Wednesday, December 29, 2010
EX LIBRIS: Having returned to NYC, it's time for an ALOTT5MA Holiday Tradition--"What Books Did You Get For Chrismukkah?" I'll also open it up to what you read over the break. As for me, I got Noah Feldman's history of Roosevelt and SCOTUS, Scorpions, which, at least thus far, is both a solid read and solid history (extra credit for not being overly polemical when it would be easy to do so); the final volume of Edmund Morris' massive Theodore Roosevelt biography; Do You Think You're Clever, a book of questions posed to students applying to Oxford and Cambridge and suggested answers; and a photoillustrated book featuring some of Bono's speeches on poverty. Read over the break--Dennis Lehane's Moonlight Mile, which is a solid PI novel as well as an interesting meta-critique of the PI novel, and Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, which is an interesting effort to write like Kurt Vonnegut that I'm not sure how much I ultimately enjoyed--the world creation is fascinating, but I would have appreciated more time on the world that's created and generally only hinted at and less on the protagonists (especially the female one, who I found to be an uninteresting Manic Pixie Dream Girl variant).
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I actually received no books this year, BUT an amazon gift card will be purchasing Finishig the Hat, the Sondheim book. I also started reading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis thanks to a twitter eavesdrop of a conversation between Marsha and Watts. So far, it is very funny and engaging.
ReplyDeleteMost people don't try to get me books- I've usually read them. I did get Bittman's How to Cook Everything and a B&N gift certificate. I gave books to my dad- one about the history of restaurants and food in NY and one about trains.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that 2010 was not my best reading year. I got stuck in big books. Need to work on this.
Currently reading "The Billionaire's Vinegar," the only book I got for Chanukwanzamas. It's very interesting, but it is written in too dry a way for the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteLike Heather, I'll be buying Finishing the Hat soon.
I got Finishing the Hat, which is amazing, and three Terry Pratchett books, all of which I'd read, and one of which I bought for my wife, so those have been turned into a B&N gift card. Just finished Nathan Rabin's The Big Rewind and about to start on the Hunger Games and Anathem. (Kindle is perfect for Neal Stephenson books. I considred reading the Baroque Cycle in paperback and tearing away the parts I'd read to make it easier to carry back in the day.)
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I gave the first book of Morris' Roosevelt trilogy to my father in law and he was already absorbed in it. I'm going to have to read them myself sometime in the new year.
ReplyDeleteJust finished The First Fall Classic by Mike Vacarro (an entertaining history of the Red Sox-Giants World Series in 1912); Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (former Korea and current Beijing bureau chief for the LA Times) (very well-done, informative, and sad); and The War for Late Night by Bill Carter (an excellent read which portayed Leno in a much more favorable light than I expected). The to-read list is way too long to list in full, but up next I'm leaning toward Jonathan Eig's new biographpy of Al Capone (Get Capone), John Ortved's oral history of The Simpsons, or Stephen Breyer's book (Making our Democracy Work). As may be evident, I pretty much read only non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to these posts when they come around every few months, because I always wind up with an excellent list.
ReplyDeleteI got the "Nellie Olsen" book, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch which was a dishy behind the scenes, with more heart than I expected. Better than I thought it would be.
Recently read Room, The Magicians (finally), One Day (and am not sure I agree with the casting of the movie) all of which I really enjoyed.
First book I am getting with the gift cards is Finishing the Hat!
I read: "Room," which was excellent and which I devoured on my Nook in a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteReceived: "Finishing the Hat," which I'm loving - mostly skipping around and reading the notes on the songs and shows I know, and will go back later and read his evaluations of musical theater writers. It's fascinating, the way he critiques his own work.
"My Year of Flops" from Marsha, which I've started to skim through and know I will love. (Any book that reevaluates flop movies and then decides if they deserve their bad reputation is my kind of book.)
My mother-in-law, who likes to go to flea markets and send us whatever random books she finds for under $1, sent us some sort of book about Nantucket ghost stories that I'm unlikely ever to read.
I think the only book I received was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which I'm going through now and really enjoying. I was supposed to get the Mark Twain autobiography, but it's currently being reprinted and won't be available until next month. I also got a B&N gift card, and I'll be grabbing some e-books for sure.
ReplyDeleteI read Super Sad True Love Story, and I hated it, and that makes me a little sad. Makes me feel decidedly uncool.
