Made it to 50!
I made it to 50 again this year! I'll probably end up with a total of 51, possibly 52, before the year is out.
Book #49 was "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. This is a Hugo-nominated hard sci-fi novel. It's "hard" in more than one way, chock full of science and philosophy. In the near future, probes fall to earth, alerting us to the presence of aliens in the solar system. We send out a ship to find out what's going on, piloted by a "vampire" (the author has a scientific explanation for an offshoot of homo sapiens), with a crew of people who are all altered humans in one way or another. Ultimately, I believe the theme of the book is something like, "We can't even figure out how to best communicate across human differences, such as with the mentally ill or the neuro-atypical, or even across the male/female divide. What makes us think we could communicate successfully with aliens?" I found the writing beautiful and the story absorbing, but the way the story is told is confusing in many places, and I found myself having to go back and re-read paragraphs and pages in the first 60-80 pages to get a better picture of what he was describing. This was a challenging book, but I'm glad I read it.
Book #50 was "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. I've read one other book by the author, and while she tends to get shoe-horned into the "chick lit" category, I think she transcends it with her insights into human behavior and her choice of not-exactly-light-and-cheerful subject matter. In this one, a girl named Anna is conceived so that she could be a donor of blood, marrow and possibly organs to her ill older sister. As she reaches adolescence, Anna decides she does not want to be used that way anymore and wants to make her own decisions; however, that choice could mean her sister, who has a chronic, recurring blood disease, may die. There are several sub-plots with other characters in the book, and they're all interesting. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it.
1. Blue Light [fiction]- Walter Mosley
2. Titus Alone [fiction]- Mervyn Peake
3. "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" [non-fiction]- Beverly Tatum
4. Never Let Me Go [fiction]- Kazuo Ishiguro
5. The Jehovah Contract [fiction]- Victor Koman
6. When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes: The Memoirs of a Deaf Doctor [non-fiction/memoir]- Philip Zazove
7. The Foreign Student [fiction]- Susan Choi
8. V for Vendetta [fiction/graphic novel]- Alan Moore and David Lloyd
9. City at the End of Time [fiction]- Greg Bear (unabridged audiobook)
10. Figuring: The Joy of Numbers [non-fiction]- Shakuntala Devi
11. Towing Jehovah [fiction]- James Morrow.
12. Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just [non-fiction]- Keith R. Manning
13. The Finster Effect [fiction]- Wednesday Lee Friday
14. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America [non-fiction]- Ronald Takaki.
15. The autobiography of my mother [fiction]- Jamaica Kincaid
16. Death du Jour [fiction]- Kathy Reichs (unabridged audiobook)
17. What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior [non-fiction]- Gwen Bailey
18. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything [non-fiction]- Christopher Hitchens (unabridged audiobook)
19. History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos [non-fiction]- Luis Francia
20. Feynman [non-fiction/graphic memoir]- Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick.
21. The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) [fiction]- Rick Riordan (unabridged audiobook)
22. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World [fiction]- Haruki Murakami
23. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life [non-fiction]- Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey
24. Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors [non-fiction]- Lizzie Collingham
25. Frankenstein [fiction]- Mary Shelley (unabridged audiobook)
26. Empty Cradle: The Untimely Death of Corey Sanderson [fiction]- Emmy Jackson
27. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil [non-fictioni]- John Berendt
28. Lucky [non-fiction/memoir]- Alice Sebold
29. Soon I Will Be Invincible [fiction]- Austin Grossman
30. For a Few Demons More (Book 5 of "The Hollows" series) [fiction]- Kim Harrison (unabridged audiobook)
31. American Gods [fiction]- Neil Gaiman
32. The Kitchen God's Wife [fiction]- Amy Tan
33. Bluebeard: The Life and Times of Gilles de Rais [non-fiction]- Leonard Wolf
34. Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of Critic in Disguise [non-fiction]- Ruth Reichl
35. The Accidental Time Machine [fiction]- Joe Haldeman
36. A Discovery of Witches [fiction]- Deborah Harkness
37. The Kite Runner [fiction]- Khaled Husseini
38. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West [non-fiction]- Dee Brown
39. The Outlaw Demon Wails [fiction]- Kim Harrison (unabridged audiobook)
40. Redemption in Indigo- [fiction]- Karen Lord
41. Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex [non-fiction]- Sallie Tisdale
42. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking [non-fiction]- Malcolm Gladwell
43. Act of Grace [fiction]- Karen Simpson
44. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York [non-fiction]- Deborah Blum
45. Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled [non-fiction/memoir]- Nancy Mairs.
