Wrapped Up in Books

Taking a tip from a blog I read occasonally (Crooked Timber) I thought it would be a good idea (for some reason) to keep track of all the books I read. And what's the point of having a blog if one can't inflict the tedious minutiae of one's life on others? So, below the fold, I chronicle the books I've read over the past 12 months (the ones I remember). The comments are not intended to be a comprehensive review; just some random notes that occurred to me.



The Most Evil Pirates in History
Shelley Klein
Read: Feb. 2007
Non-Fiction
A Christmas present from mi hermano. Some of the pirates didn't seem that evil, although many had a bizarre tebndency to cut off people's lips, cook them, then feed them back to the victim. Odd. Still, an entertaining read, if you're into pirates.

Running with Scissors
Augusten Burroughs
Read: Feb. 2007
Non-Fiction
Fairly entertaining if somewhat implausible memoir of growing up as a gay teen in a highly dysfunctional family--and eventually going to live with his mother's therapist's even more highly dysfunctional family. A lot of this was hard to believe (and I'm told that the author has come under fire for purportedly making things up). We showed the movie at the Film Forum, but I was told it was terrible (by our own Managing Director) so I avoided it.

Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer
Maureen Ogle
Read: Jan. 2007
Non-Fiction
Another Christmas present from mi hermano, a compelling history of the American beer industry, from its humble beginnings among German immigrants to the mass-produced (and foul-tasting) swill produced by the major breweries today. The book smashes some common myths and is well-researched. Good reading while drinking a pint or two of a good craft brew.

A Taxonomy of Barnacles
Galt Niederhoffer
Read: Jan. 2007
Fiction
Not that good story of six sisters and their eccentric father. There is a goofy attempt to tie the sisters (who are named Barnacle) and their WASPy neighbors the Finches to Darwin's writings on finches and barnacles but it so doesn't work. The author is wildly inaccurate with regard to many points of Darwinism (The Origin of Species has nothing to do with the beginning of life, but rather how natural selection gives rise to new species) as well as New York City geography (the D train does not go to Queens). (The book also needed a good copy editor.) It was occasionally kind of funny, especially early on, but all the characters got pretty annoying very quickly. Not really recommended.

V.
Thomas Pynchon
Read: Jan. 2007
Fiction
Flushed with the success of making it through Against the Day unscathed, I thought I would start back at the beginning. I did enjoy V., although I suspect a second pass would clarify some things--like, for example, the plot.

Bee Season
Myla Goldberg
Read: Dec. 2006
Fiction
OK, I admit: I bought this book because of The Decemberists' song "A Song for Myla Goldberg" which I like. This enjoyable debut novel, about a teenage girl's adventures in the dog-eat-dog world of spelling bees, takes a bizarre turn about halfway through and ends up ultimately being slightly less than completely satisfying, but is still recommended.

Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon
Read: Nov.-Dec. 2006
Fiction
Mammoth, 1,000+-page tome which I didn't quite understand all of, but enjoyed immensely. More commentary here.

The Brooklyn Follies
Paul Auster
Read: Nov. 2006
Fiction
I first read Auster when I was in college and his "existential" mind-f--k "New York Trilogy" came out and I loved it (you know, characters answer ringing phones and end up talking to themselves…weird stuff like that). Auster has gotten a bit more down to earth in the 20 years since his debut, and The Brooklyn Follies is a nice tale of a retiree who moves from the 'burbs to Brooklyn and chronicles the universe of personalities that surround him. Nice, thought-provoking read, well-drawn characters, but the jaunt to Vermont has that typical New York contempt for anyone who doesn't live in an urban setting, which is faintly annoying. Still, an enjoyable book.

Nature Girl
Carl Hiaasen
Read: Nov. 2006
Fiction
I love Carl Hiaasen's crime fiction (I've read all his books) but this one should just be buried in a Florida swamp. Really annoying protagonist, a "bad guy" who really isn't all that bad, no real plot to speak of, and a final scene that goes on interminably. I cannot recommend this one. Go check out Skinny Dip, Basket Case, Sick Puppy, or Tourist Season (or any other book of his, really) for much better Hiaasen.