My holiday reading mostly consisted of the FCC's net neutrality order, conveniently released at 4pm on December 23. I also read the graphic novel "Market Day," which was interesting but not amazing. Last night, I started reading Richard Beeman's Plain, Honest, Men, about the Constitutional Convention. It's very good so far.
ReplyDeleteFor the holidays I was given (or bought with gift cards I was given) David Stewart's "Impeached," about the Andrew Johnson trial and Lincoln's legacy; Oliver Sachs's "The Mind's Eye"; Ian Frazier's "Travels in Siberia"; Gyan Prakash's "Mumbai Fables," Paul Auster's "In the Country of Last Things"; and a book of academic-ish essays about The Wire.
For what it's worth, I liked Super Sad True Love Story a lot more than Matt did.
Joining everyone here who got a gift card and will be using it to purchase Finishing the Hat. I also had a lackluster reading year, getting stuck, but not absorbed, in a lot. The books that did absorb me and that I read in just a couple days were The Hunger Games trilogy. I'm hoping that between Finishing the Hat, Room and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I'll be more involved in reading again soon.
ReplyDeleteI bought a copy of Finishing the Hat for a friend. It's a thing of beauty. I almost kept it for myself.
ReplyDeleteI tried to get a copy of Twain's book, but the guy at our local Borders said they underpublished it. Our store received four copies to sell over the entire holiday season. He said they were gone in half an hour.
ReplyDeleteI got "The Magicians", "Zeitoun", "The Mockingbirds", "The Search for Wondla", "Pixarpedia", the Harry Potter pop-up book, and a magnificent cookbook called "One Big Table". A copy of "Finishing the Hat" will make its way here in the next week, courtesy of gift cards. I have to read "The Magicians" before Sunday, when my husband will steal it to take on the road with him.
ReplyDeleteI bought Impeached after seeing David Stewart speak about it at the Federal Judicial Center last year, but ended up being underwhelmed by the book.
ReplyDeleteI bought and read "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and loved it. Makes me look at my own dog differently.
ReplyDeleteI'm adding to my GoodReads "to-read" as your recs come in.
This was a big giftcard year for me, too. The only book I got was a copy of Goodnight Moon, but I believe the eventual intended recipient is the little person growing inside of me.
ReplyDeleteOver the holidays, I read The Mockingbirds (not to be confused with other 2010 YA releases Mockingjay and Mockingbird), The Imperfectionists, Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces, and Superman: Secret Origins. Of course, I'm also reading books about bringing babies home, which are all enlightening and terrifying, as I think these things often are.
Freedom is probably next on my list, and yesterday I received my reading list for next semester's YA lit class, which I will likely begin soon (although I was happy to see I'd read half the titles on it already).
I kinda want to read Room, but I'm also worried it'll be too disturbing for me! I liked One Day and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks quite a lot. The Magicians is a favorite and I am totally psyched for the sequel.
The best thing I read this year is The Thirteenth Tale, which is one of those books that you almost wish you never read so you could read it again for the first time.
Oh, I love To Say Nothing of the Dog! It was my introduction to Connie Willis, recommended by a friend. I've since read quite a few of her books. The Doomsday Book is amazing and features some of the same characters, but it's not funny -- it's set near Oxford, both in the future, and in the past in the year when the plague hit.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this month, I read "One Day" by David Nicholls, which covers one day each year (July 15) in the lives of a man and woman from the time of their first encounter. It apparently is being made into an Anne Hathaway movie that hopefully will turn out better than Love and Other Drugs. I picked it up based on a Nick Hornby rave on the cover, and it was indeed very enjoyable. I'm now reading "The Understudy," an earlier Nicholls book that also has been fun so far. I read "Sing Them Home" by Stephanie Kallos on a recent flight from Nashville to Seattle. It was OK, but I doubt I would have made it through the whole thing if I hadn't been on a plane. I received "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis for Christmas, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
ReplyDeleteGift card here too -- probably "Finishing the Hat" along with the Mark Twain book (on Kindle, won't have to wait for a reprint!) and The Imperfectionists.
ReplyDeleteI was given a Kindle and Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra, which was so good I even read the end notes. I bought my husband the Twain and Richards autobiographies, both of which I'll read when he's through. I'm still working my way through Drew Faust's This Republic of Suffering, which I bought myself two years ago and have yet to complete. I augment that with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on the Kindle, which I read during my commute. Patti Smith's autobiography is waiting in the queue.
