I’ve read so many that I don’t recall the first one. But the last one that made me look at the world in an entirely different way is from someone I met here on Tumblr. I have never read a book so slowly before, because I not only wanted to read every word, I wanted to taste the colors they produced. I know that makes no sense, but seriously, read this book.
-redicupidity.tumblr.com
I’ve told my readers that, if you want to be better writers, be whores and sleep with as many books as possible. You can start with Somewhere Over the Sun, and then move on to the following list of books I’ve read this year. You can find Parts 1 and 2 by clicking on the 1 and 2 I just gave you. The first set. Not the second. You know how to use the internet.
27. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010, Edited by Dave Eggers- Fairly typical of this series. Contained some wonderful pieces, some forgettable ones. 3/5.
28. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan- Some elements of the book seem like they should be flaws- tons of characters, not always connected by anything more than a paper-thin thread; not a very structure plot, per se; fragmented scenes- but they refuse to be flaws. They’re actually pretty fantastic. Maybe it’s because I’m intellectually in love with Egan’s work and I just see the sun shining out her ass no matter what she does. 5/5
29. Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean- As always, Susan Orlean tells an interesting story interstingly. She’s a master of insight, of bringing out these little elements of a story that might not be entirely obvious. And even when they might be considered obvious, she’s got such a great writing voice that it feels special to hear her point it out. 4/5
30. La Ciudad y Los Perros by Mario Vargas Llosa- A classic book about a military academy in Peru and its effect on the teenage cadets. Alternates between being great and hard to get through. 3/5
31. Franny and Zooey by J.D Salinger- A book about people that don’t have problems and desperately want to. Great monologues and presents an interesting family, but sometimes you feel like smacking the characters and telling them to get over themselves. Which is probably exactly what they want. 3/5
32. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom- An emotionally powerful and spirituallly moving book, yes. Important subject matter and a character that deserves not one book, but several. As literature, though, it was not as captivating I feel it could have been, especially since it’s a true story. 3/5
33. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino- Wonderfully imaginative. An impulse buy at an airport and almost completely read by the time I landed. Entertaining and creative. 4/5
34. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides- Love his writing style, which shines throughout the book and at times threatened to infect my own. Great characters and often moving. 4/5
35. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris- Whimsical and heartfelt. It’s a very unique book that manages to be both funny, lighthearted and very moving. 5/5
36. Edible Stories by Mark Kurlansky- A collection of short stories, loosely tied together into what makes a pretty satisfying meal. The writing didn’t pop, but it was an enjoyable read and an intriguing concept. 3/5
37. Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery- A wonderful book that makes life itself feel like an adventure. Saint-Exupery brings a childlike sense of wonder to very adult notions, and while I was reading the book, I could feel it spreading to me. The translation is a little clunky, I feel, but other than that, a great book that, as the New York Times so eloquently put it, “…should be read against the confusion of this world.” 5/5
38. The Best American Short Stories 2008, Edited by Salman Rushdie- Doesn’t stick out as my favorite from the Best American series. All solid stories, but none that really made me want to rave about them. 3.5/5
39. This Must Be the Place by Anna Winger- Very strong characters and writing voice. Enjoyable and full of powerful emotional moments. 4/5
40. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman(s)- Incredibly interesting, especially because the writer is so obviously passionate, enthralled by and in love with his subject matter. I’m not typically a non-fiction reader, but some of this stuff reads like magic anyway, so I didn’t notice the change. After reading this and the author’s fiction, Sum, I’m convinced David Eagleman is one of the most fascinating minds around. I’m even a little jealous of the people who get to converse with him on a daily basis. 5/5
41. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami- I think my favorite part about this book was the dialogue, the way the characters interact with each other. They all have the patented Murakami weirdness, as well as a haunting loneliness to them. But the book is not as haunting as all his others. An engaging read, albeit not the happiest one around. Funny, too. 4/5
This is a continuing list of the books I’ve slept with this year.
15. The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan. A read-in-one-sitting, unique and emotionally powerful book. A perfect, fragmented image of what it’s like to be in a relationship. 5/5 stars.
16. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito. A great idea and a happy message. Full of quotable, whimsical passages and one-liners that overshadow the author’s sometimes annoying habit of overindulging in wordplay. This was my third reading of the book, and although my zeal for it has gone down, I still finished the book in a good mood. 4/5 stars.
17. Insomnio Lomas by Damir Keoseyan. What begins as a fairly light-hearted and whimsical exploration of the upper class of Mexico City ‘fresas’ eventually becomes a dark and layered collection of stories and characters that anyone from D.F can appreciate. Keoseyan keeps his readers on edge while telling tales that demonstrate the carefree yet dangerous lives of people living in one of the biggest cities on Earth. An engaging read, particularly for those familiar with the subculture. 4/5 stars.
18. The Best American Short Stories 2010 edited by Richard Russo. Typical of the “Best American” series, there’s always at least a story or two to love. Most of them are enjoyable. 4/5 stars.
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. A great story, told well. Deserves the hype it’s received. 4/5 stars.
20. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves. Again, an interesting YA premise that did nothing for me. Forced my way through the book because I respect the opinion of the person who recommended the series, but it was not enjoyable. 2/5 stars.
21. Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. His ideas are interesting and he presents them clearly. The bad part is that Klosterman isn’t always a very likable guy. Although it’s not his intention to be likable, so, the book itself is not flawed, but the way it reads is. (Although, near the end of the book, Klosterman admits to hating himself, which somehow makes it all a little better.) 4/5 stars.
22. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. There’s that well-circulated quotation about how it’s poetry’s job to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” In that regard, this book is a smashing poetic success. You’ll be disturbed, and comforted, and then disturbed again when you realize what you’re comforted by. The story of a handful of people who mostly suck at life. But they suck at life in such pretty and poignant writing that it’s hard to stay away from the book for very long, despite the fact that it’s not the quickest read. 4/5 stars.
23. Letter to a Young Novelist by Mario Vargas Llosa. It’s not a didactic collection of essays on how one should write, nor even a literary criticism on what exactly makes great novels great. It’s just an exploration of all the things novel can be and have been. His P.S wraps it up fairly nicely: “My dear friend: what I am trying to say is that you should forget everything you’ve read in my letters about the structure of the novel, and just sit down and write.” 4/5 stars.
24. Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 edited by Dave Eggers. A wonderful collection of short stories and essays and profiles and…non-required reading material from 2008, I guess. Some of the pieces weren’t to my liking or failed to really capture my attention. But most of them did. And the ones that stood out are severely marked with dog-eared pages because I didn’t have a pen with which to write down and remember my favorite passages. Huge bits of life transferred into little pieces of writing. Often moving, usually incredibly insightful, and almost always funny or heartbreaking or both, most of these fabulous and varied works I imagine will stay with me for quite some time. 4/5 stars.
25. Post Office by Charles Bukowski. First half was pretty weak. Had the Bukowski vulgarity but not the poignancy. Second half made up for it. Interestingly enough, the scenes away from the post office were the ones I really enjoyed. 3/5 stars.
26. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert. Fast, powerful and full of emotion, just like the music that inspired it. Easy to get lost in the characters’ journeys and flaws. Evocative and very well written. The love for music is so apparent that I would have liked to see a bit more of the specifics. Passages about albums. But then it would have risked turning into a musical critique, which isn’t the point. I think a 4.5/5 would be the best rating for it, but I’ll lose no sleep giving Stephanie Kuehnert the benefit of the doubt. 5/5 stars.
And that’s it for my 2011 reading! I’ve got a goal of 50 books read for the year and I’m right on track to accomplish that. Again, if you’d like to follow along with my current reads, past reads and future reads, add me on Goodreads. Whether it be with these books or others, please go sleep with many of them.
I’ve told my readers that, if you want to be better writers, be whores and sleep with as many books as possible. You can start with Somewhere Over the Sun, and then move on to the following list of books I’ve read this year:
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Wonderfully, comically written. Intriguing characters and a great storyline that keeps unraveling until it reaches the rather brilliant and satisfying conclusion. 4/5 stars.
- All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin. A book I picked up at BEA 2011 which has not yet been released. Some people might love it, I did not. Interesting premise but, in my opinion, a poor execution and uninteresting writing style. 2/5 stars.
- The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. Another Advanced Reader’s Copy procured from BEA, this character-driven book is, to quote the editor, “about baseball the way Moby Dick is about fishing.” Very enjoyable. 4/5 stars.
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. A compelling story set in a fantastical world I very much enjoyed being immersed in. Could see it being a 5-star read for certain readers, but I would want the writing style itself to pop out more and the characters to be a little more layered. 3/5 stars.
- A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. Funny and captivating. 3/5 stars.
- We the Animals by Justin Torres. Another BEA find, this debut novel is wonderfully written and poignant. 4/5 stars.
- Look at Me by Jennifer Egan. Read my review here. 5/5 stars.
- Without Feathers by Woody Allen. The two plays in this book are gold, but everything else falls flat of what Allen is capable of. It’s all just non-sequiturs- some of them very funny, yes- but it becomes overbearing at a certain point. Watch his movies instead. 3/5 stars.
- Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. Murakami is so good at creating this very specific sensation when you’re done with his books. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. Throughout most of the book, I could tell that the ending would decide my overall enjoyment of the book. The first 140 pages or so are good, and enjoyable, but I knew that the last fraction would decide how valuable the lead up is. You can judge by the stars that I enjoyed the ending. Mostly because of Murakami’s ability to stir this nameless thing. He brings out this ghastly, wondrous sensation and puts it directly in your world. It’s almost frightening. But you have to let it happen. 4/5 stars.
- Across the Universe by Beth Revis. An entertaining read, no doubt. The story pulls you in right away and doesn’t let go. The writing itself left something to be desired, in my opinion. I think YA could be so much more than what it is- and this book could have been so much more- if the intended audience wasn’t so fond of…let’s call it un-challenging literature. This book, and a lot of books within the genre, could be amazing, but too many of them seem to settle on being a decent story. 3/5 stars.
- The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie’s a brilliant writer. He’s got absolutely lovely descriptions, extremely rich characters and he’s got the wit to rival Wilde. The scope of the story is a little overwhelming. It’s huge. It’s hard to really get all of it in just one reading. When you come close to grasping it, you can really appreciate Rushdie’s accomplishment, but the thing is, he comes close to losing you at times. There are parts that are either too slow or too religious or too seemingly unrelated to keep you excited about reading, but they’re usually followed by something that will pull you back in. 4/5 stars.
- February by Lisa Moore. Wonderfully-written. If life is a beach and experiences are the grains of sand that comprise it, Lisa Moore finds a way to turn every grain into a sand castle. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it’s a good thing, trust me.5/5 stars.
- Paper Towns by John Green. A great example of good YA. Rich characters and good writing, not just a good story and youth. 4/5 stars.
- The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pullman. An amusing alternate version of religious events. 3/5 stars.
The rest of the list will be coming soon. You can follow me on Goodreads to keep track on what I’m reading, what I’ve read and what I plan to read.
