I finished Into Thin Air about a week ago and can’t get myself off the damn mountain. I just started the facsinating High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed, by Michael Kodas and ordered The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev. After that, there’s still an endless supply of Everest disaster books. I think just about each one of the 1996 survivors has a book.
Did I already mention this in this thread? In addition to Into Thin Air, I also really enjoyed Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, about a young man who disappears for awhile into the Alaska outback, and Under the Banner of Heaven, about contemporary Mormon fundamentalism.
I was about to recommend Into the Wild. I didn’t expect to “enjoy” it, but I did. I bought it in Alaska last summer - and read it that night in my cabin. The movie is excellent, too, it does not materially alter the story but tells it with a great deal of sympathy.
This past year was a “read a lot of non-fiction” year for me, over and above the usual rereads of old favourites. “Collapse”, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, and “The 100 Mile Diet” were outstanding. Brian Greene’s “The Fabric of the Cosmos”.
People don’t give me books for Christmas any more. I guess I wasn’t enthusiastic enough about the set of “Outlander” books . . .
I’m reading Pollan’s followup, In Defense of Food, An Eater’s Manifesto. As someone who lives on a lowfat diet almost all the time, this calls to the stifled part of me that believes that there’s a bigger problem with how we eat in America - even, or especially, those of us trying to “eat healthy”.
If hating Henry James is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
I had to abandon The Big Necessity: the unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters, near the end*. I just got bogged down*. I read only for pleasure, and this book was a bit deep* and serious for me to read at the rate of ten minutes every three days. (*Boy, the jokes come easy on this topic.)
However, the next book I picked up was one I’d been looking forward to for a long time, and I just loved it: Wally Lamb’s The Hour I First Believed. It has a lot of similarities (and some links) to another good book of his, I Know This Much is True. Like that book, the main character is reading a manuscript about the history of his family which turns out to have a lot more bearing on his modern life than he ever suspected. A lot of shocks and family secrets here; also quite a bit about the shootings at Columbine.
I just finished The Charwoman’s Shadow by Lord Dunsany. Charming little fable, reminiscent of some of Wilde’s little fantasies. Not something I’d recommend to someone looking for high fantasy with epic adventures and fierce monsters.
I’m now reading Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel. Really really good modern space opera. Evil villains, dubious science, a fantastic world, plenty of action, and sypathetic characters you really care about. There are scenes in a concentration camp (sort of) that are heart-breaking. It’s very well written. My only complaint is that he over-explains his absurd science, which doesn’t do anything but make it seem more absurd. After I get further in it, I might start a thread about it. It’s a shame it’s out of print. I haven’t been this entertained by a fantastic fiction author since Mieville or Stephenson.
Just finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. (I just read my first review. OMG I said Hill was the *sun *of King. He’s Kings sun? Honest, English *is *my first language!)
A very well-written and very creepy book. As I mentioned, I am no longer a big fan of the genre, but I will still endorse this book.
Can’t decide what I’m on to next. Got the last in the Eragon series for Christmas, but I may have to re-read the others to enjoy it. I’m not sure I want to right now. Oh well, is nearly my bed time anyway.
Also did a quick re-read of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. I read this many years ago and still love it. A great novel of magic and revenge and how the latter impacts the lives of those seeking it. I always forget to recommend this when people ask for fantasy recommendations.
I’m finishing up The 6 Messiahs by Mark Frost. Boy, did I struggle to get going with that one, but I have no idea why. It’s a brisk read.
Just starting Help the Poor Struggler by Martha Grimes (in my quest to reread the earlier books and finish the Jury series). If I remember correctly, this book depressed the hell out of me when I first read it, ten or so years ago.
Also just starting Dissolution, by CJ Sansom.
And because a most fantastic, wonderful person gave me a gift certificate to Powell’s Books, I was just able to order 11 new-to-me books and will be crowing about them as soon as they arrive. Whee!
Reading *The Black Tower *by Louis Bayard, author of *The Pale Blue Eye. *
I enjoyed that book. His second book, Dark Fire, was also good.
About to start Boswell’s Presumptuous Task: Writing the life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman
I think I will read this one. I saw the movie and thought it was very good, though I seesawed between wanting to throttle the kid and wishing I could take him home and feed him cookies.
I get that impression, I’ve scan read a couple of chapters and don’t think these are for me.
Attila, however, is great so far provided you can accept Romans using modern English slang.
I just finished Dissolution, which I enjoyed. I’ll think I’ll get the next book in that series pretty soon.
I’m now reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which is strange but entertaining so far.
Finished:
The Briar King, The Charnel Prince, and The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes. I see the next in the series will be released on paperback next month so I won’t have to wait long to continue the story. (shakes fist at Patrick Rothfuss)
Also read:
Never Suck A Dead Man’s Hand by Dana Kollmann.
That’ll do it for 2008. If my list is correct, I read 107 books this year.
I’m going to add this to my list. I’ve also read 20th Century Ghosts, which is a collection of his short stories. Some are not horror, and they’re nearly all extremely good. If you come across this at the library or whatever, you would probably enjoy it.
I finished Joe College, which was the humorous novel about a kid at Yale … I was lukewarm on it. I really enjoyed Not A Happy Camper, a memoir about a girl’s experiences at sleepaway camp in the 70s – especially great for people who went to camp as kids.
Outside Beauty was terrific – a YA novel about four sisters. It’s a bit of a strange premise – the girls’ mother is fixated on her looks and how to best attract an endless series of men, and each of the daughters has a different father. Most of the action takes place during a summer when each girl goes to live her own father.
I’m currently reading Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn which is a murder mystery in the style of the 1920s. It’s okay, but didn’t really convince me that it’s on par with actual mystery novels from the 1920s.
I’m also reading The Hidden Land, the second of Pamela Dean’s Secret Country trilogy. Fun YA fantasy.
They Thirst by Robert McCammon
Up next:
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick
Link to next year’s thread!
I just started Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and I want some of what James Agee was smoking.
I’m now working on Christmas books. I’ve already finished a biography of Mike Oldfield - not great, but all there is. Now starting a collection of essays on James Bond and philosophy, showing that professional philosophers are fanboys too. I also finished a serial from Analog (Jan - April) called Marsbound by Joe Haldeman. Neither Haldeman not Analog is what it used to be.
Every time I read Pamela Dean, I’m left with the unshakable impression that I have no idea what she’s talking about.