2010: The year in books

I started keeping track of books that I read in 2009 and kept the practice going this year. So, here's the completed list. 52 new (to me) books, 8 old friends.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Love the One Your With

The Johnstown Flood

Born to Run

Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Widow’s Web

Love the One You’re With

Don’t Sleep There Are Snakes

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Avonlea

Anne of the Island

Anne’s House of Dreams

Rainbow Valley

Under the Banner of Heaven

In Cold Blood

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Jacob Have I Loved

The 19^th Wife

Outlander

Dragonfly in Amber

Voyager

Let the Great World Spin

Drums of Autumn

Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Opposite of Love

The Fiery Cross

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Echo in the Bone

The Best of Everything

Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It

Never Let Me Go

Oprah

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Book Thief

One Day

Passing Strange: A Guilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest

Game Change

Room: A Novel

Water for Elephants

Fundraising the Dead

Mini Shopaholic: A Novel

John Adams

A. Lincoln

Sarah’s Key

The American Way of Death, Revisisted

The Kids Are All Right

Re-read:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of A

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Help

The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford

The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford

Nothing to get you in the Christmas spirit like thinking about your ultimate demise, right?

This book is not available for Kindle or audiobook (gasp). So, I went to the library and checked out a hardcover (something I've only been doing as of late for cookbooks and archival/history-related texts). Hardcovers seem so much heavier to carry around after toting my Kindle for the last (almost) year. I digress.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who plans on dying or knows someone who will die. So, everyone. Americans have a unique funeral culture, one that I've never been entirely comfortable with, and this book helped me know why (and be even more uncomfortable with it -- hooray!). I've never needed the viewing after a family member has died and have always hated hearing "oh, they look so natural." They don't look natural; they are dead! I would much prefer to remember the living, vibrant person I knew in life, not their remains. The funeral industry is a business and wants to sell you the most expensive funeral possible. And they get you right when you are most vulnerable and make you think that the way to really show how much you loved your "loved one" is to spend a ridiculous amount of money for their funeral. They take advantage of the guilt and remorse of your mourning.

Things that this book made me realize or reinforced previous feelings:
1) I do NOT want an open casket funeral or any viewing of my remains. If my immediate family members would like a peak, fine, but please do not put me on display for everyone to have to comment on how "natural" I look.

2) I do not want to be embalmed. (Side note: Listen to the author when she forewarns that things are a little difficult to read. I thought that after reading all about death rituals in college, I'd be fine with this chapter right before bed. I wasn't. Just read with caution).

3) I'm pretty sure I want to be cremated. I like the idea of being buried in a cemetery (particularly because great-great-grandparents, great-grandparents, grandparents, and cousin are all buried at a cemetery that I nominated for the National Register. I'd like to end up there), but that doesn't mean I can't have my cremated remains buried there.

4) Don't get an expensive casket (or a casket at all, if possible). Seriously. I get that I'm awesome and you love me, but please don't spend thousands of dollars on a box. And don't get a vault. Spend the money on some musicians for the memorial service or go buy yourself a new purse. Seriously.

This book is a bit dense, but even if you don't get through the whole thing, or pick and choose the chapters, absolutely check it out. I will probably have to pick out a casket, etc. at some point in life and feel much more prepared.

What I'm reading right now

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

This is my 2nd time, so I can go ahead and highly recommend it. The film version will be released next summer, so go ahead and read it now. I think this is one of my top five favorite books; yes, that good. Go!

The American Way of Death Revisited, by Jessica Mitford

I'm only on the first chapter, but I am already so excited about this book club selection. No Kindle or audio version, had to get a hardback from the library. Yes, they do still let you borrow materials even if you get a Kindle.

Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts, ed. Laura B. Cohen

Unless you are thinking about sitting for the Certified Archivist exam with me in August, or you want to learn more about reference services, you have no reason to pick up this book. I only included it to explain the inevitable reduction in reading for pleasure. Wha wha.

A new museum series: Get down from the soapbox

Fundraising the Dead, by Shelia Connolly

So, is this how physicians feel watching Grey's Anatomy? Simply horrified by the portrayal of their profession? Set in a "antiquarian society," this book had quite a few "oh my God, it's just like in National Treasure when they take out a freakin' hairdryer to blast the back of the Declaration of Independence" moments. I enjoyed the story -- the mystery is intriguing and I wanted to see what happened, but there were so many details that drove me CRAZY.

