Sunday, February 1, 2009

52 Books in 2009 Update: January.

It's the first day of February, and so I must count up my reading for January. I ended up reading six books (though 10 volumes of Y: The Last Man I count as one book). I FINALLY FINISHED THAT DAMN TWILIGHT SERIES!! I finished Breaking Dawn last night, and I can't tell you how happy I was to be done. Especially with this book with all it's I'm-carrying-a-demon-baby-that-breaks-my-bones nonsense. Hurrah! If you couldn't tell, I really don't like them. They're quite horrible, but I had to read them to be able to say that - wouldn't want to be unfair!

Let's tabulate:
01 A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin (01.05.09)
02 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks (01.18.09)
03 Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (01.20.09)
04 The Road, Cormac McCarthy (01.22.09)
05 Y: The Last Man, Brian K. Vaughn (01.27.09)
06 Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyers (01.31.09)
07 Infinity Blues, Ryan Adams (CURRENTLY READING)
08 The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 (CURRENTLY READING)
09 Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (Future Sean/Jessica Book Club Book - FSJBCB - started TODAY!)

Sean also just came over for the superbowl and we are coincidentally both on same page of Anna on it's first day: 14! What? It's a long book, but it's only the first day! Of these books, I strongly recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's entered the realm of my favourite books, ever. For thoughts on the other books, they're all reviewed and up on my Goodreads page! Has anybody read these books? I'm still taking recommendations, too.

17 comments:

  1. Looks like your definitely on track for the challenge! I'm aiming for 100 + this year since I managed 72 last year with a lot of crap going on, and I'm a tenth of the way there so it's looking hopeful. I think I might follow your lead and do a monthly update too! :)

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  2. OH! I love World War Z! Did you know it's going to be a movie? Check out the concept art:
    http://io9.com/5140561/world-war-z-concept-art-rocks-the-battle-of-yonkers

    If you haven't read it, I suggest the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. They are marketed as YA but really, they are so good. Better than Harry Potter or any of the current fantasy stuff.

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  3. have you read "extremely loud and incredibly close" by foer yet? wow. so good. please read it!!!

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  4. Good for you! Here are a few to recommend if you have the room on your list:

    The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
    A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
    The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay
    The Princess Bride - William Goldman

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  5. Sorry Vicious, but Foer sucks. I saw him speak at this New Yorker conference last year and the guy was such a pedantic dick. The only saving grace was that the other author there was George Saunders, who is like everyone's cool uncle. He has a book of essays called "The Brainddead Megaphone" that's worth checking out.

    WARNING: This book doesn't have any pictures.

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  6. So happy that you're reading Anna Karenina. I loved that book - I can't wait to hear what you think.

    Also? You're reminding me how much I've been neglecting my reading so far this year. Please keep writing about it so that I'll keep reading!

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  7. I'm gonna start reading again, I've heard that "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz is really good. It's about a nerd and it won the Pulitzer.

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  8. Paula - extraordinary!

    Mich - I will add His Dark Materials to my to-read list! :) Thanks!

    Lindsay - I haven't read any Foer yet, but I hear a lot about the guy. I tend to be very wary of the hype of things, and Foer is infinitely hyped all over the internetters of my age, but - I might as well read him, as I did Twilight, right? He can't be worse. :) Thanks!

    Lyndsey - Time Traveler's Wife is one of my favourite books ever; I wrote about it here last year when I read it and passed it on to all my friends. Love, love, love it! I've been meaning ot check out Owen Meany - will do! Thanks!

    Jonah - HAHAHAHA I find most of the people I know who like Foer are dudes, and they themselves are so into it, that I can't help but feel averse to reading him.

    Zan - I'm loving Anna so far! I will definitely keep writing about reading, as it's taking up quite a lot of time as of late :) Also, hopefully I'll see you in March when Kristy comes to visit!

    El Adam - Nice! I'll have to check that out, thanks!

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  9. Read A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius. It's one of my favorites and Dave Eggers has such a great sense of humor.

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  10. Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius is fantastic in a super depressing way... it's also great because it's before Eggers got super cocky (see: Foer, always). Everyone I know also thought "Everything Was Illuminated" was amazing, but I couldn't get into it, either.

    My favorite writer is Richard Brautigan. He has a short story collection called "Revenge Of The Lawn" that you can read in the time it would take you to watch "In Her Shoes" for, like, the 300th time. It'll totally change the way you look at fiction, I promise.

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  11. jonah- i had never heard of him before reading the book, so i do not doubt that he may in fact be a jerk. i do not, however, base my judgments of how much i like a work on the author's personality. hemingway was a notorious scumbucket, but his work is still considered commendable. have you actually read foer? if so, fair enough. it is all about opinion anyway. if, not, step off.

    jessica- if you like the perks of being a wallflower, then i think you would really enjoy it (even if initially averse to the idea ;).

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  12. Jessica - Already on my to-read list! Mainly because Jesse has a copy and I must read everything in my apartment, ha.

    Jonah - I've never heard of Brautigan, I'll look into him. I don't get the In Her Shoes reference? Also, you just recieved quite a lashing from Lindsay ;)

    Lindsay - I did like Perks, and I will try the book of Foer's you mentioned. I'm not sure I would like Everything is Illuminated, because from what I can surmise, it's a male coming-of-age story and I can't deal with it (I didn't like Catcher in the Rye, Thumbsucker, etc.). I'm heading to my Goodreads now to check out the description! Thanks!

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  13. The Road is one of my favourite books.
    I'm reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls right now. It's pretty good. It's an easy read and definitely not thought-provoking or anything, but I'm enjoying it.

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  14. Hillary - So weird, I just heard of The Glass Castle the other day - I just added it to my Goodreads, recommended by you! Thanks :)

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  15. For the record I don't like Lindsay's personality very much, either.

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  16. jessica, i love cormac mccarthy. the first book of his i read was blood meridian, i would reccomend that (very very violent though). i'm also reading his border trilogy right now (all the pretty horses, the crossing and cities of the plain). the border trilogy is pretty different from the road or blood meridian, but they are beautiful books. hmmm i'll have to think of some other reccomendations.

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  17. also i second the princess bride reccomendation!

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