100 Books: The Journey

I promise I'll get to talking about the books themselves, but first kindly indulge some personal reflection.  For me 2012 was a year of learning.  I learned that being a real, live "grown up" is both wonderful and terrifying (the latter more often, particularly when you're unemployed, which I was for the first quarter of the year).  I learned (or rather, re-learned) that I have some truly remarkable people in my corner, in multiple cities, no less.  And I learned once again that stories really are the thing that means more to me than almost anything else in my life.

Don't get me wrong--the wonderful people and the comforts I'm fortunate enough to have are important too, but I've always loved stories, and they've been there for me every step of the way, through thick and thin.  In a way that's what my goal of reading 100 in a year was about:  I wanted to immerse myself in other worlds and in the minds of characters completely different from myself, and see if stories were still everything I thought they were by year's end.  And you know what?  They were all that and more.  Those places, fictional and otherwise, gave me somewhere to go when I was feeling down or lost, somewhere I could dream and think and just be.  And those characters, even the ones with whom it seemed, on the surface, that I had absolutely nothing in common?  I found tiny links of understanding, a million little ways I could relate to each and every one of them; reasons to root for them, and commiserate with them, and learn from them.

I received a lot of uninvited commentary on my plan to read 100 books, mostly a lot of arguing about quantity vs. quality, and here at just about the end of December I've finally sussed out my response:  for me the quantity is an essential part of the quality.  Not only was I more likely to find things to love with a wider field of stories and voices, but it also added variety and diversity and color to a life that occasionally becomes bogged down in the boredom of my routine.  That's without mentioning too the impact reading so many stories and experiencing so many writing styles has had on my own writing--I definitely feel more certain than ever that I can one day be a part of the canon from which all of these stories came.

What else did I learn, specifically?  I learned that in a year without any new Harry Potter-related projects, there was still magic to be found elsewhere.  Lev Grossman, George RR Martin, and Gail Carson Levine continue to work magic with their stories, and fill a need so many of us have for a little bit of wizardry in our lives.  I also learned that maybe once you've dabbled in the fantastical world of magic, Muggle realism is a more difficult realm to transition into than it seems (sorry, Jo).

I learned that history, whether reimagined grimly (Roth), dramatized (Bolt), or weaved with fiction to create harrowing adventures (Hollick) or stories of people in a different time who just aren't that different from us (McCann), still serve as one of the best foundations for a truly poignant tale.

I re-discovered the merits of literature for young people done right by authors like John Green and Suzanne Collins, as well as the fact that not all red-hot trends are deserving of the acclaim they receive (looking at you, E.L. James, and you too, Elizabeth Gilbert).

I traveled countless miles without ever leaving my home.  I went around the world with the likes of Salman Rushdie and Paulo Coehlo, and even visited Kenya alongside the President himself.  I slipped some educational non-fiction books into the mix, learning the secrets of how we socialize from David Brooks, how the global economy collapsed in on itself from Matt Taibbi, but most importantly all the ins and outs of shows like Saturday Night Life and Late Night with Conan O'Brien from the people involved.

I fit many obligatory classics in there too, from Shakespeare to Bradbury to Forster to Wharton back to Shakespeare again, and suffice it to say, they hold up just like you'd expect.

With so many diverse works enjoyed over such a compact span of time, it would be impossible to pick a single (or even a single dozen) favorites.  I recommend experiencing many of these books for a variety of reasons, though there are a few obvious exceptions (trust me, no one else on the planet needs to read Fifty Shades of Grey).  More than that, though, I recommend making your own list for 2013, compiling all those stories you've been meaning to read for ages, and making a commitment to really doing it this time.  It might be tough, but I guarantee it'll be worth it, because it will open up your world in ways you can't even begin to understand.  And if you can't think of anything to read, you know at least one person with a whole host of recommendations.

(It's me, by the way.)

For those wondering (and I saved this till the end in case you weren't), the following is the list of each book I read during 2012.  Those marked with an asterisk are the ones I most particularly recommend.