From Publishers Weekly: "Old families, old papers, and the old demons of sex and money shape Connolly's cozy series launch, which will appeal to fans of her Orchard and (as Sarah Atwell) Glassblowing mysteries. The venerable and cliquish Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society has a security problem. Documents worth millions are missing, and the staffer who uncovers the losses is found dead in the stacks. Nell Pratt, the society's director of development, is instructed by board member Marty Terwilliger to account for the absence of Marty's ancestor's correspondence with George Washington. It's a rare improbability--why ask the fund-raiser and not the director of collections or the board itself?--in an otherwise sturdily constructed plot. There are no real surprises, but the archival milieu and the foibles of the characters are intriguing, and it's refreshing to encounter an FBI man who is human, competent, and essential to the plot."

1. The PW synopsis addresses the main problem with this novel. Why the hell is the development director tasked with hunting down missing collection items? Why would she meet the board member/donor to go through document boxes without collection staff members present? Or without even notifying them? And how would she not recognize that she is part of the larger problem that lead to items going missing?

2. I have a very visceral reaction to managers referring to staff members as "my employees," "my troops," or minions. Power trip much? If you aren't signing the paycheck, your co-workers work for the same entity that you do; they do not work for you. And they are people (maybe even professionals?), not minions.

3. And what makes the same woman think that she can sneak into collections storage and handle fragile collection items during her lunch hour without telling anyone? What is wrong with (fictional) people?

The author, apparently, worked at a museum at some point in life and consulted with current museum professionals regarding protocol and policy. I do wish she hadn't let her readers believe these actions are appropriate. And I didn't even mention that she was sleeping with her boss. Of course she was. Ridiculous.

This is the first in a series that I'm not sure I will continue reading. Is ranting about all the inaccuracies super fun? Yes, but there are so many better books out there.

Sarah, Liesel, and the Nazis

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

I don't like books about the Holocaust. I have yet to read a Holocaust book that really made a big impression on me.* There, I said it. I have no soul.

So, I don't even know how it happened that BOTH of my book clubs selected Holocaust books last month. How did I let this happen? If I had to recommend one of these novels, it would be Sarah's Key.

From Publishers Weekly: "De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay's 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia's conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah's trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down."

I listened to this book, which helped with some of the French pronunciations. I probably cared more about the Julia character because of how other people treated her and despite her actions. That is a tough sell for a heroine.

The Book Thief is a young adult novel that sounded promising from the description, but was just so disappointing.

From School Library Journal: "Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA "

I didn't like Death as the narrator. I sometimes felt like the story was going to go in a weird, inappropriate place (though perhaps that says more about me than the book), but then it would step back. I think my main gripe is that Death would tell you what happens and then go back and tell you how it happened. I enjoy that type of story telling (in How I Met Your Mother), but for me, it just did not work for this book.

Kindle edition notes: The book contains quite a few illustrations that translate well to the Kindle version.

* Please do not interpret this declaration as an invitation to suggest Holocaust books that I might like. I've read a lot. It's too late for me.

Em and Dex, Dex and Em

One Day, by David Nicholls

We meet Emma and Dexter in the early morning hours following their university graduation day. Each subsequent chapter checks in with these friends on July 15 for the next twenty or so years. Careers and love life struggles -- all the template twenty and thirty-something problems -- ensue. Will they or won't they? Should they?

As a college student "When Harry Met Sally" was absolutely my favorite movie. One Day is a similar story, but doesn't try to answer the old question: can (straight) men and women be friends? (It doesn't even address all the other possibilities, but I digress). Maybe it helps answer if good friends make good lovers.

This book is highly recommended by the majority of my fellow book club members (even those that didn't quite finish :). This book surprised me, and that's a good thing.

