Book List
What I Read in 2007
* indicates a re-read
** indicates that I reviewed it in my journal
Disclaimer: I had this brilliant notion at the beginning of the year that I was going to read everything that Stephen King had ever written. So, er, that's my excuse for the insane quantities of King books here. Don't mock meeee! It seemed like a terrific idea at the time!
1. The Waste Lands (Dark Tower III), Stephen King
2. The Green Mile, Stephen King
3. Fragile Things, Neil Gaimen
4. Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower IV), Stephen King
5. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, Vincent Lam (Giller Prize Winner)
6. The Shining, Stephen King
7. Master & Commander, Patrick O’Brian
8. Danse Macabre, Stephen King (Non-Fiction)
9. Needful Things, Stephen King
10. Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower V), Stephen King
11. Hocus Pocus, Kurt Vonnegut
12. Song of Susannah (Dark Tower VI), Stephen King
13. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
14. De Niro’s Game, Rawi Hage (Giller Prize Finalist)
15. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize Winner)
16. The Dark Tower (Dark Tower VII), Stephen King
17. Everything’s Eventual, Stephen King
18. Old School, Tobias Wolff
19. Otherland (Vol. 1), Tad Williams
20. A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore
21. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling *
22. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling *
23. Mélusine, Sarah Monette **
24. The Dead Zone, Stephen King
25. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
26. The Virtu, Sarah Monette **
27. lullabies for little criminals, Heather O’Neill **
28. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
29. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
30. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
31. The Mirador, Sarah Monette
32. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
33. Bang Crunch, Neil Smith
34. Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, sex, and madness in Canada’s legal profession
35. The Talisman, Stephen King and Peter Straub
36. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
37. The Swallows of Kabul, Mohammed Moulessehoul (as Yasmina Khadra)
38. The Partner, John Grisham
39. A Three Dog Life, Abigail Thomas
40. Post Captain, Patrick O’Brian
41. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
42. H.M.S. Surprise, Patrick O’Brian
Creature Features
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series
Give this fellow a shot! The style might be a bit different than what you’re used to, but if you can get into the flow of the story, it’s just terrifically rewarding. Amusing and utterly real characters that are entirely loveable in their fallibility and in their interactions with each other, and plots that just keep throwing surprises at you. Not to mention one of the best I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-slash relationships that I’ve stumbled across lately. (Oh yes, if it weren’t for the sick amount of research I’d have to do to emulate O’Brian’s almost creepy sense of historically accurate detail and atmosphere, there would be fic.) Heck, read it for O’Brian’s ultra-dry sense of humour alone! It should also be mentioned that 'H.M.S. Surprise' made me mournfully exclaim "Oh sweetheart!" at one point. Out loud. In a room full of people. Now that's good writing. *g*
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Broke. My. Heart. We watched a video clip of this author speaking in my Liberalism class last year and her eloquence was just something else. So when I recognized her name while browsing at the bookstore, there was a fabulous double-take followed by much glee. And believe me, she didn’t let me down. It has a very similar feel as ‘Poisonwood Bible’ by Barbara Kingsolver, which I dearly love and have read multiple times. It flips back and forth from a child’s point of view and has this intense, almost claustrophobic painful/beautiful plot. And it just destroys me that this is the only fiction book that she’s written and intends to ever write! Rawr!
Biggest Let-Down (And let me throw a big fat disclaimer out there that this is just one gal’s opinion!)
The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
Man, what was that?! I’ve adored her short stories beyond measure, but it took me about half a month just to get through this one novel because of the weird choppy syntax that she used here. The portrayal of the Atlantic provinces also threw me for a bit of a loop, but that could be chalked up to the different time period I suppose. There were undeniably clever bits and the imagery was fantastic, par for anything by Proulx, but I just couldn’t care about the characters (aside from desperately wishing that they would suddenly start thinking in full sentences). I think that I had just been expecting more going into this one.
And a newly introduced category this year: The Illustrious ”ow my brain” Award
Danse Macabre, Stephen King (Non-fic)
Oh dear! As much as I fangirl the man, this was simply a train wreck from beginning to end. When he wasn’t rambling in a suspiciously drug-addled manner, he was being painfully smug. There were one or two insights that I got a kick out of, but overall… ow my brain. Hence the award. If you want to check out a non-fiction book by King, ‘On Writing’ is excellent.
As mentioned last year, I always jot down a couple of sentences after I’ve finished each book, so if you’re interested in hearing my take on anything else in this list, just say the word!
