The Books of 2011

[atthesametime]

I read exactly 40 books last year. Only four less than last year. That is surprising since I was definitely much busier this year. The numbers are a little juiced because I got sucked into the Walking Dead graphic novel series, but all in all, not a bad year. Still somehow Cosma read roughly 160 more than I did while also being a math genius and

Comments

[villagecharm]

Shit, I bought "Red April" for myself before Christmas. Is it really lousy?

This is an impressive list. I will post mine, so you can see that I am a semi-literate teenager.

[atthesametime]

It isn't lousy, but there are many better crime novels out there and it doesn't deal with the Shining Path as much as one would like... I'd be curious to read what you think about it if you decide to give it go.

[pomo_drunkard]

The Walking Dead truly is addictive. I'm a fan

[atthesametime]

Lots of good stuff in this comment.

1. I really do not understand the glowing reviews of the Magicians. It just isn't good. The writing is fine, but the world imagining is just silly (walking trees? please) and the characters are very uninteresting.

2. I loved Reamde, but then again, I love everything Stephenson does. It wasn't as good as Crytonomicon, but I'd argue it was better than Snow Crash. Must read fiction for nerds.

3. Windup Girl isn't a brilliant piece of literature, but like the best SF, the world it imagines is compelling and very scary. It turned me into a hippie worried about my recycling.

4. I will definitely read more by Scalzi. I too find him likeable and enjoyed Old Man's War a lot. The fact that you can read his books in a day is also a big plus.

[pomo_drunkard]

1. The Magicians. Ooof. I actually didn't mind the world building. What irritated me more than anything else was that Grossman kept taking potshots at Harry Potter while creating a world that was just as silly and as Harry Potter. Also, as a reader of C.S. Lewis myself, Grossman's whole-hearted ripoffs of the Narnia grated more than the "Harry Potter in Real Life" bullshit he pulled. "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "The Magician's Nephew" should have been listed as coauthor of the book. There were some effective scenes--Quentin's qualifying test to Brakebills gave me chills and made me think I was going to really like the novel, and the scene where the Beast gets into the classroom was incredibly effectively creepy, but mostly the vibe I got from the book was that Grossman thought he was doing something really original and edgy, while he was basically creating a very conventional fantasy novel. He basically fell prey to the thing that mainstream authors do where they dip into fantasy and think that because they're real

[ceciliaj]

You're harsh on the Shakes! I feel like you were planning on reading the complete works at some pt?

[atthesametime]

I am still slowly reading my way through the Bard's complete works. It is going to take some time.

I'm harsh on the one's I left this year for two reasons: (1) these are early works, and (2) I generally hate comedies and I really hate Shakespeare's comedies. This year I will get to the good stuff (Hamlet, McBeth, etc.) and I imagine he'll do better in next year's end of the year review.

[th3_s1kh_g33k]

As an undergrad at UCONN, I would read the plays in the AV Library along with the old VHS tapes of the BBC performances. That method really worked for me.

[atthesametime]

This is a great idea. I'm also trying to see them all performed live (eventually). I'm in no hurry to complete either of these goals. Reading the complete Shakespeare isn't something I want to rush.