1.  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

2       Game of Thrones and Philosophy by William Irwin

3.     The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

4.       Watership Down by Richard Adams

5.      The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

6.       The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta*

7.      The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

8.      The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth*

9.      The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

10.  The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra

11.  American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

12.  Watchmen by Alan Moore

13.  Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel

14.  Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

15.  Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury*

16.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins*

17.  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

18.  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

19.  The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

20.  Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

21.  A Passage to India by EM Forster

22.  The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

23.  A Room with a View by EM Forster

24.  Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

25.  The War for Late Night by Bill Carter

26.  The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain

27.  The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obrecht

28.  The Social Animal by David Brooks*

29.  Room:  A Novel by Emma Donoghue

30.  A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin*

31.  A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin

32.  A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin

33.  A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin

34.  A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin

35.  Crossers by Phillip Caputo

36.  In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez*

37.  Pawnee:  Greatest Town in America by Leslie Knope

38.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo*

39.  On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

40.  One Second After by William Forstchen

41.  Bright’s Passage by Josh Ritter

42.  Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

43.  The Art of War by Sun Tzu

44.  Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

45.  The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

46.  The Grief of Others by Leah Cohen

47.  Talk Talk by TC Boyle

48.  Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

49.  Live from New York:  An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live

50.  Griftopia by Matt Taibbi*

51.  I Am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick*

52.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

53.  The Hypnotist by MJ Rose

54.  Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann*

55.  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

56.  Seriously, I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

57.  A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt*

58.  Fugitives and Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk

59.  Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

60.  Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway

61.  I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak*

62.  It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini*

63.  Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

64.  The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

65.  Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire*

66.  Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

67.  The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

68.  A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

69.  The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

70.  Spring Awakening (play) by Frank Wedekind

71.  Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

72.  Othello by William Shakespeare

73.  Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

74.  Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise

75.  Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

76.  Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

77.  50 Shades of Grey by EL James

78.  Paper Towns by John Green

79.  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green*

80.  Onward by Howard Schultz

81.  The Magicians by Lev Grossman*

82.  The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

83.  Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price*

84.  Alanna: the First Adventurer by Tamora Pierce

85.  In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

86.  The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

87.  Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

88.  Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

89.  The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

90.  Looking for Alaska by John Green*

91.  An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

92.  Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

93.  Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie*

94.  I Won’t Learn from You by Herbert R. Kohl

95.  World War Z by Max Brooks*

96.  Rabbit, Run by John Updike

97.  One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper*

98.  The Funny Thing Is… by Ellen Degeneres

99.  Henry and June by Anais Nin

100.          Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Schteynart

 

Reading List Round-Up 2012: Books 46-55

Note:  These are actually the books I read throughout the month of July; I've just been slacking off on updating my log and reactions.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

This one started off impressively, looking almost like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel in its scope and sprawl, but for me it got boring very quickly.  The thing most reviews raved about with this book is the author's age (she's 25), and for that she certainly gets kudos from me, but she failed to keep me enthralled in the story.

Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire

This is a short, quick read-- I finished it in one 45-minute sitting.  It's a play, so brevity is to be expected, especially given the more minimalist style of this one, but the story is no less moving for it.  I watched the film adaptation (featuring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) last year, and so was familiar with the material, but reading Lindsay-Abaire's articulation of it there on the page helped me vividly re-visit a truly touching story and a frank exploration of grief in the bubble of modern life.

A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin

 I tried so, so hard to stop myself from reading this one, knowing it would be torturous for me to endure the next who-knows-how-many years until its successor goes to the presses.  A Dance with Dragons absolutely outshines its predecessor, A Feast for Crows (admittedly not a difficult feat), and leaves so many characters' fates in the balance that it's hard to resist storming over to GRRM's house and demanding to know what happens next.

Game of Thrones and Philosophy edited by William Irwin

Definitely an intriguing read and one that adds even more depth to the book series I've fallen in love with over the past few months, but in comparison with some of the other Philosophy and... books (of which I've read several) this one seems to play it a little safe, not delving into the text quite as deeply as I was expecting and sticking largely to analysis of the first novel, which I guess is fair given that they are trying to appeal to the television audience responsible for its recent surge in popularity.


Othello by William Shakespeare

For me the bar in Shakespearean tragedy is set with Hamlet, most likely because it's the one I've read to death (the bar for comedies is set with Much Ado, if you were wondering), and so I didn't really expect Othello to bowl me over, particularly when I'd already seen it performed and knew what was going to happen.  Othello is definitely an interesting read in terms of tying Shakespeare's works to our contemporary concerns, with its interracial relationship and exploration of jealousy especially, but it's hard to feel moved when the character lamenting his fate at the end has brought so much of that fate upon himself (er, like pretty much every other Shakespearean tragedy protagonist, I guess).  In any event, this one was underwhelming for me.


Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Another one of the greats that I somehow missed out on during high school, though ultimately I don't think I'd be terribly upset if I never got around to it.  I know, I know, it's compelling, and it addresses the American dream and whatnot, but for me it was just hard to get behind the characters.  I have a suspicion that this play gains a lot of ground in its performance, and thus I will try to hold off complete judgment until I've had an opportunity to watch it and see its words come to life.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Started off seeming just a bit too typical YA for my tastes, but the second half spirals into some just heartbreaking beauty.  This novel is honest and poignant without being too self-involved.  It takes a bit of suspension of disbelief as far as the idea that teenagers like the ones in this book actually exist, but once you've made peace with that it's a journey you won't want to see end.  As a bonus, this book also contains possibly my favorite (definitely in the top five, at least) passages illuminating where its title came from.
 

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, translation by Tom Stoppard

Semi-intriguing and so very, very Russian.  The characters are so self-pitying it sometimes becomes difficult to stay engaged, but there are some beautiful moments of writing amid the melancholy.


On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

 This is by far the most boring book ever written about two people having sex.  I love Ian McEwan, and I suppose there were parts of this book that were interesting, at least in terms of his distinctive style and talent with characterization, but on the whole On Chesil Beach is 100% underwhelming.


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This is a painfully accurate portrait of what it is to be a young adult, and that's not even taking into account the eye-opening element of the racial persecution still faced by those in our country of Native-American heritage.  It's at times funny but mostly tragic in a way that even the narrator doesn't seem to understand.  Definitely a must-read. 


Best Book:  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Worst Book:  The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Fastest Read:  Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
Slowest Read:  The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht