Read in 2013

Books I've read most recently top the list.

The Good Luck of Right Now, a still-unreleased book by Russell O. Davies
Read in September.

This book is by the author of Silver Linings Playbook, which was indeed a novel before being turned into an Oscar winning film starring Jennifer Lawrence. Like Silver Linings Playbook, Right Now (is there a rule to how one may shorten titles for brevity's sake?) is a story of a cast of varied characters who all suffer from some form of mental illness or social ostracization. The characters eventually unify to escape their problems, and everything turns out fine. I wasn't too fond of this book because I didn't find myself sympathizing with the protagonist, and though it isn't always in the reader's best interest to sympathize with a protagonist, I felt that I was meant to sympathize in this case but just couldn't. I also found troubling the presence of so many characters with deep, striking problems, and none, or almost none, with concerns on a more "ordinary" scale. I almost got the message that it was morally incorrect or inferior to be a person without a dead parent, an abusive partner, an addiction, or a learning disability. But to this book's credit, it was very readable, both for me and for the friend who passed it on to me (having read it and enjoyed it but not being too attached to it. I feel similarly.).

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
Listened to in June, I think.

I spent this summer working outside and mostly by myself, and so when I found out about the Lit2Go free audio books website, I was psyyyched. The next few books on this list are ones that I downloaded from Lit2Go, having scanned their genres and grade level lists to find what seemed most interesting. I started off with The Count of Monte Cristo because I loved its clever adventure story when I first read it in nth grade (between 6th and 10th?), and wanted to remember more of the plot than my favorite part, when the protagonist learns several languages perfectly from a crazy-seeming old man he meets in prison. Brief summary: a nice dude is put into jail for life by false friends, then escapes and spends the rest of his life becoming a magically exotic mystery man while secretly seeking revenge. Wonderful. Apparently suitable for 5th graders. To my amusement, I discovered that this novel contains an entire lengthy chapter of hallucinatory pro-hashish propaganda.

Flappers and Philosophers, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Listened to this summer.

I wanted to read The Great Gatsby but this is what was at hand (or at cursor, since I downloaded the book online) so I went for it. This is a collection of short stories, some of which feel timeless, and some of which feel like an excursion into 1910s and 1920s culture. These stories have the sort of satisfying twist endings and rich visualizations that I remember from the short stories I liked most in middle and high school English classes. I'm impressed by Fitzgerald's work and want all the more to get to his novels now. It's about time I visited a library.

Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yei Theodora Ozaki
Listened to this summer.

I never thought that the ashes of a mistreated dog and the gristly revenge wrought on a garden-eating badger would make for interesting fairy tale topics, but Japan has proved me wrong. Also featured in this collection: a recurring dragon king, some virtuous princesses, and the reason that jellyfish are jellylike.

To clear things up, Yei Theodora Ozaki is not strictly the author, but "This is a collection of Japanese fairy tales translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki based on a version written in Japanese by Sadanami Sanjin." [Source.]

The Professor, by Charlotte Brontë
Listened to this summer.

In which the author of Jane Eyre expresses her love of England admirably. The story is that an English guy goes to Belgium to find a job, ends up teaching English, and falls in love with one of his students. This book is allllll about the superiority of the English over everyone else. This isn't really a spoiler since we all know what's going to happen here, but on the day of the protagonist's wedding to his studious beloved, they arrived at their apartment and he "instructed her how to make a cup of tea in rational English style". Because that is what is important: English tea served in the English way, and also preventing one's sweetheart from speaking French, though it is the language she grew up speaking, so that she can get better at English, the language of her dead mother's country, to which she is ever dreaming of traveling. Okay, this book isn't that bad, just a little didactic in a classic Charlotte Brontë manner (if anyone's read Jane Eyre, you'll remember how Jane was always working so hard to get the awful Frenchness out of her foreign pupil, and to instill in her some proper protestant morals), and worth reading if you'd like to learn about what being a teacher was like in the 1800s (pure suffering). On an unrelated note, I will forever associate this book with pruning lilac bushes, because that is what I was doing while listening to it.

Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson
Listened to this summer.

This is a collection of interconnected short stories about people living in a fictional town, where they wish to be interconnected but aren't. Anderson understands loneliness. This is a good book for those "but I don't WANT to be cheered up!" days.

Also listened to this summer:

-Plenty of podcasts from Frederica Mathewes-Green, an Orthodox Christian writer, open-minded and thoughtful speaker, and the wife of a priest at a church I used to attend in Maryland. The podcast name is Frederica, Here and Now, and it can be found on Ancient Faith Radio (an Orthodox Christian online radio station with many, many varied programs and podcasts to listen to and download).
-NPR's fascinating, entertaining sciencey/ethicsey podcast Radiolab. Topics ranging from adoption to animal life to artificial intelligence are woven in with reflections on brain activity and connections to music and other awesomeness. Can't even describe it. Here is a sixteen-minute story about an idea in research that I'm still trying to process.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver.
Read in May and June.

The third Barbara Kingsolver novel on this list, Flight Behavior is about the hardships of Appalachia, climate change (and its deniers), and Dellarobia, our trapped but moxie-filled protagonist. The story: Dellarobia discovers a phenomenon which brings her to the attention of the local 300-member church, and the area to the attention of scientists and the media. These two groups, the hickish churchy people and the worldly sciencey people, just can't agree on anything, which doesn't help the danger that an entire species is in right outside of town. Things may or may not resolve themselves, no spoilers.

This book is okay but disappointing after one has read The Poisonwood Bible and wants nothing from Barbara Kingsolver but another masterpiece. What we have here is a novel that should have been a set of essays. The characters are hard to sympathize with and sometimes sound like they're in a Socratic dialogue: the one who agrees with Barbara Kingsolver's views of the world (which aren't bad at all, by the way) gets long monologues, and Dellarobia just agrees, agrees, agrees, switching up the way she says "yes". The same ideas about the environment or the failure of public education are expressed in tiring ways, as when a character who has just had a conversation with a friend about an idea explains the idea to somebody else immediately afterward. Stuff like this reads like page filler and the value of the few good explanatory metaphors is lost through the reader's tiredness of hearing about the same pet topics on repeat.

Why would Ms. Kingsolver plant her ideas into a novel instead of writing about them in a nonfiction format, like essays for a magazine? Perhaps that is what people expect from her and will read from her, novels. Perhaps she had a moment of inspiration about the plot of Flight Behavior, and was not willing to give up the chance to throw all the topics she wanted to discuss into a semi-cohesive story. Even if it reads like a Socratic dialogue, one has to give this book some credit, because Socratic dialogues were made the way they were to engage people, to break up bigger ideas into digestible dialogue. Still, I can't help but feel, reading it, that what materials made a mediocre novel could have made much more powerful essays and perhaps a few stories, though they would have gained a smaller audience.

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I've been reading lots of chapters of nonfiction books on farming and gardening, so it doesn't quite add up to individual books... yet. Soon. :) 

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Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut, edited by William Rodney Allen.
Read in March and April. 

This collection of interviews was published in 1988, and the first interview in the volume is from 1969. This makes for a funny time window into Vonnegut's life and ideas, or at least the way he wanted his life and ideas to appear in the public's or the interviewers' eyes. The interviewers range from the amusingly ignorant to the well-read and worshipful, and one interview is particularly striking because it is written from the point of view of a Vonnegut character, Kilgore Trout. As the timeline moves forward, the reader hears Vonnegut talk about his latest novels (Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Slapstick, Jailbird, Bluebeard...), one by one, about his family as it changed (he divorced and remarried; his children grew up and became artists/mental patients/doctors/parents), and about his views on morality and what a writer should do. If this book is an artifact, it is a readable and useful one. I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., or at least in interviews with writers who happen to be former car salesmen.

The Prime of Life: The Autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir by Simone de Beauvoir.
Read in February and March.

 (This is actually not the autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir but the second of four volumes of autobiography that she wrote. The first, covering her childhood and youth, is Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter. The two books covering later times in her life are Force of Circumstance and All Said and Done.)

This book covers the years 1929 to 1944, when de Beauvoir was 19 to 36 and establishing her career as a writer. Included here is the beginning of her relationship with Sartre, her transition from being a lycée teacher to being a writer of novels (and the beginnings of her philosophical writings), an account of World War II's effects on those living in France and especially Paris, and my favorite parts, the description of de Beauvoir's walking and biking vacations all over Western Europe. We also learn about why de Beauvoir chose not to marry (Sartre or anyone else) and some details of the lives of the literary and historical features with whom de Beauvoir and Sartre came into contact-- for instance, Picasso and Camus. Near the end there is a short discussion of why, at the time, de Beauvoir did not want to be called an existentialist, which is interesting because of course today she is considered an existentialist idol of sorts. 

I enjoyed the pace of this book, the long chapters which covered years at a time, showing how life moves along not necessarily like a constructed plot with distinct parts for different relationships and thoughts, but as a more complex (and not always logical) whole. Next on de Beauvoir reading list is The Second Sex, in French if I have the patience. We'll see how many chapters I last through...

Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So: A Memoir, by Mark Vonnegut, M.D.
Read in March.

The beginning and end offer thoughts on the stigmatization and experience of mental illness, and the need for art, that I found strikingly agreeable. The middle has a style a little like that of Mark's father, Kurt Vonnegut, in that he'll get into some topic for a while, then break the paragraph pattern with a simple sentence that throws everything off. There's stuff in there about Kurt, too, and he is called "Kurt," just the first name. Near the end of the middle this book gets thick with mental illness memoir stuff, so that it reminds me of the unoriginal style of other writers who have covered the same material, but perhaps it is necessary. Anyways for me the names of medicines, listed one after the other, don't have enough connotations (or meanings, at all, in my mind) for the words to make much sense at all. Perhaps someone with a particular kind of medical education or experience in mental illness, however, would find those passages useful.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Read in March. 