The Lay of the Land
Richard Ford
Read: Oct. 2006
Fiction
The weakest of the three Bascombe novels (see below), but it still has much to recommend it. This time, Bascombe is in his 50s and is fighting prostate cancer. Ford likes to set these novels over holiday weekends (this time it's Thanksgiving) with some big, climactic event short-circuiting the resolution to some family crisis. This time it feels really forced and doesn't quite work. Still most of the book is quite enjoyable and Ford's use of language is a joy to read.

Independence Day
Richard Ford
Read: Oct. 2006
Fiction
The sequel to The Sportswriter (see below) picks up Bascombe five years later and is a much more powerful book than its prequel (and it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995). I read this when it first came out and loved it; I reread it before reading The Lay of the Land. The paperback of Independence Day came out about the same time as the wretched movie Independence Day (which had nothing to do with this book). I remember when I bought it mentioning to the clerk in Barnes & Noble that I didn't like the film version. She gave me an odd look, probably for good reason.

The Sportswriter
Richard Ford
Read: Oct. 2006
Fiction
When The Lay of the Land came out, which was the third book in Ford's trilogy, I dedided to reread the first two. The Sportswriter introduces the titular Frank Bascombe at the tender age of 38 (ahem), in the wake of his divorce following the dwath of his young son. A long stream of consciousness, at times quite poignant. I really liked this book, although the sequel Independence Day was better.

The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester
read: Sep. 2006
Fiction
I picked this up based on the fact that Walter Koenig's character in Babylon 5 was named for the author Alfred Bester, and on the Earth of The Demolished Man, telepaths exist and have been drafted to make crime impossible. This book was somewhat of the inspiration for the Psi Cops in B5. A compelling book, fascinating ideas (megabillionnaire kills his rival and finds ways to elude the telepaths). Recommended.

Rainbows End
Vernor Vinge
Read: Aug. 2006
Fiction
Good science-fiction tale set a scant 25 years hence; has the ruing of truth. More commentary here.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami
Read: Aug. 2006
Fiction
One of my favorite authors of all time; a collection of short stories which were not bad, although I like his novels better. In particular, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (one of my favorite books of all time), A Wild Sheep Chase, and Kafka on the Shore.

Stumbling on Happiness
Daniel Gilbert
Read: May-June 2006
Non-Fiction
Interesting look at why we are not as happy as we think we are--why we are never as happy with material things as we think we will be, and similar permutations of those ideas. Good quantitative data to back up his ideas. I wasn't surprised by any of it (I never expect anything to make me happy!) but it was an interesting read. He has a very light, often very funny style.

The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown
Read: May 2006
Fiction
Ugh. I read this on the beach in the Outer Banks. I would have tossed it into the ocean, but I borrowed it from Ken (not that he would have minded.) Horribly written and just generally annoying. Probably the most overrated book ever.

John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics
Richard Parker
Finished: May 2006
Non-Fiction
It took me forever to get through this, but it is a well-done bio of perhaps the most famous economist--probably ever. Dense book, which covers I think every day of his 90+ years. Good detail on his ideas on those of his opponents. One is saddeend that at one time in this country there were serious intellectual thinkers debating intelligently on TV, rather than the shrieking heads we now have. Sigh.

Freaknomics
Steven Leavitt and Stephen Dubner
Read: Apr. 2006
Non-Fiction
Controversial look at "the economics of everyday things," but seemed a bit lackluster to me. Why do drug dealers still live with their mothers, if it's so lucrative? Was Roe v. Wade responsible for the 1990s drop in the crime rate? Etc. Much of it is a reach, but some of it was kind of eye-opening.

Wicked
Gregory Maguire
Read: Mar. 2006
Fiction
I have always hated The Wizard of Oz (the movie) but I was intrigued by this "biography" of the Wicked Witch of the West. Everyone has read this already, but I really enjoyed it.

The Planets
Dava Sobel
Read: Feb. 2006
Non-Fiction
More or less short odes to each of the planets of the Solar System, with some science of the planets and the stories of their discovery thrown in. I like Dava Sobel's science writing--I loved Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, but The Planets was a bit too "lyrical," touchy-feely, and stylistic for me, and too skimpy on actual science. Not bad, but I'd recommend it hesitatingly.