My Five Favorite Books Read in 2009

In no particular order:

1.  The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (may he rest in peace).  My favorite of the Millenium Trilogy probably because of the amount of action involving one of the truly unique and interesting characters in recent literature, Lizbeth Salander.  My post on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will appear after the first of the year.

2.  (Blogpost pending)  A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.  Beautifully written, funny, many thought-provoking themes, another unique character in Owen Meany.  This one wins the 2009 prize for the book I'd most like to write about in a term paper.

3.  (cheating)  Shadow of the Wind and Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  Phenomenal translations from Spanish capture these stories taking place in Barcelona, Spain in the first half of the 1900s.  I anxiously await additional Zafon works translated into English.

4.  Game Six by Mark Frost.  My favorite sports book read in 2009 in a photo finish, Game Six actually added to the lore of the so-called greatest World Series ever played.  As a lifelong Reds fan, I actually found new "stuff" in this book.  Other highly recommended sports books from 2009 are two relating to Magic and Bird, When the Game Was Ours and When March Went Mad.

5.  Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.  This work of non-fiction by the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (post pending) (which has been named on a bunch of all decade lists) chronicles the experiences of one man and his family before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.

So that's my five.  What are yours?

Live long, read and prosper.

New (Interactive) Feature: In Search Of . . .

Anybody remember the classic series narrated by one of the true actor icons of our generation (Leonard Nimoy)?  The series was called  In Search Of. . . and was a kind of non-fiction X Files dealing with investigations into the paranormal and into conspiracy theories.  It ran in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Some of it was pretty freaky.

So what's this got to do with books, you ask?  Great question.

Ever wanted to sample an author but didn't know what to read?  Ever want to sample a genre but not know where to start?  That's where In Search Of . . . is meant to help.

I wanted to sample graphic novels about six months ago.  I actually read The Watchmen (which is very good).  I also started another classic graphic novel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns but didn't love it and abandoned my graphic novel effort.  After the supposedly classic The Watchmen, I had no idea what graphic novel to read.  It took some research to settle on Batman:  The Dark Knight Returns.  This would have been a perfect In Search Of . . . Graphic Novels subject.

Recently, John Irving was recommended to me.  I read A Prayer for Owen Meany recently (blog post pending).  Another perfect In Search Of. . .John Irving.  (The World According to Garp has similarly been highly recommended).

Somebody asked me about In Search Of. . .Robert Ludlom.  The answer is The Matarese Circle or the Bourne trilogy (Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum--skip the books ghostwritten after Ludlom's death).

Here's one I do not know the answer to:  In Search Of. . .Margaret Atwood.  I've never read her but have heard that she's a terrific author.  I have zero clue of what to sample.  Please post suggestions.

Post In Search Of . . . requests or suggestions in comments.  Hopefully, I will have a suggestion (since nobody else goes to the blog but you and me anyway).

Live long, read and prosper (See?  Back to Leonard Nimoy!  Nice, huh?)

Happy New (Recommendation System)!

There's been some confusion regarding this blog's recommendation system.  The confusion is entirely my fault.  I should not have gone with an A-F "grading" scale if I weren't actually "grading" books.

So, we're going to start "grading" books.

In order to accomplish the blog's goal of "recommending" books, the grading scale works out like this:

A - Highly recommended
B - Recommended
C - OK, you might like it
D - A waste of time
F - A HUGE waste of time

If a book, let's say it's a sports-themed, non-fiction book, earns a recommendation in the "A" range, the blog post will note that the book is "Highly recommended for fans of [we'll just insert the sport of tonsil hockey here as a placeholder]."  In other words, even an "A" recommendation may not be a book that I suggest you read.  It depends on your tastes.  Certainly some books in the "A" range will be recommended to all.  (Note to my son:  Some books are long.  Some books are bad.  As a math dude, you should understand that all long books are not bad.)

I wanted to get this post in because all future posts (including posts which are in process) will utilize our new system.