This is like one of those "Forever Alone" memes except the family version, and the family contains I think twenty guys with the same name. Lots of magical realism that gets heavier as the years wear on. One of my friends stopped reading this book because of the sensuality; another liked it better for the same reason. My main question was: is this fictional family written about supposed to be more full of solitude than the typical family in the world? Is it a special case or is it just filled with so many different lonely family members to prove that anyone can be lonely, and probably is?

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Read in February. 
 
That one Vonnegut book that everyone seems to have heard of. From a book written some 25 years earlier than Timequake, see below, I expected something more conventionally structured and this was, but only a bit. Again we have first person narrator who is the author himself speaking in third person about his favorite character, who is in this case Billy Pilgrim, a WWII soldier. (Vonnegut was a WWII soldier, and at Dresden during its destruction, like Billy.) Again with the paragraphs skipping from topic to topic. And again there are elements of time travel and the discussion of free will, or rather how we don't have free will. But the story is of Billy's life and the effects of the war on his later experiences, and on the results of his potential extraterrestrial encounter, so... lots of things going on.

I read this at the desk at my job and groups of people passing by sometimes commented on this book as "worth it," or said it's "really good, I hear," and surprisingly to me a couple of them noted (to each other) that this was "Kurt Vonnegut's book about the Dresden bombing" or "about the destruction of Dresden". True, that is a central event in the book, but it doesn't happen until the very end. Meanwhile, there's all the alien and time travel and Billy's life and free will stuff going on. I suppose it's easier to say that it's a book about the bombing of Dresden but that description does miss out on a lot. Anyways, perhaps this is like me describing The Brothers Karamazov, also see below, as "that book about the son who kills his father" when most people I know who have read it see much deeper themes and purposes running throughout that piece of work. The different levels one could read this book at are just so far from each other that one could describe the same book twice and sound like one was talking about two entirely different books, instead.

Interestingly, there's a bit in Chapter 5 of Slaughterhouse-Five that mentions The Brothers Karamazov:

Rosewater said an interesting thing to Billy one time about a book that wasn't science fiction. He said that everything there was to know about life was in The Brothers Karamazov, by Feodor Dostoevsky. "But that isn't enough any more," said Rosewater.

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
Read in February.

Vonnegut's last novel, full of humorous pessimism or pessimistic wisdom, in which he slips between being himself in 1996 and 2001 and 2010 (he lived to 2007 and the book was published in '97) and possibly 1991, and interacts with his alter ego, Kilgore Trout (who has been in other K.V. books, oh man oh man!), and talks about the real and fictional past, and throws in plots and characters from both real life and his, or Trout's, unwritten stories-- but the main thing is that in 2001 a timequake happened and everyone had to relive the past ten years again, without free will, able to remember their actual past but not able to change a thing. Phew. This event of course causes widespread existential agony, which most people get over with the help of K. Trout. I'm not describing this well. I like Kurt Vonnegut even more now. Here is the book's Wikipedia page. This is a good bad day book, somehow.

BOOK INTERCONNECTIONS TIME!
-As noted below, C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves recommends (in a dark tongue in cheek way?) Anna Karenina, which I was reading already when I started TFL.
-In The Prime of Life, by Simone de Beauvoir, Simone describes happily having nothing but hot chocolate for supper... just like Rose in Rose in Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott.
-In Timequake, Kurt Vonnegut recommends/orders his reader(s? He advised other writers to write with one person in mind for an audience, so maybe he did so himself.) to read Catch-22, which I read last year sometime. Feeling real educated now.
-This isn't really a straightforward connection but am reading Storyteller, the biography of Roald Dahl, and it occurs to me that both he and K. Vonnegut are in my mind "funny men who came out of World War II" and that perhaps there's more of these characters out there... C.S. Lewis too... probably there's hundreds. Am wondering who the funny women writers who came out of WWII are; they too surely must exist... though they were doing quite different things at wartime... anyways rambling here.

Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Read in February.

These two didactic but sweet children's books by the author of Little Women (see my "Won't Read" list) describe the growing up and coming of age, respectively, of Rose Campbell, an orphaned heiress sent to live with her six aunts and seven boy cousins. Eventually, of course, the older cousins all want to marry Rose, and the question is not "Wait, she's going to marry a cousin?" but "Which cousin will it be?" The cast of characters also contains a likeable, kind uncle and mentor supposedly modeled after Louisa May Alcott's father. For the record, I'm not going to say that these books are novels because Rose in Bloom actually contains the following line: "...when she said her prayers that night, [Rose] added a meek petition to be kept from yielding to three of the small temptations which beset a rich, pretty and romantic girl—extravagance, coquetry, and novel reading."

In Lectures on Russian Literature, by Vladimir Nabokov, the lecture on Anna Karenina.
Read in February. 

Before he got rich and famous for writing Lolita, Nabokov was just a regular genius teaching Russian Lit at Wellesley. After reading his lecture on Anna Karenina (whom he calls "Anna Karenin" so as to decrease confusion about naming. The first draft of this lecture was written in 1940, if that explains anything.), which I read as the new year started, I want to read all the other books and stories lectured/written on in this volume because Nabokov's insights here are so helpful and amusing. For instance (on the helpful end), he speaks of how Tolstoy writes in an especially realistic manner because he manages to get across his various characters' personal senses of time, and then gives instances of this in Anna Karenina (and blows my mind). Here, for your entertainment, is the sassy first paragraph of the A.K. lecture:

Tolstoy is the greatest Russian writer of prose fiction. Leaving aside his precursors Pushkin and Lermontov, we might list the greatest artists in Russian prose thus: first, Tolstoy; second, Gogol; third, Chekhov; fourth, Turgenev. This is rather like grading students' papers and no doubt Dostoyevski and Saltykov are waiting at the door of my office to discuss their low marks.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation.
Read in January and February.

In which a son kills his father. Famous Russian novel that I read as a story but perhaps should have read as some sort of philosophical discussion? Maybe I'll read it over for that purpose. I did like the story for a story, though the characters go off giving speeches and rants all the time that were just unrealistically long-- I understand why they're there, to go more deeply into the themes of the book and to discuss Dostoyevsky's pet topics (Tolstoy did this too in A.K. and W&P, which I just read) and all, but though I enjoyed these passages, I had to suspend my disbelief to make them fit into what was going on in the "actual story" of the brothers. I liked the way that Dostoyevsky caused my loyalties to shift among the various characters throughout the book. Engaging read for long hours. It's weird though because Wikipedia ("The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality.") and everyone I know who's read any part of the novel saw it as some sort of collection of important essays, which I now feel I perhaps should have done, but nobody was telling me how to read the book as I read it, so I didn't go through it too academically. Also am curious about what existentialism prof. kept referring to last semester when he randomly mentioned Dostoyevsky's apparently pre-existentialist views (???). 

All There Is: Love stories from Storycorps, edited by Dave Isay
Read in February.

Storycorps is a nationwide (USA) project which collects and records people's stories and stores them at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Occasionally this organization comes out with a book of interesting, true, fact-checked stories. This particular volume has stories about looooove. Unlike some other story collections, ahem Chicken Soup books, this book doesn't feel oversentimental or too optimistic; it's just true, and that's what's so appealing about it. One section of the book is filled with stories of love lost through death, and that touch of realism makes the parts of the stories that recall good memories much sweeter. Because the written stories are taken from audio recordings, the "voices" of the narrators come off as genuine, too. Pretty lovely. After reading this I'd like to find Storycorps: Listening Is an Act of Love and Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from Storycorps.

A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
Read in February. 

A book by Ann M. Martin that's not in the Babysitters Club series! This one's actually a Newberry Honor Book. Excuse me because I can't help but compare the style to that of the BSC books.  The story moves at a different pace, with more "slowly" described episodes and deeper characterization and way more sensory description than the BSC books, and the book covers more serious topics: the main premise is that a girl's disabled uncle comes to town over the summer and changes everyone's lives, not necessarily for the better. I would have liked it better had it not reminded me so much of a couple of other novels, young adult and, uh, regular adult, that I've read. Interesting tidbit: in her little bio at the back of all the BSC books, Ann M. Martin is described as liking ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy. All three of these things make appearances in A Corner of the Universe.

Kristy and the Worst Kid Ever by Ann M. Martin
Read in February. 

There's a new kid in the neighborhood, a foster kid who likes to terrorize people's pets and run away from babysitters. But Kristy realizes that this kid might not just be the worst kid ever, but the saddest kid ever... and maybe she can help. #62.

Mary Anne Misses Logan by Ann M. Martin
Read in January. 

#46. A couple of Babysitters Club books ago, Mary Anne broke up with Logan because he was being a male chauvinist pig. But now she is stuck working with him on a school project, and he's being all considerate and stuff! Problem is, her archenemy, Cokie, is also in their group for the project.
WHATEVER WILL HAPPEN?

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
Read in December and January.

Enlightening and engaging definition and description of how the four loves of affection, friendship, eros, and charity should be felt and used in life. I was annoyed at one part of the book which seemed dated by its sexism (Lewis argued that it is difficult for men and women of suburbia to sustain friendships because their interests and lives are so different; I hope this isn't the case now) but found the rest of the book rich in truth and good sense. Interestingly, at the end of the section on eros, Lewis speaks of how lovers can chain each other in drama and resentfulness, and then advises, "Read Anna Karenina and do not fancy that such things happen only in Russia." Of course I was reading Anna Karenina already!

Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter by Ann M. Martin
Read in January.  

When Dawn leaves town, the Babysitters Club is swamped with extra work. Jessi tries to help by inviting her friend Wendy to join the club, but Wendy is a total flake. #68.

Kristy's Secret Admirer by Ann M. Martin
Read in January.  

In which the founder of the Babysitters Club starts getting love letters... but then things get creepy, as they often do... #38 in series.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation.
Read in Dec. and Jan.

