2011 reading list
Dec. 29th, 2011 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelvisOne of my New Year's resolutions this year was to read at least two books per month. This doesn't sound like much -- I'm sure I read more when I was commuting on a regular basis -- but it's still more than what I've been reading lately. I didn't quite make it to 24, but I got damned close (21), and feel like I met the spirit of the challenge anyway, what with nearly half the books being 750-1,000 pages long.
Anyway, the list, if you're curious, along with a few notes:
1. As Always, Julia, Joan Reardon – Julia Child is one of my heros, so of course I had to read about how Mastering the Art of French Cooking came to be. Definitely recommended if you're a Child fan, and also if you're curious about how women (well-to-do and otherwise) cooked in the 1950s and 60s.
2 & 3. Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis – Connie, I love you, but next time, your editor needs to get you to cut at least a third to a half of what you've written.
4. Sunnyside, by Glen David Gold – Gold has written only one other novel (Carter Beats the Devil, one of my favorites), and this one, largely about Charlie Chaplin, couldn't be more different. Meditative, meandering, picaresque, and how many books can I say reminded me both of Ragtime and Gravity's Rainbow?
5. Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, Wesley Stace – There's a level of classical music geekery I don't quite have but which I think is necessary to fully appreciate this. Still, I do like a book with a not-entirely-reliable narrator.
6. Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell – The prose here is absolutely stunning, and the story more than a little heartbreaking. I hear it's been optioned for a movie and hope whoever takes it on does a good job with it, even if there's one scene I don't think I'd be able to watch.
7-9. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins – Yes, I'm late to the party here, but damned if the books weren't almost entirely worth the wait. Really looking forward to the movies.
10. Embassytown, China Miéville – I love this man's brain. That is all.
11-15. All of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin – Having two transatlantic flights this summer certainly helped me get through these. Martin is not the world's greatest writer, but he's a hell of a storyteller.
16. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs – I loved the fairy-tale feel of this book, which apparently is yet another one currently optioned for a movie. Very much looking forward to the sequels.
17. The Hour, Bernard DeVoto – I learned about this book – really more of a long essay – from reading As Always, Julia, since Julia's correspondent, Avis DeVoto, was Bernard's wife. It's a brief and idiosyncratic look at cocktails; recommended for fans of gin and whiskey, but skippable if you're not a drinker.
18. Frail, Joan Frances Turner – It takes a hell of an author to convince me to read not one, but two books that involve zombies. Good thing Turner is that author. Another one where I'm dying (no pun intended) to read the sequel.
19. Reamde, Neal Stephenson – I am a huge Neal Stephenson fan, and I enjoyed the hell out of this book, too. Just to give you some idea of how much I enjoyed it: it's over 1,000 pages long, and I read it in less than two weeks. Sure, the plot involves way too many coincidences and doesn't entirely hold up to close scrutiny, but I was too sucked in to care.
20. Life Itself, Roger Ebert – Ebert's memoirs started off slow for me. Gradually, though, I got more and more involved, and somewhere around the middle I started to get really depressed that this was clearly his last major work, and that sometime not terribly long from now, he isn't going to be with us anymore. Ebert, at least, seems completely at peace with this, which I suppose is the important thing.
21. The Table Comes First, Adam Gopnik – I'm not quite sure how to describe this: it's about the tension between classic French and modern cuisine, but also about our own eating habits, what drives eating and restaurant trends, and food writing in general. Whatever it was, it was fascinating and stunningly written, even if I didn't always agree with Gopnik's conclusions.
Anyway, the list, if you're curious, along with a few notes:
1. As Always, Julia, Joan Reardon – Julia Child is one of my heros, so of course I had to read about how Mastering the Art of French Cooking came to be. Definitely recommended if you're a Child fan, and also if you're curious about how women (well-to-do and otherwise) cooked in the 1950s and 60s.
2 & 3. Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis – Connie, I love you, but next time, your editor needs to get you to cut at least a third to a half of what you've written.
4. Sunnyside, by Glen David Gold – Gold has written only one other novel (Carter Beats the Devil, one of my favorites), and this one, largely about Charlie Chaplin, couldn't be more different. Meditative, meandering, picaresque, and how many books can I say reminded me both of Ragtime and Gravity's Rainbow?
5. Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, Wesley Stace – There's a level of classical music geekery I don't quite have but which I think is necessary to fully appreciate this. Still, I do like a book with a not-entirely-reliable narrator.
6. Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell – The prose here is absolutely stunning, and the story more than a little heartbreaking. I hear it's been optioned for a movie and hope whoever takes it on does a good job with it, even if there's one scene I don't think I'd be able to watch.
7-9. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins – Yes, I'm late to the party here, but damned if the books weren't almost entirely worth the wait. Really looking forward to the movies.
10. Embassytown, China Miéville – I love this man's brain. That is all.
11-15. All of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin – Having two transatlantic flights this summer certainly helped me get through these. Martin is not the world's greatest writer, but he's a hell of a storyteller.
16. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs – I loved the fairy-tale feel of this book, which apparently is yet another one currently optioned for a movie. Very much looking forward to the sequels.
17. The Hour, Bernard DeVoto – I learned about this book – really more of a long essay – from reading As Always, Julia, since Julia's correspondent, Avis DeVoto, was Bernard's wife. It's a brief and idiosyncratic look at cocktails; recommended for fans of gin and whiskey, but skippable if you're not a drinker.
18. Frail, Joan Frances Turner – It takes a hell of an author to convince me to read not one, but two books that involve zombies. Good thing Turner is that author. Another one where I'm dying (no pun intended) to read the sequel.
19. Reamde, Neal Stephenson – I am a huge Neal Stephenson fan, and I enjoyed the hell out of this book, too. Just to give you some idea of how much I enjoyed it: it's over 1,000 pages long, and I read it in less than two weeks. Sure, the plot involves way too many coincidences and doesn't entirely hold up to close scrutiny, but I was too sucked in to care.
20. Life Itself, Roger Ebert – Ebert's memoirs started off slow for me. Gradually, though, I got more and more involved, and somewhere around the middle I started to get really depressed that this was clearly his last major work, and that sometime not terribly long from now, he isn't going to be with us anymore. Ebert, at least, seems completely at peace with this, which I suppose is the important thing.
21. The Table Comes First, Adam Gopnik – I'm not quite sure how to describe this: it's about the tension between classic French and modern cuisine, but also about our own eating habits, what drives eating and restaurant trends, and food writing in general. Whatever it was, it was fascinating and stunningly written, even if I didn't always agree with Gopnik's conclusions.