Beep beep

Room: A Novel, by Emma Donoghue

Room is told from the point of view of Jack, a five-year-old boy who lives in "room" with his Ma and has never left this place where a stain from his birth still marks the rug. Jack is advanced in many ways and yet has never been farther than across a room from his mother. His entire understanding of existence is entirely shaped on his mother's explanation of the world outside room and "Old Nick," the man who visits room at 9 o'clock most nights.

This was not a relaxing read -- it stressed me out, but it is a really good book. We've all heard stories of people (usually women) held captive, hidden away in plain sight. People are held prisoner in basements, or in this story, a soundproof garden shed in a backyard, surrounded by a neighborhood, and the neighbors never suspect a thing.

I particularly recommend this novel as an audiobook. Three voice actors take on the characters, and the actor portraying Jack is excellent. I was emotionally invested in the outcome for Jack and his Ma. The print version includes a floor plan of "room," but I didn't feel I missed too much by not seeing the illustration.

I hesitate to say much more for fear I might ruin a plot twist. If you are looking for a light read, this probably isn't your best bet. I'm not sure that I've read another book quite like this one, and I'm glad I did.

Goodnight room. Goodnight and goodbye, Jack.

Historical fiction! Time travel! Such fun!

Outlander series, by Diana Gabolden

Outlander (1991)
Dragonfly in Amber (1992)
Voyager (1994)
Drums of Autumn (1997)
The Fiery Cross (2001)
A Breath of Stone and Ashes (2005)
An Echo in the Bone (2009)

This is another series that came highly recommended but took me several years and a sale for the audiobook on iTunes to get to. These historical fiction novels are hefty -- 800+ pages or 40+ hours of listening and were very aptly categorized by a dear friend as "PMS porn." The main character travels from the 1940s to the 1740s and encounters many adventures and historic figures. Is the whole time travel plot a bit hokey? Yes. Did some of the romantic dialogue make me roll my eyes? Absolutely. Did some of the very descriptive sex scenes make me blush? Yup -- on the subway or wherever I was. So, why did I fly through seven 800-page books? I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

I split ebooks and audiobooks on this series. Davina Porter is the amazing narrator for all but two of the books and taking note of reviews on Audible, I chose to read (ebook) those two. My boyfriend says that her Scottish accent is ridiculous (he overheard me listening -- this is not his kind of book), but I think he is wrong. There are a lot of characters with a lot of accents and I think Davina Porter is fabulous.

The end of each book is a cliffhanger, and I cannot wait for the next installment!

Shopaholic's latest installment

Mini Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella

I'm not sure how many people are still reading the Shopaholic series, but I will admit that silly girly books are a guilty pleasure for me. For those of you that have read any of these, Mini Shopaholic follows the established formula: Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is addicted to shopping and because of INSERT OBSTACLE (no money, a promise she has made to her family and friends to cute back and/or wear everything in her wardrobe before she buys something new), which she overcomes with loopholes (now she has a daughter to shop for! And of course her husband is super wealthy!). And there is always something she is hiding from everyone, which makes her look suspicious even if she isn't really shopping. It is difficult to sympathize with Becky. She is selfish, irresponsible, and wait -- can we talk about her husband and her friends and family? I'm a big fan of unconditional love but these people are enablers. Sure, it makes for a more suspenseful story, but reading these kind of stress me out.

Am I going to read the next inevitable installment? Probably. Yes, even though I know that the quality of each subsequent addition is going to be a lesser of its predecessor and Becky is apparently never going to grow up or take responsibility for her actions.

Sophie Kinsella's stand-alone novels are much better, especially Can You Keep A Secret?

Oh, in case you were wondering, yes, Mini Shopaholic does include the sex scene passage where Becky pretends to be coy and then tells you everything anyway.