Have been on a Tolstoy kick since the cold weather started; needed a book to be cozy with for endless hours so read War and Peace, and loved it, so this was next of course. Really loved the truth of the characterizations and descriptions (I keep stumbling upon people I seem to have met in Tolstoy's books) and really relishing the translation work of these particular translators, an intriguing and intelligent married couple. Really didn't know what I was getting into when I picked up this book; knew it would be detailed and told by a voice I liked listening to, but suspected that such a long book written on, what, a woman's affair? would certainly be boring. Okay, so [this is not really a spoiler because everyone knows it] Anna cheats, she dooms herself in the face of society, what is there to write? But the story is drawn out and told from various perspectives, all in a readable way that doesn't seem to be trying to fill pages, and then there is the whole second story of Levin and Kitty going on simultaneously, so there ends up being no lack of plot and questions to draw the reader back in after putting the book down for dinner. Currently I couldn't critique Anna Karenina if I tried.

Not sure where to go from here, in terms of what to read. I started Tolstoy's Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth in Russian in December but had to return it to a library, so I might get that out and read it again, but for the flow of a novel (cozy reading!) I might do some more research about stuff Tolstoy's written, or try Dostoyevsky in Richard and Larissa's translation, or maybe I'll resort to Dickens or Hugo because I just know there's some masterful fiction out in their parts of the library stacks...

Psychiatric Tales by Daryl Cunningham
Read in January.

This has "Graphic Novel" written on the lower left-hand corner for classification purposes, but it's not so much a novel as a series of sketches, if you will, of a variety of the mental illnesses encountered by the author/illustrator in his work as a psychiatric nurse in Britain. This book's strengths lie not so much in its artistic achievement but in its ability to pull the reader through several difficult subjects effortlessly. Somebody reading Psychiatric Tales might find it surprisingly easy to sympathize with mentally ill patients who suffer from dementia or who cut themselves, or with psychiatric nurses who somehow keep doing their jobs despite having to clean up patients' feces or deal with the effects of a calm-seeming patient's sudden suicide. This book is short, educational, and can be effective in lowering the stigma of mental illness: it's sometimes dark, and the illustrations can be bland, but other than that there's little reason not to read it.

Read Already, July through Dec. 2012

Below are the books I have read in July-December 2012. The most recently read books are on top of the list, to which I am sorta regularly adding items. Some titles are not counted because they are children's books or something like that but I'm adding them to the list, numberless, for the sake of memory/description.

(Also: on the pages linked above are the books I am reading and hope to finish, the books I hope to not have to finish, thank you, and the ones I hope to start. There's also a list of stuff I've taken in from other media.)

27/53. The BFG by Roald Dahl. 
Reread in December.
When an orphan named Sophie is kidnapped by a giant with enormous ears and a tendency to make up words, she expects to be eaten right away. This doesn't happen. If you didn't read this, well, there's still a chance to make up for that lost childhood.

Quote: " 'Bonecrunching Giant says Turks is tasting oh ever so much juicier and more scrumdiddlyuptious! Bonecruncher says Turkish humans has a glamourly flavour. He says Turks from Turkey is tasting of turkey.' "

26/52. Logan's Story by Ann M. Martin. 
Read in December.
You know you want to know all about that one boy in the Babysitter's Club, Mary Anne's "steady boyfriend" with the Kentucky accent. He's such a good feminist, but still makes time to play football.

 and Baby-sitters' Christmas Chiller 
Read in December.
IT'S A SUPER MYSTERY! And SEASONALLY APPROPRIATE! The Babysitters are terrified (but not terrified enough, in my opinion) when somebody starts breaking into houses in Kristy's neighborhood and leaving messages of "Naughty" or "Nice" in various locations-- and robbing the "Naughty" families. Misadventures and holiday cheer ensue. Side stories include the appearance (mysterious, naturally) of an amnesiac pregnant woman (whom everyone calls "Mary," ha.) in the town.

25/51. Everyday Saints by Archimandrite Tikhon, translated by Julian Henry Lowenfeld.
Read in December.
2012's Bestseller in Russia, and no wonder why: this is a superbly readable, thankfully fat volume of little stories about Russian clergy and regular people dealing with matters of faith. Not strictly spiritual, more "fun" than the work of St. Theophan the Recluse, for instance, but still inspiring to Orthodox Christians and others. This is the book's website; it has excerpts (yay), reviews, ways to buy the book, and so on.

24/50. Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, Fr. Thaddeus book 
Read in November or so.
Fr. Thaddeus was a monk in Serbia to whom people often came for advice. Since he lived from 1914 to 2002, the advice sounds like it could be given today, and because it is based on Biblical truths and the works of the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church, it actually can be. There's a short biography of Fr. Thaddeus, followed by solid advice organized by topic, so it's readable in bits and pieces, or all at once. Website!
Lent to me by a friend; will be reread.

23/49. The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir 
Read in November.
For school, good stuff. Read some biography materials about her and part of The Second Sex a while back and have been interested in this lady's work and life since. Here, de Beavoir fills in the blanks of (her friend/partner) Jean Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness and other ethical work. Basically, she provides some hope for the hopeless existentialist.

22/48. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Read in Nov. and Dec.
This was SO GOOD, but now what do I do with my life?

21/47. Song of Solomon from the Orthodox Study Bible (love the footnotes)
Read in Nov.?
Romantic poetry? Metaphor for Christ and the Church? Either way, beautiful, short book in Old Testament. One of three works of Definitely Solomon, other two being Ecclesiastes (see #19/45) and Proverbs.

20/46. Existentialism book for school. Done. Uh, I'll get the title when I'm back on campus.
Read in Sept. through Nov.? 
This paperback textbook is full of important chunks of primary texts on existentialism. My professor told us not to read the little bios/primary text explanations that preceded the primary texts themselves, but I did, and now I know where he got all his lecture material.

19/45. Ecclesiastes
Read in October.
For everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and you'll find out what season when you read Ecclesiastes. Kidding, you won't, but you will have a nice time meditating on why there is still something to live for despite there being vanity in all things.

18/44. that one Calligraphy book with the good pictures
Read and sometimes copied (with a calligraphy marker) in October. 
I took out another book about handwriting, see #11/37 below, but while it told the history of some styles of calligraphy and handwriting it didn't really have good examples of the alphabet or of short texts to copy. This book did, and I'd love to give you the title, but a certain library won't let me see my patron history online, so I'll have to go back to the stacks before I can provide more info here. Also, Gothic and Unctial style calligraphy is really fun to write in/draw.

17/43. Poems to Live by in Uncertain Times, edited by Joan Murray
Read in October.
Stumbled across the poetry section in the small local library and was tempted by this because (a) boy am I ever an uncertain person and (b) I opened it to a random page and the poem that happened to be there struck a good balance between being emotional and... sophisticated? well-written? thought-inducing? Anyways, this book is often to my taste, and reading it was a calming experience. Oh, and this book came out a year after 9/11, after the editor read a poem on the radio and received such a positive responses, of letters and questions, that she decided to publish some poems from her binder that fit the situation at hand-- that of mourning, fear, and the desperate need for inner hope. A couple of lines:

"You will forget
The pouring pain of a thorn prick
With a load on the head.
If you stay in comfort too long"
-from "You Will Forget" by Chenjerai Hove.

"Pay heed to my protest
For you are not a God friendly to dictators
neither are you a partisan of their politics
nor are you influenced by their propaganda
neither are you in league with the gangster"
-from "Psalm 5" by Ernesto Cardenal.

16/42. New York, New York! (Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #6) by Ann M. Martin
Read in October.
Yes, this is a children's book, but it's also a Super Special, so I am counting it, okay? In this magnificent volume, the entire Babysitter's Club (well, Kristy, Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, Mallory, Jessi, and Dawn) receive an invitation from Stacey, whose father lives in New York City, to stay over for two whole weeks and to see the city and to have sightseeing adventures! So they do! Well, four of the girls stay over at the large apartment where one of Stacey's rich friends lives (I knew there had to be a catch with the housing situation, somewhere) but yes, they all fit, and a couple of them end up babysitting (of course) some charming British children, and somebody (I am about to give a spoiler but I'm not saying about whom) has her first kiss, and the story had some predictable endings for me but I still enjoyed it and I am glad I picked this up off the free shelf of the library, because it will be repeated easy/pleasure reading in the future I am sure.

15/41. Social backgrounds of English literature by Ralph Philip Boas and Barbara M. Hahn
Read in September and October.
Wonderful book of history of England with focus on what happened to influence literature. Not sure what age group this is for but I suppose anyone from third grade up could enjoy this lively writing. Picked it up in the basement of the town library and couldn't resist. From the time of Old English to Medieval times, the Rennaisance, the 1700s and 1800s, and then ""Our Own Time" (through the end of the 1910s!), the authors tell all about what people did in the towns and countrysides of England, what wars happened why (this bit was very helpful for my poor knowledge of history), about the various regions of England, sketches of the characters of several historic figures and authors, and the like. I seriously want to find out what else, if anything, was written by Boas and/or Hahn.

Little excerpt from the first chapter, "Geographical Backgrounds":
"The Moors are often overgrown peat-fields. Their cultivation is difficult and without reward; but game, wild fowl, and herds of sheep flourish in such areas. The people are sturdy and frugal, but inclined to gloom. They are, in the nature of things, not travelers. They live to themselves, and die to themselves, holding little communication with the outside world."
Awesome.

14/40. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Read in September
5th grade level children's novel read for book club with old friends. Had slightly difficult time finding it because student librarian at my college was sure I was talking about the graphic novel based on the anime film. Found it at last in the children's section at the town library. Plot: (spoiler warning) Sophie, the oldest of three sisters in a fairyland knows she is doomed to a dull life because she is not the youngest sister, the one who usually ends up with adventures and a prince. But then she gets caught in a disagreement between a witch and a warlock and is transformed into an old woman. Fortunately, this transformation causes Sophie to lose her resignation and self-consciousness, and she goes out to seek the moving castle of the warlock with the hopes of transforming herself back and finding her fortune. Story moves very quickly, with plot twists left and right, including a sudden time/dimension jump into the 1980's which none of the characters seem sufficiently surprised or impressed by. And there's a benevolent fire demon. I have no idea how the discussion of our book club is going to go, but I anticipate it eagerly.

