2008 Book List

[phoenixjay]

Around this time last year, I got the idea from my friend Courtney to keep a list of the books that one reads throughout a given year. I gave it a shot this year, and surprised myself by how much I actually read. I'm going to post it hear mainly for my own purpose, but if anyone is actually curious about what I've read, they are more than welcome

Comments

[rubberkeyhole]

wait - is that Courtney me???

[rubberkeyhole]

also. Neil Gaiman - good?

[phoenixjay]

Yes, actually, you are the Courtney. And yes, Neil Gaiman is very good. Many of his works center around bringing folklore, fairy-tales, and mythology into modern life and blending them together in interesting and sometimes funny ways. He's brilliant!

[pathogen_squid]

Shit but you read a lot.

What is American Gods about? I've read it twice and I still don't really know.

I re-read A Clockwork Orange, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, American Gods, Snow Crash, Fight Club, Choke, Jurassic Park, and House of Leaves. Actually I read most of those since I moved into my apartment.

New for this year: Zodiac (pretty good) and Invisible Monsters (Worst. Palahniuk. Novel. Ever.). Whenever I read something I absolutely hate it takes me a while before I even feel like picking up a book again. I mean, a bad TV show, that's an hour of your life gone, and if a video game sucks you can probably tell within a couple of hours, but a bad book sucks about a day off your life. Or maybe I'm just a terminally slow reader.

[phoenixjay]

It's one of the benefits of being at the library so often. Many of these are finds that I just happened upon while putting away, and thought, what the hell, might as well read it

[pathogen_squid]

Well I guess I mean I read American Gods, and I remember the basic synopsis, but I lack a familiarity with basic mythological/theological concepts and history so I felt like a lot of the book went waaaaaay over my head. A whooooole lot of mythological name-dropping that I just couldn't fathom

[phoenixjay]

Yeah, Neil Gaiman is certainly well read. There were mythological names thrown out there that even I hadn't heard of, and that's one of the things I most enjoy. But besides the pleasure of deifying Money, Television, and the Internet, I really enjoyed the mythological/theological concepts that you mention. If gods are so powerful, why do they need us? Why must we sacrifice to them? What do they really do for us? And what happens if *we* are sacrificed to, like Shadow's wife did for him? And where the hell was Jesus? I find it interesting that the "Big Three" Gods were apparently absent from the American religious scene. I don't know, I guess I just really enjoy thinking about such things. And different people will get different things out of it. Sure, the intention of the author is important, but once it's published, it's out of his/her hands, and the level of meaning taken from it is exactly what the reader wants and/or needs.

[eabhaciar]

Damn! Well you do work in a library so that makes sence but still Damn!