Top 10 of 2008

I've decided to list, with a brief explanation, my personal top 10 books of 2008. These are books that I read in 2008, but they could have been published at any time. I list them in the order that I read them, from first to last, this doesn't imply that one was better than another.

Donald Hall's Father's Playing Catch with Sons: Essays on Sport [Mostly Baseball]
This book really surprised me, more poets should write about sports. His essays on baseball, and his own life were really wonderful. If you enjoy professional sports, you will find in these essays someone who really understands their appeal, and if you don't enjoy professional sports, this may help you to understand why others do. I liked this so much that I went out and read one of his poetry collections too, which was excellent.

Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers translated by Richard Pevear
I've been a Dumas fan since I first read a translation of The Three Musketeers in Elementary school and I've read a number of his other books since. This was by far the best translation I've read of his work.

Junot Diaz' The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
I think this made a lot of people's lists for 2008, and absolutely worthy of the Pulitzer. I was a bit of a nerd in High School and College myself, which may have helped me get some of the nerdier references. Some people have complained that all of the Spanish that Diaz mixes in makes it hard to follow, but I wasn't bothered by it, though I did look up the odd word. The story is heartbreaking and powerful. I also love interesting narrators, and Yunior is excellent.

Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union
I'd wanted to read this from the moment that I first heard of it. I loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and I'm also a big fan of hard boiled detective fiction like Chandler and Hammett (more Hammett). Chabon's creation of a believable Jewish state in Alaska was an impressive achievement, and I enjoyed exploring that world, the strange, apocalyptic plot was also exciting and poignant.

Hugh Nissenson's The Days of Awe
I have had to read this since I saw it on a bookstore shelf. Nissenson lives in the neighborhood where I grew up, and as a result this book about Upper West Siders in the lead up to, and then following September 11th, was very poignant for me. I really liked his writing style, and the combination of religion, secularism, and mythology that pervades the lives of the characters.

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States 1492-Present
To say that I loved this book would be overstating it, but it was one of the more important books that I read this year. I particularly valued the sheer depth of material covered. This book is an excellent accompaniment to any study of American history as Zinn provides a perspective that is often missing. While I am a big fan of non-traditional uses of Graphic storytelling, Zinn's comic book A People's History of American Empire is not an effective substitute for this book, though it can be a fun gloss.


George Simenon's The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
This is partly to symbolize my discovery of Simenon in 2008. He has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and I read a half dozen of his books. This is one of what Simenon referred to as his romans durs, which are deeply psychological novels. The cold detachment with which he shows one man's transition from bored upstanding middle class business man to wanted murderer is spectacularly effective.

A.M. Homes' This Book Will Save Your Life
This book didn't save my life, but I really enjoyed it. The story of a man slowly rediscovering his own life was a lot of fun. Richard Novak seemed to be almost as unfamiliar with his life as the reader, and as a result, we discovered it with him.


Mark Kurlansky's 1968: The Year That Rocked the World
When I read Kurlansky, he's virtually guaranteed to end up on my year end best list. This is the most political and contemporary book of his that I've read, and I loved it. He has the excellent ability to explain history in a readable and memorable fashion. I can't help but feel that this book colored my appreciation of Zinn, leaving me to wish that he wrote a little bit more like Kurlansky. Of course, Kurlansky covered one year, and Zinn covered over 500, so it's a bit of an apples and oranges situation.

Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger
Somehow this year I read the two major literary prize winning books of 2008, between this and Diaz. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, but it feels right that they both won their awards in the same year. I like untrustworthy first person narrators, and quirky narrators, and Balram Halwai is both. His story of his life is compelling and his view of India is very different from others that I have seen.

Books Read in 2008

Happy New Year!

Below is the list of books that I read in 2008. Not a bad list, and I'll go over it myself after a good nights sleep. I'm always happy to discuss any of the books on this, or any of my previous lists. Expect a top 10 of 2008 post later this week.


F = Fiction
NF = Non-Fiction
B = Biography
P = Poetry
PL = Play
GN = Graphic Novel


1) Ha Jin - In the Pond (F)

2) Saul Bellow - The Actual (F)

3) Donald Hall - Fathers Playing Catch with Sons: Essays on Sport [Mostly Baseball] (NF)

4) Andy Riley - The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides (GN)

5) Flann O'Brien - The Various Lives of Keats and Chapman and The Brother (F)

6) Alexandre Dumas, trans. Richard Pevear - The Three Musketeers (F) (reread, new translation)

7) Raymond E. Feist - Magician: Apprentice (F) (reread)

8) Raymond E. Feist - Magician: Master (F) (reread)

9) Raymond E. Feist - Silverthorn (F) (reread)

10) Raymond E. Feist - A Darkness at Sethanon (F) (reread)

11) Raymond E. Feist - Prince of the Blood (F) (reread)

12) Raymond E. Feist - The King's Buccaneer (F) (reread)

13) Bill Bryson - The Mother TOngue (NF)

14) Donald Hall - Without (P)

15) Raymond E. Feist - Shadow of a Dark Queen (F) (reread)

16) Jim Butcher - Captain's Fury (F)

17) Raymond E. Feist - Rise of a Merchant Prince (F) (reread)

18) Raymond E. Feist - Rage of a Demon King (F) (reread)

19) Raymond E. Feist - Shards of a Broken Crown (F) (reread)

20) Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts - Daughter of the Empire (F) (reread)

21) Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts - Servants of the Empire (F) (reread)

22) David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day (NF)

23) Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts - Mistress of the Empire (F) (reread)

24) Christopher Woodward - In Ruins: A Journey Through History, Art and Literature (NF)

25) Haruki Murakami, trans. Alfred Birnbaum - A Wild Sheep Chase (F)

26) Albert Camus, trans. Matthew Ward - The Stranger (F)

27) Adrian Tomine - Shortcomings (GN)

28) Rafael Sabatini - Captain Blood (F)

29) Ernest Hemingway - The old Man and the Sea (F)

30) Elaine Dundy - The Dud Avocado (F)

31) Junot Diaz - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (F)

32) Laurence Sterne - A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick (F)

33) Terry Pratchett - Thud! (F) (reread)

34) Terry Pratchett - Carpe Jugulum (F) (reread)

35) Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Alissa Valles - The Collected Poems: 1956-1998 (P)

36) Glen Cook - Cruel Zinc Melodies (F)

37) Michael Farr - Tintin: The Complete Companion (NF)

38) John Maddox Roberts - SPQR: The Princess and the Pirates (F)

39) Rex Stout - The Second Confession (F) (reread)

40) John Maddox Roberts - SPQR: A Point of Law (F)

41) Terry Pratchett - Jingo (F) (reread)

42) Terry Pratchett - The Fifth Elephant (F) (reread)

43) Alasdair Gray, Francesca Lowe - Terminus (F)

44) Italo Calvino, trans. William Weaver - Invisible Cities (F)