13/39. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Read in September.
In which Gretchen Rubin takes a year to become more happy, using a chart with checkmarks and a variety of behavioral foci varying by month. She tries to "be Gretchen" and does end up happier in the end, or so she claims. No more opinions or spoilers because am giving this book to somebody soon...

12/38. Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel by Milorad Pavic. (female version.)
Read August-September.
Wow, this book. Let me make this easier on myself and quote a sentence from an Amazon review: "Written in Serbo-Croatian, first published in Yugoslavia, already a bestseller in Germany and France, this whimsical "lexicon" can be read on many levels." Yes, it is a dictionary, though how factual it is I cannot say. It has three sections, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim dictionaries of the Khazars, and entries talk about people like a lute player with extra fingers and Princess Ateh, who sits in on a meeting where the new religion of her people, the Khazars, is to be decided. Each religion's dictionary claims that its religion won the debate. There's not much of a story until late in the book, and I thought I saw the small points of various entries coming together in one plot momentarily, but I lost sight of it. This is either because I took a little break midway through the book, or because I haven't read the male version of the book (which differs by but a few all-important lines) yet. Good read which required a deeper level of concentration.

11/37. Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey
Read in September.
I have a long-standing interest in handwriting and graphology (pseudoscience or not), and so I was looking forwards to reading this but there was more info than I'd expected on people who invented/adjusted forms of handwriting (like Copperplate and the Palmer method and Italic writing) and fewer details about letters, or about variations in styles. So if someone's looking for biographical and historical information, this might be their book. But I didn't like the style of the writing here and finished the book only longing for more pictures/scans of writing from different times (so that I can copy it!). Also, graphology section very introductory but for this type of book that's okay.

10/36. Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys by (you guessed it) Dave Barry
Read in September.
I have been a fan of Dave Barry's humor writing since about fifth grade and yep, judging from this book I still find him funny. Need to know the difference between a guy and a man? (Hint: man : guy :: Germany : Italy.) If you are a woman, do you need to know how to get inside a guy's head? Or do you just need a laugh? Dave Barry. This book.

9/35. The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball
Read in Aug./Sept.
Gift from couple that own the farm I just finished interning at. It's the true story of how a young woman from New York met a farmer, fell in love, moved to the countryside, and changed her entire way of life. Sometimes it is a reflective, emotional sort of read but at other times, as Kimball describes the passing of her first year full-time at Essex Farm with her now-husband, the paragraphs and chapters are dense with useful information (e.g. there is so much I didn't know about compost!). I have plans to force at least one friend to read The Dirty Life.

8/34. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Read in August.
Memoir/essays/autobiography/humor by Mindy Kaling who writes, sometimes directs, produces I think, and acts (as Kelly Kapoor) for The Office. I like her character and I liked the episodes she wrote and directed for The Office (not that there are many episodes of this show that I don't like) so I was interested in writing the tale of another comic I admired, and in enjoying, in the Kelly Kapoor-voiced narration of my mind, her writing style. In that sense this book was satisfactory enough, though I did not like that one of the first chapters was about body issues (really, all female writers lately? Though if you're thinking about it a lot, you might as well write about it in your own sorta memoir...) and I don't like that the book ends so soon (this may be a compliment), because I want to hear more. Was worth a read.

7/33. Facts About the Moon by Dorianne Laux
Read in August.
Book of poetry, not long, given me by penpal who recommended it. He told me about Dorianne Laux's work, her believable, down to earth, feminine point of view. Here is a short bio of her online. The poetry I found touching but not, to me, powerful-- yet. I think it may have been my state of mind at the time of reading the poems actually and I intend to revisit them soon. The descriptions seemed familiar, and the writing somehow very American.

6/32. Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)
Read in July/August.
Lent by a friend; book of short stories and a novella, I think, if that's what Ehrengard is. Have you seen the movie Out of Africa, or read the book? They are about Karen Blixen (well, she wrote the book), though the world portrayed in them is so different from that in these stories-- they take place in Scandinavian or other European locales, sometimes in the desert, but always in places that seem exotic to me. I wonder if the tales were intended to be that way. There are stories of love but also of manipulation and coldheartedness, and the style of the writing, its particular density, took a little while for me to get into but once I did the book became a total page-turner. One of the stories is "Babette's Feast", which reads so cinematically that it is no wonder at all that it was made into a movie. This might be better reading for winter.

5/31. Kindling the Divine Spark by St. Theophan the Recluse
Read in July.
Subtitle which describes this book perfectly: Teachings on How to Preserve Spiritual Zeal. This slim volume by one of my favorite Orthodox Christian writers is a trove of reinvigorating advice for any person looking to keep up enthusiasm in spiritual life. Each chapter is a sermon, and yes, the sermons were written to be given before nuns, but the suggestions made can easily be adapted for use by a layperson. Example: "Remember how your soul was burning then, how you were thinking that, having entered the convent, you would only pray, that you would be in a state of prayer in your cell, in church, spending time thinking of God, in soul-profiting conversations, or in reading spiritual books..." (p. 20-21) No, I do not live in a convent, but I do remember times when, after confession or after talking with my Orthodox friends and being inspired by how they keep the fast or help others, I wanted to live a better life, pray, keep an elevated state of mind. And so this book is helpful. There are stories of saints (who better can show how from varied circumstances a person can find a way to God?) and metaphors (like the dove that shows what one's feelings must be when standing in church or at prayer) as well as the standard explanation-of-Bible sermons. And all of this is not too long to read, and is even better taken in during many sittings! To be reread, part by part, when needed.

4/30. Habibi by Craig Thompson
Read in July.
A book recommended and sent to me by my penpal, who described it thus: "It starts with a child being sold into a marriage, and it gets worse from there." But he also remarked on what a touching story it was, and how I wouldn't be able to put the book down. I couldn't. Habibi is a graphic novel about two orphans growing up in a Middle Eastern country, "Wanatolia," that is filled with so many cultural influences that I couldn't quite place it. Even as slaves are sold and an emperor keeps a harem guarded by eunuchs and a chief dwarf, modern industry builds a city and an enormous dam nearby— and creates slums and piles of refuse enormous enough to bury boats, buildings, and people. The surroundings are rough towards our protagonists, and the events in their lives are hard to bear and nearly impossible to imagine experiencing first-hand, but love and a collection of stories from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism keep hopes up for readers and characters alike. Something else I really like about the book is the deep connection of illustration style and story content, which has to do with Arabic script, the meaning of numbers, and the shapes of stars and body parts. There are events of sexual violence, just plain violence, and other not-for-kids things in this book (you have been warned). See the Amazon page and "Click to LOOK INSIDE!" to view the art in the first few pages, and to possibly be hooked into reading this amazing graphic novel.

Two in the Wilderness, by Mary Wolfe Thompson
Read 7/17
(Not numbered because this and #2/28 below are children's books)
When their father claims a land grant in the New Hampshire wilderness, twelve year old Tabby and her ten year old brother Zeke join him in walking for days through the woods to reach the homestead. Then, while their Pa travels back to their mother and three younger siblings to prepare for the entire family to move out of town, Tabby and Zeke are left to fend for themselves for a couple of months in a new log cabin! Each day they set snares to catch partridges and rabbits, cook a small amount of cornmeal, and scare crows away from their growing corn. Encounters with a bear, a groundhog, a panther (called "painter," as in the Daniel Boone book, #2/28 below), and a circle of howling wolves keep their summer exciting as it stretches on. The only possibly non-P.C. moments occur when they meet a couple of Native Americans near the end of the book, but even the use of the word "squaw" to describe Tabby is forgivable considering this book's 1967 publication. All in all, an exciting little read about a common childhood dream: complete independence from the world of adults.

3/29. The Pushcart Book of Short Stories, edited by Bill Henderson
Read January-July
Collection of 44 short stories averaging around 16 pages each. Have been reading the America's Best and PEN/O. Henry Prize short story collections since high school, as well as other collections and series, and it's interesting to see how the character of the stories changes based on the editor, prize, purpose of collection. For instance, the America's Best series (it comes out annually) has a different guest editor every year, and I've noticed that many of these guests, who are authors in their own right, pick stories rather similar to their own in style. Sometimes the styles of the stories vary, but some detail or theme will keep recurring: Joyce Carol Oates picked stories that leaned toward being more violent and cold, if I recall correctly, and Barbara Kingsolver's year contained more... outdoorsy or ethics-based stories, I think. It's hard to describe the nature of what she picked but I can say honestly that hers was my favorite collection, but also she is one of my favorite authors. Just a matter of subtle tastes or something I guess.

But the Pushcart book! I really liked this one as soon as I started reading it, partly because one didn't know what to expect from any of the stories, and yet they were all very readable. The Pushcart Prize is given to writers for independent publications. The thickness of this volume must have called for more variety than that afforded by America's Best in its yearly volumes, but a need for equally high quality among the stories did not result in blandness. This book did not give me the feeling, as I read it, that students in the sort of public school I went to would be made to read the stories collected here in the eleventh grade. I enjoyed, also, that this book lasted me this long, especially since sometimes I pick up a book of short stories that has too many first sentences that don't welcome me into the rest of the stories they're part of, and thus I've ended up having to carry two or three books just to keep entertained for an afternoon at a coffee shop (don't worry, I wasn't holding up business).

Specific stories that I remember:
-The one about the Russian old man, an engineer of sorts, who in his dying days gets his hands on some uranium and tries to sell it. I felt so much familiarity and identification with the old man as the tale went on that the shocking ending took me a couple of readings to believe.
-The one about the woman who was a lighthouse caretaker. The images of the lonely northern island stay with me.
-"Four Stories" by Lydia Davis. This is the shortest story of the book and it is made of four even shorter stories, or essays or monologues, as the title indicates. Each little story was intriguing and I want to learn more about what happened in each one, and how it relates to the other three. Is there a secret?

