some smart, some don't
Book blogging (mostly)
Choose your own adventure (and by yours, I mean mine)
18
The tower of books you see to the left is my to-read stack. When I finish with what I’m currently reading (Botchan by Natsume Soseki – the author of I Am a Cat) I will be picking something from this list. However, instead of using some arbitrary criteria that I’ll come up with moments before I choose – I’m going to let you be the arbiter of arbitrariness for me. That’s right, you get to choose my next reading adventure.
All I ask is that you post a comment with the book you want me to read next. You can give reasons, or just the title. Or, if you want to pretend like you are ordering Chinese food, just the number from the list below. Hopefully there will be an overwhelming majority, otherwise I’ll have to come up with some other criteria to choose by, which would defeat the whole purpose of doing this!
I will be finishing my current book in the next 3 or 4 days, so you have until then to respond.
Here’s the list in a format that is a little easier to read than squinting at the picture above:
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Inferno of Dante (translation by Robert Pinsky)
- A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Everything Bad is Good For You by Stephen Johnson
- In Harm’s Way by Doug Stanton
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
- A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (this is just the first book in The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. I)
- The World of Pooh by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard
- The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Stephen King, Peter David, Robin Furth, and Jae Lee (this is a graphic novel).
Thanks for your help!
Update: I’ve finished Botchan (post incoming shortly) so the voting is closed. Up next: Stranger in a Strange Land.
Half Moon Investigations (Audio)
02 years ago
Before we headed to Pennsylvania for Christmas vacation, Vanessa and I picked up the audio book versions of the first Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from our local library. These were meant to be safe, guaranteed good listens for the many hours of driving we were going to have to do up north. Unfortunately, I left them at home and when we arrived in PA, with a four hour drive looming on the horizon, we were feeling a little nervous.
Vanessa’s mom, and her trusty library card, came to the rescue, however, and while we prepared for the drive she went to her library to pick up “any Artemis Fowl book you can find” (we have read and enjoyed them all, so we weren’t going to be picky at this point). While she did find the first Artemis book, she accidentally grabbed the book you see to the left as well – Half Moon Investigations. Since we had not ever read this one before, and we were feeling adventurous, we decided to give Half Moon a go. We made the right decision.
Half Moon Investigations is the story of a young private detective, Fletcher Moon, who is accused of committing multiple crimes and thereby forced to clear his own name. What really makes the book great is Colfer’s ability to flawlessly combine the interests and vocabulary of a teenager with the wit and tone of classic private eye literature. Within moments of starting the book we were blown away by how strong a character Colfer had created in Moon, and were laughing hysterically as Fletcher, with complete earnestness, reveals the rough and tumble life of a teenage detective.
All of this is enhanced even further by the narration of Sean Patrick Reilly. This Irishman brings Fletcher and his world to life so vividly that I have to wonder if actually reading the book would have been half as enjoyable. After all, would I have had the presence of mind to read Fletcher’s inner dialogue in the classic private detective style? If not, I would have missed out on a huge aspect of the book. My descriptions so far have been pretty insufficient, so I recommend listening to the sample of the audio production available on Amazon (there’s a play button just under the image of the book).
This one is definitely recommended. In fact, if I hadn’t finished it in 2010, it would have been extremely difficult to decide between this and The House of the Scorpion for the best audio book of the year. Fortunately, I won’t have to make any hard decisions like that for at least 11 months.
“It was shiny. He was eight.”
Oh Fine – Ten on Tuesday on Wednesday (Book Edition)
10Yeah, yeah, it’s Wednesday and I’m doing a Ten on Tuesday. I got in trouble for not doing this yesterday, even though it was about books. (Courtesy roots and rings via Kathleen and Megan).
1. Favorite book(s) as a child and why?
This might not come as a surprise to anyone, but the earliest book I remember reading for fun was Encyclopedia Brown. I always enjoyed trying to solve the mystery, and never seemed to mind the fact that I never could. I always wonder, if I read them again now, would I still be surprised by the endings? Are they logical and reasonable, or just outrageously ridiculous? I plan to find out when Lucas is old enough to enjoy them.
2. First “grown-up” book you remember reading?
For starters, I’m not even sure what this question means. Grown-up is in quotes, which might imply that it isn’t meant to be serious. If that’s the case, then it would have to be the expanded universe Star Wars novels I read in junior high. These are “grown-up” in the sense that their target audience is people (like me) who haven’t ever grown up.
