Book I Read in 2005
Submitted by icubaji on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 06:26
Tags:
- "The Kite Runner" by Khalid Hosseini: Tragic, painful, and incredible story about classes, religion, and friendship in Afghanistan.
- "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger: Love story wrapped in time travel, interspersed with pathos, and sprinkled with excellent discussions about punk rock.
- "Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return" by Marjane Satrapi: The graphic novel continues the story of Satrapi's life in Vienna then back to Iran but it was not as powerful or compelling as the first.
- "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King: Satisfying conclusion of the Gunslinger series.
- "Insomnia" by Stephen King: Strange similarities to the Buffy episode "Hush" but otherwise interesting.
- "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling: Classic adventure yarn of an Irish orphan running amok in India.
- "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones: Intriguing story about a pre-Civil War black slave owner and the lives he touched.
- "Fray" by Joss Whedon: The graphic novel picks up where "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" left off, give or take a hundred years.
- "The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist" by Michael Chabon: This compliation comic book picks up where "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" left off, going back several decades.
- "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adam: Silly and amusing sci-fi book is droll and absurd and totally worth checking out if you intend to see the movie version.
- "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi: The chronicals of an Iranian teacher's interactions with her students is based on a good concept and lush descriptions, but repetitive themes and writing.
- "Prelude to Foundation" by Isaac Asimov: Prequel to the Foundation series which turned out to have much more political intrigue, mystery, and all around "fi" than "sci" (but that could be b/c I am taking space travel and robots for granted).
- "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett: Complex yet simplistic; foreign yet accessible; fantastic yet believable. The whole book, save the last five pages, was gripping, elegant, and intriguing.
- "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer: as engaging as "Into Thin Air" which is great.
- "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" by Italo Calvino: AMAZING. Freakiest book I've ever read.
- "The Final Solution" by Michael Chabon: Not as good as "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" but then, what is?
- "Venus Prime" by some guy who took Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi short and built upon it.
- "Take the Cannoli" by Sarah Vowell: clever, witty, and chock full of phrases like "I gladly pledge allegiance to the mashed potatoes of the United States of America."
- "Jenny & The Jaws of Life" by Jincy Willett: foreward by David Sedaris was funnier than the book itself, but it had its dark humor moments as well.
- "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" by David Foster Wallace: Edgy, thoughtful, and outrageous snippets of conversations, dramas, comedies, and interviews.
- "Red Dust" by Ma Jian: Amazing, detailed (sometimes a little too revealing) travelogue through the far-reaches of 1980s China.
I've just bought "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger for a future read.
Or is it a "past read"? *wiggles eyebrows* Please drop by and let me know what you thought of it. :)