2/28. The Story of Daniel Boone by William O. Steele
Read 7/14
Children's book from 1953; hilariously, amazingly not politically correct, though I'm not saying that it's non-P.C. to be a hunter who talks Southern. I'm more referring to the parts about "whipping the Injuns good and proper". Anyways... Daniel Boone grows up in a large Quaker family in rural PA in the 1700s, longing and longing for a rifle to do some hunting with. He gets in a fight with another kid and bloodies his nose in the first chapter. All he eats in the whole book is meat, corn, and the coveted salt that his family is always trading for; not a mention of vegetables (I imagine that some kids would enjoy this detail). As soon as he is old enough, Boone climbs over the mountains to hunt deer and bears, encounters Indians with scalps tied to their belts, and begins a lifetime of adventures. He is captured by the "red men", escapes, fights in the Revolutionary War, starts his own town in "Kentuck," has a family, and is adopted by an Indian chief (wait, what?). In many places the story moves so fast that I almost lose track of what's going on, but that's the problem with condensing history into an easily readable form for third graders or whoever. Am interested in seeing a different version of this story, either more P.C. (not necessarily) or written for my age group ("grown-up")

1/27. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Reread in July.
This is the book I read most recently in the Jan.-June list below, so scroll down for a description. I reread this book and made notes, underlines, and the like (doodles) this time, so as to better be able to find certain passages later and to be able to recall thoughts I had about certain parts of the book, in later readings. Yep, counting it twice this year, but sometimes I count multiple kids' books as one so this list should even out numerically.

Here's Mr. Joel Miller's post about why writing in books is a good idea.

Read Already, Jan. through June 2012.

Below are the books I have read in July-December 2011. On the pages linked above are the books I am reading and hope to finish, and the books I hope to not have to finish, thank you. Oh, and the ones I hope to start. Most recent books on top of list.

26. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Reread in June
Novel about a boy aged about nineteen who travels from Andalusia to the Pyramids in search of treasure, or rather about a boy who follows his personal omens to live out a dream, and who on the way learns the "language of the world". I read this book during high school and enjoyed the story but didn't get much more than that out of it. Now, I read it and have that feeling, you know the one, that this book is deeply brilliant and relates in every way to my current life and thoughts. Am rerereading because I feel that this is a book that I have to really know, to be able to answer questions I ask myself about it, the way I know a few favorite books here and there. So I recommend The Alchemist with the disclaimer that it may not be for you right now, but then that is how it may be with any book, ever.

Note: there's this part on p. 21 that relates to my continuing search for knowledge/tidbits about legends, personal or family or other kinds of legends. Here it is, for future reference:

     "I'm the king of Salem," the old man had said.
     "Why would a king be talking with a shepherd?" the boy asked, awed and embarrassed.
     "For several reasons. But let's say that the most important is that you have succeeded in discovering your Personal Legend."
     The boy didn't know what a person's "Personal Legend" was.
     "It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.
     "At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend."

(and it goes on, to learn more read the book of course...)

25. Bossypants by Tina Fey
Read in May
Bestselling memoir/autobiography of comedic actress and writer Tina Fey. You know, of Saturday Night Live's Sarah Palin impersonations. This book contains stories of Fey's childhood, some reasons behind her personal beliefs and practices (like embracing her uniquely bold, ethnically Greek femininity), and lots of behind-the-scenes goings on from SNL and the show she created and starred in, 30 Rock. I found the humor, anecdotes, and INTERSPERSED COLOR PHOTOS fascinating enough that I read Bossypants with barely a stop, though I did have moments of confusion while reading the parts about 30 Rock since I've never watched the show (though I'm a big SNL fan). This is not the kind of memoir that bogs a person down.

24. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times by James Finn Garner
Read in May
What do the stories of Rapunzel, The Three Little Pigs, and Chicken Little have in common? Their original versions are not PC by 1994 standards, and this is why James Finn Gardner rightly saw fit to rewrite them, and ten more. This slim but valuable volume contains such tidbits as, "Over the railing and onto the bridge leaped a troll—hairy, dirt-accomplished, and odor-enhanced" (from "The Three Codependent Goats Gruff") and "within [the trailer park] dwelled some of the most unregenerate and irredeemable people you could ever imagine—murderers of nondomestic animals, former clients of the correctional system, and off-road bikers" (from "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"). Haha, get it? Murderers of nondomestic animals? That one took me a moment. Anyways, this book is great for people who like political correctness, twists on fairy tales, and especially em dashes. 

23. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Read in April
Things get really dark in book 3 of 3 of Hunger Games series. Our heroine, Katniss, is mentally unstable and going through something like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and still has to be a symbol of the revolution, especially since the revolution is actually happening-- until she suddenly isn't needed anymore. Then, Katniss is responsible for fighting for her own life and her personal ideals. The battles! The assassinations! Who will survive?! You, once you finish this novel.

22. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Read in April
In which Katniss Everdeen, see #21 below, tours her country, tries to stop the rebellions she started by accident, and works on her love triangle situation before she's sent to the arena again in a historic Hunger Games fought between the twelve districts' former champions.

21. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Read in April
Now a movie and a national phenomenon. Katniss Everdeen lives in the poverty-ridden District 12, where every year a boy and a girl are chosen to fight to the death on a televised show in order to reassert the power of the ruling Capitol. When her little sister is chosen for the nightmarish task, Katniss volunteers to replace her, and the dangerous adventures begin. To add to the drama, Katniss's slightly defiant actions before and during the competition start setting off rebellion in the twelve districts of the country of Panem. And there's a love triangle! I can really see how this book came from the mind of a television writer. Lots of cliffhangers and gristly or romantic moments. What I don't like is that this book and its two sequels, see above, don't really have clear beginnings/middles/ends. The story just keeps going, as life keeps going ordinarily... episodically, almost. I yearn for greater structure.

20. The Giver by Lois Lowry
Reread in April
If you haven't read this short young adult/kids novel, do. It's about a boy coming of age in a dystopian world where everything is ruled by Sameness and the order keeps everyone's lives peaceful. That is, until the boy learns that there is more to the world than he knew-- color, pain, love. I want to read a couple of other Lowry books about this world (I think that they are about this world...) so that's my next library goal.

19. Slumdog Millionaire by by Vikas Swarup
Read in April.
Originally called q & a, this is the book that the movie Slumdog Millionaire was based on. An exciting read even after I saw the movie because there are crucial differences in the stories of book and film, and neither work is far inferior to the other. Exciting and brings scenes of adventure and poverty alive for the reader.

18. Ant Farm by Simon Rich
Read in April.
Short book of funny situations and things by a guy who was attending Hahvahd at time of writing.

17. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Read in March.
Story of Zeitoun family of New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Various setbacks like imprisonment, people's attitudes towards the Zeitouns' Muslim faith, and the search for a place for the kids to attend school add to the complications that living in a severely flooded city bring to life.

16. My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud-homme (her nephew fyi)
Read in March.
The book off of which the "Julia" part of "Julie and Julia," feature film, is based. Essentially an autobiography which tells of Julia Child's life with gastronomy and making cookbooks, while loving her husband and family and moving from continent to content. It's a life in France only figuratively: Child's great interest in French cooking is what caused her to share cooking methods and recipes with Americans and others over TV and in books with such persuasiveness. It was great to read the story behind the fame, and the story made me hungry.

15. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
Read in March. Lent forcibly to me, kidding.
Novel but doesn't read like one. Written by a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Intermittent chapters about imagined goings-on of life of young Einstein (like a broken up short story) frame a series of descriptions of worlds in which time functions differently. The world chapters are short and seem to be fairy tales at first but more and more one realizes that it is imaginings such as these that actually describe the reality of how people experience time, from the slowing down of a moment of enjoyment or memory, to the changes in speed involved in the enactment of the theory of relativity itself. Almost romantic.

14. BITCHfest, edited by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler, foreword by Margaret Cho.
Read in February and March.
From ten years of publication of the smart feminist magazine Bitch come its best articles, stories and essays, expressed in a way that doesn't make feminism seem like some remnant of the 70s. Readable like a magazine indeed. I especially liked the story where the female rabbi explained why she wore a yarmukle and that fringy scarf (usually Jewish men wear those, not women) and told how her experiences in Israel and California were different. There are sections of essays divided by topic so one can find what one is in a mood to read straightaway. Leaves one feeling better about the world, despite one's greater understanding of its problems (where mistreatment of women and others is concerned).

13. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Read in February.
She went with Edward. Because she hasn't been able to survive without him, literally, since book 1. With this kind of set-up, how could the guy lose? (To be fair, he couldn't live without her, either; humans and non-humans in love, in this series, appear to be obligatorily symbiotic.) I want to see the movies now because numerous people have told me that they're better than the books. I want to see Edward sparkle!

12. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Read in February.
Jacob or Edward? Jacob or Edward?

11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Read in February. Gift!
What Blade Runner is based off of. Very human-like androids, bleak future, good writing.
"The elevator arrived; several police-like nondescript men and women disemelevatored. 

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Read in February.
Does anything I can possibly say about this last book in the Harry Potter series deserve a spoiler alert? I'll remain vague. Unlike many people I was pretty pleased with the ending, though not necessarily the epilogue. Tied things up real nice until you started overthinking it, or just plain thinking it more than necessary. The plot didn't seem to finish off in as sentimental and chaotic way as I'd sort of expected; no, things made quite some sense, and this may be due to the fact that Rowling had the story all planned out when she was writing book 1. Not top-of-the head stuff; one can look back at books 1 and 2 and think ohh, so THAT'S why that happened then... and I didn't get it until now! Pleasing.