45) Graham Greene - The Power and the Glory (F)

46) Simon Rich - Ant Farm (F)

47) Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policeman's Union (F)

48) Georges Simenon, trans. Robert Baldick - Lock 14 (F)

49) G.K. Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday (F)

50) Herman Hesse, trans. Jack Zipes - The Fairytales of Hermann Hesse (F)

51) Alexandre Dumas, trans. Robin Buss - The Women's War (F)

52) John Buchan - Thirty Nine Steps (F)

53) Terry Pratchett - Guards! Guards! (F) (reread)

54) Michael Farr - Tintin & Co. (NF)

55) Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim (F)

56) Graham Greene - Our Man In Havana (F)

57) I.J. Parker - The Hell Screen (F)

58) Rex Stout - Not Quite Dead Enough (F) (reread)

59) Terry Pratchett - Feet of Clay (F) (reread)

60) Vladimir Nabokov trans. Dmitri Nabokov - Invitation to a Beheading (F)

61) Terry Pratchett - Pyramids (F) (reread)

62) George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman (F)

63) Isaac Bashevis Singer, trans. various - Gimpel the Fool: And Other Stories (F)

64) Terry Pratchett - Men at Arms (F) (reread)

65) Edmund White - The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris (NF)

66) Rex Stout - The Silent Speaker (F) (reread)

67) Steven Brust - Jhegaala (F)

68) Hugh Nissenson - The Days of Awe (F)

69) Rex Stout - In the Best Families (F) (reread)

70) Rex Stout - Before Midnight (F) (reread)

71) Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - Watchmen (GN) (reread)

72) David Green - 101 Reasons to Love the Mets (NF)

73) Primo Levi, trans. William Weaver - The Monkey's Wrench (F)

74) Rex Stout - Gambit (F) (reread)

75) Howard Zinn - A People's History of the United States 1492-Present (NF)

76) Omar Khayyam, trans./adapt. Edward Fitzgerald - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (P)

77) Georges Simenon, trans. Marc Romano & D. Thin - The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (F)

78) Rex Stout - Plot It Yourself (F) (reread)

79) Rex Stout - The Black Mountain (F) (reread)

80) Rex Stout - Three at Wolfe's Door (F) (reread)

81) Rex Stout - And Four to Go (F) (reread)

82) Dave Eggers, ed. - McSweeney's Issue 27 (F)

83) Georges Simenon, trans. David Watson - The Bar on the Seine (F)

84) Rex Stout - A Right to Die (F) (reread)

85) Georges Simenon, trans. Geoffrey Sainsbury - A Man's Head (F)

86) Allen Ginsberg - Kaddish and Other Poems: 1958-1960 (P)

87) Rabih Alameddine - The Hakawati (F)

88) A.M. Homes - This Book Will Save Your Life (F)

89) Ryszard Kapuscinski, trans. Klara Glowczewska - Travels with Herodotus (NF)

90) Rex Stout - The Father Hunt (F) (reread)

91) trans. Ciaran Carson - The Tain (F)

92) Georges Simenon, trans. Linda Asher - The Yellow Dog (F)

93) Spain Rodriguez - Che: A Graphic Biography (B/GN)

94) Micheal macLiammoir - The Importance of Being Oscar (PL)

95) Rex Stout - The Rubber Band (F) (reread)

96) Rex Stout - The Mother Hunt (F) (reread)

97) Rex Stout - Might As Well Be Dead (F) (reread)

98) Graham Greene - The Quiet American (F)

99) Rex Stout - The Golden Spiders (F) (reread)

100) Czeslaw Milosz, trans. with Robert Hass - A Treatise on Poetry (P)

101) James Hamilton-Paterson - Cooking with Fernet Branca (F)

102) Rex Stout - Champagne for One (F) (reread)

103) Richard D. Polenberg - The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945: A Brief History with Documents (NF)

104) Mike Carey & Leonardo Manco - Hellblazer: All His Engines (GN)

105) Guy Delisle - Albert and the Others (GN)

106) Saul Bellow - The Adventures of Augie March (F)

107) Joseph Moncure March, illus. Art Spiegelman - The Wild Party (P)

108) Honore de Balzac, trans. Richard Howard - The Unknown Masterpiece (F)

109) Georges Simenon, trans. Geoffrey Sainsbury - The Madman of Bergerac (F)

110) Mark Kurlansky - 1968: The Year That Rocked the World (NF)

111) Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger (F)

112) Ryszard Kapuscinski, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones - The Other (NF)

113) Muriel Barbery, trans. Alison Anderson - The Elegance of the Hedgehog (F)

114) Alison Bechdel - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (B/GN)

115) Georges Simenon, trans. Anna Moschovakis - The Engagement (F)

116) George Soros - On Globalization (NF)

117) Harold Pinter - Death Etc. (P, Pl, NF)

118) Euripides, Wole Soyinka - The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite (Pl)

119) Howard Zinn, illus. Paul Buhle - A People's History of American Empire (GN)

120) Dave Gibbons with Chip Kidd & Mike Essl - Watching the Watchmen (NF)

121) Sholem Aleichem, trans. Hannah Berman - Stempenyu: A Jewish Romance (F)

December Reading

As someone who maintains yearly lists of what he reads, December is an interesting month. You notice how many you've read so far (a career low 108), and think about how many you feel you need to read to reach an acceptable total. 2006 is my lowest total so far, at 118, and I feel a strong desire to at least match that, which means that I would have to finish the two books that I am currently reading as I write this, and read 8 others, to tie 2006. I think I can do that at least, but we'll see.

Of course, I've only been keeping track of what I read in such a detailed manner since 2005, so I'm sure there were years when I read less. Physics isn't the only place were the act of observation changes the nature of the thing being observed.

Being this close to the end of the year though causes me to really anticipate one of my favorite recent New Years Day traditions, looking through my most recent book list to remember what was going on in my life that lead me from book to book, and generally noticing what my reading habits were like at the time. Then I compare it to the earlier lists. It may not be your idea of a great time, but I enjoy it.

I also like remembering books. For example, in just skimming the 2005 list, I'm reminded that I promised myself I would read more Plimpton after I read The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair, I still have to get on that. Of course, there are hundreds of things I have told myself I'd read, and still need to get to. Still, it's nice to stroll down memory lane.

Also from 2005, I have a wonderful memory of sitting at my desk on a particularly sunny day, reading A Room With A View and remembering my own experience in Italy.

Another great thing about December, and books, is contemplating books as presents. The one thing I like better than getting books from people, is giving people the right book. I have some shopping to do.

Literary Coincidence

It's interesting how once you become aware of something, it keeps popping up. At the moment, I'm referring to The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. Here's the little chain that's brought up what seems to be a fairly obscure (for English speakers) Portuguese novel.

As you know, I've been reading The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine. Last night I finished it. Tonight or tomorrow I will begin to write my review of it for the VQR contest.