ReplyDeleteI'm like KR in that no one buys me books for fear I've already read them. I bought myself True Grit, since it's our next book club book. My goal for 2011 is to read more "real" literature instead of my steady diet of enjoyable genre trash. To that end there are a lot of books on my to-be-read shelf that would be at home on a college reading list. ...and I can't get excited about a damn one of them, which is why what I'm actually reading is more of the Gossip Girl series.
ReplyDeleteBellwether is another one of her funny ones, and probably my favorite.
ReplyDeleteMy book haul: Super Sad True Love Story, Doctorow's 2009 Homer and Langley, Diane Henry's gorgeous but rather haphazardly edited cookbook Plenty, Freedom, and the fearsome doorstop that is Adam Levin's The Instructions ("your challenge read," said my brother, the gifter).
ReplyDeleteI've just finished Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad, which I thought was tremendous. Brilliantly constructed and packing an emotional wallop I did not see coming.
Also: This won't be a gift (except to myself), but I would put good money the likelihood that I will download the New Yorker's 20 Under 40 short story collection by week's end...
ReplyDeleteHeather, have you read Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men In A Boat? To Say Nothing is, in a lot of places, an extended riff on that hilarious novel (which is well worth reading on it's own).
ReplyDeleteI used a bunch of my Borders gift card from my in laws for Christmas presents for the other side of the family (cause hey, why not spread the love?), but I did pick up a copy of Colleen McCullough's The First Man In Rome for myself, since my copy disappeared some time back.
ReplyDeleteI received two cookbooks - One Big Table and a new Barefoot Contessa book. My gift card will also be going towards "Finishing the Hat."
ReplyDeleteI recently finished a novel called, "The Report" by Jessica Kane about a catostrophic incident during an air raid in 1943 London. As someone who doesn't generally love fiction, I found it quite enjoyable. I also read the "Passage" by Justin Cronin that I found to be an incredible slog that I had to force myself to finish. I just started "All the Devils are Here" - surprisingly it's taking me some time to get into it. I have the Hunger Games trilogy waiting on my kindle and the Big Short and Too Big to Fail sitting on my night stand to be read (which I think were on my list the last time we did this post).
Received Decision Points by W. Should be interesting to figure out how some of those decisions got made.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm 2fer on Matt's books -- Scorpions and Colonel Roosevelt. Also got the Mickey Mantle bio. I've read the bio of Justice Douglas (Wild Bill), and so far, I'm at the point in the book where he's still sane and married to wife no. 1.
ReplyDeleteBooks I gave others: history of ballet for my sister, an ex-'rina; "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" for maman; and the Mozart librettos for my dad, who is learning Italian (they're printed in English and Italian, except for the German ones).
I liked Shteyngart's language a lot, but the story was just so anvilicious. Still, I'd read more.
ReplyDeleteI am currently mired in "The Historian," a vampire story told by a narrator, narrating her father narrating, taking occasional breaks to narrate her father narrating his mentor, and then cycling back to narrating on her own. I'm about 20% in, and so far most of the stories have been about research methodology, with the occasional death to the innocent bystanders of the intrepid. I may take a break.
Recently, I bought the new Steve Martin, and a book called "Room" that everyone and their uncle recommended to me. Also, my sister gave me a sizable gift card to Amazon for the purpose of kindle-feeding. She hid it in a Train CD case.
Please share the YA class reading list. I would KILL to take such a class.
ReplyDeleteI ordered the Mark Twain autobiography for my brother but ended up keeping it for myself. He's a surgical resident who can't keep his eyes open, so when I got it and saw that it was 5 lbs., I decided the only nice thing to do was hold onto it. I am currently finishing the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett, which is the best set of fiction I've ever read in my life. Gifts I received: the new Cleopatra biography, What God Hath Wrought (history of the US antebellum period), and a Catherine of Aragon biography. All will be dropped immediately if and when the Caro LBJ book comes out.
ReplyDeleteI also gave the ballet history to my sister (Apollo's Angels). It sounds so good I'm going to add it to my list, and I have no ballet background.
ReplyDeleteThe Doomsday Book is definitely amazing.... and it is definitely the opposite of funny.
ReplyDeleteI also love To Say Nothing of the Dog and Bellwether. I think the short story "Spice Pogrom" is in Bellwether, yes? Hysterical.
How was The Imperfectionists?
ReplyDeleteI recently picked up Blackout, which also uses the Oxford history and time travel department.
