2011 Books in Review
I only had two book posts this year. I'd like to say that was because I was so buy I didn't have time to summarize, but the truth is that I read so few books this year that there wasn't much reason to post more often. I read a paltry 40 books and 9 graphic novels in 2011, which is by far the smallest number since I started keeping track in 2007. Ouch. The main reason for this was that I really got back into the gym in 2011, with 3 or 4 visits every single week. I tried reading at the gym, but I just don't have the knack, so I guess I get to choose between being fit and being well read.
On the plus side, I went on a few vacations, and every one of them involved lots of reading. In fact, more than half of the 40 books I read this year were while I was on vacation, ending with 8 books in 8 days in Florida. Clearly I need to go on vacation more.
I've posted the full list here for anyone who cares, with * for graphic novels.
Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - S 1/01
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.5: The Best Defense - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.6: This Sorrowful Life - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.7: The Calm Before - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.8: Made to Suffer - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.9: Here We Remain - S 1/10
Catherynne M. Valente - The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, v.1 - W 1/12
*Paul Dini, Guillem March - Gotham City Sirens, v.1: Union - S 2/05
*Paul Dini, Tony Bedard, Guillem March - Gotham City Sirens, v.2: Songs of the Sirens - S 2/05
*John Arcudi, Peter Snejbjerg, Bjarne Hansen - A God Somewhere - F 2/11
T.E. Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph - M 2/21
Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union - W 2/23
*Christos Gage & Roberto Viacava - Absolution - S 2/26
William Shakespeare - Love's Labour's Lost - F 3/11
Natalia Smirnova & Julia Goumen (editors) - Moscow Noir - W 4/06
Harlan Ellison - Spider Kiss - F 4/08
Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - F 4/15
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream - S 6/25
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera - Su 7/10
Catherynne M. Valente - Deathless - F 7/15
Catherynne M. Valente - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making - R 7/21
William Shakespeare - Romeo & Juliet - Su 7/31
Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger - R 8/04
Alistair Cooke - The Americans: 50 Talks On Our Life & Times - F 8/05
Sid Caesar - Caesar's Hours - F 8/05
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr - Welcome to the Monkey House - S 8/06
AEW Mason - The Four Feathers - F 8/13
Martin H. Greenberg & Brittiany A. Koren (editors) - Fantasy Gone Wrong - M 8/15
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse - R 9/15
Joe R. Lansdale - The Drive-In: A Double-Feature Omnibus - W 9/28
Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns - W 9/28
Erik Larson - The Devil in the White City - R 9/29
Tom Robbins - Still Life With Woodpecker - S 9/30
Tim Harford - The Undercover Economist - Su 10/01
Christopher Buckley - Supreme Courtship - M 10/02
Nick Hornby - Songbook - M 10/02
Lionel Shriver - We Need to Talk About Kevin - S 10/08
Josh Ritter - Bright's Passage - S 10/08
Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman - F 11/04
Kennilworthy Whisp - Quidditch Through the Ages - W 11/30
Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 - W 12/07
Martin Millar - Lux the Poet - M 12/19
Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep - W 12/21
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch - W 12/21
William Goldman - The Silent Gondoliers - W 12/21
Frank Deford - The Entitled - R 12/22
Gabriela Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - S 12/24
Peter Segal - The Big Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) - S 12/24
Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man - M 12/26
Here are some of the highlights since my last post in October.
It took me forever, but I read through Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman. Frankly, it may have been the least interesting of the dozen or so of her books that I've read, which is probably in large part because I missed a lot of the subtext, or I gather from Wikipedia.
I bought Quidditch Through the Ages off a coworker's daughter for $1. It was a $1 well spent. It turns out that my obsession with sports books extends to fictional sports that don't make any sense. I know we're all shocked by that revelation.
Another coworker lent me the new novel 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. As with Atwood, this was pretty easily the most boring book by Murakami I've read to date. It had some potentially interesting plot lines, but for the most part I was disconnected from the characters and just didn't care. I probably should have stopped reading much earlier, especially since it weighed in at nearly 1000 pages, but I kept the old Murakami magic would kick back in. It didn't. I recommend it for completists only.