3. Favorite movie that came from a book?
It’s a tie, but to be fair it’s two movies based on books by the same author (Nick Hornby): High Fidelity and About a Boy. I chose these because, first, both are great movies. Second, they treat the source material with respect. Third, you can either watch the movies first, then read the books or go books then movies and still really enjoy both. They are more supplemental and complimentary than most book/move relationships and I appreciate that.
4. Movie that you loved so much that you WISHED there was a book out so that you could find out more about the movie.
Donnie Darko. If you’ve seen the movie, you understand.
5. Worst book you’ve ever read?
Unlike some of my other friends I, unfortunately, have a really hard time putting a book down no matter how bad it is. It happens, but not often. At the top of the list is The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I remember hating this book in high school. I even wanted to enjoy it, but it simply wasn’t happening. Sorry Merlin.
6. Book that everyone raves about that you either a) haven’t read and feel slightly dumb for not having read it or b) have tried to read and hated and so feel slightly dumb that everyone is getting something you don’t?
Little Women. But I don’t feel particularly dumb about it since I’m clearly not in the target audience.
7. If you were forced to choose only 3 books that you could read for the rest of your life, which ones would they be?
I’m going to steal an idea from Megan, and go with Aristotle’s Complete Works. In addition, it would probably be Lord of the Rings, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.
8. Name one book that you would recommend everyone you know read.
Other than East of Eden and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, the only other book I’ve been recommending to everyone is I Am A Cat by Nastume Soseki. It’s funny, clever, and surprisingly approachable for a book about 19th Century Japan. Plus, it’s not the type of book most people would come across on their own, so it needs as much recommending as it can get.
9. What is your guilty pleasure reading?
Definitely juvenile fiction. It’s the perfect light reading between more mature books and most of them are just so fun to read. In the past year, it has been Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Fablehaven and just recently The Hunger Games. I also highly recommend Artemis Fowl, or pretty much anything by Eoin Colfer.
10. What book (excepting the Bible or other major document of your religion/faith) has changed your outlook on life the most?
Honestly, I don’t know. Is that terrible? That I don’t let books impact me in that way (or that I don’t read books that should?) It’s not as though books to speak to me in profound ways (The Catcher in the Rye certainly did), but it’s more often that they reach me as I am now, and not that they change me. Maybe I’m not just not aware of the change?
Catching Fire
02 years ago
My friend Raina (a librarian) recently mentioned in a book review on Goodreads that the first book in a series has to be extremely good if she is going to read any sequels. I found this interesting because this is absolutely not the case for me. A book only has to be moderately enjoyable if I’m going to continue on in a series. If I like even a single character, or if the plot is remotely interesting, I feel compelled to find out what happens next.
Is this a bad thing? Sometimes, like when it results in reading terrible novels (His Dark Materials 2 & 3 come to mind), but for the most part I prefer it. Sometimes it takes more than one book to really appreciate the depth of a character, or the subtleties of a plot. Plus, I hate to think that I might miss out on a great sequel because of a bad first novel.
Regardless, this is all a moot point when it comes to Catching Fire. The first volume in the series (The Hunger Games) is excellent. No doubt if you read the first book, you’ve either finished the second already, or are already planning on it, and don’t need me to convince you.
Then again, perhaps you are the type of reader who doesn’t just need the first book to be excellent, but you need to know that all the volumes of a series are worth it before you even start with the first. If that’s you, rest assured that the first two (# 3 isn’t out yet) are worth your time. Full of action, adventure, realistic characters, and exciting plot twists, both are flat out fun to read. I highly recommend giving this series a shot. For more information on both books, see below:
Spoiler free discussion on book 1 – The Hunger Games.
2009 Reading Year in Review
22 years ago
I’m posting this later than I originally hoped, but oh well. You’ll forgive me, won’t you internet?
I think it’s safe to say that I read more in 2009 than any year before. It was both fulfilling and motivating to record my thoughts on books after I finished them, and so I don’t have any intention of stopping in the future. To recap the year, though, I’d like to provide you with my top books of the year, and leverage the database to provide you with some fun stats!
This “Best books list” is obviously the best books I read in 2009, not the best published in 2009. I am aware of the flaws of working this way, but I can’t imagine any other way of dealing with it!
