Back in September, I wrote about a poll indicating that 27% of adults polled in the United States had not read one book the previous year - and I also posted a list of the books I had read in 2006, which was a total of 42. Now that 2007 is in the books, so to speak, here is my list of books read this year. The total is 51, up nine from the year before, although some of the books I read this year are ones I have read before. (I have no problem reading books more than once - in fact, I think you sort of have to sometimes, depending on how hard the book is. I also think that it's a great pleasure to re-read books that I especially loved, because subsequent readings almost always open up new layers of enjoyment that are not possible the first time around.) First are the non-fiction books, then the fiction ones.
The Audacity Of Hope - Barack Obama
A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
The Confession - James E. McGreevey
Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan At The Crossroads - Greil Marcus
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid - Jimmy Carter
Irvington Haunts - Simnick and Hunter
Roadshow: A Concert Tour By Motorcycle - Neil Peart
Pearl Jam & Eddie Vedder: None Too Fragile - Martin Clarke
Edie: An American Biography - Jean Stein
The Mighty And The Almighty - Madeleine Albright
Fates Worse Than Death - Kurt Vonnegut
I’m Chevy Chase...And You’re Not - Rena Fruchter
Howl: The Poem That Changed America - Jason Schinder
Tough Choices - Carly Fiorina
The Assault On Reason - Al Gore
My Rear View - Dorothy Dugdale
Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade Of Curious People And Dangerous Ideas
American Mafia: A History Of Its Rise To Power - Thomas Reppetto
Bringing Down The Mob - Thomas Reppetto
Dead Certain: The Presidency Of George W. Bush - Roger Draper
The Terror Presidency: Law And Judgment Inside The Bush Administration - Jack Goldsmith
Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
For Love Of Politics: Bill And Hillary Clinton - The White House Years - Sally Bedell Smith
Schulz And Peanuts: A Biography - David Michaelis
Factotum - Charles Bukowski
What Was She Thinking?: Notes On A Scandal - Zoë Heller
Boating For Beginners - Jeannette Winterson
The Painted Veil - Somerset Maugham
Hocus Pocus - Kurt Vonnegut
Hearts In Atlantis - Stephen King
Traveler - Ron McLarty
Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
Deadeye Dick - Kurt Vonnegut
‘Salem’s Lot - Stephen King
Cold Spring Harbor - Richard Yates
Blaze - Richard Bachman
The Children Of Húrin - J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince - Jo Rowling
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Jo Rowling (twice)
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
The Last Don - Mario Puzo
The Sicilian - Mario Puzo
Middle Age: A Romance - Joyce Carol Oates
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
The Lost World - Michael Crichton
Lust, Caution - Eileen Chang
Women - Charles Bukowski
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Ham On Rye - Charles Bukowski
The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman
No Country For Old Men (twice consecutively)
The best of the bunch this year:
Non-Fiction: Schulz And Peanuts - Probably the best biography I have ever read, a thorough and thoughtful telling of the life of Charles Schulz. Peanuts is absolutely the greatest comic strip ever created (with apologies to those who prefer Calvin & Hobbes, which is also great, but which would never have existed had Peanuts not existed first), but its creator remained a mystery, to those who did not know him, for most of his life. This book illuminates so much about the artist and his creation that it qualifies as an instant classic.
Fiction: No Country For Old Men - Though short (just over 300 pages), this novel is extremely poweful and somewhat uniquely written (some contractions have apostrophes, some don't - and quotation marks in dialogue sections are entirely absent) and presents a haunting story about how the world has moved on. In Anton Chigurh, author Cormac McCarthy has created a character rich in unrevealed back story and layered with such subtle quirks that to believe you know him completely is impossible. This is one of the very rare books I began a second time the moment I finished reading the last page.
Other Receiving Votes (Both Categories): The Golden Compass, Ham On Rye, Traveler, Dead Certain: The Presidency Of George W. Bush, Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade Of Curious People And Dangerous Ideas, Roadshow: A Concert Tour By Motorcycle
4 comments:
It's very interesting what you say about the Schulz book... I own it, it sits on my shelf, but I have not read it. I've been turned off from the book, after I learned that the Schulz family was unhappy with the book.
Out of my love and respect for Charles Schulz, I have yet to open the book. I bought it before I found these things out, and never would have bought it, if I learned it before.
HERE is the link to the USA Today article about the Schulz Family's displeasure.
Ok John, on your recommendation I reserved "No Country for Old Men" from the library, and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I watched the movie last week with Jay, and am waiting final judgement until I read the book.
Shane,
Schulz's kids mostly just sound annoyed that the final draft didn't paint their father exactly as they would have wanted him to be painted. No biographer could have done that and been fair. Schulz's second wife both comes to the biographer's defense and is critical of his work in this New York Times article, and Newsweek has a good article about the book here.
Here's a paragraph from the Time article, in which Schulz's daughter Amy sounds particularly petty about the way the book turned out:
"His sister Amy Schulz Johnson felt the same. 'The whole thing is completely wrong,' she said from her home in Utah. 'I think he wanted to write a book a certain way, and so he used our family.'
'We were all really excited thinking we were going to get to say things about our Dad,' she said, complaining that the children play a very small role in the book."
It would have been impossible for Michaelis to write a biography that painted Schulz exactly as he appeared to each member of his family - and it's also possible that his kids didn't know him as well as they thought they did.
Criticism from those closest to the subject is to be expected with any biography - don't let that stop you from enjoying this book, though. Give it a shot and make up your own mind - and let me know what you think.
You read the Golden Compass, eh? I have been meaning to read that (and the subsequent installments) for years, but I only just managed to get ahold of a copy about 3 weeks ago. I got another book, 'Zusammen ist man weniger allen' (i saw the film twice, and didn't even know it WAS a novel), and have been engrossed since...so Compass is on the back burner. BUT- what did you think of it? I see it got some honorable mention from ye.
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