Early this afternoon, I discovered The Drawbridge, which looks like a very interesting literary journal. In browsing the current issue, I saw Rabih Alameddine had written an article for them, so I read it. In it he told me yet another story, the beautiful intricacy that is Fernando Pessoa. I'll let him tell you, since I couldn't do it justice.

Then, just now, I learned that Philip Pullman has provided a list of 40 favorite books to the Timesonline for the Waterstone's Writer's Table. We already know that I'm fond of book lists, so I went over his. I haven't read that many items on it, but I agree with him on the ones I have read. What else did I see on his list, but Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet. That's two recommendations in one day. And from authors I like. So that has decided me, I want to read this book. Now I just have to find a copy, I hope to fit it into my to read pile sometime next year.

Hardcore Writers

Gerrit over at the 2log, has challenged me to blog about the Guys Lit Wire post about the five most hardcore writers. And of course, I will.

First though, I wanted to mention the blog Guys Lit Wire. I had never heard of it before, and I am grateful to Gerrit for linking me to it, because it is a great blog. One of my concerns, as a guy who reads, is how rare that seems to be among my peers, particularly as I get older. Here I'll quote their excellent mission statement.

Guys Lit Wire exists solely to bring literary news and reviews to the attention of teenage boys and the people who care about them. We are more than happy to welcome female readers - but our main goal is to bring the attention of good books to guys who might have missed them. The titles will be new or old and on every subject imaginable. We guarantee new posts every Monday through Friday and have a list of twenty-three individual scheduled contributors plus several additional occasional posters all of whom have different literary likes and dislikes. We hope to provide something for everyone and will strive to accomplish that goal.

That is definitely admirable, and what's more they succeed. I read through a number of their short reviews, and they've been excellent. If you need to find a good book recommendation for a teenage boy, I think they should be one of your first stops.

Now to the top five list. I like lists of five, it's a good criteria to create discussion. It will almost never be accurate, there's too many excellent and terrible authors out there to ever be able to get a universally agreed upon top five on any subject.

It's even better when you throw in the term 'hardcore'. Check out those definitions. Do any of them capture the current colloquial use of the word? Not really. You don't say, "Hemingway went all over the world reporting on war and hunting animals, that dude is unswervingly committed!" Ok, you can, but it doesn't mean the same thing.

The Urban Dictionary is better. Their definitions are closer. I particularly like #2. Most of their definitions are about the hardcore music scene, which I would argue is the origin of the usage we're looking at. The desire to say that something is 'hardcore' in similar situations to words like 'kick ass,' 'bad ass,' definitely comes from the musical genre which, for long, is known as 'hardcore punk rock and roll.' Boy that's a mouthful isn't it? That's because 'rock and roll' gets shortened to 'rock' when attached to 'punk' and gets chopped off when attached to 'hardcore punk', and then 'hardcore punk' is so hardcore that it chopped its 'punk' off, and became just 'hardcore.' Of course, 'punk' also was so punk that it chopped its 'rock' off, and 'rock' ditched 'and roll' because extra syllables are lame. But enough about that.

Right, so 'hardcore' writers. I've been writing for seven paragraphs, and I haven't made any suggestions of my own. I found the Guys Lit Wire list pretty interesting, but I can't say I agreed with any of their suggestions. I'm sure Hemingway would make a lot of people's lists, but not mine. I find him kind of sad. He's a great writer, but that doesn't make his life particularly admirable, and I'm not a fan of big game hunting. I don't think that killing animals for the fun of it makes you cool or tough. Though I do think that driving an ambulance, in or out of war, does.

Xenophon was an interesting choice, but I think when you get to classical authors, the question becomes, compared to what? Almost all of them are more hardcore than any of us. Xenophon was pretty tough, but I think Julius Caesar has him beat. This guy everyone thought of in his youth as a bit of a pansy, became governor of southern Gaul, where he shared the same hardships as his soldiers, and conquered what amounts to all of modern France, as well as Switzerland, parts of Germany, and England. For the technology they had then, that's pretty good. He then went home and conquered Italy, fighting the guy who was supposedly the greatest military mind of the day. Oh yeah, and he wrote about it all, in the third person, because that was more modest.

There's also Thucydides. He was, as far as I can tell, Zbigniew Herbert's pick for most hardcore. I'll let Herbert argue it for me with his poem, Why the Classics?*.

1
In the fourth book of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides tells among other things
the story of his unsuccessful expedition

among long speeches of chiefs
battles sieges plague
dense net of intrigues of political endeavours
the episode is like a pin
in a forest

the Greek colony Amphipolis
fell into the hands of Brasidos
because Thucydides was late with relief

for this he paid his native city
with lifelong exile

exiles of all times
know what price that is

2
generals of the most recent wars
if a similar affair happens to them
whine on their knees before posterity
praise their heroism and innocence

they accuse their subordinates
envious colleagues
unfavourable winds

Thucydides says only
that he had seven ships
it was winter
and he sailed quickly

3
if art for its subject
will have a broken jar
a small broken soul
with a great self pity

what will remain after us
will be like lovers’ weeping
in a small dirty hotel
when wall-paper dawns

Hardcore, right? Herbert is one of my favorite poets, and that is my favorite poem of his.

Now if we're looking at the military as hardcore, then we're talking B.H. Liddell Hart, the military theorist/historian, and author of Strategy among others. To understand just how many people died because of who had and hadn't read this book, I will give you one quote.

The British would have been able to prevent the greatest parts of their defeats if they had paid attention to the modern theories expounded by Liddell Hart before the war.

Which war? and who said that? That would be WWII and the speaker? Field Marshall Rommell. Basically, after WWI, Liddell Hart, having witnessed the shocking capabilities of the new technology (tanks, planes, etc.) wrote a number of books trying to warn his country of what could be done, and what they would have to do. The British didn't read it. The Germans did. I consider this to be a great tragedy, and can only imagine how it affected Liddell Hart when Rommell admitted it. Still, I believe that qualifies Liddell Hart as hardcore.

I think Liddell Hart is hardcore partly because he failed. If the right people had listened to him, we might not have noticed him. I've read the book, and some other writings, and he's also a good read.

So I'm at three right? Julius Caesar, Thucydides, and B.H. Liddell Hart. Let's try to be a little less old dead guy, huh? Well, maybe one more.

Surviving against impossible odds is pretty hardcore, don't you think? For that I would recommend author and holocaust survivor, Primo Levi. Levi wrote all sorts of books, in addition to his survival of the holocaust. To my mind that's the most hardcore thing about him. He's really a stand-in for all holocaust survivors here. They made their way through one of the most horrific experiences in known history, such that no adjective can do it justice, saw the things they saw, and came out of it. Most like Levi managed to hold on to their compassion and humanity, if anything they became more human, and more humane. How do you do that? That is hardcore.

And one to go. I'm not ranking these authors within my five, so this one isn't any more or less than any of the others.