9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.
Read in February?
Still the whole "let the villain summarize their plot at the end of the book" thing going on, but rest of story becoming much more complex in construction as series continues. Annoying how in many of Harry Potter books serious clues are dropped for the reader in the form of "and then Harry saw person X doing this suspicious action" but a second later Harry decides to just put off thinking about this life-threatening crisis because he has exams or a crush or something. I mean, I know, being teenaged is hard, but after being repeated a few times, this writing stunt fails to amuse. Not that this kept me from really getting into the Harry Potter series. 

8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Read in January?
Still reading, despite Bella's inadequacies. Come on, Ms. Meyer, you could at least have made your heroine likeable. I suppose that she must by nature be anti-feminist in many ways (exception: she seeks her beloved, not vice versa; in fiction this is somewhat rare) because she's an example of a Mormon family sort of girl, as described in A.J. Wright's essay, "Focus on the Family," in Vader, Voldemort, and other Villains. BUT. Not being a career woman is no excuse for a girl to call herself "gimpy" or "damaged goods" (especially when she hasn't gone past first base). Really?

7. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Read in January?
Really getting in tune with the popular psyche these couple months. At least am in the YA section instead of just children's when I walk into the library. Book: how romantic! Vampire characters and their supernatural traits intriguing; Bella the sort of person I'd be very annoyed with in real life because she keeps putting herself down. Heard somewhere that her one character trait is clumsiness and it does seem as though this is so, unfortunately.

6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Read in January.
In which people really start dying.

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Read in January.
I liked the Dark Arts prof. in this one, even though [spoiler; you know if you read the book]. 

4. Archaic Smile by A. E. Stallings
Read in January.
A friend gave me this slim volume of poetry who either knows my tastes well, or has good taste objectively, or, I would like to think, both. These are the kind of poems that are recent enough to feel fresh (book published 1999) but make use of solid old structures enough to please me, or possibly the ghost of Marianne Moore. The rhythms aren't strict but the slant rhymes are delightful. There are many poems in this book that retell stories of the classics (you know, Greek gods and such), stories which I love, while other poems here give me startling new ways of thinking about everyday objects and occurrences. Overall, I found the book not incredible but still very, very good, and I am sad that it's over, and I will give it more readings.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J. K. Rowling.
Read in January.
The third book in the Harry Potter series. This one is much more complex, especially towards the end. I like the twists and turns and knots, though a lot of the story still depends on people explaining everything to each other near the end of the series of events, chronically speaking. And Rowling continues to outdo herself in describing blushing kids in a wide variety of ways: so many ways to say "pink"! Generally good reading experience.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling.
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling.
Reread in January.

The first two books in the Harry Potter series, you know, famous seven YA novels about boy who finds out he's a wizard, goes to a special school for it and makes friends and gets into mysterious adventures. Lots of flying broomsticks, magical sweets, and sweet vengeance going on. I'm combining entries here because I read both of these books in middle school, and got part of the way through the third one and then decided it was too scary/violent for me and stopped (in middle school. I'm reading the third one currently.). Now I'm rereading them as part of my Winter Break 2011-2012 Search For Fun Book Experiences. Quite fun indeed! The first book goes by faster than I remembered. I was surprised at how little I knew about Hermione by the end of it, for example, because my friends and I obsessed over her in seventh grade and I recall having more information on hand (but by then a couple of the books had come out, and I think a movie or two, so of course there was more material to work with). Another moment that was strange for me was when Harry thanks Mrs. Weasley for his Christmas gifts at the beginning of summer break (first book). Already summer break? He's only thanking her now? Okay, it's the first time in a while that he's seen her in person, it makes sense. More details I'm picking on: I understand that dialogue must be rich in content so that the author doesn't have to describe a thousand little situations in which characters exchange information, but so far the characters have had a lot of conversations in which they tell each other everything ever, at once, even though they see each other every day in class. Not realistic. (Of course, people turning into cats isn't realistic either, but it's all about how it's put on the page.) I assume that this will happen less as the series goes on, and as the books get thicker (i.e. with more space in there to describe events without cramming them into such conversations). Aaand another criticism: it's curious how Voldemort, the villain, has insisted on explaining to Harry all the mysteries of the crimes he has committed in each book right before he plans to kill him (Harry), thus giving Harry time to plan out a defense maneuver or whatnot. It's like in a television crime mystery, in which the detective tells his friends or the villain he just caught about how all the clues come together... it's a little artificial. But still satisfying. I'll give J.K. Rowling this, as I lay around the house coughing and sniffling for the second week straight I found these books a pleasant getaway, and I wish that I had more than the first three taken out from the library.

Favorite quote in Chamber of Secrets:
"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?"
(in the chapter "Dobby's Reward")

Read Already, July through Dec. 2011.

Below are the books I have read in July-December 2011. On the pages linked above are the books I am reading and hope to finish, and the books I hope to not have to finish, thank you. Oh, and the ones I hope to start. Most recent books on top of list.

Numbering: [book # for this year]/[book # for July-December]

Books that I read already:

37/10. The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender
Read in Dec. 2011
This is a book of short stories by the author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (see #33). That was published in 2010; this, in 1998. It's her first book. The stories center around fantasies, fantasies gone wrong, fantastic skills, and fantastic illnesses, a little bit. I've read a couple before in short story collections and enjoyed them because the voice contrasted with the voices of other authors: risky things happen in these stories, and characters go crazy from the events  or non-events around them. Not my favorite book but I did find it readable and "fun", so do read it if you need some time out of the ordinary life.

36/9. Like Water Like Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
Read in Dec. 2011
I picked up The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake because I heard on Amazon or somewhere, from a commenter, that this book and Like Water Like Chocolate have opposite concepts: Lemon Cake book has a girl tasting others' emotions in the food they cook, while Chocolate has a girl (later, woman) who cooks food that causes others to experience her emotions. I prefer Chocolate. In this book, a series of magical events occur as reactions to an actual plot (hurrah!!!) in which the heroine, a girl whose abusive mother insists that she take care of her until she (the mother) dies, changes her own life and the lives of her sisters while falling deeply in love, raising others' children, and especially cooking. The novel is actually written in a series of recipes, one a month, and the directions for making complex, delicious-sounding Mexican dishes (and sometimes other concoctions, like matches) flow in and out of the stories relating to them easily. I really got taken along for the ride, and realllly want to try mole sauce.

35/8. Wayside School is Falling Down and Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar
Read in Dec. 2011
From the author of Holes, the second and third books in a three-book series; masterpieces, all. Lots of chapters with a story each about a school with thirty floors with a classroom on each floor, except for the nineteenth floor, where Mrs. Zarves teaches. The nineteenth floor doesn't exist, and neither does Mrs. Zarves, though Allison does get stuck in her class for a week! And other stuff, like about not wearing socks.This book is so funny and silly and illogical and refreshing. I give up on not reading children's books!


34/7. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Read in Dec. 2011
Good: light reading at last! I picked up a pile of library books to read over break and went somewhere for a week but only took... one of them. Which was a bad idea because I got sick and could have read SO MANY. Am still working my way through Elizabeth Bishop book. Anyways. Lemon Cake. This book is about a girl who tastes people's emotions in the foods they cook. Great concept but in my opinion the author didn't go far with it. Oops, let me label my rant correctly.
Bad: Okay. So concept is great but there's no plot other than time passing and characters not communicating with each other enough. If the only thing I am yelling at a book when I am reading it is "guys, just talk to each other already, THAT'S ALL IT TAKES TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM, SAY THAT LITTLE THING" then there's usually a problem. Basically this huge talent of being able to taste emotions is turned into a little phenomenon that affected the protagonist about as much as my ability to write backwards has affected me (i.e. not much, though it did attract a bit of attention in middle/high school). Really? Let's please not make this ONLY about character development... AAAAA ALL CAPS!!!
However, I still have hopes for Bender's other books, one of which I have borrowed at the moment. Report pending.

33/6. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.
Read in Fall 2011.
I like most of Kingsolver's work, adore The Poisonwood Bible and the essays especially, she's a woman who has good thoughts about good subjects and a role model for me. Novel is about a chap who grows up in Mexico, gets sent to America, lives his life going back and forth between the two countries and meets famous people (Kahlo, Trotsky) and has a mother who is a flapper, which is amusing (though too much dialect sounds trite here and there?). I enjoyed it and read it during slow work nights. I forgot to put it up here though until 2012, so... not much memory of it left except it felt like this book was trying to teach me something, Mexican and American history and tolerance and possibly other things, while telling its story. This is done not in a bad way but I don't want to feel like I'm in fourth grade, sometimes.

32/5. A bunch of school textbook chapters, don't tell me this doesn't count! I don't feel like putting these in the "Won't Read" section would be wrong because each of these chapters is almost complete in itself.
Read in Fall 2011.

-Soil Science and Management, by Edward Plaster
-Wretched unnamed botany excerpt "textbook" composed of select chapters from a complete textbook. So there are two sets of page numbers, and NO INDEX. Awful... (to be fair, the writing and pictures are all right, and I think that the book in its entirety would be fine, but this textbook and the notes and the lab notes/worksheets don't all coincide very well, and it makes the class confusing... okay rant over.)
-Notes on greenhouses! Printouts with pictures!
-Ditto everything about apples! So many new facts! Not all from one source though, just lots of copies of things.
-Something about citizenship and speaking publicly which includes tidbits of famous speeches. Those are the best part.
-Oh and maybe forty-something mostly Russian songs with doodles all over the pages (by yours truly). We sang them!

31/4. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
Read in October.

Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, wrote this nonfiction book about getting to know his childhood rabbi during the years before he died, for the sake of writing his eulogy. So stories and wisdom from the meetings of Albom and the reb alternate chapters with the story of a formerly incarcerated black man in Detroit who starts up a Christian church and a shelter. Somewhat cheesy/soapy/melodramatic at times but this is the book I was needing at the time, and it's another one suggested to me by a friend (new school friend, this one). That was the week I needed a boost in happy faith thoughts and this book did it for me, I know to come back to it if I need another lift.

30/3. The Blue Book by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Read in... September? Unless October?

