The Big Book Post, 2013
This year I finished, in order:
The ranking, in order from liked most to liked least:
By genre, fiction beat out non-fiction as it normally does, and non-fiction was mostly memoir, as it normally is. I originally classified A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius as fiction, but when I realized it was more similar to the other memoirs that I read than it was to the other novels I read, I changed it.
Fiction: 7
Historical: 3
Modern: 1
Sci-fi: 1
Short Stories/Fantasy: 1
Picture Book: 1
Non-Fiction: 5
Memoir: 4
Geography: 1
History/Politics: 1
Looking at the authors, it was just barely a man's year with 7 male and 5 female authors. Simon Garfield is British and Kazuo Ishiguro is British of Japanese origin, and everyone else is from the US, including three born and raised in NYC (Feldman, Brooks, Kalfus) and one on Long Island (Wolitzer). With the exception of Feldman, 26, all the authors are in their forties and fifties, Ishiguro and Kalfus being the oldest of the bunch at 59. Eight authors were new to me, but I'd read the following four before:
Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go)
Niffenegger (Time Traveler's Wife, Her Fearful Symmetry)
Vowell (Assassination Vacation, Wordy Shipmates, Take the Cannoli)
Sedaris (nearly all of his books)
By publication date:
1989: Remains of the Day
2000: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
2002: The Partly Cloudy Patriot
2006: World War Z
2009: Orange is the New Black
2010: Squirrel Meets Chipmunk
2011: Rules of Civility
2012: On the Map, Unorthodox
2013: Equilateral, Raven Girl, The Interestings
The three books published this year were birthday gifts, and I read them all right in a row.
By setting (at the beginning of the book):
3rd Century BC: On the Map
1894: Equilateral
1937: Rules of Civility
1956: Remains of the Day (although flashbacks go back to WWI)
1974: The Interestings
1992: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Orange is the New Black
Late 90s: Unorthodox
2002: The Partly Cloudy Patriot (the book seems mostly set in the time it was written)
Fantasy time: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Raven Girl
Vaguely in the present: World War Z
Interesting note: Kerman and Eggers are the same age and both memoirs begin the same year, the year of Kerman's graduation from Smith, and the year Eggers would have graduated from Urbana-Champaign.
New York: Rules of Civility, The Interestings, Unorthodox, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
Danbury, CT: Orange is the New Black
San Francisco Bay Area: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
England: Remains of the Day
Egypt: Equilateral
Global: On the Map, World War Z
Fantasy place: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Raven Girl
Why I read them:
Recommendations: Rules of Civility (Sharon & Bethany), Heartbreaking Work (Mary), World War Z (Doug), Orange is the New Black (Rita), Unorthodox (my entire office)
Read author previously: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Remains of the Day, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Raven Girl
The internet told me to: Equilateral (WORD email newsletter), The Interestings
Because I love geography: On the Map
Where I got them:
Gifts from Mom & Dad: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Equilateral, Raven Girl, The Interestings
Book fair swag from Sharon & Bethany: Rules of Civility, On the Map
Borrowed: The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Lindsay), World War Z (Doug), Unorthodox (coworker)
Bought: Remains of the Day (Community Bookstore, Park Slope), Orange is the New Black (Astoria Bookshop)
Sue, I think: Heartbreaking Work
I limit myself to one David Sedaris book and one Sarah Vowell book per year. I have already decided that my first book of 2014 will be Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls.
- January: Rules of Civility By Amor Towles
- February - April: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
- February - April: On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks by Simon Garfield
- May: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- May: The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
- June: A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
- July: Equilateral by Ken Kalfus
- July: Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger
- July: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
- August: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
- September: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
- October - December: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman
The ranking, in order from liked most to liked least:
- Rules of Civility
- The Interestings
- Remains of the Day
- Equilateral
- The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
- On the Map
- Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
- Orange is the New Black
- World War Z
- Unorthodox
By genre, fiction beat out non-fiction as it normally does, and non-fiction was mostly memoir, as it normally is. I originally classified A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius as fiction, but when I realized it was more similar to the other memoirs that I read than it was to the other novels I read, I changed it.
Fiction: 7
Historical: 3
Modern: 1
Sci-fi: 1
Short Stories/Fantasy: 1
Picture Book: 1
Non-Fiction: 5
Memoir: 4
Geography: 1
History/Politics: 1
Looking at the authors, it was just barely a man's year with 7 male and 5 female authors. Simon Garfield is British and Kazuo Ishiguro is British of Japanese origin, and everyone else is from the US, including three born and raised in NYC (Feldman, Brooks, Kalfus) and one on Long Island (Wolitzer). With the exception of Feldman, 26, all the authors are in their forties and fifties, Ishiguro and Kalfus being the oldest of the bunch at 59. Eight authors were new to me, but I'd read the following four before:
Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go)
Niffenegger (Time Traveler's Wife, Her Fearful Symmetry)
Vowell (Assassination Vacation, Wordy Shipmates, Take the Cannoli)
Sedaris (nearly all of his books)
By publication date:
1989: Remains of the Day
2000: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
2002: The Partly Cloudy Patriot
2006: World War Z
2009: Orange is the New Black
2010: Squirrel Meets Chipmunk
2011: Rules of Civility
2012: On the Map, Unorthodox
2013: Equilateral, Raven Girl, The Interestings
The three books published this year were birthday gifts, and I read them all right in a row.
By setting (at the beginning of the book):
3rd Century BC: On the Map
1894: Equilateral
1937: Rules of Civility
1956: Remains of the Day (although flashbacks go back to WWI)
1974: The Interestings
1992: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Orange is the New Black
Late 90s: Unorthodox
2002: The Partly Cloudy Patriot (the book seems mostly set in the time it was written)
Fantasy time: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Raven Girl
Vaguely in the present: World War Z
Interesting note: Kerman and Eggers are the same age and both memoirs begin the same year, the year of Kerman's graduation from Smith, and the year Eggers would have graduated from Urbana-Champaign.
New York: Rules of Civility, The Interestings, Unorthodox, The Partly Cloudy Patriot
Danbury, CT: Orange is the New Black
San Francisco Bay Area: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
England: Remains of the Day
Egypt: Equilateral
Global: On the Map, World War Z
Fantasy place: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Raven Girl
Why I read them:
Recommendations: Rules of Civility (Sharon & Bethany), Heartbreaking Work (Mary), World War Z (Doug), Orange is the New Black (Rita), Unorthodox (my entire office)
Read author previously: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Remains of the Day, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Raven Girl
The internet told me to: Equilateral (WORD email newsletter), The Interestings
Because I love geography: On the Map
Where I got them:
Gifts from Mom & Dad: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Equilateral, Raven Girl, The Interestings
Book fair swag from Sharon & Bethany: Rules of Civility, On the Map
Borrowed: The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Lindsay), World War Z (Doug), Unorthodox (coworker)
Bought: Remains of the Day (Community Bookstore, Park Slope), Orange is the New Black (Astoria Bookshop)
Sue, I think: Heartbreaking Work
I limit myself to one David Sedaris book and one Sarah Vowell book per year. I have already decided that my first book of 2014 will be Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls.