- V. by Thomas Pynchon- A very difficult read, a narrative that jumps around with seemingly no reason, and nothing resembling an ending or closure. What makes V so good is the clever dialogue, biting parody, and philosophical talking points that Pynchon tosses at the reader in waves. This is a not a book concerned with telling you a story as much as trying to plant an intellectual seed inside your head and wait for it to spout roots and bloom out of your skull.
- Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (nook)- Allen instructed me to read this book, a quasi-noir detective story set hundreds of years in the future, when mankind has mastered the ability download themselves into digital bits, and so can be "inserted" into different bodies at the blink of an eye. A very successful blend of two genres, I tore through it quickly.
- Wolves Of The Calla by Stephen King- Book #5 in King's Dark Tower series. A typically good King book, with a heavy dose of Meta, you can feel this is where the series starts to become really dark. Not that the previous 4 books were a sun-drenched tiptoe through the tulips.
- Life Of Pi by Yann Martel- The first book I read for the Book Club. The story is about an child from India who, in the midst of an ocean voyage where his family is moving to Canada, ends up on a raft with various zoo animals, including a Tiger. The book is about so much more than that, and the ending is terrific in all it's shocking glory.
- Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown- This is a historical account of how, from the end of the civil war to the beginning of the new century, the American government surrounded, relocated, and eventually shatter Indian tribes in the west. Written with elegance and melancholy, you can't read this without ruminating on the cost of the American west and Manifest Destiny.
- How Soccer Explains The World by Franklin Foer (nook)- A social behavior meets sports look at how soccer is played, and celebrated around the world, and how that reflects various social and political tendencies. (Example- America's shunning of soccer mirrors it's hesitancy and fear towards globalism)
- Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates- A novella about a Chappaquiddick-esque incident from the perspective of the drowning girl, as she recounts how she arrived inside the sinking car. Oates takes a look at how "Men of Power" generate a trust, and how easily that trust can be violated, especially towards younger women. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style that reminded me of "Johhny Get Your Gun", and much like that book, does not end happily.
- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith- A classic that I knew nothing about, aside from it popped up in a Bugs Bunny cartoon once. Terrific prose from the coming-of-age story set in turn-of-the-century New York.
- Bearing The Cross by David J. Garrow- Much like "Team of Rivals", this is a stark, thorough look at a great man (Martin Luther King Jr) who persevered even when it seemed all sides, even fellow civil rights fighters, were against him. Extremely informative, this book goes in detail over all the successes, and all the failures, and recounts King's life, not as a storm that overtook the American landscape and left overnight change in it's wake, but as a revolutionary rainy season, sometimes torrential, sometimes barely a drop, but over a long period of time, an erosion of the country's prejudice and inequality washed away.
- A Country of Vast Designs by Robert Merry- James Polk's administration and the large expansion of American territory during his presidency. Polk might be the most successful single-term president ever, but the political fights over his land grabs, and the continued harassment over what many people thought was a an unjust Mexican-American war, took a large toll from Polk, and weeks after he left office, he was dead.
and finally, after all that...My Top Ten books of the year.
10- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (nook)- Murakami is the most-famous novelist in Japan, if not liked by critics over there, and his style is hard to explain. The story of a man who's wife leaves him, and then, his boring life takes a dark, weird, magical turn. That does Murakami's novel no justice, but I can't really explain the bizarre twists that Toru Okada takes in his quest to reconnect with his estranged wife. All I can really tell you is I was enthralled, and couldn't put this book down. It also helped that, more than any other fiction novel I read, "Wind-Up Bird" had the most satisfying ending.
9- Southern Storm: Sherman's March to The Sea by Noah Andre Trudeau- The one thing that you take from this recount of Sherman's advance from Atlanta to the Atlantic is not that Sherman was unmerciful towards the local infrastructure. (He was, though not to the degree that Southern people would whine about for decades) It is not how much of a morale deflation the march became to the beleaguered confederates. (A huge deflation, replacing any affection for the southern cause with a desire to rid themselves of the war and it's resultant Union pest that was literally burning their way of life to the ground) What I found intriguing was how unexpected Sherman's move was, and how the Confederates were falling over themselves in response because they were caught absolutely pants-down and had no idea what "Drunk Uncle Billy" would do next.
8- The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson- You know all those literary blurbs that publishing houses put on the book jacket? Like "This book grabs hold of you and won't let go.." etc.? All the quotes on this book...They're all right. Even the ones with the shitty puns.( "The Girl" will tattoo you...with suspense!!!!)
7- Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern (nook)- Here's the thing; I don't read in a vacuum. Sometimes I read a book, and my life is a whirlwind around me, and maybe I don't get into the book as much as I could have. Sometimes I'm not in the right frame of mind for a particular title; I'll take another crack at it weeks, months, even years down the road, and see what I was missing before. It goes the other way too, sometimes I'm just in the mood for humor, or mystery or whatever. That's not to take anything away from Shit My Dad Says; given it's internet-site beginnings, it is an earnest love letter, and poke in the ribs, to the author's crusty, blunt, and well-meaning father. But I found this book on the BN store on my nook, about a week before father's day. I downloaded it, and within an hour I had read the book, laughing out loud the entire time. At a time when I was depressed and in a haze, this book reminded me of my father, a man I miss every day, and gave me a smile in a moment when I desperately needed it. And that's how a book based on a twitter feed became the 7th best book I read this year.
6- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon- This book cemented my love for Chabon's story-telling, first found in "The Yiddish Policeman's Union". 'Adventures" focuses on two young jewish artists in NYC in the 30's, as they create various comic-book characters, including their masterpiece "The Escapist", which is based from traits from both of them. It's also about the chains and locks, self-imposed and otherwise, the two men spend their life trying to free themselves from. I recommend this novel to anybody, because, out of all my top ten, this might be the most accessible to anybody.
5- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (nook)- Assigned by Joe. This book wins the "highest degree of difficulty" award for this year. Maybe it was the translation from Russia, or the themes, or the style of writing involved, but it was hard to get through, and although I liked the story, when I finished it, I did not think it would be a top ten. But, afterwards, I keep thinking about C+P, the topics and motives used. And I kept thinking. That is, after all, what a good book is supposed to do: engage your mind on some level, and after a while, I had to admit that I liked this book more than I realized.
4- American Lion by Jon Meacham- Reality TV is terrible, in my eyes. I think it's ruining the medium, but as I read American Lion, I was forced to ask.... What makes a good Reality TV show?
The Likeable Asshole!- Andrew Jackson, The most popular and dominating president between Washington and Lincoln, who spoke for the people, a man known for his quick and furious anger, and who, depending of how you feel about duels, may have been the only president to actually commit murder.
Cat-fights!- The famed "petticoat affair", a scandal centered on the wife of the Secretary of War, and the other cabinet wives and presidential niece who banded against her, it changed the careers of a handful of prominent men, and almost sunk the Jackson presidency.
Drama!- Around Andrew Jackson? Let's see...There was the nullification incident, when South Carolina threaten to secede from the union (It's always South Carolina that starts this crap), the fight and eventual death of the national bank, the "relocation" of several southern indian tribes, the bat-shit insane women he lived and worked around, the constant and hard-set enemies he gained (Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams), and the voracious and loving constituency he engendered that led to his nickname "King Mob".
Lesson- I can not stand to watch Reality TV, thinks it's the bane of the media....but if you take the stories, put it in book form and add a political stance....I will fucking love it. <-----BOOK SNOB
3. Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose (nook)- As liberal-minded as I am, and as anti-religion as I tend to be sometimes, I need reminders that most evangelicals are good people, not the bigoted hate-mongers that I imagine. That's what this book is about: the true story of a Liberal student at Brown university who decides to take a semester at Liberty (Jerry Falwell's college) just to see how the other half lives. It's not so much that they change his ideas of religious people, but that he genuinely likes the kids he meets, and keeps talking to some of them after he leaves. Also,as for another reason I liked this book, a few of the people he meets in college reminded me of my friend Chris, who is a pastor in the Midwest, and one of the best people I've ever known.
2- Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (nook)- Fair Warning- I just finished this book 3 days ago, and it is very fresh on my mind, but the prose Lethem uses...wow. This story of a white kid growing up in brooklyn, in a black neighborhood, his alienation, and his friendship with a black neighbor. Terrifically and heartbreakingly written. I choose another of his books as my Book Club choice, and assigned to Joe, so...there might have to be a joint post about that in the future.
1- The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich (nook)- A book written with elegant clarity and rich, detailed characters. This is a book that I never thought I would like, but as I got through it, the simplicity of Erdrich's writing style won me over, and the story of a German immigrant family, living in North Dakota through the 20's, 30's and 40's, focusing on the two female matriarchs of the family. This is one of the reasons I love the Book Club, because it's opened up books that I never would have touched otherswise.
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