This is a book of philosophy that Wittgenstein dictated to his students, and that they passed around and finally got published at some point, maybe after his death. It's about words and their meanings and I like it because it tears apart Plato's method of analysis here and there but in a respectful way that makes sense. I read this to prepare/introduce myself to Wittgenstein before getting too deep in Mr. John Verdi's book Fat Wednesday, in which he discusses aspects of things, starting off from some ideas of Mr. W. I think fondly of these things because Mr. Verdi was the tutor of one of my favorite classes at St. John's College, and because I like language and philosophy and it's good to think about them every once in a while, now that I'm studying farm things.

29/2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
Read July-August.

It's pessimistic, it's sarcastic, it's funnier if you come into it sympathizing with protagonist who doesn't want to die at war, while also not expecting humor. World War II. Very clever stories within stories. Sharp. SPOILER ALERT-ISH: man, the end, it's cumulative. Gotta read the whole thing. Now I gotta read it over to make sense of it all...

28/1. Saving Grandma, by Frank Schaeffer.
Read in August.
Novel, sequel of Portofino which I found years ago in the Jordanville monastery/seminary bookstore and bought, among other things like: prayer book and the like. Neither book belongs in that bookstore in my opinion but it may have been in there because it has to do with missionaries? [Update: a Jordanville-based friend says that Mr. Schaeffer has also written (edited? translated?) some super churchy stuff, so that explains that.] A dysfunctional family of them? The narrator is Calvin, the youngest member of the stalwart Protestant group. In Portofino we meet the family while they are on vacation in Italy: now, they are back home in Switzerland (they live there, though they are Americans), where personalities clash and things go badly wrong. All this causes Calvin to fantasize endlessly about returning to Italy and meeting the girl he loves there, all while the next summer's vacation begins to seem less and less possible in reality... so this is a good vacation book, but perhaps not for a pilgrimage. Caution.

I DID NOT READ IN JULY?! Nope, or at least I didn't finish anything. :'(

Read Already, Jan. through June 2011.

Below are the books I have read in January-June 2011. On the pages linked above are the books I am reading and hope to finish, and the books I hope to not have to finish, thank you. Oh, and the ones I hope to start. Most recent books on top of list.

Books that I read already:

27. On the Banks of Plum Creek and On the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Reread in June. 

Summary/commentary coming...

Note: I have been stuck on reading kids'/young adult books for a while and I am guessing that the reasons for this are: I have a lot of really good kids' books around, and I want to read something with plot and most of the stuff on my "to read" shelf is either nonfiction or in a foreign language that I'm too lazy to work at. Really, this is my last time excusing myself for this here, and in the future, I will attempt to either go to the library and find some challenging fiction, or I won't number books that I consider too easy.

26. Anacaona: Golden Flower, by Edwidge Danticat.
Reread in June.

This is a book in the Royal Diaries series, which I mentioned in the book #20 blurb below. These are the historical-fictional journals of princesses or other future female rulers in their early teen years, set while they are developing the personalities that they will later be famous or infamous for. The girls do rad princess-training things like studying English, Latin, Greek, French, and Italian (Elizabeth I), sleeping on soldier cots (Anastasia), or learning where on his outfit, depending on his rank, a warrior can attach a shrunken head (Lady of Palenque). The heroine of Golden Flower is the daughter of a supreme chief of the Taínos and witnesses the arrival of Columbus and the "pale men" with him in the New World, specifically Haiti.

Anacaona is an unusual "princess" in this series for a combination of reasons. First of all, because the real Anacaona was illiterate, the author had to consider the forms of art, especially songwriting, that Haitian culture in 1490 did feature, and construct a first-person narrative around these media. It still came out sounding like a diary, which I am sure was intentional, but it still must have been a challenge to make the story cohesive in a place with no written "history" from this time period (that is, from a perspective other than that of Columbus's men...). Second unusual thing: okay, so we don't know much about Anacaona's actual life, but a lack of facts hasn't kept authors from being creative in the past, and it didn't stop Danticat. The narrative is believable, though the author did take a few liberties with realism, see item three on my list: [SPOILER ALERT?] Anacaona dies only a couple years after the "diary" is finished, and it's not at all surprising, because she practically knows it will happen. She is the most mystically-aligned Royal Diaries narrator I can think of off the top of my head, and frequently has dreams and visions that inform her of future or distant events. How cool! Yet, unless this novel was meant to be fantastic for the purpose of showing some Taíno tradition, I am not sure why the extrasensory powers were necessary. If unusual quality of this book #3 was that Anacoana died so soon after the story in the book ended, I should also mention that according to Wikipedia, she was in her late twenties when sequences of events caused her to be killed by Europeans; the Anacaona of Danticat's book seems much younger, though no specific age is mentioned. But this is the sort of vagueness that can still work in historical fiction, when little is known of the history itself.

25. Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Reread in May.

The last of Baum's fourteen Oz books, this novel was written after one of the earlier ones that was supposed to be the last, but wasn't (in that earlier novel, Glinda, I think, closes off Oz from any further human contact! No more stories for you!). It was also written shortly before Baum's death, and contains a note from the publishers to the effect that he is off to tell Oz stories to the souls of children who are no longer with us. This book is standard Oz story format: Dorothy and Ozma go on an adventure, encounter hijinks and dangers, and are rescued by their any magical friends. The unusual thing about this book, though, is that as we go through the landscape of Oz and meet different characters, we learn that there are different sorts of magic, all of which have limits. We learn that fairy magic can be a burden or even destructive if the fairy cannot help others with it, and that humans can even consider themselves lucky to not be endowed with magic, if they see their situation in the right light. All these meaning-of-magic lessons apparently set the rules for Oz books written by other writers (there are many! Think of it, a century of fan fiction.), but I like to think of it as a reminder to child readers that they can have okay lives even if they are not whisked off to a faraway enchanted land themselves. Such a lesson really bridges the worlds of the reader and the characters, and I appreciate this connection as much as I enjoy the comparison of heaven and the larger Narnia through the doorway at the end of the Narnia series, or the hint that future readers of a certain magical book, users of their imaginations, can also all be part of the Neverending Story. It's a smooth ending for an author's reign as "historian" of a fantasy world.

24. A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, by Kathryn Lasky.
Reread in May.

This and book #26, excuse me, are written for I am guessing fifth graders. Do they count as books? I think they do. I am not including blatant picture books in this list but I do read young adult/kids' novels for relaxation and they get numbers too. In regards to this actual book, I haven't gone back to it since maybe high school, and I was surprised by a number of things. Well, plot rundown first: pilgrim girl sails to Massachusetts with her family; they settle down. Right. Anyways, the SHOCKERS are:

-Throughout the narrative, people around "Mem" are constantly dying. It is very bleak. Sometimes she does not write for a while because too many people have died. Sometimes she is working in a sick bay AKA "dying shed", if I recall correctly. Sometimes a character is driven mad by grief. But everyone plods right along. I suppose this was normal back in the day, but I don't remember all the death and sickness and depressed sadness from my earlier readings of this book.

-How nonchalantly Mem states that the men from the ship have found some corn stored under a rock by the Indians, and how glad she is that they took (looted) it! How little her conscience is affected when the men find the queer houses of the "people with feathers" and take what is inside! And yet she is so frightened that the Indians might just possibly attack them. No kidding! Quit stealing stuff!

That's about it, this wasn't as relaxing a read as I had hoped for.

23. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
Reread in May.

I'm surprised I've let four years pass before rereading this book, because I was amazed by it the whole way through, both readings. Don't be tripped up by the title: this novel won't try to convert you to Christianity, and though some of the narrators of this broad, long story give up on the Baptist faith of their origins, this book shouldn't make you a doubter, either. The plot is told by the five women and girls of the Price family as they are led to the Congo by a missionary father, the Baptist preacher, and then as they leave him to his fate and individually seek their own in their trails toward escape or, as the newspaper reviews called it, redemption. These narrators are each wholly and surprisingly different. Rachel, the oldest daughter, lives in unchanging teenage vanity until the humor of her immaturity begins to reveal its tragedy. Ruth May, the youngest and innocent one, ends up indirectly causing her family's dispersion across the world. The twins, Leah and Adah, share a high level of intelligence but while the first girl works to love friends and family and to adapt to others her whole life, the second first retreats within herself, then reclaims individuality as her personal philosophy takes a startling shape. And the mother bears the brunt of it all. In summary, an enjoyable read for me, sometimes heartbreaking but not depressing.

Quote time! Here are some of Adah's linguistics, followed by Leah's observations on life in Africa:

"People are bantu; the singular is muntu. Muntu does not mean exactly the same as person, though, because it describes a living person, a dead one, or someone not yet born. Muntu persists through all those conditions unchanged. The Bantu speak of "self" as a vision residing inside, peering out through the eyeholes of the body, waiting for whatever happens next. Using the body as a mask, muntu watches and waits without fear, because muntu itself cannot die." (page 343 of a 1998 paperback)

"When thirty foreigners were killed in Stanleyville, each one was tied somehow to a solid exchange, a gold standard like the hard Belgian franc. But a Congolese life is like the useless Congolese bill, which you can pile by the fistful and still not purchase a single banana. It's dawning on me that I live among men and women who've simply always understood their existence is worth less than a banana to most white people. I see it in their eyes when they glance up at me." (437)


22. Silas Marner by George Eliot, AKA Mary Anne Evans.
Read in April.

Shorter novel about a miser who becomes a better person after an orphaned little girl shows up at his house. It's more complicated than it sounds, and the two major plots are a hint to the masterpiece Eliot would write ten years later, Middlemarch (I started it in the fall, never made it through to the end, found it funny until I found it overwhelming). I like this description of a woman at a party: "Mrs. Crackenthorp—a small blinking woman, who fidgeted incessantly with her lace, ribbons, and gold chain, turning her head about and making subdued noises, very much like a guinea-pig that twitches its nose and soliloquizes in all company indiscriminately". (Source)

21. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
Read in April.

