Well, it's been longer than I thought. August? Wow. Anyone still reading?

I just got a pile of new books visiting the exhibit hall at ALA's Midwinter meeting yesterday. I have not been to ALA before, nor had any desire too since I was a wee baby library student (chiefly because it's SO GINORMOUS compared to cozy AALL), but I had a great time. I even had one vaguely work-related conversation, as a vendor tried to sell me on a book that reminded him of A Civil Action. He's going to mail me a copy. It sounds fascinating, and I can't wait to add it to the pile--and pass it along/recommend for purchase if appropriate!

So, the point of this post is to report belatedly on 2009's reads before 2010 gets much further along. Last year I was inspired by Tom Boone's 2008 resolution to read 52 books in a year. Having similarly fallen out of the habit of regular lengthy reading (even before grad school in my case), I made that resolution for myself for 2009. My attempt began strong, faltered in the spring, and picked up steam again in the fall. I knew I wasn't going to complete the challenge, and would have been very happy to have finished 40. I came in at 30 and a half, and I'm not disappointed.

Along with some brief thoughts on them, my 2009 reads were (in approximate chronological order):

The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel by Alison Weir
Well-told historical fiction (and first novel) by one of Elizabeth's most popular biographers. I'm looking forward to the sequel. I learned later in the year that I agree with critics who claim Weir infers far too much in her non-fiction, but her writing is clear and compelling regardless of genre, so she makes a good novelist.

Innocent Traitor: a Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir
Since I loved the previous book, I wanted more of Weir's take on the Tudors, even though I'd read enough about Grey in the past to know going in that this would be sad and depressing, as it certainly was.

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Pre-inauguration, I thought I should do some reading about the new president. Dreams was as brilliant as I expected. Audacity, alas, was merely a campaign book.

Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
I was excited about this one when I started it: it's written by local authors and I got a pre-signed copy at a local bookstore. It began as a great romp, but the prose got increasingly sensational and unbelievable and ended an absurd shade of purple. I've been unable to sell it on Amazon for some reason, so if anyone would like to take it off my hands despite this review, please let me know and I will be happy to mail it to you!

Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice by Joan Biskupic
Another signed-by-the-author volume, this one much more satisfying. Purchased at AALL2007.

The Tribe of the Tiger by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
More about big cats than I expected, but interesting reading about the psychology of cats of all sizes.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Berry
Another locally authored and set book. Alas, way too much mystical woo-woo for my taste and I barely finished it.

Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
I've had this lying around since it was recommended during the 2004 presidential campaign. An interesting study of power and how to shift it, especially reading it so soon after The Audacity of Hope.

Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger
A re-read, before David addressed our library staff. In the unlikely event I ever teach a course in librarianship, it will be required reading.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
Not my usual genre,but I enjoyed a co-authored Crusie I read for a friend's book club a couple years ago. This one was also fun. If she weren't a successful romance novelist, Crusie could make a good living as a food writer.

The River King by Alice Hoffman
I don't tend to care for Hoffman, so I'm not sure why I read this one. Oh yeah, a book club.

Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
I got around to re-starting and finally finishing the book frequently cited as an inspiration for Second Life. Pretty good.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Waters got everything just right in this eerie novel about the British class system post-WW2. It would probably seem even more brilliant if I were British.

Angels and Ages: a Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life by Adam Gopnik
Gopnik had the interesting idea of a dual exploration of the lives of Darwin and Lincoln, who were born on the same day. Some good insights, although Gopnik annoyed me on a few points as well.

Catching the Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham
If you liked the Omnivore's Dilemma, you'll probably like this. (And if you're a raw foodist, you'll hate it.) A great blend of food science, biology, evolution, and anthropology.

The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
This one is cited as the progenitor of the Steampunk genre. I wanted to love it, but it got a resounding "meh." It was obvious that it was co-authored and the story totally broke down in the last third.

Ahead of Her Time: A Sampler of the Life and Thought of Mary Wollstonecraft edited by Ella Mazel
A short volume I picked up from my library. Mixed with some brief biographical notes, it was indeed a good introduction to the early feminist.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Such fun! I need to read more Neil Gaiman.

The Singing House by Janette Griffiths
I discovered this tale of Wagner fans and singers because its author and I were listening to and commenting to one of the Ring cycle operas at the same time on Twitter. No joke. A charming story that I'm really glad Janette mentioned!

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
How many books do you read where every word is perfect? Not many. This is one. A heartbreaking masterpiece. I might even read more McCarthy at some point, although I suspect most of his work is too grisly and bleak for me. Despite the bleak setting, this one was not.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superatheletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
A little adventure, a little sports, and a little science woven with great stories and characters who sound too outrageous to really exist, but do. So much fun, I suspect even non-runners would enjoy it.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
A sweet short tale about a library cat is buried among the story of the author's not very interesting personal troubles and repeated conviction that small town people are better than everyone else because they're so humble. Yuck.

