I read while I walk and wait between classes. That's generally the only time I have to read, so I've become well practiced at using peripheral vision while walking... and I've had no accidents yet!
Using that time (and a few sit-down snippets here and there, but honestly not very much), I was able to read 25 books this year, 19 if you count the entire Narnia series as one book (they are rather short, so I couldn't blame you if you did).
Two were business books (Seizing the White Space and The Silver Lining), one was a self-help-ish book (Speak like Churchill...), one was a historical (The History of Money), two were plays (The Importance of Being Earnest and The Taming of the Shrew), and the rest were all fiction, to varying degrees. I'm pretty impressed with the diversity of books I've read this year - last year's list was mostly sci-fi/fantasy fiction.
They were a lot of fun and I enjoyed each one for very different reasons (except, perhaps, The Call of the Wild, which I thought was terrible -- very sad when I consider how much I loved its near relative "White Fang"). I should also note that "Water for Elephants" (tho book) is much, much better than its movie counterpart. And for anyone that missed
my review of "The Princess Bride" (the book), you should
read it here. Basically, while the movie is amazing and one of the funniest movies on my shelf, the book is still better. It's that good.
My reading list for 2011: (commentary follows)
| Book |
Author |
| Candide |
Voltaire |
| Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Magician's
Nephew |
CS Lewis |
| The Princess Bride |
William Goldman |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
Witch, and the Wardrobe |
CS Lewis |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and
His Boy |
CS Lewis |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian |
CS Lewis |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of
the Dawn Treader |
CS Lewis |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver
Chair |
CS Lewis |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle |
CS Lewis |
| The Giver |
Louis Lowry |
| Enchantment |
Orson Scott Card |
| Water for Elephants |
Sara Gruen |
| Seizing the white space |
Mark W. Johnson |
| The Importance of Being Earnest |
Oscar Wilde |
| Around the World in 80 Days |
Jules Verne |
| The Taming of the Shrew |
Shakespeare |
| The Silver Lining |
Scott D. Anthony |
| The History of Money |
Jack Weatherford |
| White Fang |
Jack London |
| The Call of the Wild |
Jack London |
| The Picture of Dorian Grey |
Oscar Wilde |
| The Worthing Saga |
Orson Scott Card |
| Speak like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln |
James C. Humes |
| A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court |
Mark Twain |
Here's some short commentary for these books:
The Princess Bride: A full blog post of commentary here. Basically, while the movie is amazing and one of the funniest movies on my shelf, the book is still better. It's that good.
The Chronicles of Narnia (the whole series): Wonderfully thought provoking books. I especially loved the portrayals of Aslan, which really helped me picture Jesus Christ in more tangible and relatable situations than many sources. I did, however, feel that the series grew weaker as it went on - as if CS Lewis was just expounding on stories in his Narnian universe without much thought of how the stories applied to the overarching story line/message.
The Giver: Haunting dystopian novel. I couldn't really picture any feasible situation that could get humans to the situation they were in in that book, but back-story aside, it was a fantastic story. Great discussion on the need for pain to experience joy, bad to know the good, hurt to know kindness. Without such contrasts the world is bleakly gray.
Enchantment: Great fantasy novel by one of my favorites, Orson Scott Card. It's a modern twist on the Sleeping Beauty story, taking place in Ukraine. Very engaging, fun read.
Water for Elephants: Loved the portrayal of life in the circus circa 1930 (the movie barely touched on this in comparison). The love story was great until the main characters got trashy in the last couple chapters. I'm glad they removed that part in the movie.
Seizing the white space: Good business book on identifying what, exactly, people are looking for when they buy a product. Consumers have "jobs" to fulfill - something to fill my stomach quickly; something to keep my feet warm - and those "jobs" are filled with products - hamburgers and slippers in this case. Products that apparently fill "jobs" better than their competition do better. Even if the products are identical, advertising claiming that that Product A fulfills "Job A" better than any other product, it'll do better in the market. The book goes through a dozen examples of this with advice on how businesses can better tailor their research, products, and advertising to better fulfill consumers' "jobs".
