Another Best-of Booklist from the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/books/28intro.html?ex=1199682000&en=c9db30b0e281808e&ei=5070&emc=eta1

I'm going to try the Laura Lippman book first.

The Last Life by Claire Messud

I didn't like the Emperor's Children, but everyone else did so I decided to try this book by the same author about a young girl growing up in France. I bought this for our trip to France but just got around to it now.

I liked it. It was a coming-of-age novel about a girl whose father is French and mother is American, who grows up in the hotel her family owns in the south of France. The writing was good albeit a bit pretentious, like Emperor's Children - she uses the word "simulacrum" within the first paragraph when "approximation" would have done just fine. The writing may have been a bit uneven, as I page through the book now, the style seems to change through the book although the narrator doesn't, and I don't think it's an (effective) effort to have the narrator mature. I also missed some references to Augustine and Camus that she returned to a few times.

All of that said, the writing style did not dampen my experience. The characters were compelling, the plot was interesting, and a few scenes were memorable enough to contribute to a good movie script. I'd consider this book 'recommended'.

Hominids by Robert Sawyer

I really liked Rollback by Sawyer earlier this year, so I decided to try the "Neanderthal Parallax" series by him. Hominids is the first book in the series.

The premise is that while doing quantum experiments, a man from a parallel universe ends up in our universe unexpectedly. He is a Neanderthal, and comes from a world where they survived evolution and we (homo sapiens) didn't. He is also a scientist, and he is befriended by a small group of scientists in our universe who get to know him.

The book read quickly, and the characters were well-developed and likable. I am always pleasantly surprised at how good science-fiction character development can be. As the book goes on, we learn more about his world, and are brought into a classical science-fiction universe where things have their own language and concepts are taught to the reader through observation. I was a little disappointed that the world he came from was different from ours in a classical science-fiction/social commentary way, but not in a way directly related to their being Neanderthals. However, other than that I really enjoyed the story.

I look forward to the two other books in the series, Humans and Hybrids. Perhaps some of his decisions about the Neanderthal universe will become clearer.

Best Books of 2007 Lists

Slate.com
Salon.com

NYTimes Top 10
NYTimes Top 100

Boston Globe Fiction
Boston Globe Non-fiction

Washington Post

Amazon

Barnes and Noble Fiction
Barnes and Noble Nonfiction

Christian Science Monitor Fiction
Christian Science Monitor Non-fiction
Christian Science Monitor Memoir

Newsweek

Booksense

Under the Tree

Today I got several books from my inlaws-to-be. Two on wedding planning (yeah!), one by Richard Russo (whom I did not know had a new book out), and one called And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. I am very excited about the Richard Russo one, since Empire Falls is such a great book.

I should put myself on the library wait list for the new Ann Patchett book and for the Junot Diaz book everyone's talking about.

Last Minute Barnes and Noble Run

Tonight we went to Barnes and Noble for a last minute gift run, and ended up with several treats for ourselves. Webster couldn't find two books he wanted, so he went over to the self-serve kiosk and ordered them. (He even had them gift-wrapped for himself!) The kiosk was easy to use and he double-checked that his credit card number was not accessible to the next user. It's nice to see B&N having some self-service. I remember reading an article once about Borders having self-service and B&N not, purposely, but I'll take a couple minutes with a computer rather than a sales associate any day.

I picked up another sci-fi book by Robert Sawyer, Nigella Lawson's new cookbook, and a book by Doris Lessing.

I forgot my B&N gift certificates, so Webster paid for my books and I paid him back in gift certificates when we got home.

Body and Blood by Michael Scheiefelbein

This book was ok. It was about two Catholic priests who were reunited after growing up together. They were in love as young men and find love again as adults. The story wasn't incredibly well-written, but the plot was interesting.

What I enjoyed most about reading it was that it was gay literature. It gave me a window into what it is like for gay people to read heterosexual literature. I thought a lot about
how I felt like I was reading something foreign, which made me sad to feel like gay people always feel like outsiders reading the literature I usually read.

