I dunno about you, but I fell seriously short of 52. Here's hoping 08's a stronger showing.

I've got a short stack of books to start off the year - first up is Martin Millar's The Good Faeries of New York, then I've got Revolutionary Road, Tree of Smoke (which looks like it's going to blow my mind), The Echo Maker, and Old Filth.

Alright, get at it people.

I'm finishing up Honey For The Bears by Burgess right now. I read A Clockwork Orange when I was younger and really loved the Brit/Slav hybrid slang and so I read One Hand Clapping which was even better. This one is similar to that, focusing on a marriage that is strained when it comes into unusual circumstances. A fairly funny book as was OHC, and it's really picked up at the halfway point. Already decided I'm going to continue reading his works. Next up I'm not sure what I'm going to read. I'm thinking either How Soccer Explains The World or The Miscellany Of A Japanese Priest. Both should be quick reads.

EDIT: Just to mention, I have no intention of fulfilling the 'goal' here what with academics, work, drinking, etc. but rather I figure this would be the easiest way to catalogue my reading (which I've never done before) with some quick thoughts on each. So I'll be posting every so often, probably forgetting many of the books I do read, but I'll be around.

I finally picked up the Colbert book, but I got McCarthy's Blood Meridian at the same time. Those should be interesting sequential reads. Hoping Blood Meridian isn't TOO inaccessible.

Might as well attempt this.


1. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
2. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
3. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - Robert E. Howard
4. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
5. World War Z - Max Brooks
6. The Orchard Keeper - Cormac McCarthy
7. Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way - Bruce Campbell - this wasn't worth the $2 I paid for it.

Hey, good to see fresh faces.

Let me know how that "How Soccer Explains The World" turns out, Svy - I've had it on my reading list for a hell of a while.

And Epoch, I wouldn't worry too much about McCarthy being inaccessible - from what I saw in the Road, he's got a style like Hemingway in terms of impact and concision.

How was A Short History, TMWNN?

As for myself, I finished Revolutionary Road, and holy lord was it good. I'm thinking it's somewhere between #2 and #3 on my all-time list. Moving into Tree of Smoke now, and it's a big bastard, I'm going to have to tear through it if I want to keep on pace for 52.

Well, I finished Colbert's book a couple of days ago. Been kind of busy. It was funny, of course. I may start on Blood Meridian next, but I need to finish It (The Stephen King book). I've started it like three times and always stop reading for some reason with about 200 pages left, even though it's supposed to be getting to the real action. I may finish It off and add it to my list. I'm a cheater.

So, uh:

1. I Am America (And So Can You)

Last year I ended up with twelve books, I think. All kid's books, and two thirds of them I'd already read.

So far this year I've read Daddy-Long-Legs. Also a kids book, but I don't understand why it's not famous. I thought it was really, really bitchin'.

I have been typing up book shit in a blog online, and I should have copy/pasted it here but I kept forgetting.

Books so far this year (and I will definitely be numbering them, because holy shit counting last year's books was annoying):

1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Awesome. Love the movie, love the book. Plus, I actually enjoyed the forward, written by Goldman himself. He's a swell guy.

2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (re-read)
Just as good as it was the first time I read it, which was last year.

3. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (re-read)
Another book I read last year, inspired by this painting. I re-read this and the other one out loud and recorded myself to send to my mom. Reading books hurts her eyes so she does the whole audio books thing, but we couldn't find a few that she wanted to read so I've agreed to read them for her. =]

4. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
The third and final installment of the Gemma Doyle trilogy I discovered late last year. Holy fuck do I love these books. I don't care that they are YA. I wish there were more.

5. The Problem With Murmur Lee by Connie May Fowler
Boring, predictable, not a bit as funny as the reviews said it would be. I only paid a dollar for it, but I kind of wish I had spent it on something else. Like candy.

6. Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder
Another book that proves I'm still on my YA kick. Definitely a good one. I expected crappy chick-lit for teenagers, but I got an interesting murder mystery. I mean, the idiot 16-year-old girls were still there, but it was a more pleasurable experience because some of them died.

1. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
2. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
3. Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
4. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
5. I Am America (And So Can You!) - Steven Colbert
6. A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines
7. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris

7. RX by Tracy Lynn
More YA. Good book, though not as deep as I hoped it would be. I'd like to say more, but I have to take a piss so yeah...good book.

Tree of Smoke blew my mind, put it back together, and then vaporized it. Hallucinogenic brilliance, this feels like one of the essential books on Vietnam. If - The Things They Carried:Tree of Smoke::The Naked and the Dead:Catch 22.

Poetic, but rarely letting itself fade into pointless lyricism, Denis Johnson brings the meticulous care of a short story writer to the scope of an epic. A really worthwhile 615 pages.

8. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
Another historical fiction (I have a pile on the dresser, and this is only the first of the group). It was inspired by this work of art. I don't know if I mentioned this before, and I don't feel like going back to look, but historical fiction is probably my favorite genre. Totally fascinating. It takes the bore out of non-fiction, but still allows a glimpse into the past. I liked this one better than Girl with a Pearl Earring, which is another of Chevalier's books.

I read Catch-22 for my English class, enjoyed it very much. Interesting to see how Heller accomplishes comedy like that just with words.