Thursday, January 05, 2006

what I was reading

A couple years ago, I decided I was tired of having people ask me, "Hey, Dave, read any good books lately?", and me just staring at them dumbly while the wheels in my mind spun. It wasnt that I hadnt read any good books, I just couldnt remember them. So I started writing them down.

Here is this year's list. I've linked the best of them, but you'll have to look up the rest on Amazon all by yourself if you're interested.

BOOKS READ IN 2005:

fiction

Albon, Mitch , The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Asimov, Issaac , The Foundation Trilogy
Black, Holly , The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Wrath of Mulgrath
Blish, James , Cities in Flight (omnibus)
Card, Orson Scott , Ender's Game
Carr, J. L. , A Month In the Country
Cherry, C. J. , The Pride of Chanur
Colfer, Eoin , Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
Collins, Suzanne , Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
Collins, Suzanne , Gregor the Overlander
Coupland, Douglas , Generation X
Coupland, Douglas , Polaroids from the Dead
Crowley, John , Engine Summer
French, Wendy , Going Coastal
Hiassin, Carl , Hoot
Hiassin, Carl , Skinny Dip
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The Final Conflict (Yet more of the Best from the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest)
Karbo, Karen , Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me
Kirn, Walter , Mission to America
Kirn, Walter , Up In The Air
Lewis, C. S. , The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
MacDonald, Betty , Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic
Martinez, A. Lee , Gil's All-Fright Diner
Morris, Gerald , Parsifal's Page
Morris, Gerald , The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight
Murphy, Warren + Cochran, Molly , The Broken Sword
Murphy, Warren + Cochran, Molly , The Forever King
Nimmo, Jenny , Charlie Bone + the Castle of Mirrors
Nix, Garth , Abhorson
Nix, Garth , Drowned Wednsday
Nix, Garth , Grim Tuesday
Nix, Garth , Lireal
Nix, Garth , Mister Monday
Nix, Garth , Sabrael
Oppel, Kenneth , Airborn
Orringer, Julie , How to Breath Underwater
Pederson, Laura , Heart's Desire
Place, Francios , The Old Man Who Was Mad About Drawing (trans. Wm. Rodomar)
Powers, Tim , Earthquake Weather
Powers, Tim , Expiration Date
Powers, Tim , Last Call
Pratchett, Terry , Feet of Clay
Pratchett, Terry , Going Postal
Pratchett, Terry , Guards! Guards!
Pratchett, Terry , Hat Full of Sky
Pratchett, Terry , Jingo
Pratchett, Terry , Men at Arms
Pratchett, Terry , Night Watch
Pratchett, Terry , Thud!
Pratchett, Terry , The Truth
Pratchett, Terry , Wee Free Men
Proulx, Annie , That Old Ace In The Hole
Rankin, Robert , The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Rowling, J. K. , Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Rowling, J. K. , Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
Van Allsburg, Chris , Bad Day at Riverbend
Vonnegut, Kurt , Bluebeard
Webb, Charles , New Cardiff
Westerfield, Scott , Evolution's Darling
Wodehouse, P. G. , Jeeves
Wrede, Patricia , Calling On Dragons
Wrede, Patricia , Dealing With Dragons
Wrede, Patricia , Searching For Dragons
Zahn, Timothy , Dragon + Soldier


non-fiction

Ambrose, Stephen E. , Nothing Like It in the World
Bryson, Bill , A Walk in the Woods
Bryson, Bill , In a Sunburned Country
Byrne, Robert , The 2,548 Best Things Ever Said
Curtis, Bryan (ed.) + writers at "the Slate" , The Explainer
Feldman, David , Do Elephants Jump? (An Imponderables Book)
Gladwell, Malcolm , Blink
Hornby, Nick , The Polysyllabic Spree
King, Ross , Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
Lacey, Robert , Great Tales from English History
Lacey, Robert , Great Tales from English History, vol. 2
Lakoff, George , Dont Think of an Elephant
Leavitt, Steven D. + Dubner, Stephen J. , Freakonomics: A Rogue Econonomist Studies the Hidden Side of Everything
Lewis, Michael , Moneyball
McFedries, Paul , Creating A Web Page and Blog
Nicholl, Charles , Leonardo Da Vinci: Flights of the Mind
Pease, Barbara + Allen , Why Men Dont Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes
Pellegrino, Charles , Ghosts of Vesuvius
Pellegrino, Charles ,
Return to Sodom and Gamorrah
Pellegrino, Charles , Time Gate: Hurtling Backward Through History
Ronson, Jon , The Men Who Stare at Goats
Spencer, Ann , Alone at Sea: The Adventures of Joshua Slocum
Stall, Sam + Harry, Lou + Spalding, Julia , Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasure: 1001 Things You Hate to Love
Standage, Tom , A History of the World in Six Glasses
Stone, Gene , The Bush Survival Guide
Whitman, Christine Todd , It's My Party, Too



NOT FINISHED:

Ames, Nathan , Wake Up, Sir!
Brin, David , The Transparent Society
Frank, Thomas , What's the Matter with Kansas?
Gilmore, Robert , Alice In Quantumland
Gould, Steven J. , Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms
Hamilton, Ian , Robert Lowell
Penney, Laura , Your Call Is Important to Us
Rucker, Rudy , As Above, So Below


So, yes, I have read some good books lately. I heartily recommend the Books by Charles Pellegrino, Julie Orringer's collection, Gladwell, Standage, Lakoff, Leavitt, Hiassin, and of the three Power's books, read Earthquake Weather last. And, as always, Terry Pratchett rocks.


Last year's list.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

u should read gregor curse o' the warmbloods. its just as brutal as the 1st 2 '' childrens'' books. lots of people die in this one too. some thing that would be a quality thing is gregs on Toonami. think about it. underland anime. it would be the best TVPG/TV14 show based on ''children's literature'' the thought of anime gregor going rager on those tentacles... awesome.

Whinger said...

Very pleased about this list. Thanks so much for posting it -- I don't think I could ever keep track of the books I read -- I'd lose track of the piece of paper and start over one million times.

daveawayfromhome said...

I carry around a pocket day-plannner in which I write, not much what I need to do, but what I have done.
'Cause my brain is no good.

Anonymous said...

J.D. Robb has a great series of murder mystery books.Detective Eve Dallas is a great main character whom i cannot get enough of.Eve has a dark sense of humor that makes me laugh aloud even though i'm alone.Check out the series,you might like 'em.