Reading List 2013
So this is incredibly late, and I already have three books finished for April. I'm amazed at how many books I was able to finish in March. I'm still working through titles on BBC's 100 Books to Read Before You Die, and the recommended readings list that I received from Chatham. And of course books in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Arts and Lecture Series Literary Evenings. I keep getting through books and slowly whittling away at my To Read shelf, only to add more from those evenings! Just keep reading, just keep reading...
January:
1. Sam Harris - Letter to a Christian Nation
2. Matthew Cody - The Dead Gentleman
3. Jules Verne - Journey to the Center of the Earth
4. Milan Kundera - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
5. C.N. Edwards - Love Poems
6. Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels
7. Flannery O'Connor - Everything That Rises Must Converge
8. Jessica Gregson - The Angel Makers
9. Paul Bowles - The Sheltering Sky
10. Veronica Roth - Divergent
11. Eoin Colfer - The Atlantis Complex
12. James Joyce - Dubliners
13. Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
14. Mira Bartok - The Memory Palace
15. Shel Silverstein - Every Thing On It
16. John Lithgow - Poet's Corner
February
17. Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire
18. Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest
19. Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
20. Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
21. Paulo Coelho - Brida
22. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Creatures
23. Lisa Malvarose - Psychic
24. Bruno Bettelheim - The Uses of Enchantment
25. Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
26. Sherman Alexie - The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian
March
27. Patrinella Cooper - Gypsy Magic: A Romany Book of Spells, Charms, and Fortune-Telling
This is one of those informative new age books that I got for thesis research a year or so ago. But because the thesis never reached any part with Travelers, all the gypsy books had to be put on hold. This one had large point sizes and lots of white space, so I figured it'd make for decent before-bed reading. But then I moved through it so quickly that I put my day-reading on hold to finish this book. It was informative, certainly, and I dog-eared a few pages for future reference. Nothing much else to say about it, though.
28. Marilyn Donnelly - Coda
Honestly, I don't remember much from this Autumn House Press poetry collection. I remember it was fast to get through and that I liked it, but not much more.
29. Deborah Slicer - The White Calf Kicks
Here's another Autumn House Press poetry collection that I don't remember much about. I remember it was also fast to get through and that I liked it, but not much more. I think it had some country/southern elements that were particularly fascinating to read though. I'm pretty sure I almost handed this one off to Mike to read, but then realized that it didn't match with the other poetry books I'd done that with.
30. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
This poor kid... Everyone hates him just because he's an orphan boy. Any time he finds people who are kind to him, he's stolen away to become a thief. He wants to be a good boy and he is one, but he gets shot. It takes forever for people to figure out who he is and to trust that he's good, but wow... most of the people around him are such despicable characters. I'm glad I'm listening to Charles Dickens instead of reading him. It's easier to follow the stories this way, especially when they become a bit dull. But Dickens is certainly a master of characters, and I can understand why he's considered a masterful storyteller.
31. Elizabeth Kirschner - My Life as a Doll
This was crazy to read through. Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. The author (or narrator, not sure which) was abused by her alcoholic mother, ended up turning into a slut just to cope, had some severe psychological issues, got married and had a son, was committed... Mother died eventually. This whole thing was one blow after another.
32. Brian Brodeur - Natural Causes
This Autumn House Press poetry collection was fascinating because of how it looked at death from multiple angles.
33. Orson Scott Card - The Lost Gate
I was a little disappointed with this story. Just a little. It's about the creation of "gates," which are basically portals. It follows a family of Norse demigods who interact with other worldwide demigods. The kid who's the main character is a gate mage, which has been unheard of for generations mostly because anyone who shows any aptitude for it gets killed and dismembered (because Loki was the last one and closed all the gates home and the families hate him now). The kid, after realizing what he is, runs away from home, becomes a thief, is basically adopted by a kind couple who are mages and then trained, and then attempts to make the "great gate" home. There's something lacking in this story, though... it wasn't quite as... magical as it could've been. There's some element missing, but I can't figure out what it is.
34. Albert Camus - The Stranger
This on so many philosophy reading lists and recommended reading lists (like for Chatham) that I finally sat down to listen to it. It goes through an explores how a normal person can turn into a sociopath and murder without feeling any regret. It was interesting, but not outstanding.
35. Anne Marie Macari - She Heads into the Wilderness
Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. It was good. Not much else to say about it.
36. Leonard Gontarek - The Deja Vu Diner
Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. This one was really hard to read. There were so much symbolism and dense lines that after a while, I stopped trying to understand the poems and just read through them.
37. Free State Review - Issue 1
This is Maryland's newest literary magazine. The editors and some featured writers will be reading in Pittsburgh on April 17 and Autumn House Press/Coal Hill Review was asked to do an interview for it. The woman who asked is apparently well-known in the Chatham circle for her book reviews and literary blog. She and I had spoken at the Bridges conference and I told her I'd be willing to be a guest blogger if she wanted me to be one (she does some sort of event in which she pulls in guest reviewers). She emailed me and AHP's editor-in-chief about the event. The editor then asked me if I'd be willing to do the interview of one of AHP/CHR's reviewers who is also the poetry editor for Free State Review. I agreed, received a free copy of the first issue, and read it in preparation of the event. It's very eclectic... very everyday activities... I question the choices of most of the entries because some of them still seem a bit amateurish, but the editors are very pleased with it.
38. Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Dave Marshall, and Gurihiru - Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise
This is a graphic novel that is the first story that helps to bridge Avatar: The Last Airbender with The Legend of Korra. It dealt with some strong ethical issues, such as colonialism and post-colonialism, and what does one do when a town has cropped up that successfully intermingles various nationalities to create its own world. And what do you do when you make a promise to someone even though fulfillment of that promise results in that friend's death? Do you still uphold it? Was the friend wrong in asking for it? The whole plot covered doing what is right, and finding a gray area in order to make peace. Aside from its thick length, those aforementioned themes were why I counted the comic in this list.
39. George Eliot - Middlemarch
I was so happy when this audiobook finally ended. May-December marriages, having babies, falling in love, forbidden marriages, doctors making questionable choices in the eyes of a town... How one town's backward thinking could ruin a promising career... So glad when this was over...
40. Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book
The story is about an Australian book conservationist who is flown to Sarajevo to conserve a haggadah, a Jewish book of prayers. This one is filled with illuminated manuscripts that are more often seen in Christian texts, though. The woman finds a few small artifacts in the book that she has tested in order to figure out the book's story: how its original binding was destroyed, what that dark red stain actually is, where the white hair came from, how the clear butterfly wing got between pages, what kind of salt left another stain, etc. The book hops between her story and sections about the artifacts, and it's fun seeing the truths and then seeing her completely miss the mark in her speculations. The story itself was difficult to read. It took a while to get through because there was so much historical information. And so many bad things happen to the characters, but it was interesting to see the good people involved, and how religion really shouldn't be a hindrance when doing something that is right. The story itself concentrates on the history of the Jews as it pertains to Muslims and Christians. It was fascinating to read all these stories that lead up to one small piece of evidence that was found in that book. And apparently this book actually exists, even if the characters are completely fictional. It's all so complex and interwoven and kinda wonderful once all is said and done. I'm glad I read it, and it will leave me pondering for a while.
41. Kate Chopin - The Awakening
This was so dull... I couldn't care about the character at all. You're not happy with your life, woman? Really? Tell me more about how your feminist ideals awoke after falling in love with someone who isn't your husband, and just that. Seriously... I want someone to make one of those Willy Wonka sarcasm memes in response to this story.
42. Alice Walker - The Color Purple
Oh man this story.... Every time I heard about this story, it was always about civil rights and black communities instead recognizing a blossoming lesbian lifestyle. And yet, the fact that the main character didn't realize she was gay almost made the story that much better, because it was just normal to her. I liked the parallel stories between the main character and her sister, and didn't realize until the end just how much time had elapsed throughout the plot.
43. Geraldine Brooks - Foreign Correspondence
I sped through this memoir. It's probably one of the fasted works of creative nonfiction that I read nearly as fast as fiction. It was just so easy to read, and Brooks's life was fascinating. I want to be able to ask her a question at her literary evening on April 8, and wanted to be sure my question wasn't already answered in her memoir. It's so funny how she was a full-out Trekkie growing up. But it's fascinating to learn how Australia's sense of self changed through the eras; how women would either be nurses, secretaries, or teachers and nothing else; how she ended up using her family's writing history to become a foreign correspondent before a novelist; and, of course, how she was able to track down her penpals and find them almost exactly where they'd last sent her a letter from decades before. It's so odd to think that people tend to remain where they grew up, except for Brooks, of course. I wonder if I'll be like her.