March by Geraldine Brooks
March a Pulitzer and the topic was intriguing, but turned out to be the worst book I read all year. Mr. March of Little Women fame is revealed to be a craven coward who keeps meeting up in unlikely ways with his first love, a biracial slave woman who is a paragon of culture, literacy, medical talent, selflessness, and unlikelihood. Dear Geraldine Brooks: what did Louisa May Alcott ever do to you? Dear Pulitzer Committee: srsly?

Carrie by Stephen King
The only other King I'd read was the Hearts in Atlantis short story collection, which I didn't especially care for--partially because there was a tie-in to the Dark Tower series, which I hadn't read and thus found annoying. Carrie, however, was excellent, despite my general distaste for supernatural elements and my mostly knowing the whole story despite not having seen the whole movie. (Thanks, pop culture world.) I hadn't expected the faux primary sources interspersed with the story. Nice touch.

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
I'd been wanting to read a proper bio of Eleanor for years--or at least as proper as is possible given the paucity of primary sources for her life. Weir did a great job reconstructing, though as mentioned above, she frequently uses far too authoritative a tone in her guesses about her subjects' feelings and motivations.

Candy Freak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond
Omnomnomnom. I expected an inside view of the candy industry. I didn't expect the history and inside view of some remaining mom-n-pop candy producers from around the country. Fascinating...and will make your sweet tooth go out of control, especially if you can find the candies he mentions. Lucky for me, Lake Champlain chocolates are all over the place in New England.

Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown
Brown does give lots of examples of how design thinking works in different types of projects. Recommended reading for librarians who are thinking about designing or redesigning resources or services.

Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O'Faolain
A sometimes hard to read personal memoir that was recommended to me by a law librarian last October. Although so much of it is specific to O'Faolain's experiences, it was still a fascinating look into an Ireland my mother might have experienced had she stayed there instead of emigrating as a young child.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Fun YA novel that is unavoidably reminiscent of Harry Potter due to the supernatural powers, trio of heroes, and special school. Still: fun. I didn't know when I started it that it's being made into a movie, but I'm looking forward to it.

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen (started; finished in 2010)
I decided to read this one finally after re-watching the Emma Thompson movie for the umpteenth time. Typical witty Austen, and Elinor and Marianne continue to remind me of my sister and me. I will leave it as an exercise for my reader to figure out who is whom, but anyone who knows us both will get it right.


As you can see, there were quite a few I disliked. What were my favorites? Born to Run and The Road, with Catching the Fire a close runner-up to BtR in the non-fiction category and Sense & Sensibility and Neverwhere as runners up to The Road in fiction.

I read Catching the Fire, The Little Stranger, and the Lightning Thief on the Kindle app on my iPhone, which I love. The only reason I didn't read more things on it is that I frequently find the books I want to read either aren't available for Kindle or cost as much or more than the print versions, which is ridiculous. I also joined Paperback Swap this year on my sister's recommendation, and it is also awesome.

In 2010, I plan to read 40 books and do some other things. More on that soon.

Thanks to Library Boy for linking to an interesting book review by Nicholson Baker:

Ammon Shea, a sometime furniture mover, gondolier and word collector, has written an oddly inspiring book about reading the whole of the Oxford English Dictionary in one go.
. . . .
Months in, Shea arrives — back-aching, crabby, page-blind — at Chapter N. “Some days I feel as if I do not actually speak the English language,” he writes, his verbal cortex overflowing. “It is,” he observes, “like trying to remember all the trees one sees through the window of a train.” Once he stares for a while, amazed, at the word glove. “I find myself wondering why I’ve never seen this odd term that describes such a common article of clothing.”

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages sounds like a great read for those of us who enjoyed The Professor and the Madman. I can't wait to get a copy.

I confess that I rejected the first Daemon presented to me. I couldn't deal with having one called Alvin; the chipmunk association is too strong. Also, it was a monkey, and I just don't feel much affinity for monkeys. Sorry, fellow primates.

I also confess my embarrassment that despite there being many reasons why I should love Pullman's story, I never got into the first book when I tried to read it a few years ago, and stopped only a few chapters in. I really ought to try again. Maybe with the pressure of a week's deadline till the movie release I can do it.

I've been casually following and enjoying Knit the Classics over the last few months and thought I'd mention it here. Participants in the blog read a classic novel each month and knit (usually, but other crafts are welcome) an item "for" or inspired by a character. At the end of the month, the most inspired project wins a prize. Fun concept. I've been only casually following because the recent books have been unfamiliar to me, and I haven't gotten off my duff to join in.

Perhaps I'll be inspired by one of the following books that have just been elected to be read over the next few months:
November: Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
December: Belinda by Maria Edgeworth
January: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

This post was prompted by the recent A Guide to Knit the Classics post, a quick primer for KTC newbies.

Shelfcheck has a point.