The Importance of Being Earnest: Witty, hilarious play. Quick read. Great movie, too.
Around the World in 80 Days: My first travelogue-style novel. I really enjoyed it. The story itself wasn't all that intriguing, but the sights the travelers came to around the world seriously piqued my interest and led to many hours spent reading Wikipedia articles to get more background story. Fun, quick exposure to many parts of the world. India received by far more attention than any other nation, as the characters traveled through India on foot/elephant while most other places were traveled through on water. I was, however, disturbed by the old-fashioned inter-personal relationships. The old rich man that funds the trip is heralded as the hero at nearly every point of the story while it's actually his servant that risks his life countless times to ensure their journey carries on as planned.
The Taming of the Shrew: Funny at times, but mostly incredibly hard to follow. I read this as an e-book on my phone, so that meant hopping back dozens of pages to remind myself who a given character was was an unweildly and painful process. This has never been a problem in any other book, but since Shakespeare decided to make every male character's name rhyme (Tranio, Patruchio, Lucentio, Gremio, Grumio, Hortensio) by the end of the book I only had vague ideas of who each character was. Perhaps seeing The Taming of the Shrew performed would help clear things up for me.
The Silver Lining: Interesting, quick business read designed to convince the reader that in the Great Recession of 2008-?, hope is not lost. It takes the principles of Seizing the White Space (the books' authors work for the same firm, Innosight) and applies it to making products (and profits) "recession proof".
The History of Money: I was assigned to read the first half of this book for my capstone class, but I loved it so much I finished it on my own time. Weatherford basically tells a short version of world history all in terms of money - claiming that it's the liquidity of money that has spurred economic, societal, and artistic growth in every stage of human civilization. Very convincing, even if it's a little oversimplified at times. Engaging read.
White Fang: Deeply impactful, touching book with many lessons on child-rearing and family relations. I loved this book. It brought me to the verge of tears more frequently than any other book I can remember reading recently. It's about a wolf-dog that's adopted by one heartless master after another, each master convincing it to hate humans and all forms of life more than the last - until one fellow from California rescues him and teaches him of love. The book is written from the 3rd person, but one focused on White Fang's learning and development. I loved reading why White Fang drew the conclusions he did from every major life experience he was faced with, and understanding why he learned what he did - even if the lessons were sad. Such perspective would be derided as oversimplified if it were written about people, but I can't help but wonder if that's exactly what Jack London was trying to do. Most common phrase: so-and-so did this, "not because they were good or evil, but because that's how the world had raised him."
The Call of the
Wild: "White Fang" was about a dog becoming civilized; "The Call of the Wild" is the opposite. Buck, it's main character, is a dog from California that's kidnapped to drag sleds in the Klondike (for the gold rush). Buck quickly learns the ways of the North, and once he breaks free from his human masters, turns out to be stronger than any wolf and ends up being pack leader. Absurd, unrealistic, unpoetic book - a terrible follow-up to "White Fang."
The Picture of Dorian Grey: Beautiful, long parable to answer Mark 8:36: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Nothing. Dark, sad book, but utterly engrossing and convincing.
Worthing Saga: A must read for any Orson Scott Card fans. This is one of his earlier novels and certainly one if his less-known, but I love it. It's my second time reading it. Basic story: The disintegration of human society due to a drug that allows humans to freeze themselves for long periods of time. Because the rich/powerful "sleep" through the centuries (they feel like it lets them live longer), human progress stagnates and eventually the whole civilization falls apart. The book also covers some of society's rebuilding, with a special emphasis on the need for pain/hurt/sorrow as requisite to experience joy/learning in life, rather in the same vein as "The Giver."
Speak like
Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: A good reference book on effective speaking. Great quotes, great hints, but poorly written. For a professional speech writer, this guy had a lot of typos.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: Fun, long, absurd, funny, boring... I'm glad I read it but I don't know that I can endorse it. Great satirical points, but I think history is far enough removed that some of the jabs Mark Twain makes in this book fell on deaf ears. The story line, however, does poke a lot at imperialism in all forms - particularly America's cultural and technological imperialism, which made for some funny situations that I rather enjoyed.
It was a good year of reading!
