This post is the annual reading event—what books I read this year. Because I know everyone in the world is dying to know.
I think this year, even more so than other years, I've spent a lot of time almost finishing books and then deciding they're not worth it. Like the biography of Winston Churchill. Interesting man. Biography boring as heck. I actually would have finished the one on Thomas Jefferson if the library had allowed me to renew online. First world problems.
I have to also include the caveat here that a large chunk of the following list falls in the audiobook category. Reading books is still one of my chiefest pleasures, but alas, it seems what everyone has been telling me all my life is finally becoming true—at some point you don't really have much time to read anymore.
And when it comes to the nitty-gritty and I have to make a choice, kissing a handsome man is going to take precedence over reading a book.
But, for what it's worth, here it is:
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck. This book is amazing. If you haven't read it yet, you are missing out. 'Nuff said. 9.5
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead. Surprisingly good for a Newbery winner. It sort of fit the formula, but not really. When I started it I thought I was going to have to tell the people who recommended it that they were lame. Not so. 7
Empire, Orson Scott Card. I'm not really familiar with a lot of political fiction books, and this is one of them, so it was pretty interesting. His scenario for the near future is not even very far-fetched, except for a few things. 7
Hidden Empire, Orson Scott Card. Another 7
Mysteries of the Middle Ages, Thomas Cahill. People question Cahill's reliability as a historian, but however speculative or romanticized they might be, his books are definitely some of the most entertaining reads on the topic. I didn't enjoy Middle Ages quite as much as How the Irish Saved Civilization, but it was still quite fun to read about such interesting characters as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Francis Assisi. 5
Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Justice and Redemption, Jennifer Thompson Cannino and Ronald Cotton. I'm giving this a higher rating because it's a true story and one that I feel is very powerful, but it wasn't particularly well written. Around 1990, Jennifer Thompson was a college student in a small town in North Carolina. A man broke into her house while she was sleeping and raped her. She barely escaped with her life, and when the police brought her in to identify who did it, she identified the wrong man. He went to prison. 11 years later a DNA test proved his innocence. Eventually the two of them met and became good friends. 6
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. So many people raved about this I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was so interesting! It's classified as young adult, but I'm not sure today's young adults would necessarily enjoy it as much as people in their 30s—all the references to 1980s culture could be off-putting. It is a must-read for Geeks. 7
The Blithedale Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne. I'm still not sure what I think of Hawthorne. This haunting tale is based around a group of transcendentalist socialists, and the point was obscure. 6
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert K. Massie. One of the more intriguing biographies out there. It really helped me understand a lot about Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly the dysfunctional political games. 7
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro. Go to Goodreads for this. I don't know why, but this book is really hard for me to talk about. 7
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. Wow. I feel like this story was at least three stories packed into one. The story of an Olympic runner. The story of a WWII fighter pilot. The story of a man wrestling to move past PTSD after years of imprisonment and abuse. 8
Be Different, John Elder Robinson. I first-hand look at life with Asberger's. Not a whole lot I didn't already know (except what I can never know, as a person who will never experience it), but a decent read. 5
Thinking in Pictures, Temple Grandin. I really enjoyed this book, but there didn't seem to be any focus to it at all. Grandin began by describing her life as a person with autism, but then she went all over the place, from the humane slaughtering of animals to all kinds of other issues. Maybe that was the point. Either way, I recommend it. 7
Garden of Beasts, Jeffrey Deaver. Again, not the sort of thing I usually read, this book is about a man who goes from hired thug in the States to appointed political assassin in Nazi Germany. A really strong piece of historical fiction. 6
Seriously, I'm Kidding, Ellen Degeneres. Who doesn't love Ellen? Read it for a nice laugh. 5
Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth. Another book that wasn't as cohesive as I would have thought. Most of it was on-topic (stories about midwifery), with several asides into the author's personal concerns. It is a memoir, so that's understandable, but it didn't always come together. The stories, though, were so very interesting, and she does a good job of providing atmosphere and putting the reader there. 6
Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers. Meaning to read this for years. Every bit as good as I expected. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are delightful. 7
The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope. A very fun romp. 4
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Allison Weir. I have mixed feelings about this book. It was good, but it could have been trimmed way down. Far too much description of clothing. But it included a lot of great information, most of which I didn't already know. 6
The Blind Side, Michael Lewis. Again, this book could have been better. It is good but disorganized. I guess it is probably because he was trying to tell a story about football at the same time he was trying to tell a story about a man, and the transitions are awkward. 6
Superfreakonomics, Steven Leavitt. I like what this guy does, because he's pretty much debunking myths about stuff people assume are causal relationships. 5
Why We Get Fat, Gary Taubes. Some useful information, but I disagree with his recommendation that people switch to diets that consist of nothing but protein and fat. 4
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain. This is a good book, but it's pretty much pop psychology. I like that she doesn't suggest that extroverts have to realign their world around introverts. There are enough facebook memes about that already. 6
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant. So, everyone with a religious background knows that Jacob had twelve sons. People who have actually read the Old Testament also know that he had a daughter named Dinah. This book is a fictional account of her life, and it sucks. I could talk for hours about how disappointed I was that the author took the direction she did. Way too much sex, way too much misogyny masked as feminism, and she didn't even get her facts straight. She creates a fictional world that has little resemblance to what people know of the world of the Old Testament (even laying aside religion and the Biblical record); the women have their own counterculture that is completely separate from the men. They are ritualistic idol worshipers and the men are dirty, abusive pigs. 1
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars, Max Brooks. This book is fascinating. I love the fact that the author chose to tell the story in interview format, and that all the stories are so different. 8
The End of Your Life Book Club, Will Schwalbe. Sentimental, dull, and very pretentious. This sort of thing would have been appropriate to have been kept as a blog for family and friends. Nobody else cares. 3
Submergence, J.M. Ledgard. I may have missed something with this one. I really like the way it is written, and I can see what he was going for, but it falls somewhat short. Maybe I didn't devote the right amount of concentration to it. Good but not great. 5
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, Seth Graeme Smith. If I had known before I read it that he also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I probably wouldn't have bothered. As it was, a coworker recommended it, and he seems to have good taste in general. I was interested in how someone would work a vampire backstory into Lincoln's life, and the audacity of the idea is the only good thing about the book. I lost interest after chapter one, and I'm surprised I even finished it.2
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway. There's a reason this is a classic. So many musings on so many different things. War, freedom, life, death, love. Hemingway was a messed up dude, but he sure knew how to write. 8