I knew there was a reason I've been avoiding some of these titles besides their having been featured on Oprah.

(Full disclosure: I read and for the most part enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife.)

I have no idea whether or when there will be another season of Project Runway, but PR's host and mentor, Tim Gunn, has a book out, and in his excitement about it, reveals that he's a library geek:

"What had me beside myself was that I now have a Library of Congress catalog number."
(quoted in April 2 Entertainment Weekly, re-quoted in June/July American Libraries)

(I'll be taking a look at this one at a bookstore or library, because the chapter one preview to which the image links is sadly too stylish to be readable by my eyes.)

On Friday, C|Net's news.com featured a gallery of ten science fiction works, each with a blurb about how they've influenced real-world technology.

Check it out here.

Cool detail: six of the seven featured books have library bar codes on their covers!

The New York Times has a short, interesting article about a new laser analysis of the Book of Kells:

Pending the laser analysis, experts assume that expensive materials for some of the blue pigments came from the gemstone lapis lazuli, mined in northeast Afghanistan. Yellow pigments are believed to have been made from arsenic sulfide and, bizarrely, reddish Kermes pigments from the dried pregnant bodies of a genus of Mediterranean insect, suggesting extraordinary trade routes for the ninth century.

Some techniques will help to analyze the pigments made from vegetable matter; others will be used to examine the inks.

“A lot of what we have done before has been based on anecdotal reports of the materials that were used,” said Robin Adams, the librarian of Trinity College, who hopes the exacting dot-by-dot analysis by laser will unlock secrets and help his staff preserve the book. “Essentially the laser bounces back, and you get a spectrum. That spectrum tells you whether this pigment is lead, copper or whatever. We haven’t got the reports yet, but we very much expect it to tell us new information about what the monks used.”

They also suggest that one of the real mysteries isn't one that will be solved by this analysis: how the Book got from Kells to be donated to Trinity College in the 17th century.

Two great posts to recommend:

First, Wil Wheaton linked to his Geek in Review column this week where he reports that he has been at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle working on a documentary for the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I didn't even know such a place existed! Wil's appreciation of science fiction goes way beyond his role in ST:TNG:

These are but a few examples of the real power that science fiction has to address current events in a context that's safe and acceptable for most audiences, while speaking very seriously about them to others. They illustrate why SF endures and resonates with casual and hardcore fans. Whether it was written one hundred years ago, or just published last month, SF can give us warnings about the future, hope for the future, or just blissful escape from the present, into fantastic worlds that are light years away – but as close as our bookshelves.

But do click through and read on for his appreciation of Trek.

Meanwhile, back in quasi-topicality land, Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions reviews a number of books, as well as current themes and trends in fantasy. One of the latter is something I'd have thought a contradiction in terms until he explained it.

The premises of hard fantasy seem to be: internal consistency in the use of magic; deep research into the cultures the book introduces; realism in mundane aspects of living (an army requires food); and an acceptance that societies usually evolve.

. . . .these latest hard fantasy forays are significantly better than most of what came before. . . .It’s just that when you stack these books together, the project of reading fantasy stops looking like escapism and starts to look more like social commentary.

I've always preferred hard science fiction to fantasy in the sci-fi section, but it sounds interesting. That said, I've finally finished The Silmarillion and removed it from my "currently reading" list, and I don't think I'll be ready for more grim and difficult fantasy reading anytime soon. Tolkien may not meet the requirements for hard fantasy, but it was sufficiently exhausting learning in tedious detail just how NOT about nobility and light his elves really are. Quite the eye opener.

I confess that I read it mainly for the Tolkien geek cred, and because I'd bought an illustrated hardcover edition a few years ago. There were parts I enjoyed a great deal, but if I were to make a recommendation on the matter, I'd suggest reading the Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Akallabeth (the Downfall of Numenor), and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, all of which appear in the same volume and none of which are part of The Silmarillion proper. The first two are the Middle Earth creation myth. In The Silmarillion itself, I'd read the first eight chapters, then skip to Of Beren and Luthien, and that would be pretty much it; there's more than enough there to enhance reading The Lord of the Rings with deeper appreciation of its back-mythology--where Sauron came from, the nature of Gandalf, why Aragorn's lineage is special, etc.

I admire Tolkien's creation, but I freely admit I haven't got the stamina or interest to keep track of the divisions of elves and the grievances and grudges held by the elves whose names begin with F and their descendants, whose names also all begin with F. Not to mention everyone's alternate names, and the names that get changed due to character traits or capture. And then, of course, the names and alternate names of all the places. Constantly flipping to the index/glossary interfered with my enjoyment of the story, and it made the travelogue sections of LOTR seem like page-turners in comparison.

Thanks to the Make blog for a link to this beautiful gallery of book art from a variety of artists. As the heading says, don't try this at home--or at your local library! There are links to some of the art at the gallery page. Beautiful!