The Books I've Read - 2008

Submitted by themanwho on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 07:23
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  1. JANUARY

  2. Wish You Were Here - Rita Mae Brown (1-2-08)
  3. Born Standing Up, A Comic's Life - Steve Martin (1-17-08)
  4. A quick and very good read. Steve Martin is remarkably kind. I knew he has a good writer (I read Shopgirl a while back, and some of his short pieces), but I'm still surprised how much I enjoyed this.
  5. Shakespeare, The World As Stage - Bill Bryson (1-22-08)
  6. An interesting biography of a man history really doesn't know much about. I've read and enjoyed 4 of Bryson's books, but I have yet to read any of his travel writing. I'll have to remedy that when I get the chance.
    Spoiler: Highlight to view
    He dies in the end!
  7. Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder (1-23-08)
  8. This one took me three years to read, and has been a "bookmarked albatross" on my shelf for at least two. I started reading a friend's copy back in 2005, and she lent it to someone else before I had a chance to borrow it. I got my own copy shortly after, read up to the last 50 pages, then promptly lost interest. Picked it up again as part of Operation Purge the Bookmarks, and now, 2 weeks later, finished those last 50 pages. This is the way fine literature is best appreciated.

  9. FEBRUARY

  10. Criss Cross - Lynne Rae Perkins (2-11-08)
  11. The Newberry winner from 2 years ago. The book itself is above average, if a bit slow going, at least compared to other recent Newberry winners. But the ending makes it well worth sticking with. Very nice job.
  12. When God Winks - SQuire Rushnell (2-12-08)
  13. An "anyone can write Theology" book. Basically says that coincidences are Gods way of communicating with us. I'm pretty sure that's non-Biblical, and I'm also pretty sure that I believe something similar. Nice stories, anyway.
  14. Getting Things Done - David Allen (2-13-08)
  15. I was actually getting things done there for a while, too. It's so much easier when you have uninterupted blocks of time to work. Taking 4 days off is totally the way to go. Then I hit a wall.
  16. The Science of Success - Wallace Wattles (2-17-08)
  17. Three-in-one, Barnes and Noble edition of Wattles's prosperity books. These are the books that the Oprah-fied best-seller "The Secret" was inspired by. I was surprised at how explicitly Christian Wattles's philosophy was, given that the Secret makes only perfunctory references to "God" as some kind of "world-spirit". Public Domain Prosperity Gospel, something I can really get behind.
  18. [In other news, it's really nice to have the internet back. I've got to update my movie list too, just as soon as I find that paper I wrote them down on.]

  19. March

  20. When God Winks on Love - SQuire Rushnell (03-07-08)
  21. Second book in the series. This time, love stories and the chance, coincidental meetings that led to them. Cute.
  22. How to Ruin Your Life - Ben Stein (03-28-08)
  23. A tongue-in-cheek guide to life. Instead of offering suggestions on how to improve one's life, Stein gives recommendations on how to make your life miserable. Thought-provoking, and it often hit a little too close to home.
  24. (Interestingly, I bought my copy of this book from half.com, and a couple of the pages are deliberately dog-earred. Whoever owned this book before me evidently thought that "Make the People Around You Feel Small", "Show Everyone Around that You're Holier Than Thou", and "Fight the Good Fight... Over Everything" were worth going back to.)
Author Comments: 

Most years I read about a hundred books. Last year, I figure I read less than 40. Not keeping a list probably hurt me. So, I'm keeping a list. January will be catching up with books I've already started. Hopefully by February, I can get things down to 1 book at a time.