ReplyDeleteRelated to Deanna's comment above about GoodReads - I'm on there and I know she is too because we're friends. I've got at least two other ThingThrowers on there - anybody else want to share if you use it? I pick up some great suggestions from what other people are reading on there. I'm on there as Amy Watts, the one wearing sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the middle of Blackout right now, and I love it! I picked it up randomly off a bookstore shelf because it looked interesting. I'll probably end up looking into the rest of her stuff for sure, especially with the recommendations here.
ReplyDeleteI didn't receive any books this year but I did get a couple gift cards, with which I know I'll be purchasing at least Room and Finishing the Hat. I'm also probably going to invest in some more Connie Willis, per my comment above, and start the Hunger Games, which we own but I haven't read yet. Posts like these always make me sad, because I maybe get to a book a month these days, and there are so many great and interesting reads to dream about. One day I'll have time to read like I used to.
ReplyDeleteI love GoodReads. I just sent you a request Watts -- I'm on there as cwelshhans.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Blackout and bought myself All Clear for Christmas. Blackout was terrific -- incredibly rich. It makes a nice companion to The King's Speech, incidentally.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'm planning on seeing The King's Speech soon, so I'll get started on Blackout posthaste. (Anything to avoid reading True Grit.)
ReplyDeleteGot lots of history this year (as if I don't read enough of it for work), including Pauline Maier's long-awaited Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788, James Kloppenberg's Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition, and Sean Wilentz's Bob Dylan in America. Also looking forward to reading two less expected gift books: Jay Kirk's Kingdom Under Glass (about wildlife hunter, collector, and taxidermist Carl Akeley) and Matt McCarthy's Odd Man Out (a memoir of a year in the minor leagues by a pitcher from Yale).
ReplyDeleteBest things I've read recently, though, were the Jack Reacher novels, which I've been working through over the past few months -- and which I dove into entirely because of Thing Throwers' recommendations in this same thread last year. So, thanks!
I really liked the Imperfectionists and have recommended it to others succcessfully.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Short is great reading. I am generally not a fan of non-fiction about financial topics, but Lewis is such a good writer that it makes gripping reading.
ReplyDeleteI have tried and I have tried to read The Historian - so far the best I can say about it is that, when laid flat on its back, it makes a GREAT bookend for all the other books I want to read on the top shelf of my to-be-read case.
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying that! I am taking my break from it. I will dive into, and probably through, the other two books, then come back.
ReplyDeleteGretchen, I'd be curious to know (maybe in a different forum) what you thought of The Imperfectionists' gender politics. I very much enjoyed the book, but then I heard it discussed on a Slate podcast, and someone made the point that just about every woman in the book falls into one of several not-so-nice categories. I thought the point had too much heft to disregard. So now it's a book that I like a lot that also makes me a little bit queasy.
ReplyDeleteOk, make that "by afternoon's end." Ahem.
ReplyDeleteI use it, via Facebook -- Russ Hanser.
ReplyDeleteRuss, it's a good point and something I thought about after I read it. I also liked the book, but I was thinking that none of the women were particularly good people. But then again, outside of a few exceptions (the managing editor, Arthur), the men don't come off that well either. But there wasn't a female character who I would describe as a good person.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also thought that the same book could be written about the staff of my college newspaper, but all of us were 20 when we were making our terrible decisions, not 45. Nor in Rome.
Jeff, I'm hoping to dive into Ratification after I read the book about the convention (sort of like a sequel by another author). Assume you saw Gordon Wood's review in TNR?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought the Kloppenberg book was very interesting. It's appealing to think that Obama -- or any President -- is so deeply a creature of his intellectual influences (especially when those influences include the Pragmatists, Geertz, Rawls, and so on). I don't know whether I fully buy it, though. In a recent interview, David Bromwich (of the Yale English Dept and the London Review of Books) pushes back on this thesis, I think somewhat persuasively. (I just deleted further commentary for fear of ingniting a political debate.) I urge you to listen to it: http://www.radioopensource.org/david-bromwich-on-the-disappointment-in-obama/
Sure thing! And ALA's Youth Media Awards are going to be announced on Jan. 10, so mark your calendar for more titles. The full list goes over the character limit, so I made a google doc that you can check out. Let me know if it doesn't work and I can email it to you.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks for the frank assessment. I keep thinking I'll pick that up but it does sound a little rough going.