One other note. I am generally a stickler for grammar and punctuation (for using made-up words like "stickler," not so much). As I've stated in various posts, I am well aware that this blog does not utilize the well-established "underline book titles" convention. There are some places where book titles are in quotes. There are other places where book titles are merely capitalized.  While I apologize in advance for being such a heathen as to ignore this convention, it bothers me.  It really does.  This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up nights.  Seriously.  I decided, however, about 50 posts in that I would make the lack of consistency in the identification of book titles the consistency for the site.  Therefore and henceforth, I will utilize whatever convention I want in any willy nilly fashion I see fit.

Live long, read and prosper.

New Posts - They Are A-Comin'

Just got back from fishing.

I finished The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest before leaving for my fishing trip.  I finished Owen Meany AND read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers while fishing.

And THAT'S NOT ALL!  In addition to posts on these three books, upcoming posts will include:

1.  A post on what people are reading on vacation (and one thing they're definitely not reading) AND

2.  A New Year revision to the site's recommendation scale.

Look for all of these posts (and much much more) in the coming days.

Live long, read and prosper.

Goin' Fishin'

This will be my last post for over a week as my family and I are goin' fishin'.

Book-wise, I'm HOPING to finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest before we go out on the boat because I do not want to lug the Girl with me.  I do not know if the American version of the book will be thick and heavy, but the British version ("would you like a spot of tea before you get on the lift") is HEAVY.  I think it has something to do with the exchange rate. . .

I'm definitely bringing A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving on the trip.  It has been recommended by a couple of people, including my No. 1 sister who is goin' fishin' with us.  That may be as much as I can get through on the trip, but I'll bring a provisional book (to be decided) as well.

Have a great holiday, and be sure to read Daemon and order Freedom for the VBC!

Live long, read and prosper.

One of Bill and Ted's Most Excellent Book Blogs

"You killed Ted, you medieval dickweed!"

I am struck by this quote for two reasons.  First, I refer you to Amazon's omnivoracious blog which has a bunch of "most excellent" features--book reviews, links to interviews with authors, information on kids books, information on book awards, etc.

I am also reminded of medieval times and wanted to comment on the perceived need to "retell" the Canterbury Tales.  I don't get it.  As a college English major, I've read the Canterbury Tales in the Middle English (I know that sounds pretentious but is not meant to be; I would hope that anyone who studied the Canterbury Tales in college read it in the Middle English).  There are numerous versions for high schoolers as well.  Why did we need a new one?  That being said, I'm kind of interested to read this one as the Canterbury Tales is a true classic.

Live long, read and prosper.

Daniel Suarez Virtual Book Club Selection No. 2

The novel selected as the second Daniel Suarez Virtual Book Club (VBC) book will not be available until early January.  But this one is a bit of a two-fer.

The second VBC selection is the second book in a series.  The first in the series is called Daemon (and the series has its own website).  There is background on how Daemon was initially published (four years after the author completed it) here.

Oh, did I mention that the author of Daemon is DANIEL SUAREZ, the namesake of the VBC?  I selected this name of the VBC because:  (1) virtual reality is one of the themes in Daemon and this is a "virtual book club;" (2) I read Daemon shortly before starting this blog, and (3) I'm sure that nothing to date has been named after Mr. Suarez.

Daemon is currently available in hardback (for purchase as new or used (here's one place you can buy used) or loan from your local library--purchases of used books or books borrowed come with apologies to Mr. Suarez and his publisher) and Kindle (for you Kindle snobs out there) and will be available in paperback after Christmas.

The second book in the series, Freedom, will be released on January 7. 2010.  In order to give everybody time to read both, I will not post a blog about Freedom until after January 31, 2010.

I give Daemon an A-.  The story and the characters are original, and the the novel is very suspenseful.

I said on an earlier blog that I couldn't give a science fiction novel anything above the B range because science fiction doesn't appeal to all readers.  I actually took (welcome) criticism from one (the only?) blog reader for this.  After much thought, I am revising that view.  I do think that certain science fiction (and I put Anathem in this category) will not appeal to all readers and, as a result, given this blog's recommendation system, cannot receive a recommendation in the "A" range.  I know readers who would be so turned off by the premise in Anathem that they would not even give it a try.  And since an "A" rating is for books "Strongly recommend; if you are a reader, you should enjoy," well, a large class of "readers" won't.  Just like large classes of readers do not like non-fiction, romance novels, horror novels or historical fiction.