Salman Rushdie. One word, fatwa. Seriously, that is some mind destroying stuff. A powerful religious group, with fanatical followers has demanded your death, and some of your translators and publishers have actually been killed. He not only doesn't give up, he continues to say what he believes. That's pretty hardcore.

*from Selected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert, trans. Czeslaw Milosz, and Peter Dale Scott.

Evil Books

Over at the NY Times, I have just learned that all of societies ills can be blamed on 10 books, plus 5 books that get partial destructive credit. If you want the list you can click over there.

My first thought upon reading this list, was that I should read those books. Except Mein Kampf, which might be useful as a historical document, but I won't be reading it.

This got me thinking about the banned book list that make the rounds every year. There seems to be a strong appeal for some people in declaring one book or another to be dangerous in some way. Personally, I'm more of a freedom of the press guy. Ideas can be dangerous, but you don't stop them by hiding them.

Celebrities Read: Mario Batali

In keeping with my theory that, if well publicized, celebrities reading preferences might lead their fans to pick up a book, we have Mario Batali.

In an interview with the good folks at Powell's he talks about both an author he thinks people should read, Jim Harrison, and a list of what he sees as five 'great American' books.

The Autobiography of Ben Franklin

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Now these five books seem a little bit like that list politicians will give out. With the possible exception of Brett Easton Ellis, who also wrote American Psycho, they are all 'safe' books whose worth is well established, and whether or not they fall under Mark Twain's definition of a 'Classic' certainly have that feel.

But what he has to say about Jim Harrison is great. It reads like the kind of passionate recommendation of an author that you expect from someone who has really read and loved the author's work. Score one for Batali, as I'll certainly remember what he said the next time I see one of Jim Harrison's books in a store.

Update: Of course, Bukowski wouldn't be a safe choice for a politician, but for a celebrity chef from New York with the reputation Batali has, it's almost mandatory that someone like Bukowski appear. Frankly, I'm just happy it wasn't Burroughs.

Celebrities can Read Books

Ok, so I know that your first thought, looking at the title of this post, is to scoff sarcastically. Well good for you, scoffing is an important skill, and doing it sarcastically takes effort. However, I am serious. There are celebrities out there who can read, some of them even choose to do so.

I come to you with proof of this. The website Poll the People has started up the ambitious attempt to create an unscientifically produced polled series of international lists about books, albums, and movies (or as they call them, films). This part is boring, go ahead and be bored by it.

Are you done? Good, cause there's actually something interesting too. It could get more interesting if people outside of England join them.

Poll the People is encouraging celebrities to contribute top 5 lists. Why are you excited by this, Matt? I hear you ask. After all, who cares what celebrities think, most of them aren't so bright, and in the States we best know them for saying dumb things around election time. This is true.

But hang on, you see the secret with celebrities, and I know I'm dropping a bomb on you here with this revelation, is that they are popular. It is highly likely that the Rolling Stones are more popular than literacy in America. So if they lend their fame to a support of literacy maybe more people will read. I know, I know, it's a fantasy, but it couldn't hurt.

The bad news is, the Rolling Stones are not, as far as I know at present, throwing their considerable weight behind the whole reading thing. Instead, right now we have a bunch of obscure British celebrities who have contributed their top five lists.

Among them is Nick Hornby, the author. We can rest assured he's not bringing anyone new to books. He did his share when people were told that that Cusack movie they liked was once a book.

Still, there's some hope. Tim Rice-Oxley, of the British band Keane, and Tom Simpson, of the band Snow Patrol, have both contributed lists. Now I will admit, I've barely heard of these bands, but if I've barely heard of them, they're probably pretty big. If their fans pick up any of the books they've listed, then we're in the black. So that's pretty cool. Now we just need A-Rod to announce that he loves to curl up in the dugout with his well-thumbed copy of Gormenghast and America will enter a reading frenzy.

Greener Reading Accross the Pond

To quote the renowned scholar Cptn. B.F. 'Hawkeye' Pierce, M.D. "I am a life long anglophile. England is still the only country I know where any young man can grow up to be the Queen." Of course, thanks to Freddie Mercury, this statement is more accurate than it was.

Boy, isn't that something? A blog about books and my first quote is from a 30 year old T.V. show. I'm clearly working the educated crowd right now.

Anyway, I was talking about being an anglophile. I am one, of course. Most of the regular readers I know are anglophiles to one degree or another. Why is this? Well, like most nerdy Americans, I grew up on a steady diet of Monty Python, which I mixed up with a healthy dose of Blackadder, and a nigh obsessive devouring of every word ever written by Terry Pratchett, including phone numbers hastily scribbled on napkins. I could go further, it's amazing how many things I love are English in origin (including a nice pint of bitter, or as we call it in the States, ESB because the word 'bitter' is scary to Americans).

However, I did have the disillusioning experience that most anglophiles should have. I met a lot of English people, and worked with them. It is true, that there are a lot of amazing intellectuals to love in that country, and their cultural attitudes towards reading and authors seem vastly superior to ours, but just like us they have their tedious, boorish, narrow-minded people. That's why they're comedy is so funny, they have plenty of examples to work with. The point being, anglophilia is good for us in small doses, but don't take it too far, they are no more perfect than Americans, just different. Some of those differences are truly enviable.

Take for example the interview I referenced in my last post. Though I was frustrated by one part, I also really enjoyed it. The interviewer drew Rushdie out very well, and as an American, it fascinates me to see authors treated as public figures. We just don't do that here. We're much more likely to interview 20 year old actors about the interaction of east and west, than middle aged author's who have lived those differences and published important works of fiction.

The different attitude towards authors and reading in the two countries seems enormous to me. I've already admitted that I suffer from a 'grass is greener' attitude towards reading culture in England, but a glance at the Book sections of the NY Times and the Guardian, show that there's something there. The NY Times is almost exclusively book reviews, while the Guardian covers news about authors, the existence of upcoming books, and interviews with authors, as well as musings of all kinds on reading, books and publishing. And not just the Guardian, check out the Telegraph, too. It'd be great to get that kind of attention in the Times.

Of course, the Times has improved with their interesting, but not updated frequently enough for my tastes, books blog Paper Cuts.

Still, the English can annoy me. I am a huge fan of lists when it comes to books. I maintain lists of every book I read, and I love to check out end of year best of lists, as well as recommended reading lists of all types. That being said, this list of 11o best books, which the Telegraph describes as the "perfect library" seems disastrous to me.

These kinds of lists often do. I think the way they generally serve is to make us feel smug when we've read things on them, and smugger still when we've read things they missed, or have decided that something they did list is not worth reading. So, needless to say, I got a small buzz from having read, let's pick one at random, John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which I loved, but I got a bigger buzz because they included the obvious choice of Jane Austen, an author I have no interest in. This set me off to notice just how heavily the list relied on English authors, which enabled me to look down on their list.