* indicates a re-read
** indicates that I reviewed it in my journal
Disclaimer: I had this brilliant notion at the beginning of the year that I was going to read everything that Stephen King had ever written. So, er, that's my excuse for the insane quantities of King books here. Don't mock meeee! It seemed like a terrific idea at the time!
1. The Waste Lands (Dark Tower III), Stephen King
2. The Green Mile, Stephen King
3. Fragile Things, Neil Gaimen
4. Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower IV), Stephen King
5. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, Vincent Lam (Giller Prize Winner)
6. The Shining, Stephen King
7. Master & Commander, Patrick O’Brian
8. Danse Macabre, Stephen King (Non-Fiction)
9. Needful Things, Stephen King
10. Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower V), Stephen King
11. Hocus Pocus, Kurt Vonnegut
12. Song of Susannah (Dark Tower VI), Stephen King
13. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
14. De Niro’s Game, Rawi Hage (Giller Prize Finalist)
15. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize Winner)
16. The Dark Tower (Dark Tower VII), Stephen King
17. Everything’s Eventual, Stephen King
18. Old School, Tobias Wolff
19. Otherland (Vol. 1), Tad Williams
20. A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore
21. Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling *
22. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling *
23. Mélusine, Sarah Monette **
24. The Dead Zone, Stephen King
25. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
26. The Virtu, Sarah Monette **
27. lullabies for little criminals, Heather O’Neill **
28. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
29. The Call of the Wild, Jack London
30. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
31. The Mirador, Sarah Monette
32. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
33. Bang Crunch, Neil Smith
34. Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, sex, and madness in Canada’s legal profession
35. The Talisman, Stephen King and Peter Straub
36. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
37. The Swallows of Kabul, Mohammed Moulessehoul (as Yasmina Khadra)
38. The Partner, John Grisham
39. A Three Dog Life, Abigail Thomas
40. Post Captain, Patrick O’Brian
41. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
42. H.M.S. Surprise, Patrick O’Brian
Creature Features
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series
Give this fellow a shot! The style might be a bit different than what you’re used to, but if you can get into the flow of the story, it’s just terrifically rewarding. Amusing and utterly real characters that are entirely loveable in their fallibility and in their interactions with each other, and plots that just keep throwing surprises at you. Not to mention one of the best I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-slash relationships that I’ve stumbled across lately. (Oh yes, if it weren’t for the sick amount of research I’d have to do to emulate O’Brian’s almost creepy sense of historically accurate detail and atmosphere, there would be fic.) Heck, read it for O’Brian’s ultra-dry sense of humour alone! It should also be mentioned that 'H.M.S. Surprise' made me mournfully exclaim "Oh sweetheart!" at one point. Out loud. In a room full of people. Now that's good writing. *g*
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Broke. My. Heart. We watched a video clip of this author speaking in my Liberalism class last year and her eloquence was just something else. So when I recognized her name while browsing at the bookstore, there was a fabulous double-take followed by much glee. And believe me, she didn’t let me down. It has a very similar feel as ‘Poisonwood Bible’ by Barbara Kingsolver, which I dearly love and have read multiple times. It flips back and forth from a child’s point of view and has this intense, almost claustrophobic painful/beautiful plot. And it just destroys me that this is the only fiction book that she’s written and intends to ever write! Rawr!
Biggest Let-Down (And let me throw a big fat disclaimer out there that this is just one gal’s opinion!)
The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
Man, what was that?! I’ve adored her short stories beyond measure, but it took me about half a month just to get through this one novel because of the weird choppy syntax that she used here. The portrayal of the Atlantic provinces also threw me for a bit of a loop, but that could be chalked up to the different time period I suppose. There were undeniably clever bits and the imagery was fantastic, par for anything by Proulx, but I just couldn’t care about the characters (aside from desperately wishing that they would suddenly start thinking in full sentences). I think that I had just been expecting more going into this one.
And a newly introduced category this year: The Illustrious ”ow my brain” Award
Danse Macabre, Stephen King (Non-fic)
Oh dear! As much as I fangirl the man, this was simply a train wreck from beginning to end. When he wasn’t rambling in a suspiciously drug-addled manner, he was being painfully smug. There were one or two insights that I got a kick out of, but overall… ow my brain. Hence the award. If you want to check out a non-fiction book by King, ‘On Writing’ is excellent.
As mentioned last year, I always jot down a couple of sentences after I’ve finished each book, so if you’re interested in hearing my take on anything else in this list, just say the word!