ReplyDeleteI also gave my Dad a graphic novel called "Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story," which I read and was quite excellent--the tale of two ex-cons from Houston who plan to use the aftermath of Katrina to rob a dirty bank in New Orleans, and who run up against not just the aftermath of the storm, but some corrupt government contractors. Some really powerful stuff in there.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great list. I am so pleased I have read most of those (most recently I am the Messenger) so I will be adding the rest to my list. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading The Historian for months. Months! Just can't seem to get through it. But I agree that it makes a great bookend.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading The Historian for months. Months! Just can't seem to get through it. But I agree that it makes a great bookend.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading The Historian for months. Months! Just can't seem to get through it. But I agree that it makes a great bookend.
ReplyDeleteI started The Historian, put it down and never picked it back up, which is incredibly rare for me. Glad I wasn't the only one.
ReplyDeleteIf you liked The Big Short, check out Liar's Poker. About Lewis' time working the bonds market in 1980's NYC. I believe it was his first book.
ReplyDeleteRuss: Thanks for the suggestion on the Bromwich podcast. I'm about halfway through Kloppenberg and share your ambivalence; it's a compelling thesis but rather too neat in parts. But especially since I'm teaching a course this fall on American intellectual history, 1870s-present, that neatness is awfully attractive right now.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, Radio Open Source also had an interview with Kloppenberg (so it's not just a matter of someone else beating up on him). I *love* ROS, much to the chagrin of "real life" friends who receive regular emails from me imploring them to listen to the latest podcast....
ReplyDeleteI love goodreads too! I'm there as Helen Dunn. My picture has me in big giant sunglasses holding a small monkey. Please friend me - the more book ideas I get the better.
ReplyDeleteThe only book I got for Christmas this year was the Phillies history/ photo book. My mom and i exchanged them as gifts. We've been doing that often in the past few years.
ReplyDeleteOrdering Finishing the Hat (the actual book) tonight with a gift card and got samples of the Magicians, the Imperfectionists, the Mark Twain autobiography, Super Sad Love Story, and One Day for the kindle. I'm auditioning books for my vacation in late January.
What I've been reading for the past few weeks that has been completely delightful are the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I didn't read these book as a kid. I read the first four in the series a few years ago and started them again last year-- that go-round I read the first 5. I started them again in November-- I like reading YA books around the holidays. I'm now on book #9/10 and I'm completely charmed. YA lit readers, if you haven't read them, I highly encourage them. I don't think I'm the only one who missed these as a kid. Betsy Ray is as engaging a heroine as Jo March or Anne Shirley, perhaps more so.
For those keeping track, that's six separate months during which Erin has been reading The Historian. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm on there as Renee Lipson. Don't judge me based on the junk I read. When I get home from a stressful day at work, I have a hard time reading serious stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe only book I got for Christmas was The Ball is Round, a really big history of soccer from a few years back. Looks good for when I get around to it. I did recently pick up My Year of Flops, which was very good, and the latest P.D. James novel, which was decent. I'm in the middle of reading a scholarly biography of Betsy Ross, by Marla Miller, which is a bit dry, but I'm finding it interesting.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the colonial era, mystery fans may be interested in a new historical series where Abagail Adams solves crimes, by Barbara Hambly (writing as Barbara Hamilton). There's 2 books out so far.
Meg Cabot talked those Betsy-Tacy books up on her blog a while back; I keep meaning to get started on them.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't wait 'til Christmas for Finishing the Hat and bought it for myself, much to my mother's chagrin. I've been reading it straight-through (I have an odd vein of OCD that reveals itself with stuff like this) and am about halfway through Follies. All the great stuff you've heard is true. Just remarkably frank, smart, incisive, and fair. I'll never listen to theater lyrics the same way again.
ReplyDeleteReceived for Christmas:
The Best American Magazine Writing 2010 - Always at the top of my list, always remarkablty rewarding.
The Best American Science Writing 2009
Moonlight Mile - Dennis Lehane. Was very excited to see that Lehane has gone back to the
Kensie/Gennaro well. And that it picks up the Gone Baby Gone story years later is very exciting.
Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King - Under the Dome was his best in years, so I am excited for this one.
Listen to This - Alex Ross - I almost never pick up the New Yorker, so this collection of essays by the classical music critic is very welcome.
I'm on there as Joseph Finn.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see Alex Ross mentioned I immediately think it's a reference to the artist.
