Comments | kendellsquare: Annual Book Review

kendellsquare

Annual Book Review

Jan 07, 2010 22:14

The full list of books I read this year is below. It was a smaller list this year than usual, but there were some highlights:

* The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon - Defies description, but possibly the best book I read this year, competing with ...

* The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbey - Not my usual style ( Read more... )

Comments 9

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kendellsquare January 9 2010, 18:38:53 UTC

Indeed. I hear there's a fourth one coming out this year!

alpine_tunnel January 8 2010, 18:08:14 UTC

Well hmm, the only one of those that I've read is Austenland, which I really liked.

kendellsquare January 8 2010, 19:12:44 UTC

Funny - I was really disappointed in "Austenland". I loved "Goose Girl" by same author, which felt to me like a children's book written to appeal to adults; I felt like "Austenland" was now an adult book written in a childlike way!

alpine_tunnel January 8 2010, 20:08:46 UTC

I liked it for the parody of being in costume and fancy tourism- do you live authentically (chamber pots and outhouses) or have bathrooms? etc.

p.s. alpine_tunnel January 8 2010, 20:10:08 UTC

Goose Girl was very well written, but I read it on the airplane on my first trip away from Anastasia, and sobbed the entire time. Maybe a book about a girl separated from her parents wasn't a good choice to read on that occasion. Some day I'll try to read it on a happier occasion.

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kendellsquare January 9 2010, 18:38:21 UTC

I think you'd like "The Pluto Files" - it's a quick read, with lots of funny bits (particularly lots of incoherent letters from angry elementary school children who were upset that Pluto was demoted).

"Epic Rivalry" was OK, and had more of a view on the Russian side of the equation than I knew before. But for the American side, you're better off just reading "The Right Stuff" if you haven't already - really got me excited about space again (as a kid I was obsessed with it - I had a huge poster of a space shuttle in my room growing up).

2010 brandonbriscoe January 12 2010, 01:21:50 UTC

I, for one, declare you fully prepared to write a book (or eight) this year. You've clearly mastered the whole "reading" part. :)

"In the Name of the Rose"... can't remember why, exactly, but I hated this book. Maybe because it was required for a Church history class in the seminary, and I figured there were much better books worth reading on that score. I also just wasn't entertained like I was by, say, "Fr. Elijah" by Michael D. O'Brien. Anyhow, you're a saint if you endured the penance to its bitter end.

Also, could you please do a follow-up post about how you find/make time to read so many books in a year?! :)

Re: 2010 kendellsquare January 14 2010, 22:39:39 UTC

"Name of the Rose" was waaaaay better than the more famous Eco book, "Foucault's Pendulum". So many people I respect said that "Name of the Rose" was worth reading, so I gave it a chance, but I'm with you - I can't believe it was used in a church history class. Not only fiction, but not even really great fiction.

Of course, having to read a book always makes it duller. The first time I almost missed a deadline at school was in 9th grade, when we had to read "The Hobbit". I just could not bring myself to read this book, and for years after, I would sometimes wake up thinking "Oh no, I have to finish 'The Hobbit' for school!". This totally scared me off Tolkein for years, although when the movies came out, I read and loved the Lord of the Rings series.

Re: 2010 brandonbriscoe January 19 2010, 15:15:40 UTC

I tried reading Watership Down for class in 9th grade but eventually decided it just wasn't worth the time. I skimmed enough to make sure my low quiz grade would not kill my A in the class, but I had no intention of reading the thing. Amazingly, some of my classmates remember the book as their favorite of the assigned novels in high school. Stupid rabbits. :)