September 15, 2010

Warning: this is a super long post. My bad.

Last night I completed my 50th book this year. Fuck. Yeah.

I have a rating system. Whenever I read a book, I put a number beside it: 1-10. 1 means it is the worst piece of shit I've ever read. 5 means it sucks but I'm not mad about it. 7 means it's good. And 10 is a gold star.

Here is a list of all the books I've read this year, in the order I read them, with a short amount of information for each, including my rating.

1. Junot Diaz. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Fantastic exploration of one young man's search for love and sex and his surprise at what he finds at the end. 9

2. Malcom Gladwell. What the Dog Saw. Non-fiction. If this guys writes it, you should read it. 9

3. Christopher Seitz. Figured Out. Theology - Typology. Boooorrrrinnngggg. 3

4. Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games. Fiction - Children. This series is worth your read but much of this sort of story has been done many, many times before. 7

5. Suzanne Collins. Catching Fire. Fiction - Children. 6.5

6. David Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day. Memoir - Hilarity. I laughed a lot. There is a short chapter on this turd Sedaris tried to flush down the toilet that KILLS me. 8.5

7. Bernhard Schlink. The Reader. Fiction. My God this book will depress you. It's good but my God...8.5

8. Mark Haddon. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Fiction. 7.5

9. Wendell Berry. Standing by Words. Non-fiction - Essays. My first book from Berry did not disappoint. Several essays about poetry too. In case you don't know he's a God in some circles. 8

10. Cormac McCarthy. No Country for Old Men. Fiction - Haunting. Holy shit this man knows how to create tension in a novel. If you liked the movie, you will love the book and appreciate the Coen brothers on a whole new level. 9

11. - 17. C.S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia. Fiction - Children. If you don't recognize this series, you are dumb. 7

18. C.S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. Fiction - Theological. 7.5

19. C.S. Lewis. Out of the Silent Planet. Fiction - Sci- Fi. Part of his lesser known Space Trilogy. 7

20. C.S. Lewis. Perelandra. Fiction - Sci-Fi. One of my favorite Lewis novels of all time. 8

21. C.S. Lewis. Till We Have Faces. Fiction. BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR. Few books have ever brought me to the brink of tears. This one did. So achingly beautiful.10

22. Ronald Takaki. A Different Mirror. History. An unpleasant read to say the least. But that's why its so good. All about our nation's history of oppression towards the "other." 8.5

23. Patricia Raybon. My First White Friend. Memoir. 7

24. A.J. Jacobs. The Know-It-All. Memoir - Hilarity. Jacobs tries to read the whole Encyclopedia Brittanica. A herculean task and plenty of laughs along the way. 8

25. Mary Doria Russell. The Sparrow. Fiction - Sci-Fi, Theological. This book poses the question, Where is God in the midst of relentless tragedy? 7

26. W.S. Merwin. The Shadow of Sirius. The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Fantastic. 9

27. Geraldine Brooks. March. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Did NOT deserve this award. Book gets good at the end, almost redeems itself and squeaks out a 6.

28. H.G. Wells. War of the Worlds. Fiction - Classic. 7.5

29. J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fiction - Fucking awesome. I've already read this before but what the hell. Don't judge...10

30. Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpreter of Maladies. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Heartbreaking stories but well composed. 8.5

31. Philip Schultz. Failure. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 2008 had 2 Pulitzer winners for poetry. A rare occurrence. And the other one wasn't half as good as this. Failure brought me to tears. The author shares his journey through loneliness, insane asylums, suicide and his love of dogs. Best book of poetry this year. 10

32. Rae Armantrout. Versed. The 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Strange shit, guys. Sort of worth a read...sort of... but not worth a Pulitzer. 6

33. Richard Russo. Empire Falls. The 2002 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction. Totally surprised me how much I loved this book. The best part is the characters. Russo has a keen eye for the heartbeat of each one of them. 9

34. Jon Krakauer. Into the Wild. Biography - Survival. 7.5

35. Stephen Lawhead. Hood. Fiction - Fantasy. I used to read this guy when I was young and loved some of his earlier stuff. Not so much this one. 6.5

36. Norman Ollestad. Crazy for the Storm. Memoir - Survival. 7

37. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. A Coney Island of the Mind. Poetry. 9

38. William Young. The Shack. Fiction - Theology. Ughhh...just ughhh. I hated this book. I have no idea why it is so popular. 2

39. Francis Fukuyama. Our Posthuman Future. Non-fiction - Bioethics. 8

40. Robert Hass. Time and Materials. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. Not as good as the other winner from this year but still some bright spots. 7

41. Erich Maria Remarque. All Quiet on the Western Front. Fiction - Classic. How have I never read this before? Well deserved status as a classic on the psychological impact of war on the soldiers who fight it. 9.5

42. David Benioff. City of Thieves. Fiction. 8.5

43. C.K. Williams. Repair. The 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 9

44. T.S. Eliot. The Waste Land and Other Poems. Poetry. I tried to like him, I really did. But aside from a few poems, in my opinion, he tries to hard. 6

45. Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, Richard Lannon. A General Theory of Love. Psychology - Relationships. Reveals the structure of the human mind, how love affects everything and why therapy works. 9

46. Lisa Genova. Still Alice. Fiction. You should read this book not for the plot or the characters but for the way Genova pulls you into the mind of someone who suffers from Alzheimer's. Watch out though, its sad. 10

47. Howard Dully. My Lobotomy. Memoir - Survival. 7

48. Harry Schaumburg. False Intimacy. Theology - Crap. Just don't read it. 2

49. Claudia Emerson. Late Wife. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry. 7.5

50. Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World. Fiction - Fantasy. Ahem. May I have your attention: These are the best books in the world. If you have not read them, you have not lived. I read the whole series last year and now I'm reading through them again. That's right, they're that fucking amazing. If were up to me I would give them all Pulitzers and then never give out another Pulitzer ever again. 10. 10. 10. 10.

51. Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt. Fiction - Fantasy. I miscounted. I've read 51. 10, of course.

That's all for now. I plan to hit 65 by the end of the year. Maybe 70. We'll see.