Everything from here on out was read on vacation in December, mostly in Orlando. It was that or go to a theme park, and I hate theme parks.
I started and finished Lux the Poet by Martin Millar on the plane to Atlanta. It was quite brief and engrossing. Reading it was much like reading Warren Ellis; things seem to be going along reasonably enough and then something totally bizarre (and quite possibly sexual or scatological) happens and the whole story derails off into other directions. Lux's adventures in the riot as he goes to 'rescue' Pearl are vastly entertaining. The character of Kalia reminded me of Alobar from Jitterbug Perfume.
Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch is probably the greatest single book I've ever read about the experience of being a sports fan. Most of the diehards I know out there could relate to it, even if it is about soccer. It also contained one of the single saddest lines I've ever read, which regrettably I can't find online but went something like this: "I was 11 years old and I knew I would never play for Arsenal, and 11 is far too young to realize that." Also this: "I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it." Highly recommended.
The Silent Gondoliers may not rise to the same heights as The Princess Bride, but the hour it took me to read it was well spent. S. Morgenstern spins a vastly enjoyable tale of Luigi, who is the worst singer among all the gondoliers of Venice.
The Entitled is that rarest of things, a book where the best player in baseball plays for the Cleveland Indians. Naturally, it's a piece of fiction from well known sportswriter Frank Deford. The story focuses on the manager of the Cleveland Indians, and the circumstances leading up to a choice he has to make that can save his best player or destroy him. Enjoyable for baseball fans.
I rather liked 100 Years of Solitude, which seems like it is set next store to the town from Love in the Time of Cholera, albeit with more magical realism. Based solely on those two books I can see why Gabriel Garcia Marquez picked up the Nobel Prize.
Very nearly the last book I read in 2011 had the best title of any of them. It was Peter Segal's The Big Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them). While the treatment of the various vices is fairly predictable and doesn't cover any new ground, Segal's wry tone and self-deprecating humor move you through the chapters quickly. You won't regret reading it, but it's not as much fun as his day job.
I aim to read more in 2012. Other that continuing to make my way through Shakespeare, I don't have any particular books in mind. So what should I read next?
On the plus side, I went on a few vacations, and every one of them involved lots of reading. In fact, more than half of the 40 books I read this year were while I was on vacation, ending with 8 books in 8 days in Florida. Clearly I need to go on vacation more.
I've posted the full list here for anyone who cares, with * for graphic novels.
Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - S 1/01
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.5: The Best Defense - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.6: This Sorrowful Life - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.7: The Calm Before - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.8: Made to Suffer - S 1/10
*Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.9: Here We Remain - S 1/10
Catherynne M. Valente - The Habitation of the Blessed: A Dirge for Prester John, v.1 - W 1/12
*Paul Dini, Guillem March - Gotham City Sirens, v.1: Union - S 2/05
*Paul Dini, Tony Bedard, Guillem March - Gotham City Sirens, v.2: Songs of the Sirens - S 2/05
*John Arcudi, Peter Snejbjerg, Bjarne Hansen - A God Somewhere - F 2/11
T.E. Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph - M 2/21
Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union - W 2/23
*Christos Gage & Roberto Viacava - Absolution - S 2/26
William Shakespeare - Love's Labour's Lost - F 3/11
Natalia Smirnova & Julia Goumen (editors) - Moscow Noir - W 4/06
Harlan Ellison - Spider Kiss - F 4/08
Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - F 4/15
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream - S 6/25
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera - Su 7/10
Catherynne M. Valente - Deathless - F 7/15
Catherynne M. Valente - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making - R 7/21
William Shakespeare - Romeo & Juliet - Su 7/31
Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger - R 8/04
Alistair Cooke - The Americans: 50 Talks On Our Life & Times - F 8/05
Sid Caesar - Caesar's Hours - F 8/05
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr - Welcome to the Monkey House - S 8/06
AEW Mason - The Four Feathers - F 8/13
Martin H. Greenberg & Brittiany A. Koren (editors) - Fantasy Gone Wrong - M 8/15
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse - R 9/15
Joe R. Lansdale - The Drive-In: A Double-Feature Omnibus - W 9/28
Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns - W 9/28
Erik Larson - The Devil in the White City - R 9/29
Tom Robbins - Still Life With Woodpecker - S 9/30
Tim Harford - The Undercover Economist - Su 10/01
Christopher Buckley - Supreme Courtship - M 10/02
Nick Hornby - Songbook - M 10/02
Lionel Shriver - We Need to Talk About Kevin - S 10/08
Josh Ritter - Bright's Passage - S 10/08
Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman - F 11/04
Kennilworthy Whisp - Quidditch Through the Ages - W 11/30
Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 - W 12/07
Martin Millar - Lux the Poet - M 12/19
Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep - W 12/21
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch - W 12/21
William Goldman - The Silent Gondoliers - W 12/21
Frank Deford - The Entitled - R 12/22
Gabriela Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - S 12/24
Peter Segal - The Big Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) - S 12/24
Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man - M 12/26
Here are some of the highlights since my last post in October.
It took me forever, but I read through Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman. Frankly, it may have been the least interesting of the dozen or so of her books that I've read, which is probably in large part because I missed a lot of the subtext, or I gather from Wikipedia.
I bought Quidditch Through the Ages off a coworker's daughter for $1. It was a $1 well spent. It turns out that my obsession with sports books extends to fictional sports that don't make any sense. I know we're all shocked by that revelation.
Another coworker lent me the new novel 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. As with Atwood, this was pretty easily the most boring book by Murakami I've read to date. It had some potentially interesting plot lines, but for the most part I was disconnected from the characters and just didn't care. I probably should have stopped reading much earlier, especially since it weighed in at nearly 1000 pages, but I kept the old Murakami magic would kick back in. It didn't. I recommend it for completists only.
Everything from here on out was read on vacation in December, mostly in Orlando. It was that or go to a theme park, and I hate theme parks.
I started and finished Lux the Poet by Martin Millar on the plane to Atlanta. It was quite brief and engrossing. Reading it was much like reading Warren Ellis; things seem to be going along reasonably enough and then something totally bizarre (and quite possibly sexual or scatological) happens and the whole story derails off into other directions. Lux's adventures in the riot as he goes to 'rescue' Pearl are vastly entertaining. The character of Kalia reminded me of Alobar from Jitterbug Perfume.
Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch is probably the greatest single book I've ever read about the experience of being a sports fan. Most of the diehards I know out there could relate to it, even if it is about soccer. It also contained one of the single saddest lines I've ever read, which regrettably I can't find online but went something like this: "I was 11 years old and I knew I would never play for Arsenal, and 11 is far too young to realize that." Also this: "I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it." Highly recommended.
The Silent Gondoliers may not rise to the same heights as The Princess Bride, but the hour it took me to read it was well spent. S. Morgenstern spins a vastly enjoyable tale of Luigi, who is the worst singer among all the gondoliers of Venice.
The Entitled is that rarest of things, a book where the best player in baseball plays for the Cleveland Indians. Naturally, it's a piece of fiction from well known sportswriter Frank Deford. The story focuses on the manager of the Cleveland Indians, and the circumstances leading up to a choice he has to make that can save his best player or destroy him. Enjoyable for baseball fans.
I rather liked 100 Years of Solitude, which seems like it is set next store to the town from Love in the Time of Cholera, albeit with more magical realism. Based solely on those two books I can see why Gabriel Garcia Marquez picked up the Nobel Prize.
Very nearly the last book I read in 2011 had the best title of any of them. It was Peter Segal's The Big Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them). While the treatment of the various vices is fairly predictable and doesn't cover any new ground, Segal's wry tone and self-deprecating humor move you through the chapters quickly. You won't regret reading it, but it's not as much fun as his day job.
I aim to read more in 2012. Other that continuing to make my way through Shakespeare, I don't have any particular books in mind. So what should I read next?