Of course, if you're really going to narrow down the 110 books that a person should read for a literary education, as an English speaker, there will be a lot more English books on there than American, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealander. After all, they've been writing for a lot longer.

That's why these lists are really fun to make though, it's a chance to insult those 'greats' you don't think are that great, mine for example would exclude Austen and the Brontes, and to include lesser known works that you really enjoy, I would include Flann O'Brien. It's also a chance to show the breadth of your familiarity. They include a section for Science Fiction, which seems to be much more acceptable in England. The big surprise was that they did not include The Watchmen graphic novel by Alan Moore, which has become the de rigeur means of acknowledging the growing importance of graphic novels without having to go around actually reading them. It's typically chosen because its more popular among comic book fans than Maus, or Persepolis, both of which are comics for the non comic reader, so it better demonstrates a familiarity with the genre, but more about that at another time.

Anyway, I started out about anglophilia, and seem to have ended up on book lists, but since I'm sure more lists will come out in future, so that I will always have material to play with, I'll go back to anglophilia, or rather, explain the connection. It's not just that I got the list from an English paper. It's part of that attitude. The New York Times produces, each year at the end of the year, a list of notable books. This is done very seriously, with the deep intention of demonstrating the Times' approval of certain works and authors. It's great for business, people buy the papers to see it (or check the website these days) and people buy the books when they bear that little stamp of approval on the cover. I think they give Oprah a run for her money, particularly as she does one at a time, while they do a hundred or so. Of course, I'm sure they're tied for how few people read the books after buying them.

The Telegraph on the other hand, was clearly being playful. They want to get you thinking, and start discussion. It's successful too, the comment thread on the list has just gotten started, and already people are throwing out what they see as omissions or inappropriate inclusions. After all, our favorite and least favorite books are important to us. They also have their own book blogger, who responded to the list with some very interesting thoughts of her own.

Not to get too down on Americans as being part of the books are fun crowd, I'd like to add that I learned of this list from the blog for Book Slut, which is a great site run by Americans. There are plenty of us out there, and the internet is giving us a lot more opportunities to communicate.

But really, don't the Telegraph editors recognize the importance of Joseph Heller's Catch 22? What fools!

Keeping Lists

At the beginning of 2005, I decided to start keeping a list of every book that I read over the course of a year. I started this because a friend of mine had done it for 2004, and I found it really interesting to look at her list, to see what books seemed connected thematically, as well as the scope of different types of books she had read.

As it is 2008, I am now in my fourth year of doing so, and still enjoying it. It does lead me to consider applying the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal to reading (I try to apply the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal to almost everything, observing and being observed are powerful forces in our society). Does the fact that I am keeping a precise record of what books I read, and further, sharing these lists with others, change the way I decide what to read?

I believe it does. I have always had a fairly sizable list of books that I feel I should have read, but have not gotten around to yet, and since I began tracking what I read, I've gotten to more of them than I think I would have otherwise. This has been a real positive, I have really enjoyed a number of these, particularly, Dante, both the Inferno and Purgatorio (I confess it, I still haven't gotten to the Paradisio) and also Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.

I think that most people have a list, either written out, or existing vaguely in their heads, of books that they feel they should read, and as we read, even as we check off those books, more are added, it's a bit like Sisyphus, but more enjoyable. Every book you read just makes your mountain a little taller.

Books Read in 2007

F = Fiction
NF = Non-Fiction
B = Biography
P = Poetry
PL = Play
GN = Graphic Novel


1) Patrick O'Brian - Treason's Harbour (F)

2) Alaa Al Aswany - The Yacoubian Building (F)

3) Patrick O'Brian - The Far Side of the World (F)

4) Steven Brust - Brokedown Palace (F)

5) Jim Butcher - Storm Front (F)

6) Jim Butcher - Fool Moon (F)

7) Patrick O'Brian - The Reverse of the Medal (F)

8) Mark Kurlansky - The Big Oyster: History on the Halfshell (NF)

9) Terry Pratchett - Strata (F)

10) Patrick O'Brian - The Letter of Marque (F)

11) Patrick O'Brian - The Thirteen-Gun Salute (F)

12) Patrick O'Brian - The Nutmeg of Consolation (F)

13) Patrick O'Brian - The Truelove (F)

14) Patrick O'Brian - The Wine-Dark Sea (F)

15) Patrick O'Brian - The Commodore (F)

16) Patrick O'Brian - The Yellow Admiral (F)

17) James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (F)

18) Rex Stout - Curtains for Three (F) (reread)

19) Dick Francis - Slay Ride (F)

20) Dick Francis - High Stakes (F)

21) Dick Francis - The Edge (F)

22) Dick Francis - Bonecrack (F)

23) Orhan Pamuk - Snow (F)

24) Jim Butcher - Grave Peril (F)

25) Jim Butcher - Summer Knight (F)

26) Alexandre Dumas trans. Andrew Brown - Captain Pamphile (F)

27) Jim Butcher - Death Masks (F)

28) Jim Butcher - Blood Rites (F)

29) Dick Francis - To the Hilt (F)

30) E.M. Forster - Where Angels Fear to Tread (F)

31) E. OE. Somerville & Martin Ross - The Irish R.M. (F)

32) Dick Francis - Dead Cert (F)

33) Conor McPherson - Four Plays (PL)

34) Jamie Delano et al. - Hellblazer: The Devil You Know (GN)

35) Bill Bryson - The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (NF)

36) William Shakespeare - The Life & Death of King Richard the Second (PL)

37) Harry Harrison - The Stainless Steel Rat (F)

38) Harry Harrison - The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (F)

39) Emile Zola - Therese Raquin (F)

40) Dick Francis - Trial Run (F)

41) Glen Cook - The Silver Spike (F)

42) Warren Ellis et al. - Hellblazer: Haunted (GN)

43) Warren Ellis et al. - Hellblazer: Setting Sun (GN)

44) Jim Butcher - The Furies of Calderon (F)

45) Jim Butcher - Academ's Fury (F)

46) Upton Sinclair - World's Fury (F)

47) Graham Greene - The Third Man (F)

48) Ian Sansom - The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery (F)

49) George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London (F)

50) Clifford D. Simak - The Goblin Reservation (F)

51) Sarah Vowell - Take the Cannoli (NF)

52) I.J. Parker - Black Arrow (F)

53) Boris Akunin - Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog (F)

54) Lawrence Sterne - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (F)

55) Edgar Rice Burroughs - A Princess of Mars (F)

56) J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (F)

57) Sholom Aleichem, trans. Curt Leviant - Happy New Year! and Other Stories (F)

58) Saul Bellow - Dangling Man (F)

59) Michael Chabon - The Final Solution (F)

60) Stuart Kelly - The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read (NF)

61) Harvey Pekar - American Splendor: The Life and times of Harvey Pekar (GN/B)

62) Maurice LeBlanc - Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Thief (F)

