A Year of Reading 2009

Looking through the list of "Recent Reads" on my blog has taken me on a short trip through the past year.  The diverse range of topics left my head spinning but also encourages me that there is an interesting story here for anyone.  Along with my reviews of the following books, I want to share two reading-related websites that I found and used this year.

First is www.paperbackswap.com.  It allows you to list books you're willing to part with in exchange for books you are interested in.  There is no fee to sign up and the process works on a credit system.  You send out a book and then receive a credit to get a book.  You pay media mail rates to ship out your books, but pay nothing to get the "new" book sent to you.  Generally the shipping is less than $2.50 and it usually only takes 10 days max from requesting a book to ripping off the wrapper and delving in.

The second website is www.goodreads.com.  This site allows you to list and review books you have read and then share the list with your friends.  It's been so interesting to learn more about my sisters-in-law just by their choice of story. 

Now, on to the books.  If you've read anything listed here, I'd love to hear your review.  If not, I hope you'll find something that sounds interesting (or check out last year's list at http://wanderingstill.blogspot.com/2009/01/year-of-reading.html.)  And, it's a new year so any must-read suggestions for 2010 are always welcome!

1 The Christmas Sweater-Written by Glenn Beck, it was a pretty good short read.  The writing is a little jumpy but believable from the child's perspective it's written in.  Nice ending I didn't expect.  Wish I'd seen the live performance.

2 Women of Covenant: Story of Relief Society-Pretty good information on early LDS church history.  The pioneer history was a little more interesting than the organizational history.  Favorite quotes:  "The men couldn't or didn't do what I asked them to so now I'm going to ask the women," and "To the women there belongs a right which lies deeper than suffrage, higher than education, and sweeter than enforced virtue.  It is the right of choice; the right to choose what she shall be." 

3 Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith-Made me really question polygamy and Joseph Smith's secrecy on the subject, but did not make me question my testimony.  Very enlightening on Emma Smith and her decision to stay in Nauvoo.  Clarified why she was so disliked in Utah throughout the years.

4 Mornings on Horseback-1st of 2 books this year about Theodore Roosevelt.  I almost quit reading this one-the beginning was very forced and completely not captivating.  Sometime after he left for college the story became more interesting.  Decided it was because the information on his childhood was pieced together from letters and journals while in his older years there were many more sources to rely on. The North Dakota part was interesting because I've visited Medora, but I didn't understand the ending.  Left me with too many unanswered questions about him.

5 Recovering Charles-From the author's journalist background, the Hurricane Katrina descriptions are fantastic and made me think of my New Orleans friends returning home from Alaska to the devestation and what they went through.  Has a lot of annoying flashback sequences.  I loved the twist with the funeral photo, but then the "break-up" and "make-up" scenes were pretty expected and generic.

6 Revolutionary Road-No idea why people like this book, but can see why it made a good movie.  Still it was thought-invoking and left me pondering dream life versus reality and which to work towards, how people are fake, and left me wondering, "If people in the 50's were giving up, what hope is there for people in our day?"

7 Waiting for Snow in Havana-Started with great childhood memories of Cuba and written the way a child thinks.  Further into the book the author starts switching back and forth between that perspective and his adult thoughts and that got a little annoying.  The story spends too much time merely alluding to the change with Fidel Castro and very little about the change itself.  It was really interesting to learn about Cuba and the revolution, but maybe not entirely realistic since the main characters were wealthy. Favorite quote, "Dante was so wrong.  At the lowest point, at the nadir of the ninth circle of hell, Satan will be sharing eternally cold space with treasonous brownnosers who abandon their principles and do what is wrong for the sake of a good grade, or applause.  And these brownnosers will have to lick Satan's razor-studded butt forever and ever, with their tongues."

8 The Year of Magical Thinking-BIG LET DOWN!  Thought it was going to be an uplifting story of coping and growing and moving on.  Instead it was an entire year of not coping or moving on.  May be an accurate depiction of grief, but I didn't have any reason or desire to read about it.

9 The Railway Children-Refreshing!  It's a juvenile fiction story from the earlier 1900's, but super sweet.  I expected with every turn of the page that now something cynical would happen, but it never did.  Loved it!

10 Report From Ground Zero-Full of great testimonies from rescue workers and family that were at the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.  The author, however, seemed to be patting himself on the back.  When he got tired and bored of volunteering or helping out, he would just move on.  The 2nd half of the book put a better perspective on experiences and became more apparent that the book project was really his story and his coping mechanism.  If you accept that, the book is fine. 

11 Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life-Story of Queen Noor of Jordan.  It opened my understanding of the problems in the Middle East and the role that the U.S. has there.  An expectedly biased telling of events, but very good.  Favorite quote, "I will not fail you, my love.  I will continue on the path we shared, and I know you will be there to help me, as you always were.  And when we meet again at the journey's end, and we laugh together once more, I will have a thousand things to tell you."

12 House of Mirth-1st of 4 Edith Wharton stories I read this year.  My new favorite book!

13 The Reef-2nd Edith Wharton story. Didn't ever figure out the title.  The main character Anna is very tedious.  The story was originally written in installments for a newspaper and that is obvious when reading it as a complete book.  It doesn't flow.  Wouldn't recommend reading it.