ReplyDeleteSame thing. Stephanie Kuenn. I read a lot of junk too.
ReplyDeleteNew Orleans AD - After the Deluge is a good nonfiction graphic novel about the storm. I forget the author -- Josh something? -- but if you liked Dark Rain, you might like this.
ReplyDelete<span>For what it's worth, Zeitoun was definitely one of the best books I read this year. As some or all of you know, it's a non-fiction prose account of Katrina and its aftermath, focused on a Syrian-American contractor living in New Orleans and his family. It's terrific. </span>
ReplyDeleteZeitoun was a gift last year. My parents met and grew up in New Orleans (actually, in the downriver parish of St. Bernard, which was even harder hit than the city proper) and lived through Betsy, hence the import.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the list! I've read about half as well (and I really disliked Octavian Nothing). Will need to check out the rest.
ReplyDeleteI know I read The Historian - for one of my book clubs. I made notes that i liked it, but I honestly can't remember a thing about it. Hm.
ReplyDeleteI'm on there too (and think I'm friends with nearly all the people listed so far). Marsha Nagorsky. It's such fun reading the Thing Throwers book recs! Of course, my "to-read" shelf is longer than I'll likely ever manage to get to.
ReplyDeleteEvery once in a while I think it wouldn't be such a horrible thing to be incarcerated for a year or so just so I could get in shape and read a lot...
Oh, and those of you on Goodreads can do me a favor and friend UChicagoLaw on there - amusing book recs from our faculty members! (Judge Frank Easterbrook wants you to read The Time Traveler's Wife - really!)
ReplyDeleteDoes Abigail figure out who has been taking all the pins from the women of Boston?
ReplyDeleteSO many Finishing the Hat-sers and readers of The Magicians, and now, Besy-Tacy. I am so on the right blog. You and me, pal(s), we're the loonies. Did you know that? Bet you didn't know that.
ReplyDelete:-) (Yes, I am moved to emoticon!)
SO many Finishing the Hat-sers and readers of The Magicians, and now, Besy-Tacy. I am so on the right blog. You and me, pal(s), we're the loonies. Did you know that? Bet you didn't know that.
ReplyDelete:-) (Yes, I am moved to emoticon!)
<span>Agreed, great list. The pairings are really interesting, as is the (relatively) very contemporary bent. </span>
ReplyDelete<span></span><span> </span>
<span>ALA</span><span> is in San Diego, so it should make for easier viewing of the live streamed press conference:</span>
<span>http://alawebcast.unikron.com/</span>
<span> </span>
<span>Professional curiosity since two people mentioned THE MOCKINGBIRDS. How did you hear about it?</span>
<p><span> </span>
</p>
I work for YALSA, so I have access to/read a lot of YA. And now I am studying to be a librarian (maybe not a YA one but I like the reading, so I'm taking the class.)
ReplyDeleteI liked that it included so many recent(ish) printz/edwards winners. I will confess that I've avoided Octavian Nothing for a number of years and it's the one I'm least looking forward to, but maybe I'll be happily surprised? I was really glad to see American Born Chinese on it, because it's a) a great book and b) recognizing that great literature can be found in graphic form.
ReplyDeleteStevie - What do you do for YALSA?
ReplyDeleteThe Betsy-Tacy books are some of my all-time favorites, ever. A favorite aunt gave me Betsy-Tacy when I was about that age -- kindergarten or so -- and I discovered that there were more in the series through intensive library investigations. When I got to college and found the Internet, I realized that there were even more -- Carney's House Party and Emily of Deep Valley -- and when they finally came back into publication, it was like a gift. I wholeheartedly recommend them.
ReplyDeleteThe Historian was a bit of a slog. If I remember correctly, I was slightly overwhelmed by the discussion of methodology. I know I finished it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.
ReplyDeleteY'all should listen to Backstory with the American History Guys, which aims to be a Car Talk show about American history. It's great (Brian Balogh, Ed Ayres, Peter Onuf) and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteHow have you not read them all! Hurry! I love the high school ones the best, but Betsy's Wedding is fantastic, and Emily of Deep Valley is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteAm hoping you can elaborate on the "interesting meta-critique of the PI novels" aspect of the Lehane novel? I read it but did not get it.
ReplyDeleteI have not read Three Men In A Boat but now I am putting that on the list.
ReplyDeleteWait, I think I somehow have Blackout on my Kindle because one time for a week it was a free download.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way! And what I actually read is harlequinn romances (also because often they take an afternoon to read instead of weeks).
