The great book post

[jethrien]

Once again, the books I've read from 2009.


Parentheses are rereads.

1. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
2. Making Money by Terry Pratchett
3. Flesh and Blood by Jonathan Kellerman
4. (Children of the Night by Mercedes Lackey)
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
6. (Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey)
7. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Sutterfield
8. Darkness of the Light by Peter David
9. Oh, the Things That I Know! By Al Franken
10. (By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey)
11. Sherlock Holmes Selected Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
12. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
13. Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, trans. By Moss Roberts
14. Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham
15. Frommer’s NYC Free & Dirt Cheap
16. 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories ed. By Stefan Dziemianowicz, Robert H. Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenberg
17. Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling
18. Traitor’s Moon by Lynn Flewelling
19. (The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold)
20. Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
21. If I Were an Evil Overlord Ed. by Martin H. Greenberg and Russel Davis
22. Jerry Springer's Wildest Shows Ever ed. by Richard Dominick
23. Persuasion by Jane Austen
24. The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey
25. Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China by Pearl S. Buck
26. Casanova: Actor Priest Lover Spy by Ian Kelly
27. Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon
28. Ringmaster! By Jerry Springer and Laura Morton
29. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
30. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
31. Promise the Moon by Elizabeth Joy Arnold
32. Winds of Fury by Mercedes Lackey
33. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
34. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
35. Foul Matter by Martha Grimes
36. Sci Fi Private Eye ed. By Martin H. Greenberg
37. Prayers to Broken Stones by Dan Simmons
38. The Tiara Club by Beverly Brandt
39. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
40. Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey
41. Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell
42. The Great Detectives ed. by Otto Penzler
43. The Pearl Harbor Murders by Max Allan Collins
44. Not Yet Drown’d by Peg Kingman
45. Foundation by Mercedes Lackey
46. Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
47. Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
48. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
49. The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America by Katherine S. Newman and Victor Tan Chen
50. The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
51. The Bisexual’s Guide to the Universe by Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski
52. Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-somethings Can’t Get Ahead by Tamara Draut
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
55. Star Trek: Tales of the Dominion War ed. By Keith R.A. DeCandido
56. Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies
57. Moving Targets and other tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
58. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
59. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
60. Star Trek: New Frontier: Treason by Peter David
61. Life in a Medieval City by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies
62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
63. The Castle by Franz Kafka
64. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
65. Spade & Archer by Joe Gores
66. All the Flowers are Dying by Lawrence Block
67. Art and History of Prague by Andrea Pistolesi
68. Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
69. (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling)
70. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling)
71. Faces Under Water by Tanith Lee
72. The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
73. (Bet Me) by Jennifer Crusie
74. Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka
75. (Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones)
76. The Court of the Lion by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri
77. Persian Fire The First World Empire and the Battle for the West by Tom Holland
78. Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Have Tech, Will Travel by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christie Golden, Dean Wesley Smith, and Dayton Ward
79. And Quiet Flows the Vodka: or When Puskin Comes to Shove: The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Russian Literature with the Devil’s Dictionary of Received Ideas by Alicia Chudo, Gary Saul Morson, and Andrew Sobesednikov
80. Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe by William Rosen
81. Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
82. Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom
83. The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman
84. March of the Penguins by Luc Jacquet and Jerome Maison
85. The Affinity Trap by Martin Sketchley
86. Blood and Roses: One Family’s Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses by Helen Castor
87. Sabriel by Garth Nix
88. The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant by Dan Savage
89. Zombie Notes by Laurie Rozakis
90. Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh
91. Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood by Maria Tatar
92. The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
93. Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage by Edith B. Gelles
94. Middle Age: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
95. The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse by David L. Webster
96. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
97. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns
98. Nation by Terry Pratchett
99. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins
100. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovitch
101. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household by Blu Greenberg
102. Small Town by Lawrence Block
103. Confessions of a Cineplex Heckler: Celluloid Tirades and Escapades by Joe Queenan
104. Dancing on the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places by Ursula K. LeGuin
105. Thirteen Stories by Eudora Welty
106. Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman
107. The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage
108. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
109. The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in a Winner-Take-All America by Daniel Brook
110. Miss Garnet’s Angel by Salley Vickers
111. The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan Morris
112. The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan’s Imperial Family by Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave
113. Why I’m Like This by Cynthia Kaplan
114. (The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams)
115. The Titled Americans: Three American Sisters and the British Aristocratic World into Which They Married by Elisabeth Kehoe
116. The Last Colony by John Scalzi


Not as many as last year - I'd been trying for 125, which just didn't happen. Ah well. A lot more history and sociology than in the past, for some reason. Also, at least three or four that I really really liked up until the last ten pages, when story suddenly went pfft. (Multiple times, I had that sinking feeling you get when you realize there just aren't enough pages left to wrap everything up in anything approaching a satisfactory matter.) Also several things I pulled off the shelf completely randomly, in genres I don't ordinarily read, that I loved.

If you want recommendations, let me know.

Comments

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Recommendations! Any new sci-fi/fantasy authors you came across that you liked? I came across Brandon Sanderson in this last year, and he was pretty decent, but am on the lookout for more ...

I've also been on an alternate history kick lately, but still cannot stand Turtledove for some reason.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Hmm, authors I don't know if you're reading...The Thirteenth Tale and Sabriel were both excellent. The Magicians and Cloud of Sparrows were both very enjoyable for most of the book, and then had that "what the hell, that's the end?" at the end that I was talking about. I feel like most of the rest of the good SF/Fantasy on this list you're already reading.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Fucking lj ate my fucking comment. Let's try again. I need to hear your reactions to:

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, Promise the Moon, Fast Food Nation, Foul Matter (which I couldn't get through), In Cold Blood (which I've always wondered about), The Magicians (there was a lot of buzz about this one), Prep, both Savage books (which I've been meaning to read for a while). And that book on Russian literature sounds interesting.

Why did you read both Jerry Springer books? I know why I read them, but you don't have an excuse. And have you always read Evanovitch?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Heh, we can have a long book rant tonight, if you'd like.

I read the Jerry Springer books 'cause the library was closed and I was moderately curious at the time. I've read Evanovitch for years. Not the bestest mysteries ever, but amusing and my mom likes them and tends to pass them on.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the book on Russian literature sounded interesting (which is why I picked it off the shelf) but was not in fact very interesting. Russian literature professor who thinks he's cleverer than he is writing an endless series of short essays which are essentially in-jokes for other studiers of Russian literature.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I got through 23 games, approximately 436 hours of solo gaming time, plus "lots" of time on Warriors Orochi 1 and 2 and Samurai Warriors. (Also not counting replays of several games I'd played before.)

I can probably count the books I finished on my fingers. Making Money, Castle in the Air, The Kid, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household, and half of Feeling Good. I don't remember if I finished The Fall of Hyperion in 2008 or 2009.

[fyrna.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the number of books read. Although this is largely because I'd need to go into rehab if I let myself loose. I've gotten into the habit of not reading, because I'm only fine as long as I haven't started a new bottle^H^H^H^H^H^Hbook.

[maydove.livejournal.com]

What did you think of Strapped? I'm becoming more interested in sociological stuff.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Interesting but depressing as all hell.

[dushai.livejournal.com]

What are your overall favorites for the year? (Top 5, top 10, whatever makes sense to you.)