Sad and beautiful. I read this in English but would like to reread in Russian, if ever I get the patience. The story is of the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed it; we meet Yuri Zhivago when he is a boy at his mother's funeral, and follow him and his changing family, lovers, and other "comrades" as the country goes through political turbulence, and personal values and families' structures change simultaneously. Zhivago is a doctor as well as a poet and his deep experiences of various events give a sweeping view of a set of historical circumstances. Doctor Zhivago reminded me of Les Miserables more than anything else I've read-- so poignant, and involving historical politics in such a way as to actually make a non-history buff like me care about them. Can't really criticize this one.

P.S. the movie for Doctor Zhivago, 1965 with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, it's does its various jobs well.

20. Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman.
Reread(?) in April.

I was longing to read some fiction about the middle ages and knew of Karen Cushman, who wrote Catherine Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice. This is a young adult novel by Cushman which describes some time in the life of a young woman apprenticed to a bone-setter in medieval England. I like the grittiness of the surroundings described, and the personalities of the characters. It's an unusual coming of age story.

Segue: I don't like that much of the historical fiction I've read that was intended for young people seems to feature characters of that era who make a point of not really caring about religion. They may have been raised by a priest, like Matilda Bone, or going on a pilgrimage like the heroine of Peregrine, but as the story happens the character either decides to favor modern values (i.e. a preference towards less respect for tradition) along with, say, a more modern approach to medicine (Matilda Bone), or decides that religion is nice for other people but not for them. Elizabeth in Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Kathryn Lasky, from The Royal Diaries series, is an example of a deliberately unreligious character, but at least her treatment of religion reflects the actual Elizabeth I's opinions. I give credit to Carolyn Meyer for making Isabel in Isabel: Jewel of Castilla of the same series sincerely (and historically accurately) religious, by the way. Am thinking about Mircea Eliade's views of religion with the assumption that it is part of the religious person's reality (see #19 below), and how this might not be often reflected in historical fiction.

19. The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade.
Read in April.

A year and a half ago, a professor got me vaguely interested in Mircea Eliade and his friend Mr. Jung. This is because the ideas of nostalgia and archetypes being important to some theory in psychology or religion or anything appealed to me, and had a little to do with my nine-year-old thoughts concerning nostalgia for the future. Anyways, this book insists that the sacred should be viewed from the inside, since it alters the reality (or the perception of reality? But in a big way?) of those who acknowledge it. The things that are sacred, whether they are times or places or anything else to do with human life, are described and examined in a variety of cultures throughout time and from around the world. I liked the introduction best and the conclusion second, and the middle seemed muddled, but/and I definitely plan to read more of Eliade's work.

18. What I Eat by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio.
Read in April.

I was being book-avoidant I tried reading a couple comic books, but they were boring (sorry, Foxtrot. I liked you before.). Finally I came across this on the NEW BOOKS shelf at the library and it was just the picture book I was looking for! See website. What I Eat is, judging from its physical size and the amount of photographs (!) it contains, a coffee table book. It's an account of what more than eighty individuals around the world, of all trades and social situations, eat in a given day. As a person who loves pictures of food and ways of examining people's strange lives, and who appreciates chapters numbered by amounts of calories, I enjoyed this volume immensely. What I Eat is inspiring me to become literate again after a relapse into book phobia (By the way, it's not all because of T.V. now. My new excuse is employment!).

17. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
Finished in late March.

First thing I read through by Dickens, unless I read some as a kid (but that was probably in abridged form). I was looking for something light in the Young Adult section of the library and opened this (brick of a) book and it was hilarious, so I kept reading. This is Dickens's most autobiographic novel except for the part about the wives. There are crowds of great characters, half of whom [SPOILER ALERT] end up moving to... Australia! How about that. I would have finished this sooner (it's March 26th and the last time I put a book on the "read already" list was sometime in February) but I got addicted to The Office and stopped reading, thinking, and eating vegetables for a month in favor of television.

16. Linda McCartney: a portrait by Danny Fields.
Read in February?

A guy who was friends/acquaintances with Linda (Epstein/Eastman) McCartney before she married Paul the Beatle recounts her life story, adding in previously unseen interviews and the opinions and recollections of her other friends, acquaintances, relatives, etc. Bad: name-dropping, that sort of thing. At times I found it hard to trust Fields's interactions with Linda after she married McCartney, but hey, I've never been friends with a wildly famous person so I wouldn't know how fake or real I'd act in that scenario. Also, Fields endlessly described and praised the photos Linda took, but I don't think he showed more than one or two (and those weren't remarkable).  I guess I could look them up if I wanted to see more But... Good: a feeling for how the world was in the sixties and seventies, especially New York City when both Danny and Linda worked there; a new view of the Beatles from the inside at the time of their breakup; the plain existence of this book, a biography of Linda McCartney, which is what I'd been looking for at the library when I took it out. Bonus points for existing.

15. I am an emotional creature: the secret life of girls around the world by Eve Ensler.
Read in February?

The author of the Vagina Monologues, see #11 below, wrote this play for a younger audience. I like that the book tackles a huge variety of problems that girls (and boys) today have to deal with; I don't like that Ensler uses this work to push her politics, in ways sometimes not so slight, at children.

14. Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks.
Read in February?

It's early spring in 1666 and Anna is a young servant living in an English village with her two children and a boarder, a tailor from London. When this boarder receives a bolt of cloth infected with a mysterious sickness, the disease kills him and begins to spread rapidly through the village, until it is apparent that the plague has arrived. In a move of noble self-sacrifice, the villagers close themselves off from the rest of the country and spend the next several months either dying, tending to the dying, doing three people's jobs, or becoming flagellants. Anna manages to survive it all. Read the thing to find out what on earth happens to the poor woman.

13. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Read in February.

I guess I'm into women-y books these days, because this one's a dystopian novel about a future U.S., now known as Gilead, where the men are in charge and the women wear loose, long dresses that designate their function in life: as in, green = housework, red = birthgiving, stripes = "Econowife". Horrifying. Kudos to the "Underground Womanroad," though.

12. The Good Body, also by Eve Ensler.
Read in February, around V Day.

Now Ensler speaks of bellies. This time, the interviews are with a variety of women (sorry, guys) who are dealing with some aspect of their bodies, getting liposuction or botox or whatever, with remarkable fixation. A quote from a girl at fat camp: "All this talk from the government about blowing up from obesity. I think this government should be worried about blowing up from all these bombs." Heh. Oh, and this other quote: "I eat for my Moscow translator,/ who told me she thought cellulite/ was anticommunist/ and she loved her pure Russian fat."

11. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.
Read in February, around V Day.

I figured the occasion made it a good time to read this (in)famous play. What occasion? V-Day, see http://www.vday.org/, on Valentine's Day, is an event set aside to raise consciousness of violence against girls and women. Ensler's compilation of monologues, which is performed at college campuses and other locations nationwide, reveals to its audiences the truths about the female "down there" anatomy that people rarely think or know about. While "awareness" campaigns often fall into the category of being more annoying than useless, e.g. all those ribbons out there in symbolic colors, this play not only tells about the pleasures and horrors that can come with having a vagina (How many women don't know what an orgasm is? How many stay silent about a rape or assault?) but helps real women through its connection with an ongoing fight against violence. Bravo.

10. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Last Narnia book. Reread.
Read in February.

I'd been rereading some of the others in December and didn't know where this one was, then my brother cleaned his desk up and found it buried in there somewhere. I love this series, and I love when lost things are found!

9. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.
Read in January?

It's been recommended to me a couple times but I resisted reading it because of the half-gristly title. Now I read it, and found it okay, not my favorite book but it does continue the feeling of the title remarkably throughout. The feelings of revulsion and adoration with which one might react to life's various aspects are expertly blended and juxtaposed and pressed easily upon the reader by the inviting flow of the half-century long story.

8. Good Poems for Hard Times, multiple authors.
Read in January.

Edited AKA put together by Garrison Keillor. I read his compilation, Good Poems in one sitting this summer (er, 2010) when I got stuck outside my house with nothing but the sun and trees, a beach chair, fresh sweet peas and this book for company. Best day of the season, total poetry high. Also, the intro of for Hard Times totally speaks to me. Love them both, so much interesting, readable poetry.

7. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
Read in January.

Novel narrated by young woman living with her unusual family in their castle-- I mean, the castle for which they don't exactly pay rent anymore because they can't afford decent meals. Quite the charming and humorous voice, though I liked the book (and its story, its characters) less and less as it went on. British, 1930s. Author of One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
Read in January.

Reread. Such an effective page turner, this novel is somewhere in between being a romance, sci-fi book, and a solid piece of literature (at least this is my claim. It's nowhere near Jane Eyre, for instance.). I saw clips of the movie and don't like it much, but the book, sigh, the book...

5. The Best American Essays 2004
Read in January.

This collection contained a number of gems. Did you know that the author of Seabiscuit has been confined to her home basically since college on account of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? She writes about it in this volume.

4. The Emerald City of Oz
Read in January.

My favorite perhaps of the Oz books. It was meant to be the last of L. Frank Baum's series but totally wasn't. It has two alternating plots, one scary and one quite sweet, that meet at the end. The scary plot involves some really horrendous evil hordes of invaders, and the sweet one has Uncle Henry and Aunt Em being charmingly Kansasian while on a tour of Oz with Dorothy and some unusual companions.

3. The Road to Oz
Read in January.

Dorothy and Toto meet the Shaggy Man, who gets a brand new, jeweled shaggy outfit once he arrives in Ozma's palace. Lots of nice magic and shenanigans with a host of new friends. Santa Claus makes an appearance!

2. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
Read in January.

Here's the Wizard again, so human and lovable. And friends. And miniature pigs. A bunch of interesting characters travels through the center of the world here, and finds lands not known, apparently, to modern science.

1. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Read in January.

The third in the series following The Wizard of Oz. In this volume we meet the Nome King and a princess who owns thirty heads. Pleasure/lazy reading on my part, and I like the pictures.