Last year I tracked the books I read like the movies I watched. I was quite disappointed by the total, I have to say. I have resolved to do better, and that’s probably a resolution I can keep (much to the chagrin of TLomL). Not only did I not read as much as I thought I should, I wrote about what I read far less than I should’ve. I make no promises in that regard–time will tell.
Going over the list this morning I had a really bad moment, I absolutely couldn’t recognize book #4 on the list (Sacred Cows by Karen E. Olson). I had to go to a couple of different websites before the thing clicked with me–worse yet, once I remembered the book, I recalled enjoying it. And there are 3 sequels! I actually feel guilty about not reading more of Ms. Olson’s work (and forgetting that which I did read). I’ll fix that as soon as I can.
Anyway, if you’re interested, here’s the list.
I had a hard time coming up with “best of” lists, my instinct was to go for the “most literary” or whatever, but that ended up leaving off most of the books that I enjoyed most, had the biggest impact on me, etc. So instead, I went with the books I most wanted to write about (one I actually did), most of which I at least have a draft post about.
Non-fiction:
3. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog – John Grogan
22. Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees – Jane Heller
29. John Calvin–A Biography – T. H. L. Parker
49. In Living Color: Images of Christ and the Means of Grace – Danny R. Hyde
56. Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse – Thomas E. Woods Jr.
88. Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing – Elmore Leonard
Fiction:
26. Turn Coat – Jim Butcher
50. Spook Country – William Gibson
51. Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery – Spencer Quinn
55. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
69. This is Where I Leave You – Jonathan Tropper
75. The Sleeping God – Violette Malan
103. The Magicians – Lev Grossman
As far as the worst go…well, there’s the handful of books I didn’t bother finishing (poorly written, just offensive, couldn’t hold my interest…tho’ to be fair, some of those should get another shot from me) and then these, which for some reason I just finished.
20. Stalking the Unicorn – Mike Resnick
47. Chasing the Bear – Robert B. Parker
67. An Underachiever’s Diary – Benjamin Anastas 8/18/2009
104. Is This a Great Game, or What?: From A-Rod’s Heart to Zim’s Head–My 25 Years in Baseball – Tim Kurkjian (this was a fun read, just not a good book–a fine collection of brief anecdotes)
110. Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America – Barbara Ehrenreich
Cracked this open for the first time last night, shortly after my shift started. At 6:25, when I had to take care of some end-of-shift chores, I had 100 pages left.