Passing Strange

Passing Strange: A Guilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line, by Martha A. Sandweiss

From Booklist: “During America’s Gilded Age, Clarence King was a famous geologist, friend of wealthy, famous, and powerful men. He was a larger-than-life character whose intellect and wanderlust pushed him to survey far-flung regions of the western U.S. and South America and develop an abiding appreciation of non-Western culture and people. What his family and wealthy friends did not know was that for 17 years, King lived secretly as James Todd, a black Pullman porter with a black wife and mixed-race children residing in Brooklyn. Devoted to his mother and half-siblings, restless and constantly in need of money, King relied on the largesse of his wealthy friends to help him support both families, never revealing his secret until he was near death. Sandweiss relies on letters, newspaper accounts, and interviews to chronicle the extraordinary story of an influential blue-eyed white man who passed for black at a time when passing generally went the other way. An engaging portrait of a man who defied social conventions but could not face up to the potential ruin of an interracial marriage. --Vanessa Bush"

Though I did recognize several of his contemporaries mentioned in the book, I had never heard of Clarence King or his story of passing within New York City as both a well known white scientist and a very light-skinned black Pullman porter. There isn’t a lot in the historical record about his wife, Ada Copeland Todd King, so Sandweiss uses a lot of circumstantial evidence to basically guess what her life as a former slave moving to New York would have been like. Though Ada Todd seemed to not know that her husband was white, it seems unlikely that anyone who saw him would have thought that he could be hired as a Pullman porter, a position filled by only African American men with very dark skin. I listened to the audiobook so I missed out on whatever photographs and citation were included in the book.

Confession: I love books about Mormons

The 19^th Wife, by David Ebershoff

From The New Yorker:

“This ambitious third novel tells two parallel stories of polygamy. The first recounts Brigham Young's expulsion of one of his wives, Ann Eliza, from the Mormon Church; the second is a modern-day murder mystery set in a polygamous compound in Utah. Unfolding through an impressive variety of narrative forms—Wikipedia entries, academic research papers, newspaper opinion pieces—the stories include fascinating historical details. We are told, for instance, of Brigham Young's ban on dramas that romanticized monogamous love at his community theatre; as one of Young's followers says, "I ain't sitting through no play where a man makes such a cussed fuss over one woman." Ebershoff demonstrates abundant virtuosity, as he convincingly inhabits the voices of both a nineteenth-century Mormon wife and a contemporary gay youth excommunicated from the church, while also managing to say something about the mysterious power of faith.”

This book is a page-turner that I cannot recommend more highly. I (and my whole book club) loved it.

With that said, if you happen to catch the Lifetime movie version, do not watch it! Read the book. Did you notice in the last sentence of the New Yorker description that one of the main characters is gay? Well, according to Lifetime, it’s ok to change that. They got cutie pie Matt Czuchry to play Jordan and apparently couldn’t let him be gay. This omission required skipping over some of my favorite secondary characters in the novel. And they significantly increased the role of Queenie, played by Chyler Leigh. Oh, do I sound irritated? I am.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, by Jon Krakauer

These two books could probably have also fit under the murder books category, but because they are about Mormons, they get their own entry. Using a brutal 1984 murder of a young woman and her 15-month old daughter as the lynch pin, Krakauer traces the history of the Mormon church from its founding by Joseph Smith, through upstate New York, the Midwest, and its eventual settlement in Utah. Krakauer uses secondary and primary historical sources and interviews. It is a really interesting read, particularly because of the rate at which the Mormon faith is growing around the world.

Off to lands unknown

Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall

I didn’t think it was possible that a book existed that would actually make me want to run. This is the book. Did I start running after I read it? No. But if you are at all inclined to run and you need some motivation – read this book. If you already are a runner – read this book. The anthropology major in me loved traveling through inhospitable terrain to meet the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, a people who possess seemingly super human abilities for distance running.

Don't Sleep There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, by Daniel L. Everett

This book combines ethnography and linguistics with a man’s story of life with the Pirahã. I was hesitant at the outset of this book because Everett initiates a relationship with the Pirahã as a missionary. His purpose is to learn the language, create a written version, and translate the Bible in order to convert the tribe. That is a very different goal than an ethnographic or linguistic study of a culture and language. Through this story, Everett loses his faith, his family, and ultimately claims that the Piraha don’t possess the concepts of numbers or time. This challenges a fundamental basis of linguistic theory. I’m still not sure how I feel about this book or its author, and not in the way that encourages me to recommend it.

*Book club selection.

The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Before this year, I had never read a lot of young adult books. Luckily, we had a fabulous library science graduate student intern this summer who recommended/insisted that I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire because the third book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, was coming out in August. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this science fiction, apocalyptic, and really violent trilogy.