January:
1. Sam Harris - Letter to a Christian Nation
2. Matthew Cody - The Dead Gentleman
3. Jules Verne - Journey to the Center of the Earth
4. Milan Kundera - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
5. C.N. Edwards - Love Poems
6. Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels
7. Flannery O'Connor - Everything That Rises Must Converge
8. Jessica Gregson - The Angel Makers
9. Paul Bowles - The Sheltering Sky
10. Veronica Roth - Divergent
11. Eoin Colfer - The Atlantis Complex
12. James Joyce - Dubliners
13. Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
14. Mira Bartok - The Memory Palace
15. Shel Silverstein - Every Thing On It
16. John Lithgow - Poet's Corner
February
17. Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire
18. Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest
19. Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
20. Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
21. Paulo Coelho - Brida
22. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Creatures
23. Lisa Malvarose - Psychic
24. Bruno Bettelheim - The Uses of Enchantment
25. Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
26. Sherman Alexie - The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian
March
27. Patrinella Cooper - Gypsy Magic: A Romany Book of Spells, Charms, and Fortune-Telling
This is one of those informative new age books that I got for thesis research a year or so ago. But because the thesis never reached any part with Travelers, all the gypsy books had to be put on hold. This one had large point sizes and lots of white space, so I figured it'd make for decent before-bed reading. But then I moved through it so quickly that I put my day-reading on hold to finish this book. It was informative, certainly, and I dog-eared a few pages for future reference. Nothing much else to say about it, though.
28. Marilyn Donnelly - Coda
Honestly, I don't remember much from this Autumn House Press poetry collection. I remember it was fast to get through and that I liked it, but not much more.
29. Deborah Slicer - The White Calf Kicks
Here's another Autumn House Press poetry collection that I don't remember much about. I remember it was also fast to get through and that I liked it, but not much more. I think it had some country/southern elements that were particularly fascinating to read though. I'm pretty sure I almost handed this one off to Mike to read, but then realized that it didn't match with the other poetry books I'd done that with.
30. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
This poor kid... Everyone hates him just because he's an orphan boy. Any time he finds people who are kind to him, he's stolen away to become a thief. He wants to be a good boy and he is one, but he gets shot. It takes forever for people to figure out who he is and to trust that he's good, but wow... most of the people around him are such despicable characters. I'm glad I'm listening to Charles Dickens instead of reading him. It's easier to follow the stories this way, especially when they become a bit dull. But Dickens is certainly a master of characters, and I can understand why he's considered a masterful storyteller.
31. Elizabeth Kirschner - My Life as a Doll
This was crazy to read through. Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. The author (or narrator, not sure which) was abused by her alcoholic mother, ended up turning into a slut just to cope, had some severe psychological issues, got married and had a son, was committed... Mother died eventually. This whole thing was one blow after another.
32. Brian Brodeur - Natural Causes
This Autumn House Press poetry collection was fascinating because of how it looked at death from multiple angles.
33. Orson Scott Card - The Lost Gate
I was a little disappointed with this story. Just a little. It's about the creation of "gates," which are basically portals. It follows a family of Norse demigods who interact with other worldwide demigods. The kid who's the main character is a gate mage, which has been unheard of for generations mostly because anyone who shows any aptitude for it gets killed and dismembered (because Loki was the last one and closed all the gates home and the families hate him now). The kid, after realizing what he is, runs away from home, becomes a thief, is basically adopted by a kind couple who are mages and then trained, and then attempts to make the "great gate" home. There's something lacking in this story, though... it wasn't quite as... magical as it could've been. There's some element missing, but I can't figure out what it is.
34. Albert Camus - The Stranger
This on so many philosophy reading lists and recommended reading lists (like for Chatham) that I finally sat down to listen to it. It goes through an explores how a normal person can turn into a sociopath and murder without feeling any regret. It was interesting, but not outstanding.
35. Anne Marie Macari - She Heads into the Wilderness
Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. It was good. Not much else to say about it.
36. Leonard Gontarek - The Deja Vu Diner
Another Autumn House Press poetry collection. This one was really hard to read. There were so much symbolism and dense lines that after a while, I stopped trying to understand the poems and just read through them.
