Bibliophile (2006)

[gieves]

Following the habit I began last year, I kept track throughout 2006 of the books that I read. As I said last year at this time, I consider myself to be a fast reader and devourer of books, but I can't say that it's been true for the past year.

On January 1, I boldly declared my desire to "read at least 100 books that aren't related to school, and

Comments

[xhollydayx]

Meg Cabot - I read something by her a while ago and didn't have the determination to get through it. As much as parts amused me, too much annoyed me

[gieves]

I agree; Meg Cabot's great strength is in writing like a teenager for teenagers. This can be extremely annoying at times in her other books.

Margaret Atwood is an amazing writer, but she is a hard read. As I admitted below, I tried to read The Blind Assassin but school got in the way. I'll add it again to the pile of books I need to read. :)

I suspect that I won't read much more from Jodi Picoult. The wall-throwing thing was dissuasive.

I definitely agree about Never Let Me Go; it was very hard to get into, but I slogged through and found it very thought-provoking in the end.

I loved Smilla! (both book and movie.)

And Ayun Halliday is a total weirdo and very funny. I must admit that Dirty Sugar Cookies was less of a motivation to get another book by her than her website. I also realize now that I didn't mention the fact that got about 2/3 of the way through The Big Rumpus. One randomly interesting fact about her is that she's married to Greg Kotis, who wrote Urinetown the Musical!

[xhollydayx]

Jodi Picoult I like b/c her style of writing is very easy to read. It's also easy to relate to most of her characters. This makes for excellent book club material, in my opinion (it's easy for us to toss around her books at work). Plus, my coworkers like them b/c you have an excuse to cry at the end. Parts of My Sister's Keeper were difficult for me b/c of the medical stuff (the girl had a PICC line, I've been there - while I am not saying anything I deal with is near as serious as cancer).

Out of curiousity, have you ever read anything by Haruki Murakami? I started Kafka on the Shore on my friend's futon when I was without electricity for four days, and ended up on a kick after that. I know that he recently put out another book. He's a bit bizarre but is quickly becoming a favorite writer of mine. I also know that what Nathan has read by him (I believe only Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , which is referenced in a Mike Doughty song!, and Kafka on the Shore ) he has liked enough

[reasie]

Damn. I think I can count reading this post of yours as the most extensive reading I did all year! (fortunately, year is only five days old.)

What sort of stuff does this Jennifer Cruisie write? You seem to really like her so I'm intrigued and may have to look her up.

(The only books on this list I have read are Howl's Moving Castle and The Handmaid's Tale! I bow down and venerate your read-i-ness.)

[gieves]

Jennifer Crusie writes romance/chick lit books. I like her, ayb2 is a big fan, and even exilejedi conceded once upon a time that her books aren't bad. Some of my other friends, however, despise her. *shrug* I'm not entirely sure how you'd react to her stuff, but if you wanted to read something by her I would recommend Tell Me Lies, Crazy for You, or Welcome to Temptation.

For you, though, from this list I would more strongly recommend Emma Bull's Bone Dance (or her urban fantasy War for the Oaks or - very beloved to me - Freedom and Necessity.) I would also recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books - also very beloved to me, and I'm rather surprised if you haven't read any of them - or Barbara Hambly's Darwath Books, Windrose Chronicles, or Bride of the Rat God

[zoethe]

I'm totally intimidated by your list. I barely made 50! But you are inspiring me!

[gieves]

Note that I actually only read 51 new books this year!

And then there was that pesky law school thing on your part... ;)

[zoethe]

Yeah, but you're in grad school!

[gieves]

I must confess that I picked up The Blind Assassin at some point this spring, but my ambition to read it was crushed by my semester. It's still on my TBR pile; clearly I'll have to move it up the list.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[cynic51]

Between you and my sister I've decided to keep track of my 2007 list. But I'm not counting books I reread. In the meantime, I'll take quiet pride in the fact that the number of books I read in 10 days in Cozumel is probably more than 80% of the public read in the whole year.

[gieves]

This is both amusing and ironic!

Why? Because you are the inspiration for me keeping this list in the first place; after talking to you about the concert list two years ago I realized that I should do the same with books. :)

...and you'll notice that I segregated the list to differentiate between first-reads and re-reads. If I didn't include re-reads at all it would be silly, since I re-read so many books.