Daemon, though, while science fiction, is more of a techno-thriller.  The novel is Michael Crichton-esque in many ways.  I know many non-sci fi fans who enjoyed Crichton's "Disclosure," for example.  Therefore, I feel comfortable saying that most readers would find Daemon a good read and fun ride.

Live long, read and prosper.

Daniel Suarez Virtual Book Club Selection No. 2 Coming Soon!

Check back later today or tomorrow for the big announcement of the second Daniel Suarez VBC Selection (after the first selection was an unmitigated disaster).

See this post, this post, this post and this post for information on the VBC and the first VBC selection.

I'm a Trendsetter! And You Can Be Too!

See what you can learn from reading my book blog!

My favorite mother (mine) was, well, a little annoyed with me that I hadn't thought to include her in my whole "order the third 'Dragon' book from the UK thing" until I told her that she could borrow my copy after I had finished it (which will still be about 5 months before the book is available in the US).  She was, however, impressed when she pointed me to the linked article in the NYT yesterday and called me a trendsetter.

Feeding the Beast - UK Edition

First, a little housekeeping.

My current book is (sort of) the George Carlin biography.  I know, I know I said I was next reading fiction.  But for reasons detailed below, I wanted a short, quick read and the fiction candidates were too damn long.

Also, I know you're on the edge of your seats, and I am getting close to selecting books for vacation.  I'm probably going to bring one "good" read and a quick read or two to read if I get through the "good" read.

OK, I blogged earlier about The Girl Who Played with Fire, the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  As I indicated in the earlier post, the author, Stieg Larsson died in 2004 and never saw any of his books in print.  The thid book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is set for release in late May 2010.

OR IS IT?

I was messing around last Thursday night on the computer, minding my own business with "Suitable for All Audiences" websites, when I learned that The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is available in England.  Hmmm, I say.  How much would such a book cost, and more importantly, how much would such a book cost to ship (or "post" as they apparently say over there)?  And where would one get such a book?

Answer:  Amazon UK!  I was even able to log on using my Amazon US username and password.  The book was available.  I bought two copies, one for me and one for a good friend.  With shipping, the total order for the two books cost 27.95 pounds.  That's somewhere around $46 for two copies (again, delivered to my door from freaking Great Britain).  Heck, cover price in the US will be $27.95 for the book!

I ordered the books last Friday and have been very (almost maniacally so) interested in the books' progress.  The package landed in Philly, PA some time this morning (TWO business days after the order), and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.  That's just crazy.

There was a bit of a stir a few years ago when one of the Harry Potter books was available across the pond before it was available here.  I don't think there's going to be a stir about this, but if you're dying for the third book in the trilogy, you need not wait until the end of May 2010 to acquire a copy.

Live long, read and prosper.

Guest Blogger Interlude - The Twilight Series

Introducing our first guest blogger!  My 13 year old daughter!

(The following is virtually unedited.  Let's just say that I find accurate spelling to be a bit of a lost art.)

Twilight. First the book, now the movies, and a rumor of a t.v. show is buzzing around. When you think of Twilight what do you think of? I think of my favorite book series!!

First off, I know what everyone thinks.  I was one of the first people (that I know) to become absolutely addicted to Twilight. I first picked it up at a bookstore and was hesitant to read it because at the time, I didn't know anyone else reading it.  And truthfully, I had no idea if I would like really sure I would like reading about a topic "so out there" like vampires! But, don't let the topic intimidate you.

If you didn't know, the Twilight series is about a high school girl named Bella Swan, who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father.  Bella falls deep in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen.

When I picked up the first book, I couldn't put it down. I was so addicted. I read twilight really fast. And New Moon I read in a few nights. But, I had to wait for the last two books to come out from the series (Eclipse and Breaking Dawn). The books were really entertaining. Not going to lie, when I started reading Twilight, my friends were like "ewww vampires?" Now, the books are a huge hit and everyone is on the edge of their chair waiting for the Eclipse movie to come out.