63) Liz Williams - Snake Agent: A Detective Inspector Chen Novel (F)

64) Mike Carey et al. - Hellblazer: Reasons To Be Cheerful (GN)

65) Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie - Lost Girls (GN)

66) Mike Mignola & John Byrne - Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (GN)

67) Don Marquis - The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel (F/P)

68) Wole Soyinka - Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known (P)

69) James Herriot - All Creatures Great and Small (B) (reread)

70) Leonard Cohen - Let Us Compare Mythologies (P)

71) Flann O'Brien - At Swim-Two-Birds (F)

72) James Herriot - All Things Bright and Beautiful (B) (reread)

73) James Herriot - All Things Wise and Wonderful (B)

74) Cauvery Madhavan - Paddy Indian (F)

75) James Herriot - The Lord God made Them All (B)

76) Dick Francis - The Danger (F)

77) Guy Delisle - Shenzen: A Travelogue from China (GN) (reread)

78) Guy Delisle - Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (GN) (reread)

79) Dick Francis - Longshot (F)

80) Dick Francis - For Kicks (F)

81) Terry Pratchett - Making Money (F)

82) Joyce Cary - Herself Surprised (F)

83) Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories (NF)

84) Dick Francis - Driving Force (F)

85) Sam Shepard - Seven Plays (PL) (partial)

86) John Le Carre - Our Game (F)

87) Ha Jin - The Crazed (F)

88) I.J. Parker - Island of Exiles (F)

89) Patrick O'Brian - The Hundred Days (F)

90) Parick O'Brian - Blue at the Mizzen (F)

91) Brian Azzarello et al. - Hellblazer: Hard Time (GN)

92) Brian Azzarello et al. - Hellblazer: Good Intentions (GN)

93) Brian Azzarello et al. - Hellblazer: Freezes Over (GN)

94) Rex Stout - Some Buried Caesar (F) (reread)

95) Herman Hesse trans. Sherab Chodzin Kohn - Siddartha (F)

96) Rex Stout - The Father Hunt (F) (reread)

97) Joseph Heller - Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man (F)

98) Ryunosuke Akutagawa trans. Jay Rubin - Rashomon and 17 Other Stories (F)

99) Rex Stout - Gambit (F) (reread)

100) Rex Stout - Where There's A Will (F) (reread)

101) Rex Stout - Three Men Out (F) (reread)

102) Rex Stout - Might As Well Be Dead (F) (reread)

103) Rex Stout - Black Orchids (F) (reread)

104) Rex Stout - The League of Frightened Men (F) (reread)

105) Rex Stout - Murder by the Book (F) (reread)

106) Vladimir Nabokov - Pale Fire (F)

107) Rex Stout - Fer-de-Lance (F) (reread)

108) Anton Chekhov trans. Laurence Senelick - Three Sisters (PL)

109) Rex Stout - The Red Box (F) (reread)

110) Glen Cook - Cold Copper Tears (F) (reread)

111) Glen Cook - Red Iron Nights (F) (reread)

112) Rex Stout - If Death Ever Slept (F) (reread)

113) John Mandeville, trans. C.W.R.D. Moseley - The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (NF)

114) Flann O'Brien, trans. Patrick C. Power - The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life (F)

115) Rex Stout - Tri for Blunt Instruments (F) (reread)

116) Rex Stout - Death Times Three (F) (reread)

117) Glen Cook - Sweet Silver Blues (F) (reread)

118) Apuleius, trans. P.G. Walsh - The Golden Ass (F)

119) Jim Butcher - Cursor's FUry (F)

120) Glen Cook - Bitter Gold Hearts (F) (reread)

121) Glen Cook - Old Tin Sorrows (F) (reread)

122) David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (B)

123) Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange (F)

124) Glen Cook - Dread Brass Shadows (F) (reread)

125) Haruki Murakami, trans. Alfred Birnbaum - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (F)

126) Cormac McCarthy - The Road (F)

127) Salman Rushdie - Haroun and the Sea of Stories (F)

128) Larry Gonick & Christine DeVault - The Cartoon Guide to Sex (GN)

Books Read in 2006

F = Fiction
NF = Non-Fiction
B = Biography
P = Poetry
PL = Play
GN = Graphic Novel


1) Bill Maher - When You Ride ALONE You Ride with bin Laden: What the Government SHOULD Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism. (NF)

2) Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. M.D. Herter Norton - Letters to a Young Poet. (NF)

3) Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses (F)

4) Kaoru Kurimoto, trans. Alexander O. Smith and Elye J. Alexander - The Guin Saga, Book Two: Warrior in the Wilderness (F)

5) Dick Francis - Rat Race (F)

6) Will Eisner - Last Day in Vietnam: A Memory (GN)

7) Anthony Bourdain - The Bobby Gold Stories (F)

8) Al Franken - The Truth: with jokes (NF)

9) Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming - Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? (GN)

10) M. John Harrison - The Pastel City (F)

11) M. John Harrison - A Storm of Wings (F)

12) J.W.von Goethe, trans. Thomas James Arnold - The Story of Reynard the Fox (P)

13) Ben Edlund - The Tick: The Naked City (GN) (reread)

14) Sue Grafton - 'A' Is For Alibi (F)

15) Alfred Kazin - A Walker In The City (B)

16) Dick Francis - 10lb. Penalty (F)

17) John Maddox Roberts - SPQR: The Tribune's Curse (F)

18) Dante Alighieri, trans. Mark Musa - The Divine Comedy, Volume 1: Inferno (P)

19) John Maddox Roberts - SPQR: The River God's Vengeance (F)

20) Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys (F)

21) Flann O'Brien - Stories and Plays (F and PL)

22) Petronius Arbiter, trans. falsely ascribed to Oscar Wilde - The Satyricon (F)

23) Sarah Vowell - The Partly Cloudy Patriot (NF)

24) George Orwell - Keep the Aspidistra Flying (F)

25) Zbigniew Herbert trans. Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott - Selected Poems (P)

26) Flann O'Brien - The Hard Life (F)

27) Bram Stoker - Dracula (F)

28) P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves and the Tie That Binds (F)

29) Edwin A. Abbott - Flatland (F)

30) Alan Alda - Never Have Your Dog Stuffed (B)

31) Ian Fleming - For Your Eyes Only (F)

32) Sarah Vowell - Assasination Vacation (NF)

33) Geoffrey Lloyd and Nathan Sivin - The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece (NF)

34) Eamon Grennan - Still Life with Waterfall (P)

35) Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (F)

36) Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (B)

37) Terry Pratchett - The Unadulterated Cat (F)

38) Gustav Meyrink - The Golem (F)

39) Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code (F)

40) Boris Akunin - Murder on the Leviathan (F)

41) Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot (PL)

42) Yamamoto Tsunetomo, trans. William Scott Wilson - The Hagakure (NF)

43) Frank Miller - The Big Fat Kill (GN)