In 2009 I read…
- 33 books
- 11298 pages
- 1 Comedy (255)
- 3 Fantasy (889)
- 5 Nonfiction (1348)
- 5 Juvenile Fiction (2015)
- 8 Science Fiction (3061)
- 11 Fiction (3730)
Now on to my favorite books of the year:
Favorite Audio Book:
This is an easy category. Of the 30+ audio books I listened to this year none came close to The House of The Scorpion. This young-adult fiction book tells the story of a young clone who is forced to come to terms with his understanding of self as well as avoid the isolation and danger that comes with being the illegal clone of a powerful drug lord. It is well-written, unexpectedly broad in its scope, and it handles difficult subjects with grace and maturity. The narration is also excellent, and the numerous Spanish names and words are pronounced flawlessly, adding greatly to the immersion of the tale.
Favorite Book:
This was, easily, the best book I read all year. Hands down, no questions asked. I read a lot of great books, but none were as epic, as beautifully written, or as enthralling as East of Eden. If you are dying to read even more of my thoughts on this fantastic work, check out the links below. Beware, though, the database entry spoils the entire book! Only check it out if you’ve already finished this wonderful book (and if you haven’t, read it as soon as possible!):
Click here for my spoiler free thoughts on East of Eden.
Click here for the full database entry on East of Eden (including spoilers).
Feel free to post your favorite books of 2009 in the comments below.
And Another Thing…
02 years ago
Eoin Colfer is an excellent author. I don’t know how to pronounce his name, but that hasn’t stopped me from reading 9 of his books now. My first introduction to Colfer was the Artemis Fowl series, which as of book 6, is still immensely entertaining. I was afraid to pick up anything else by him, assuming it couldn’t live up to the high expectations I had from the Artemis books. Eventually I gave in and listened to Airman. It was, quite possibly, even better than any and all of the Artemis books.
Even with Airman surpassing my wildest expectations I was shocked with how much I enjoyed Half Moon Investigations (more on this later – I just finished listening to this on cd). With all that said, when I learned that Colfer was writing the sixth book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, I was probably more excited than most Hitchhiker’s fans. I was confident that Colfer could pull it off. He is, without a doubt, a talented, funny author.
I didn’t like And Another Thing, and that makes me sad. As I read through it, I wanted to like it. I really did. And it definitely made me laugh, numerous times and not infrequently or out of pity. It really had its moments. But in spite of that, it just wasn’t very good. It was middling, and not nearly of the quality of his other books. There are many possible reasons for this, and I explore them in more detail in the database entry, but I simply can’t recommend this to anyone. Colfer has much better books out there, and the original Hitchhiker’s books are plentiful if you need a fix.
(On a side note, I think there is a good chance that I wouldn’t even enjoy the original series at this point, for whatever reason, and that Colfer in fact did a fantastic job of upholding the tradition established by Adams. Maybe it’s not just for me anymore.)
The Hunger Games
12 years ago
It’s frightening to think about a book like The Hunger Games now that we are in year 2010 and officially in the future. Normally when you read a book about a post-apocalyptic world in which an evil government forces children to fight other children to the death in order to show how much power they have, you can reassure yourself with the following: “Nothing to worry about! That kind of thing only happens in the future.” Well guess what? The future is now and, if Suzanne Collins has it right, it’s brutal.
Well, maybe this future isn’t here quite yet, but it’s certainly something to think about. Anyways, bleak children killing children future aside, The Hunger Games is quite captivating. I received this book as a Christmas gift and finished it within just a few days. It’s an easy read, clearly meant for the teen reader, but great for any adult who wants to engross themselves in a world that is just far fetched enough to be exotic, without being ridiculous.
With that said, however, don’t let my flippant attitude give you the wrong impression about this book. It is brutal, with 20 plus children dying at the hands of other kids, and it deals with disturbing themes such as our cultures obsession over violence as entertainment, and the dangers of an oppressive government. I recommend this book to anyone.
Blindness
02 years ago
I remember when the movie Blindness came out a few years ago, I thought “what a fascinating idea – everyone in the world suddenly goes blind except for a single woman!” Once I learned it was originally a book, I decided to forego watching the movie, and decided to just read the book it was based on. It turns out I was right – it is a fascinating idea, if not repulsive. Jose Saramago’s vision of a society stricken blind is quite disturbing.