14 50 Boyfriends Worse Than Yours-10-minute read.  Not quite to an almost funny rating.

15 The Custom of the Country-3rd Edith Wharton Story. Readable.  That's about all I can say.

16 Up Shit Creek-Hilarious and Disgusting!  About the  various types of portable poo-contraptions available on whitewater rafting expeditions.  Will make you roll on the floor, cry, and lose your lunch all at the same time.

17 The Age of Innocence-4th Edith Wharton story. Pretty good.  Written from a guy's perspective.  Compared to the other three stories, there were some contradictions in environments and time frame.  I wish she had more plainly stated what time frame this story was meant to take place.  I was hoping for a happy light ending.  Also, after these four books, I definitely needed a break from love stories.

18 The Wonder of Boys-Good ideas for the parenting of boys-especially older boys.  I blogged more on this book at http://wanderingstill.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html.

19 Shadow Divers-Fascinating true story about a scuba diving team that discovered an undocumented sunken U-boat off the coast of New Jersey.  The characters are well-developed and the technical descriptions of deep-water diving are well explained.  Don't write it off just because you're not a diver, it really is interesting!

20 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim-The author is funny and the story is well-written, but has too much swearing and two completely inappropriate sections.  As with most of the author's writing, this book is taken from family stories.  I won't be reading anymore of his work-it's too crude for me.  That's too bad, because he is really funny.

21 The Quality of Life Report-The depiction of the midwest is nothing like the midwest I grew up in (except in the spot-on description of winter.  That was perfect.). Unfortunately, my opinion is that the reviewers for this book ate it up just like the main character's New York fans ate up her phony reports.

22 Daisy, Daisy-Horrible book filled with inaccurate facts and history.  A true story about an English woman who rode her bicycle across the United States.  The geography and chronology are completely discombobulated.  She never even tells you how long it took her.  The only redeeming quality was the inspiring idea of cycling across the country.  

23 I Love Dirt!-Creative ways to get kids to notice and explore their outdoor surroundings.

24 Cooking Art-A fun book of recipes and ideas for cooking with kids.  For the focus age a lot of the instructions could have been much simpler.  I wish it had color photographs instead of sketches.

25 River of Doubt-2nd Theodore Roosevelt book I read this year.  FANTASTIC!!!  About an excursion he took in the Amazon.  It was an era when there were still unknown places and men who wanted to explore them.  Description of flora, fauna, fish, and animals was intriguing and not boring or academic.  I could feel the fear and frustration, understand their luck and fortune, and yet could not imagine the physical and emotional feat they endured.  Stories like these, about the people who shaped our society, are the stories we still need to hear about!

26 The Alphabet Sisters-A fun light read.  Great author who's comfortable with the setting (Australia) and develops good characters.  This story's family and problems were believable and easy to relate. I ended with a warm feeling telling me that love feels good. 

27 Round Ireland with a Fridge-Let's grab something-ANYTHING-and go!  Inspiring tale of the author doing exactly what the title infers.  Does have a lot of English slang, but don't get tripped up in it.  

28 A Stone Boat-Excellent insight to cancer, death, and the emotions that come as part of the package. Did feel distracting because a definite time period was never established.  Would have been much better if the focus was more broadly on the family as a whole instead of specifically one character.  Favorite quote, "...if we all managed three weeks of feeling light, and easy and unconcerned, we could build up our depleted energy for the renewal of the battle.  And if the battle need never be renewed we will not have wasted this time by being happy."

29 Pastoralia-WHAT IS THIS????? PLEASE, SOMEONE EXPLAIN IT TO ME!

30 The Best Things Parents Do-Short vignettes, each identifying a different principle of parenting.  Doesn't get in depth on any topic, but was thought-provoking.  Most prevalent  topic was choices and consequences.

31 Second Hand-Title needed to be "Vintage/Retro" instead.  Well-written with great descriptions, but too many gratuitous scenes and too many f-words.  I didn't feel like the end was as shocking as I'd been lead to believe it would be.  The characters just got really depressing. 

32 Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal-The first part of this book was the most irreverent and offensive to me, in part because I didn't know what to expect.  The second part was story-telling of boyhood adventure.  The third part was the most believable (if you stretch).  There is a LOT of sex in this book and overall I didn't find the author particularly funny. 

33 The Stardust Lounge-True life account of a mother raising a rebellious teenage son.  Her strategy would not work for everyone, but she took an interesting angle in using the family pets to reconnect and repair their relationship.  

34 The Sun Also Rises-My first Hemingway novel.  Not knowing what to expect, I found it to be very readable.  It subtly captured the futility of life, how our roles are often less-than-ideal, and yet we accept living in them.

35 The Human Comedy-A simple and innocent story about a family in the World War eras.  The writing and characters are touching.  Without a lot of words the author draws you into the characters' curiosity, maturity, positivity, and pettiness.  Worth the few hours it took to get from cover to cover.