44) Sholom Aleichem trans. Julius and Frances Butwin - The Old Country (F)

45) Dick Francis - Straight (F)

46) Aeschylus trans. Peter Meineck - Oresteia (PL)

47) Garth Ennis and John Higgins - Hellblazer: Son of Man (GN)

48) Russell Shorto - The Island at the Center of the World (NF)

49) Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon - Preacher: Gone to Texas (GN)

50) Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon - Preacher: Proud Americans (GN)

51) Michael Cunningham - Specimen Days (F)

52) Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon - Preacher: Dixie Fried (GN)

53) Lemony Snicket - A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning (F)

54) Flann O'Brien - The Third Policeman (F)

55) Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik - Penny Arcade: Attack of the Bacon Robots! (GN)

56) Rex Stout - Too Many Cooks (F) (reread)

57) Kurt Vonnegut - Player Piano (F)

58) Dave Barry - Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway (H)

59) Boris Akunin - The Turkish Gambit (F)

60) Dante Alighieri, trans. Mark Musa - The Divine Comedy, Volume 2: Purgatorio (P)

61) ed. and trans. Moss Roberts - Chinese Fairy Tales & Fantasies (F)

62) I.J. Parker - Rashomon Gate (F)

63) Lenny Bruce - How to Talk Dirty and Influence People (B)

64) Boris Akunin - The Death of Achilles (F)

65) Marilyn Johnson - The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (NF)

66) George Bernard Shaw - Man and Superman (PL)

67) David Sedaris - Naked (B)

68) W. Somerset Maugham - Cakes and Ale (F)

69) Sofka Zinovieff - Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens (NF)

70) Rene Descartes, trans. Donald A. Cross - Meditations on First Philosophy (NF)

71) Ha Jin - War Trash (F)

72) Paul Auster - City of Glass (F)

73) Colette, trans. Enid McLeod - The Vagabond (F)

74) Robert Sullivan - The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures on the Edge of a City (NF)

75) Ian Fleming - Moonraker (F)

76) Charles MacLean - MacLean's Miscellany of Whisky (NF)

77) Ian Fleming - Thunderball (F)

78) Steven Brust - Dzur (F)

79) Fred Saberhagen - The Book of Swords Vol. 1 (F)

80) Fred Saberhagen - The Book of Swords Vol. 2 (F)

81) Fred Saberhagen - The Book of Swords Vol. 3 (F)

82) Bill Buford - Heat (An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany) (NF)

83) Neil Gaiman - Stardust (F)

84) Sholem Aleichem, Trans. Hillel Halkin - Tevye The Dairyman and the Railroad Stories (F)

85) O.Henry - The Best Short Stories of O.Henry (F)

86) John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces (F)

87) E.B. White - Here is New York (NF)

88) Martin Millar - The Good Fairies of New York (F)

89) Terry Pratchett - Wintersmith (F)

90) James Joyce - Dubliners (F)

91) Vassar College - Albert Einstein: Life and Letters, 1905-1955 (NF)

92) Dick Francis - Wild Horses (F)

93) Guy Delisle - Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (GN)

94) Terry Pratchett - The Last Continent (F) (reread)

95) Terry Pratchett - Small Gods (F) (reread)

96) C.S. Forester - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (F)

97) C.S. Forester - Lieutenant Hornblower (F)

98) C.S. Forester - Hornblower and the Hotspur (F)

99) C.S. Forester - Hornblower and the Atropos (F)

100) C.S. Forester - Beat to Quarters (F)

101) C.S. Forester - Ship of the Line (F)

102) C.S. Forester - Flying Colours (F)

103) C.S. Forester - Commodore Hornblower (F)

104) C.S. Forester - Lord Hornblower (F)

105) Guy Delisle - Shenzen: A Travelogue From China (GN)

106) C.S. Forester - Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies (F)

107) C.S. Forester - Hornblower During the Crisis (F)

108) Patrick O'Brian - Master & Commander (F)

109) Patrick O'Brian - Post Captain (F)

110) Patrick O'Brian - H.M.S. Surprise (F)

111) Eric Hobsbawm - The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 (NF)

112) Patrick O'Brian - The Mauritius Command (F)

113) Patrick O'Brian - Desolation Island (F)

114) Patrick O'Brian - The Fortune of War (F)

115) Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (F)

116) Patrick O'Brian - The Ionian Mission (F)

117) Alec Guinness - My Name Escapes Me (B)

118) Adam Zagajewski, asstd. trans. - Without End (P)

Books Read in 2005

F = Fiction
NF = Non-Fiction
B = Biography
P = Poetry
PL = Play
GN = Graphic Novel


1) Neal Stephenson - The System of the World (Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) (F)

2) Rex Stout - Too Many Cooks (F)

3) P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves in the Morning (F)

4) Da Chen - Sounds of the River (B)

5) Nick Hornby - How to be Good (F)

6) Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle (reread) (F)

7) David Gemmell - Morningstar (F)

8) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: Preludes And Nocturnes (reread)
(GN)
9) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: The Doll's House (reread) (GN)

10) Garth Ennis - Preacher: Until The End of the World (GN)

11) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: The Dream Country (reread) (GN)

12) Algis J. Budrys - Michaelmas (F)

13) Jamie Delano et al. - Hellblazer: Original Sin (GN)

14) David Eddings - Pawn of Prophecy: The Belgariad, book 1 (reread) (F)

15) David Eddings - Queen of Sorcery: The Belgariad, book 2 (reread) (F)

16) David Eddings - Magician's Gambit: The Belgariad, book 3 (reread) (F)

17) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: Season of Mists (reread) (GN)

18) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: A Game of You (reread) (GN)

19) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: Fables & Reflections (reread) (GN)

20) David Eddings - Castle of Wizardy: The Belgariad, book 4 (reread) (F)

21) David Eddings - Enchanters' End Game: The Belgariad, book 5 (reread) (F)

22) Garth Ennis et al. - Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits (GN)

23) Rex Stout - Trio for Blunt Instruments (F)

24) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway (GN)

25) Garth Ennis et al. - Preacher: Ancient History (GN)

26) David Eddings - Guardians of the West: The Mallorean, book 1 (reread) (F)

27) William Logan - Macbeth in Venice (P)

28) Tom Stoppard - The Invention of Love (PL)

29) David Eddings - The King of The Murgos: The Mallorean, book 2 (reread) (F)

30) Isabel Fonseca - Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey (NF)

31) David Eddings - Demon Lord of Karanda: The Mallorean, book 3 (reread) (F)

32) T. S. Eliot - The Waste Land and Other Poems (P)

33) Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis et al. - Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (GN)

34) David Eddings - Sorceress of Darshiva: The Mallorean, book 4 (reread) (F)

35) Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (GN) (B)

36) Umberto Eco, trans. William Weaver - Serendipities: Language & Lunacy (NF)