Unfortunately, while Blindness is a well-written, fascinating, disturbing book, it’s simply annoying and unpleasant to read. Saramago makes some stylistic choices (which I assume are meant to convey to the reader what it’s like to lose one of your senses) that create an obnoxious reading experience. Combine that with the disturbing content and it’s officially not fun on all accounts. With that said, however, if you love to see the depravity of the human spirit, and want a book structured so that it is purposefully difficult to read, Blindness is for you, and I recommend it with all confidence that you will “enjoy” it. For the rest of us, don’t bother.
“This is the stuff we’re made of, half indifference and half malice” (32).
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
02 years ago
When I first received this book as a gift, I looked at the cover and thought “Cool, a book that will show how good and noble video games are!” However, if I had read even the title a little more closely I would have realized that this isn’t an apologist’s book on video games. It isn’t meant to show how video games are good for us, and therefore should be played by everyone all the time (though they should).
So what is it? Just as the title says, it’s a book that looks at what video games can teach educators about learning. After all, Gee argues, good video games are complicated, difficult, long, frustrating endeavors that children and adults will spend hours mastering. Obviously they are doing something right to produce this type of effort. The question then becomes, what we can we take from video games and apply to the current education process? How can we apply the principles of learning so obviously evident in video games to schools?
Throughout the book, Gee goes into detail on 36 different principles of learning, how they are exemplified in video games, and why they are so important to learning. I may not be an educator, but in my personal experience as a learner, I will say that these principals appear to be accurate. Many of them were things that great teachers helped me do, or that I discovered on my own. Ultimately this isn’t a book about video games, but a book about education and teaching. Video games just provide a surprisingly useful context.
I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the field of education, regardless of their interest in video games. However, if you love video games, but don’t care about learning and literacy, this is not for you. There isn’t much I can spoil in this book, so if you are curious about reading more, follow the link to the full database entry below.
“[G]ood video games build into their very designs good learning principles and … we should use these principles, with our without games, in schools, workplaces, and other learning sites” (215).
Chart: Measuring Genre Transitions
4On my last chart post, I asked if there were any suggestions for other data graphics and Shawn mentioned the idea of showing the transitions between genres. In other words, do I typically read Fantasy or Sci-Fi after Juvenile Fiction?
In order to present this graphically, I thought a step line graph might work best. You will notice that each “step” is a single instance of a book being read. There are scenarios where two books of the same genre are read in a row, but the first Sci-Fi instance should give you an idea of the size of a single step.
I also ordered it such that genres were near those that are most similar. Thus, more wildly different genres would be further apart, and would be represented by longer steps in the chart.
As you can see, there are not any obvious patterns that emerge, but that in and of itself is interesting. It appears that I am pretty varied in my choice of genres and the order in which I read them. There are some interesting things, though, such as the fact that I always read Fiction after Nonfiction, and seem to enjoy going from something weird (sci-fi or fantasy) to something normal (fiction/non fiction).
However, it should be clear that there are some flaws in presenting the data this way. For example, this does not consider the degrees to which a book could deal with weird subject matter in fiction, or relatively normal subject matter in sci-fi or fantasy. This is especially problematic with a genre like juvenile fiction which can, in terms of content, be pretty much any genre.
Fortunately, I have been attempting to quantify certain aspects of books to make comparisons easier and more objective. The two categories that are most relevant to this discussion are realism (which measures to extent to which the book deviates from accepted scientific facts) and world (the extent to which the world is unlike the real world in which we live). Both categories are out of 10, with 10 being the most unrealistic and the world must unlike our own. Thus, by combining these two numbers we get what I am calling the geek quotient. This allows us to consider more fully the differences between books, regardless of genre. So, for example, both a nonfiction book, and a fiction book that is entirely realistic and set in our world, will register a geek quotient of 0. This is reasonable since the transition between such books is relatively natural.
Again, there are no obvious patterns (unless you see some I don’t?) but this graph is far more accurate than the last one. We see more zeroes, since both fiction and nonfiction can fill that role, and some more extreme transitions as we move from 0 to the high teens and back to 0. It also is interesting to see how much time is spent in the middle and bottom of the geek quotient, despite my geeky tendencies. In fact, if you take the time to observe this chart upside down (or note the “negative space” above the line) I pretty evenly split my time between geeky and non geeky reading.
So do you think the second or first chart is better? Are there any patterns that I’m overlooking? Any suggestions for improving the information these graphics reveal?