46. Crime and Punishment [fiction]- Fyodor Dostoevsky (unabridged audiobook)
47. Microserfs [fiction]- Douglas Coupland
48. Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table [non-fiction]- Ruth Reichl
Book #49 was "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. This is a Hugo-nominated hard sci-fi novel. It's "hard" in more than one way, chock full of science and philosophy. In the near future, probes fall to earth, alerting us to the presence of aliens in the solar system. We send out a ship to find out what's going on, piloted by a "vampire" (the author has a scientific explanation for an offshoot of homo sapiens), with a crew of people who are all altered humans in one way or another. Ultimately, I believe the theme of the book is something like, "We can't even figure out how to best communicate across human differences, such as with the mentally ill or the neuro-atypical, or even across the male/female divide. What makes us think we could communicate successfully with aliens?" I found the writing beautiful and the story absorbing, but the way the story is told is confusing in many places, and I found myself having to go back and re-read paragraphs and pages in the first 60-80 pages to get a better picture of what he was describing. This was a challenging book, but I'm glad I read it.
Book #50 was "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. I've read one other book by the author, and while she tends to get shoe-horned into the "chick lit" category, I think she transcends it with her insights into human behavior and her choice of not-exactly-light-and-cheerful subject matter. In this one, a girl named Anna is conceived so that she could be a donor of blood, marrow and possibly organs to her ill older sister. As she reaches adolescence, Anna decides she does not want to be used that way anymore and wants to make her own decisions; however, that choice could mean her sister, who has a chronic, recurring blood disease, may die. There are several sub-plots with other characters in the book, and they're all interesting. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it.
1. Blue Light [fiction]- Walter Mosley
2. Titus Alone [fiction]- Mervyn Peake
3. "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" [non-fiction]- Beverly Tatum
4. Never Let Me Go [fiction]- Kazuo Ishiguro
5. The Jehovah Contract [fiction]- Victor Koman
6. When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes: The Memoirs of a Deaf Doctor [non-fiction/memoir]- Philip Zazove
7. The Foreign Student [fiction]- Susan Choi
8. V for Vendetta [fiction/graphic novel]- Alan Moore and David Lloyd
9. City at the End of Time [fiction]- Greg Bear (unabridged audiobook)
10. Figuring: The Joy of Numbers [non-fiction]- Shakuntala Devi
11. Towing Jehovah [fiction]- James Morrow.
12. Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just [non-fiction]- Keith R. Manning
13. The Finster Effect [fiction]- Wednesday Lee Friday
14. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America [non-fiction]- Ronald Takaki.
15. The autobiography of my mother [fiction]- Jamaica Kincaid
16. Death du Jour [fiction]- Kathy Reichs (unabridged audiobook)
17. What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior [non-fiction]- Gwen Bailey
18. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything [non-fiction]- Christopher Hitchens (unabridged audiobook)
19. History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos [non-fiction]- Luis Francia
20. Feynman [non-fiction/graphic memoir]- Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick.
21. The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series) [fiction]- Rick Riordan (unabridged audiobook)
22. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World [fiction]- Haruki Murakami
23. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life [non-fiction]- Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey
24. Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors [non-fiction]- Lizzie Collingham
25. Frankenstein [fiction]- Mary Shelley (unabridged audiobook)
26. Empty Cradle: The Untimely Death of Corey Sanderson [fiction]- Emmy Jackson
27. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil [non-fictioni]- John Berendt
28. Lucky [non-fiction/memoir]- Alice Sebold
29. Soon I Will Be Invincible [fiction]- Austin Grossman
30. For a Few Demons More (Book 5 of "The Hollows" series) [fiction]- Kim Harrison (unabridged audiobook)
31. American Gods [fiction]- Neil Gaiman
32. The Kitchen God's Wife [fiction]- Amy Tan
33. Bluebeard: The Life and Times of Gilles de Rais [non-fiction]- Leonard Wolf
34. Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of Critic in Disguise [non-fiction]- Ruth Reichl
35. The Accidental Time Machine [fiction]- Joe Haldeman
36. A Discovery of Witches [fiction]- Deborah Harkness
37. The Kite Runner [fiction]- Khaled Husseini
38. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West [non-fiction]- Dee Brown
39. The Outlaw Demon Wails [fiction]- Kim Harrison (unabridged audiobook)
40. Redemption in Indigo- [fiction]- Karen Lord
41. Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex [non-fiction]- Sallie Tisdale
42. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking [non-fiction]- Malcolm Gladwell
43. Act of Grace [fiction]- Karen Simpson
44. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York [non-fiction]- Deborah Blum
45. Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled [non-fiction/memoir]- Nancy Mairs.
46. Crime and Punishment [fiction]- Fyodor Dostoevsky (unabridged audiobook)
47. Microserfs [fiction]- Douglas Coupland
48. Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table [non-fiction]- Ruth Reichl