ReplyDeleteCommunications -- publications, PR & marketing, social media, website updating/maintenance, overseeing the email lists, etc. I'm starting to do more strategy on fundraising, too. I work closely with Nichole, who I suspect you know very well! While she's on sabbatical, I'm going to be managing YA Galley.
ReplyDeleteI am Heather Kinion of Chicago IL (with a lol cat as my picture) and I have either an affection or an affliction for Georgette Heyer romance novels.
ReplyDeleteI'm on there, too, though my name is pretty common, so it might be easier to find me by my email: tortoiseshelly@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteSo do I! Might be time to re-read Kingdom Come . . .
ReplyDeleteAnd Guest here was me, ;)
I'd go as far as to call Zeitoun my favorite of Eggers'. Just a deeply moving story.
ReplyDeleteLike so many others here (and awesomely so), I got "Finishing the Hat" and I've already devoured it. I only got one other book, but it was a doozy -- the 40th anniversary "Doonesbury" retrospective. It's amazing -- and amazingly heavy.
ReplyDeleteI'm on Goodreads as Rebecca Kreisher. Love the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteJust finished "Faithful Place" by Tana French, and I liked just a bit less than "The Likeness."
ReplyDeleteLehane largely abandoned the PI/pulpy side of writing to try to be a Serious Novelist, with varying success (Mystic River, yes, The Given Day, not so much). Without spoiling too much, Kenzie's basic arc in the book is "I try to leave the violence/pulp behind and be 'respectable,' and I keep being drawn back into it." I think Kenzie's desire to leave the "pulp" world behind is a mirror of Lehane's desire to be "taken seriously as a writer." Add to it the choice Kenzie makes at the end of the novel (which I won't spoil), and I read it as Lehane trying to say "I'm done with the low class PI novel, and want to write those Given Day sequels and be taken Seriously As A Novelist." It's unfortunate, since I think the Kenzie/Genarro books (particularly Prayers For Rain) are much better than his Literary Novels.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I do indeed know Nichole. Will you be in San Diego?
ReplyDeleteI'm on Betsy and the Great World right now. Can't wait to get to Betsy's Wedding. I'm totally obsessed right now and sneak in a few pages whenever I can. I saw the Emily, Winona and Carney books when I picked up this one last week. I'm holding off buying until I am just about finished this one. I'm all about using those weekly Borders coupons that they send out as if they've never had a sale before and never will again.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a nice coincidence, my copy of Finishing The Hat just came in at the library after a 6 week wait. Betcha I'm not going to be able to renew it, either.
ReplyDeleteI read her In The Woods this week, and I wanted to throw it against the wall for the sheer bit of cop stupidity at the end. No one bothered to confirm a possibly underage suspects age?
ReplyDeleteOne of the best Luthor stories ever, I maintain. He's not evil, but a control freak Human Firster in my view.
ReplyDeleteI liked both "In the Woods" and "The Likeness," but probably would have enjoyed them much more a) with better editing and b) without the "cop stupidity," as Joseph puts it.
ReplyDeleteRebecca - was it Frank being the main character in "Faithful Place" that made you like it less? I have to confess, I'm having trouble imagining I'd enjoy a book with him as the central figure.
I finished The Historian (as did my husband, which is odd for him- the only thing he normally reads is programming languages), and it was definitely painful in spots. I'll gve you a tip- much of it is skimmable.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone read her new book, <span>The Swan Thieves</span>? It's on my possibly to-be-read pile.
I'm on as Callie, or try calliekl. I think they both would work!
ReplyDeleteNope, I'm staying in Chicago this year. Bummed because Midwinter is finally somewhere nice, but it's kinda great to stay at ALA HQ when everyone else is off at conference.
ReplyDeleteI have put off "Faithful Place" purely because of how much I disliked the character of Frank. I liked both predecessors quite a lot, although I didn't care for the ending of either. Both had sheer cop stupidity problems that weren't in keeping with the characters, and I find Sam to be overwhelmingly boring.
ReplyDeleteI'm there too -- just joined, actually, so I don't have many recommendations on there yet, but I will! Aimee Parrott
ReplyDeleteI'm on there as sea0tter12.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking to search for decent victoria secret discount codes?
ReplyDeletei am going to actually buy a victoria secret swimsuit however expensive so how shud i get a promotion using the web to decrease the amount i have to pay?