I thought it was weird that the other books by this author were about gay vampires.

Top Books of 2007

This was a great year for me for books! Writing full-length reviews of each book I read (with a few Robert Ludlum exceptions) made me like many books more than I would have otherwise. It was a great way to really "engage with text" and think more about each book. You can click on "Recommended" on the right to see a list of the ones that at the time I thought were notable. Below is a list (in no particular order) of the creme de la creme. Sci-fi played a prominent role in what I read. I am clearly obsessed with Michael Lewis.

I've begun to experiment with the blog this month, posting more general thoughts and ideas about books and booklists, not just book reviews. Let me know what you think. Never fear, there will always be a "Best Books" list independent of the format of the blog.

Fiction (in descending order):

Rollback by Robert Sawyer
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
Timeline Michael Crichton
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Nonfiction (in no particular order):

Blind Side by Michael Lewis
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

Going back to the library

Several books are overdue at the library so they are going back Friday (or Saturday) even though I didn't read them and would like to at some point.

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
Out Stealing Horses
The Teahouse Fire
To Say Nothing of the Dog

Perhaps To Say Nothing is not the right Connie Willis book to read next, but Passages is still in my head from years ago, so something by her would be good.

Gifts

Webster bought me The Physics of Football this week.

At my birthday, Dave got me 1001Books, which I page through for inspiration guilt around classics I haven't read. I was happy to see that I've read many of the more recent picks towards the end of the book.

I gave Webster the New York Times 2007 Notable Book List to give to his parents for ideas for a gift for me. I'm excited to see what they pick.

We got Webster's mom a Dean Koontz book about a woman and her relationship with a Golden Retriever. I hope it's not too creepy, since he usually writes about killers and ghosts. Apparently, Dean Koontz had a dog for a long time, and now writes a beyond-the-grave blog from the dog's point of view. Weird.

To be read

Again, I have a backlog of books around the house. Towards the top of my list:

Rigged, by Ben Mezrich - heard about at NPR, bought in hardcover!

Next, by Michael Crichton - on sale at Costco

Wild Fire, by Nelson DeMille - on sale at Costco

Random Walk Down Wall Street, by Bernard Malkiel - I think I agree with his point of view, but I have to start this book over again. I gave up a few chapters in last time.

The Last Life, by Claire Messud - hated Emporer's Children but I'm willing to give her another try.

The Calculus Wars, by Jason Bardi - bought on impulse at Barnes and Noble

And many more...

Catching up on Reviews

Ugh. So I'm deathly behind on reviews of books. Here's what I've been reading:

Incompleteness by Rebecca Goldstein

I was supposed to learn what Godel proved with his Incompleteness Theorem during my senior year Logic class in college. No-go. I tried but that was the most difficult course I took and I definitely did not understand the grand finale. To be fair, I'm not sure anyone in class did. Then I tried to read Godel, Escher, Bach, but gave up a few times halfway through. The Theorem haunted me. I knew that it was the basis of how we understand not just numerical systems, but all systems of information based on axioms. I noticed this book at Barnes and Noble over the summer, and while I didn't want to take it to France with me, I went back for it a few months later.

Given all my background with math I was anxious to understand the Theorem. However, this book delved into a biography of Godel for the first two thirds. I learned about his loneliness, his background in Platonic philosophy, and his friendship with Einstein at Princeton (before it was Princeton). I understood for the first time why people study the history of science, as the author wove Godel's interest in different topics and the historical backdrop for his lifetime into his development of this theory. And, ultimately, I did understand the incompleteness theorem, at least for a few moments while it was all in my head at one time. I wouldn't have minded a slightly more mathematical book, but unless you are a mathematician, even this may be too technical or obscure.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

I was hoping to love love love this book but I didn't. Sebold's previous books (Lucky and Lovely Bones) were both shockingly good so my expectations were high. The story followed the days after a middle-aged woman kills her invalid mother. While I thought the writing in this book was superb in certain places, the plot was reasonably predictable and the characters mostly archetypes. The book wasn't particularly memorable, although I enjoyed it while I read it.