37. Free State Review - Issue 1
This is Maryland's newest literary magazine. The editors and some featured writers will be reading in Pittsburgh on April 17 and Autumn House Press/Coal Hill Review was asked to do an interview for it. The woman who asked is apparently well-known in the Chatham circle for her book reviews and literary blog. She and I had spoken at the Bridges conference and I told her I'd be willing to be a guest blogger if she wanted me to be one (she does some sort of event in which she pulls in guest reviewers). She emailed me and AHP's editor-in-chief about the event. The editor then asked me if I'd be willing to do the interview of one of AHP/CHR's reviewers who is also the poetry editor for Free State Review. I agreed, received a free copy of the first issue, and read it in preparation of the event. It's very eclectic... very everyday activities... I question the choices of most of the entries because some of them still seem a bit amateurish, but the editors are very pleased with it.
38. Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Dave Marshall, and Gurihiru - Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise
This is a graphic novel that is the first story that helps to bridge Avatar: The Last Airbender with The Legend of Korra. It dealt with some strong ethical issues, such as colonialism and post-colonialism, and what does one do when a town has cropped up that successfully intermingles various nationalities to create its own world. And what do you do when you make a promise to someone even though fulfillment of that promise results in that friend's death? Do you still uphold it? Was the friend wrong in asking for it? The whole plot covered doing what is right, and finding a gray area in order to make peace. Aside from its thick length, those aforementioned themes were why I counted the comic in this list.
39. George Eliot - Middlemarch
I was so happy when this audiobook finally ended. May-December marriages, having babies, falling in love, forbidden marriages, doctors making questionable choices in the eyes of a town... How one town's backward thinking could ruin a promising career... So glad when this was over...
40. Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book
The story is about an Australian book conservationist who is flown to Sarajevo to conserve a haggadah, a Jewish book of prayers. This one is filled with illuminated manuscripts that are more often seen in Christian texts, though. The woman finds a few small artifacts in the book that she has tested in order to figure out the book's story: how its original binding was destroyed, what that dark red stain actually is, where the white hair came from, how the clear butterfly wing got between pages, what kind of salt left another stain, etc. The book hops between her story and sections about the artifacts, and it's fun seeing the truths and then seeing her completely miss the mark in her speculations. The story itself was difficult to read. It took a while to get through because there was so much historical information. And so many bad things happen to the characters, but it was interesting to see the good people involved, and how religion really shouldn't be a hindrance when doing something that is right. The story itself concentrates on the history of the Jews as it pertains to Muslims and Christians. It was fascinating to read all these stories that lead up to one small piece of evidence that was found in that book. And apparently this book actually exists, even if the characters are completely fictional. It's all so complex and interwoven and kinda wonderful once all is said and done. I'm glad I read it, and it will leave me pondering for a while.
41. Kate Chopin - The Awakening
This was so dull... I couldn't care about the character at all. You're not happy with your life, woman? Really? Tell me more about how your feminist ideals awoke after falling in love with someone who isn't your husband, and just that. Seriously... I want someone to make one of those Willy Wonka sarcasm memes in response to this story.
42. Alice Walker - The Color Purple
Oh man this story.... Every time I heard about this story, it was always about civil rights and black communities instead recognizing a blossoming lesbian lifestyle. And yet, the fact that the main character didn't realize she was gay almost made the story that much better, because it was just normal to her. I liked the parallel stories between the main character and her sister, and didn't realize until the end just how much time had elapsed throughout the plot.
43. Geraldine Brooks - Foreign Correspondence
I sped through this memoir. It's probably one of the fasted works of creative nonfiction that I read nearly as fast as fiction. It was just so easy to read, and Brooks's life was fascinating. I want to be able to ask her a question at her literary evening on April 8, and wanted to be sure my question wasn't already answered in her memoir. It's so funny how she was a full-out Trekkie growing up. But it's fascinating to learn how Australia's sense of self changed through the eras; how women would either be nurses, secretaries, or teachers and nothing else; how she ended up using her family's writing history to become a foreign correspondent before a novelist; and, of course, how she was able to track down her penpals and find them almost exactly where they'd last sent her a letter from decades before. It's so odd to think that people tend to remain where they grew up, except for Brooks, of course. I wonder if I'll be like her.