100 and 200
books for the year and that still might be a low estimate. Still, I figure that
it might be nice to review what I read last year and it will be easier than
trying to add these to my Goodreads account. I really like Goodreads though
giving books a 1 – 5 rating seems really silly. Anyway, here is an overview of
all of the fiction that I read last year and my memories of the books.
“One Last Thing Before I Go”
Jonathan Tropper:
I think that I have always described Jonathan Tropper as a lower rent, American
Nick Hornby. That seems like a really harsh critique of someone who I own every
single thing he has ever written. Interesting book featuring Jonathan’s usual
main character of a guy who is a screw up in a very funny way but not one that
really stayed with me.
“A Wrinkle in Time” Madeline
L’Engle: One of
those books that I was told to read when I was ten years old and didn’t read
until I was forty. I hate to say this because I know that for many people this
is one of their favorite books of all time but I just didn’t get it. It was
nice but I couldn’t see what made it such a mind-bending success. Maybe I am
just too old and cynical.
“This is How You Lose Her” Junot
Diaz: Probably
the best book I read all year from a pure literary standpoint. More of a short
story collection than anything else, though certain characters appear and reappear,
and a very interesting take on modern life. Sadly, I read it a year ago so my
memories of it are very sparse.
“Tristan and Iseult” Traditional:
Kim gave me this
book to read when we started dating and I finally came around to reading it.
This was one of those books that I read because I feel that I should understand
some of these old stories as though I am missing wide swaths of our common
mythology. Absolutely great story involving love potions, love triangles,
curses and knights. It was surprisingly good and didn’t drag you into the
medieval abyss as some other stories of the ilk do.
“Attachments” and “Eleanor and
Park” Rainbow Rowell: One
of Kim’s biggest critiques of what I read is that I tend to read authors for
the sole purpose of saying that I’ve read them. I’ve read David Foster Wallace
and James Joyce and it is difficult for me to say I did that for any reason
other than to be a literary snob. Heck, half of these comments on what I read
last year will come off as being a literary snob. As a result, when I started
to read Rainbow Rowell’s books (another Kim recommendation) I really wanted to
dislike it. It was light, relationship based and the type of book that I scoff
at when I am in Barnes and Noble. To my dismay, though, I could not put these
books down and they were easily some of my favorites for the year. I just loved
these books with characters I could relate to and Rainbow just has a way of
writing really fun and engaging scenes. Really recommend checking her out.
“You Don’t Have to be Evil to
Work Here but it Helps” Tom Holt: I
have no idea where Kim found this author, or why I had never heard of him, but
the book involves magic, goblins, immortals and office politics. It is a
strange mix of Dungeons and Dragons and Office Space. Again, how I had missed
Tom Holt in the past is beyond me.
“The Middlesteins” Jami Attenberg:
I want to say
that this was a modern take on Middlemarch. I know that it involved a Bar
Mitzvah, an extremely obese woman, really good Chinese food and probably some
other plot points. I swear that I enjoyed the book a lot but getting older has
really screwed with my recall.
“Z” Therese Anne Fowler: A novel on the life of Zelda
Fitzgerald. As someone who said that he was always in search of his Zelda this
book obviously was very interesting to me. On the plus side you get to really
understand the wild and carefree life that Zelda and Scott were living in the
20’s and be amazed at a time when an author could be the toast of the town. On
the other hand, it paints F. Scott Fitzgerald as an alcoholic jerk, which is
probably accurate but I would rather not have to view my idol in that light.
Still better than the Gatsby movie.
“The Financial Lives of the
Poets” Jess Walter:
Killer book about someone who decided to start a financial website written in
poetry and who in the process bankrupts himself and his family and gets pulled
into a very comical drug deal. A lot of fun and a good take on the financial
crisis as well.
“The Ocean at the End of the
Lane” Neil Gaiman: Now
I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan going back to his earliest work in comics but I
have to admit that this story left me a little flat. I understand that it was
in part a retelling of events that occurred to him in childhood and many of the
scenes about his home life and those nooks and crannies of the area around your
home that fill your earliest memories carry a lot of weight. It’s just that the
fantastical elements didn’t strike me as being as strong as in Sandman or
Anansi Boys or much of his other work. Nice story but not his best.
“The Long War” Terry Pratchett
and Stephen Baxter: Sigh.
Please understand that I feel that Terry Pratchett’s long slide into Alzheimer’s
is an absolute tragedy. I also understand his desire to work with other authors
in creating stories that take place outside of Discworld. The Long World
series, which take place in a world where people discover a way to travel to a
seemingly infinite number of parallel earths, is fascinating in terms of
discussing what that type of world would be like but really lacking in terms of
characters and plot. I would rather have a new Discworld book.
“The Last Dragonslayer” Jasper
Fforde: Ok, I occasionally
read Young Adult books by authors that I like in order to pump up my book
count. Jasper Fforde is the author of the excellent Thursday Next series and
this story, like everything else he writes, is filled with literary references
and asides and is a great gift to give to that child who is much too smart for
their own good.
“Bright Passage” Josh Ritter: Josh is one of my favorite
singer-songwriters and is one of the few people whose lyrics truly are poetry.
This was his first novel and is interesting in that it focuses on the First
World War and thus brings up scenes of battle that have not become clichés. It
is strange and surreal and a fascinating first effort at writing a novel. I
like his songs better but then again, the number of people who can challenge
him as a songwriter could be counted on one hand.
“The Maltese Falcon” Dashiell
Hammett: Sam
Spade, badass. Amazing to see just how politically incorrect the book is when
viewed in a modern light. Given that this story invents the entire film noir
world of detectives and crooked cops you owe it to yourself to read the book
and watch the movie.
“A Clash of Kings” George R. R.
Martin: At some
point I will read enough of the Game of Thrones series so that I can catch up
to the TV show. Great book though it takes forever for things to actually get
going. Plus, my biggest problem with the books is that I don’t understand how
the economy of Westeros could possibly function. It seems that everyone is
either royalty, a soldier or a prostitute. Wars are constant and everyone dies
all the time. Who is farming? Who is raising cattle? For crying out loud, where
are the garbagemen in this world?
“All’s Well That Ends Well”
William Shakespeare: My
Shakespeare play for the year. Surprisingly feminist at times with a female
character begging to cure the king and showing that she is as well trained and
gifted as any male character. Surprisingly unfeminist as it involves a
character saying “Yeah, I’ll marry you but I will never see you again” and
involves an affair involving mistaken identity in order to consummate a
marriage and somehow this is considered a happy ending.
Best of 120 Minutes: Post was long so I will keep the
video short. Guided by Voices with Teenage FBI.