Fair Game by Valerie Plame

I heard Valerie Plame interviewed on NPR and decided to reserve her book at the library. I knew embarrassingly little about her story (other than her name and some connection to Scooter Libby), so I figured it would be a good current events lesson. In case you are not familiar with the story: Members of the Bush administration leaked her name to the press as a spy in retaliation for an editorial her husband wrote that did not support Bush's entrance into the Iraq war. To complicate things, Plame worked in the part of the CIA who sent her husband on an expedition to investigate whether Iraq sourced uranium in Niger.

What I found was an incredibly political book in many ways. First and foremost, because Plame was a CIA agent, the book had to be vetted by the Agency, and a good quarter of the book was redacted (blacked out). Often sections were blacked out that did not seem to contain classified information. Sometimes, Plame seems to write sections she knows will be redacted. There is an afterword that explains a lot of the redacted sections with information that is in the public domain but that Plame could not write as a narrative based on CIA guidelines. It made for annoying reading and good commentary.

The story is mostly about Plame's background and training as a CIA covert operative, leading up to the events that outed her as a spy in mainstream media. She takes an inexplicable twenty page detour into her postpartum depression, but otherwise the story is interesting and well-formed, if not well-written. The anger and betrayal that she feels towards the government is clearly emotional, albeit justified, which in some cases is far too much telling and not enough showing. Someone who is not inclined to dislike the current administration would probably find her to be protesting too much. (Interestingly, though, Plame was on the CIA team seeking evidence of WMD's to justify invading Iraq in the early 2000's.)

Despite these criticisms, I did learn from the book, which is always a recommendation unto itself.

Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier

I bought this book over the summer but left it half-read at the end of vacation. I've known Bruce Schneier's work since studying cryptography and math in college, and recently started reading his blog. This book takes his knowledge of security, as it has matured since his days of traditional crypto and addresses today's current events. Rather than take a purely political or economic view of topics such as airport security or online credit card usage, Schneier teaches and applies a five-step evaluation for any system to determine if it is a worthwhile security measure.

One of the things I liked about this book was that Schneier drew on examples from many sources. He references Sun-Tzu, Ancient Rome, home alarm systems, passwords, and many other varied systems. My only criticism of the book is that in an attempt to be accessible and "common sense" it seemed a bit simplistic at times. I wish it had been a bit more technical. That said, it appealed to my skeptical side and I appreciated an apolitical way to examine each of the current security issues and form an educated opinion of my own. I'd recommend this book to a wide audience.

First Love by Adrienne Sharp

This book looked like it could have been either a beach read or a serious love story. Initially I put it back on the shelf, but something drew me back and I took it home from the library. The book was about a love story about two young ballet dancers who had been childhood friends. When the book started, the two dancers were at different ballet companies, one traditional and the other flashier. The story was obviously researched impeccably, and I enjoyed getting inside the world of ballet. Thought it took place in New York, reading it felt like being transported to a different country.

The writing was very good, although a bit melodramatic at times. I also found some of the characterizations of the dancers to be unexpectedly sophisticated and complex for their age. That said, I'd like to see the next books from this first-time author. Recommended.

Indignity

I saw a book in Barnes and Noble called, How to Talk About Books you Haven't Read.

I am - uncharacteristically - speechless. I am also determined to comment on this book, even though I have not read it. Yes, that is ironic.

What the heck? There is no way that I would want to talk about a book I haven't read. I also have no interest in talking to someone about a book they haven't read. I can barely find anyone to talk to about books we both have read. Most people want to talk about the ending, or the main character. So few people want to talk about the the writing itself, or of (for example) the symbolism of minor characters. If I wanted to talk to people about books they haven't read, I'd just go back to one of the book clubs I've tried.

I have the same feeling about this book that I do about favorite books of mine showing up on the discount table. Yuck.