Book List
As a voracious reader, I’ve tried to find ways to effectively track what I read each year. I’ve used index cards, MSWord documents, hand-written notes. I have a tendency to discover books before they’re popular, fall in love with them, and them become disenchanted and embarrassed when Oprah makes them her book club pick. Let’s just agree: I found them first. And I can’t help it if my tastes run popular rather than deep…
I’m also including a rating scale (A-E with A being the best) so you’ll know what I think of them.
Archives:
2010 Reading List
2011 Reading List
January
- Everything Changes, by Jonathan Tropper (B+ – entertaining)
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender (D+ – just plain weird)
- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, by Brady Udall (C- – good writer, but depressing story with no redemption)
- Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan (C+ – just OK for me)
- Before I Go To Sleep, by S.J. Watson (C – had much more potential than it delivered on)
- The Housekeeper and The Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (A – Beautiful.)
February
- Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (B – complex and well-written, but I like more pay-off)
- How to Talk to a Widower, by Jonathan Tropper (B+)
- Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones
Books in Motion Now
- Until He Comes, by K. Dawn Goodwin
- At Home, by Bill Bryson
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
- In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, by Eric Larson
- Think of a Numb3r, by John Verdon
- Townie, by Andre Dubus III
- These Things Hidden, by Heather Gudenkauf
Among My All-Time Favorite Escapes
- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
- A Trip to the Stars, by Nicholas Christopher
- The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
- Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
- Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
- The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
- Me Talk Pretty One Day, by Davis Sedaris
- From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konisburg
Books You Couldn’t PAY Me to Read Twice
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
- Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
- Gone Away World, by Nick Harkaway
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Check it out. She writes her characters beautifully and this book had one heck of an opening scene. I myself just finished The Vampire Diaries and am reading Hoot by Carl Hiassen–nothing like choosing literature from the Young Adult section. Atlas Shrugged is going with me on my trip to Colorado next week though. It’s time. It’s past time.
Bel Canto has been on my must-read list for years, and yet I haven’t gotten to it yet – for shame! I’ll move it closer to the top. (Or maybe download it on Audible?)
I LOVE Carl Hiassen’s stuff for adults, and I can imagine him being clever for young adults.
You’ll enjoy Atlas Shrugged… though if you haven’t read The Fountainhead you might want to start with that – it’s more macro and Atlas is more micro, if that makes any sense.
Also – I’m really enjoying “Her Fearful Symmetry” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” if you’re looking for some fun reads.
Just finished Bel Canto. Really enjoyed it. Interesting premise and characters. Completely understand how the lines blur and while I didn’t expect a happy ending… Wow.
I wouldn’t download it–but then again, I usually save my audio books for stuff that’s not very well-written since I only half-listen while cleaning the house.
Is “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” part of a series? I keep almost grabbing it but then feel like it’s being marketed to me which I find annoying.
I have a City job exam tomorrow that requires much waiting and self-entertainment and “Atlas Shrugged” was on my docket. Now I’m going to have to scour my shelves for “The Fountainhead” or read one of my customer support books. Shoot, I don’t like that last idea. I might have to peek into the items brought by my friends last week for donation to Open Books. If they are eventually donated I’m not really stealing from the non-profit, right?
Not to be too much of a lit nerd, but Le Père Goriot by Balzac is fantastic (and you get to say Balzac a lot).
Excellent recommendation, Lee. I can’t wait to carry a little Balzac around with me!
I just ran across The Hunger Games the other day and was thinking, “Hmmm…might this be an interesting read…?”
Now I know!
Definitely fun teen sci-fi (I’m reading the second in the series now). There is a bit of a romantic story-line imbedded in it that might make guys roll their eyes, but I still wouldn’t go so far as to classify it as a chick-book. I’d be curious to know your take. Reminds me of something we would’ve read and loved in fourth grade.
I’ll have to take a look when I get a chance. I’m knee deep in Pride & Prejudice and The War of the Worlds right now. I kind of blew off the classics when I was a kid. Now it’s time to play catch up!
What an excellent idea! I hope you don’t mind if I do the same. Like people from my past I hear a book title and think it sounds vaguely familiar, but can’t quite place it…this list idea may be a good source of reference for myself.
I still have Middlesex waiting for me, not sure why it’s one of those I bought & just left on the shelf.
I started & never finished (2 times!!) Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It was a good enough read and I’m not exactly sure why I never finished it…I think I’ve since donated it to GoodWill!
One book to movie I really loved was Born On the 4th of July. Gritty, well told account of a man’s return from the Vietnam war.
Congrats on becoming Freshly Pressed…that’s how I found you
Thanks for the shout out, and all means, steal-away. Interestingly, “Loving Frank” does a crazy-ass left turn in the last 5% of the book. I was luke warm on it over all, but it left me smacking my head, going “WTF?!” If you don’t already know the outcome, I’d recommend finishing it, just for the pay-off.
I, too, have not finished “Atlas Shrugged” or “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” And I haven’t finished “The Pillars of the Earth,” either, because OMG. We indeed have similar tastes. I shall reference this list often!
Wait You finished the ones I haven’t. Fail.
I hated The Road so much. I could never understand its critical acclaim. I thought it was horrible.
It actually made me wish the father was a cannibal and would eat his son. It was THAT frustrating.