37) David Eddings - The Seeress of Kell: The Mallorean, book 5 (reread) (F)

38) Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: Brief Lives (reread) (GN)

39) Alan Moore - Saga of the Swamp Thing (GN)

40) Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon - Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing (GN)

41) Sophocles, trans. Rachel Kitzinger & Eamon Grennan - Oedipus at Colonus (PL)

42) Art Spiegelman - In the Shadow of No Towers (GN)

43) Frank Miller - Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (GN)

44) Daniel Defoe - A Journal of the Plague Year (F)

45) Glen Cook - The Black Company (F)

46) Dick Francis - Odds Against (F)

47) Dick Francis - Whip Hand (F)

48) Dick Francis - Come to Grief (F)

49) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: Children and Monsters (GN)

50) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: A Dalliance with the Damned (GN)

51) Neil Gaiman et al. - The Books of Magic (GN)

52) Terry Pratchett - Monstrous Regiment (reread) (F)

53) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: The Divine Comedy (GN)

54) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: Inferno (GN)

55) Glen Cook - Shadows Linger (F)

56) B. H. Liddell Hart - Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon (B)

57) Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon - Hellblazer: Tainted Love (GN)

58) P. G. Wodehouse - How Right You Are, Jeeves (F)

59) Mike Carey et al. - Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence (GN)

60) Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair (F)

61) Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon et al. - Hellblazer: Damnation's Flame (GN)

62) Robert Pinsky - Jersey Rain (P)

63) John Stewart- Naked Pictures of Famous People (F)

64) Richard Hooker - MASH (F)

65) Neal Gaiman - Sandman: The World's End (GN)

66) Dick Francis - Reflex (F)

67) E. M. Forster - A Room With A View (F)

68) Dave Sim - Cerebus (GN)

69) Anthony Hecht - The Darkness and the Light (P)

70) Dick Francis - Forfeit (F)

71) Thich Nhat Hanh - The Miracle of Mindfulness (NF)

72) Alan Moore and David Lloyd - V for Vendetta (GN)

73) R. Crumb and Peter Poplaski - The R. Crumb Handbook (GN/B)

74) Paul Cartledge - The Spartans (NF)

75) David Gemmell - The Swords of Night and Day (F)

76) Oscar Wilde - The Ballad of Reading Gaol (P)

77) Rex Stout - Murder By the Book (F)

78) Jack Keruoac - On the Road (F)

79) Will Eisner - Invisible People (GN)

80) Glen Cook - Whispering Nickel Idols (F)

81) Rex Stout - Red Threads (F)

82) Mickey Spillane - I, The Jury (F)

83) Robert Kirkman & Cory Walker - Invincible: Family Matters (GN)

84) Arthur Gelb - City Room (B)

85) Dick Francis - Risk (F)

86) Alan Moore - The Swamp Thing: Love and Death (GN)

87) Alexandre Dumas trans. Robin Buss - The Black Tulip (F)

88) Lewis Black - Nothing's Sacred (NF)

89) Wislawa Szymborska trans. Clare Cavanagh - Nonrequired Reading (NF)

90) Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon - Hellblazer: Rake at the Gates of Hell (GN)

91) Joyce Johnson - Minor Characters (B)

92) Lois McMaster Bujold - The Hallowed Hunt (F)

93) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - Conflict of Honors (F)

94) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - Agent of Change (F)

95) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - Carpe Diem (F)

96) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - Plan B (F)

97) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - I Dare (F)

98) Nick Hornby - The Polysyllabic Spree (NF)

99) Dick Francis - Blood Sport (F)

100) Lawrence Robinson - The Accidental Connoisseur (NF)

101) David Sedaris - Barrel Fever (F)

102) Ian Fleming - Doctor No (F)

103) Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (F)

104) Ian Fleming - Casino Royale (F)

105) Trans. Barbara Stoler Miller - The Bhagavad-Gita (P)

106) Dick Francis - Knockdown (F)

107) Allen Ginsberg - Howl and Other Poems (P)

108) Rick Gekoski - Nabakov's Butterfly (NF)

109) Dick Francis - Flying Finish (F)

110) Robert Sullivan - Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants (NF)

111) J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (F)

112) Ian Fleming - Diamonds Are Forever (F)

113) Joseph Heller - Picture This (F)

114) Jeff Smith - Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume (GN)

115) Lewis Lapham - 30 Satires (NF)

116) Carl Reiner - My Anecdotal Life (B)

117) Ross King - Ex Libris (F)

118) Ian Fleming - From Russia With Love (F)

119) Rex Stout - Before Midnight (F) (reread)

120) I.J. Parker - The Dragon Scroll (F)

121) Dick Francis - Nerve (F)

122) Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - WE3 (GN)

123) Rex Stout - Death of a Dude (F) (reread)

124) Ian Fleming - Live and Let Die (F)

125) Robert Graves - Goodbye to All That (B)

126) Raphael Sabatini - Scaramouche (F)

127) H. Rider Haggard - King Solomon's Mines (F)

128) Marquis de Sade - The Crimes of Love (F)

129) Mickey Spillane - My Gun is Quick (F)

130) Will Eisner - The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (GN) (NF)

131) Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel (F)

132) Marco Polo - The Travels of Marco Polo (NF)

133) Terry Pratchett - Thud! (F)

134) Jon Stewart et al. - America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy (NF)

135) Isaac Asimov - The Return of the Black Widowers (F)

136) Glen Cook - The White Rose (F)

137) Charles MacLean - Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History (NF)

138) Art Spiegelman - Maus: A Survivor's Tale, My Father Bleeds History (GN)(B)

139) Art Spiegelman - Maus: A Survivor's Tale, And Here My Troubles Began (GN)(B)

140) John Ruskin - Unto This Last, and Other Writings (NF)

141) Lenny Bruce - The Essential Lenny Bruce (NF)

142) Arturo Perez-Reverte, trans. Margaret Jull Costa - The Fencing Master (F)

143) Inga Saffron - Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World's Most Coveted Delicacy (NF)

144) George Plimpton - The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair and Other Excursions and Observations (NF)

145) Boris Akunin, trans. Andrew Bromfield - The Winter Queen (F)

146) Ian Fleming - Goldfinger (F)

147) Frank Miller - Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (GN)

148) Sara Bader - Strange Red Cow: and other curious classified ads from the past (NF)

149) David Sedaris - Holidays On Ice (F and NF)

150) Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Stephen Mitchell - The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (P)

151) Zbigniew Herbert - THe King of the Ants: Mythological Essays (NF)

152) Mark Kurlansky - The Basque History of the World (NF)

153) R.A. Lafferty - Nine Hundred Grandmothers (F)

154) Michael Chabon et al. - The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, vol. 2 (GN)

155) Euripides, trans. Richmond Lattimore et al. - Euripides III, Hecuba, Andromache, The Trojan Women, and Ion (PL)

156) Mickey Spillane - Vengeance is Mine! (F)

157) Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch (NF)