As for who I recommend this book to. Mainly, I recommend this book to girls/woman (I am not saying that guys will not like this series too). This book tends to be like love story/gushy material that girls would mainly like. If you like reading in general and are ready to try something a little different, just give Twilight a try. Who knows, it could become your new favorite book. So, just pick it up! (:

Notes From All Around

1.  I've noticed that my posts have grown in length recently, and I hope that has not turned off any of the multitude of loyal followers of this blog.  To the extent you exist, you know who you are.

2.  I am between books right now.  I like to know what I'm reading next but haven't decided.  I expected to pick up the George Carlin autobiography autobiography, but I determined that I was in the mood for fiction.

So, I went to what I affectionately call, my "pile o' books."  My wife calls it, "when are you going to do something about that mess?"

A funny thing happened as I started to go through the pile o' books.  I didn't recognize a bunch of them.  How did they make it into the pile o' books?  How did I acquire them?  Many were paperbacks, so I supposed that I had found them on paperbackswap.  SOME OF THEM ACTUALLY LOOKED PRETTY GOOD.  PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD.

I was too tired to start a book last night, so I will have to choose tonight.  I know that you are all on the edge of your seat.

Live long, read and prosper.

When the Game Was Ours - B+

I think I've used this quote before on the blog, but I use it again now to tell anyone other than a sports fan above the age of 40 to skip to the starred paragraph below.  There is not anything that will interest you between the quote below and the starred paragraph (and it's likely not worth scrolling down the starred paragraph anyway).

Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along... move along.

SO, MOVE ALONG!

I'm not sure that I knew that college basketball existed before the 1979 Finals.  OK, that's an exaggeration.  But the 1979 Finals catapulted March Madness (and ultimately, the NBA) into the national consciousness.  For more on that, you can read When March Went Mad, another excellent book which focuses on the 1979 Finals game itself and Magic's and Bird's lives before the game.

Magic and Bird collaborated (with Jackie McMullin, a great sportswriter for the Boston Globe) on When the Game Was Ours.  The book tells the stories of Magic and Bird and how their lives have been, and forever will be, intertwined.  These two were not initially friends--in any sense of the word.  They weren't friends when they played on an amateur team together in 1978, they weren't friends when they met in 1979 at the NCAA championship and they weren't friends in their early years with the Lakers and Celtics.  I won't spoil the story about how they became friends (no spoilers, remember?), but anyone who follows basketball knows that they are close friends now.

When the Game Was Ours is not a biography, per se, of the lives of Magic and Bird.  It's not even really a "basketball" biography (the authors do not tell stories about Magic's pee wee league experiences, for example).  Their family backgrounds are discussed, and the action essentially picks up with their college recruiting and ends in present day.

I must confess that I was drawn to the book because my all time favorite athlete is Magic Johnson.  Why?  Well, there was the smile, of course, the smile that, while jovial, tells you that Magic knows something you do not (usually, that he's going to beat you).  The reason that Magic continues to be my all time favorite, though, is that you knew when you watched him play that winning was the No. 1 goal.  Not the personal goals, the "numbers."  Not the money.  Winning.  Winning unselfishly.  And if that meant that Michael Cooper got the shots and Magic didn't, so be it.

Bird was, of course, the same way--just not as flashy (Showtime) as Magic.

I'm old enough now that I can, unfortunately, refer to the "good old days," the days when athletes played to win--not for the fame or the money.  There was a youthful aspect to watching professional sports then.  Sure, the NBA was "professional" and a "business," but it was "playground," too.  Sports just isn't as much fun to watch any more, and the first guys who would tell you that, I think, are Magic and Bird.  If you want to read a book about  the "good old days" of professional sports, spend a few hours with When the Game Was Ours.  You won't regret it.

**No idea what book is next.  I have a nightstand full of paperbacks and hardbacks and a wife who wants that crap cleaned up.  I also have a couple of shelves of "to be read" books in our storage closet.  How do any of you decide what you're going to read next?  I guess that, when I get home tonight, I'll see what I'm in the mood to read.  Not an exact science, but hopefully, it'll be a good one.

Live long, read and prosper.