I listened to all three of these. I read faster than the typical audiobook, and this is one series that I’m glad I had to slow down to get through. Like most trilogies, the first book is the strongest in the series, but I was invested enough in the characters and the story to want to see them through. After two cliffhangers, the third book wraps up the story with a satisfying knowledge of what happens after The End.

I've been told that if I like this series, I should check out Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It is on the "to read" list.

Anne with an 'e'

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Avonlea

Anne of the Island

Anne’s House of Dreams

Rainbow Valley

I had a paperback set of the Anne of Green Gables books as a kid, but I’m going to be honest – I’m not sure how many of them I got through – maybe the first three. Reading them again as an adult has made me a) want to go visit Prince Edward Island, b) marry Gilbert Blythe, and c) fall in love with these books all over again. I still have Anne of Windy Poplars and Rilla of the Island to go. This series (minus Windy Poplars, written later and out of public domain) is $0.99 in the Kindle store.

I had recently re-watched the amazing Canadian television versions of Anne of Green Gables and the sequel. In 2004, the original cast reunited for Anne of Green Gables – The Continuing Story. This movie goes so far away from the books – Gilbert goes to fight in World War I and Anne goes as a nurse to find him. There is a kid involved. It is just ridiculous. Jonathan Crombie is still super hot, but just be advised. It is not based on the books.

Murder

Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Widow’s Web

In Cold Blood

I got on a little real-life murder case kick reading Devil’s Knot, Widow’s Web, and In Cold Blood in quick succession.

Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, by Mara Leveritt

I was 11-years-old and living in Arkansas when three 8-year-old boys were found dead in the woods in West Memphis. I remember the photos of the three little boys being shown on the news very vividly and then the pictures of the three teenagers who were arrested and convicted of the murder, but I think I was too young at the time and sheltered from the story to understand what was really happening. More recently, I watched Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2, two HBO documentaries about the case and was simply horrified. Devil’s Knot is an extraordinary book about the case. The appeal for a new trial for Damien Echols, one of the teenagers convicted of the murder, is currently being argued before the Arkansas Supreme Court. This is a really great book that I highly recommend.

Widow’s Web: The true story of a Little Rock beauty whose deadly two murders scandalized the entire state of Arkansas, by Gene Lyons

I don’t even know how I came across this book, probably simply from searches for books pertaining to Arkansas. It only had two printings, the last of which was in 1994. I bought it for a dollar on Amazon and I’d be happy to loan it to you. This book is about Mary Lee Orsini, an infamous murderer from North Little Rock who I honestly had never heard of. Where the heck was I? Well, it was in 1981 so I hadn’t been born yet, but I’m so surprised that of all the people whose names I recognized in this book, I had never heard the story before. I won’t give too much away because the mystery is part of the fun, but Mary Lee Orsini used her womanly ways to get her husband and her lawyer’s wife killed and piled a lot of crazy everywhere. Particularly if you are from Arkansas, this is a good read.

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood. The famous Truman Capote book about a triple murder in Kansas. Salacious. Well written. Fabulous.

To Begin

For years, people had been recommending the Harry Potter series to me, to which I would answer – “as soon as I finish my thesis, I will read Harry Potter.” This (finally) happened in December of 2009 and about 5 or 6 weeks later – I had read all seven Harry Potter books. Since college, my down time had been mostly dedicated to working on my thesis or feeling guilty that I wasn’t working on my thesis. And suddenly I could read for fun, no guilt necessary! I am apparently a fast reader. I’ve been in a fabulous book club for almost two years and recently joined a second one.

Because this is my first year of full on fun/ non school-related reading, I decided to keep track of how many books I read it 2010. It is 53 so far. Wait, I finished two this weekend, so maybe 55. I don’t know. I’m going to start an Excel spreadsheet. But the point it, I’ve gotten lots of queries for recommendations, etc. so here you go: what I’ve read so far and if I liked it. I consume books in a variety of formats: ebook, audio, and pbook (paper book). If I particularly enjoyed an audio book, I’ll try to note it. I can’t read on the subway (or planes!) and am especially jealous of people who can. If you’ve never tried audio books or podcasts, I highly recommend them. They are a lovely addition to my commute and many afternoons of data entry.