Recently in 12 Books Category
Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland
My review
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm really not sure what this book wants to be. Is it sci-fi/fantasy? Is it inspired by Buffy (the TV series)? Is it a romance novel? I'm almost leaning toward the last option, because half the book is just sex scenes.
I did like the rest of it though: seers and demon killers and half human/half whatever breeds. Those parts were fun to read. Unfortunately, the preview for Book Two (at least it says right on the cover that it's a series) indicates there will be more chasing after lost love and angst, so I don't feel any need to read further in the series.
Next up is Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (yes, What God Can Do For You Now has been postponed indefinitely).
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
My review
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book probably isn't for anyone. However, it's definitely for me, a Murakami fan and fellow runner (though more of a biker these days). It's kind of a blog-like view into his thoughts as he runs and thinks and writes. Fairly insightful and a brisk read.
Next up is What God Can Do for You Now: For Seekers Who Want to Believe by Rabbi Robert Levine.
The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver
My review
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The last time I read a detective/mystery novel, I was highly annoyed about the "deus ex machina" ending in which the author just made up new stuff that hadn't been revealed at any point during the book, thus negating any chance for the reader to figure it out on their own. Jeffery Deaver definitely sprinkles plenty of clues throughout The Broken Window and a truly dedicated sleuth could probably figure it out if they wanted. The culprit ended up being a nice surprise to me, and I enjoyed reading the fast-paced story. The story moved quickly, even when the author was filling in the background on the main characters who had appeared in his previous novels, acknowledging that yes, the reader may not be familiar with them.
The plot revolves around a killer who frames innocent people for his murders and rapes by planting evidence. The twist is that he's able to plant the evidence by extracting the innocent person's buying habits and behavior from a massive database. It touches on identity theft and privacy issues in the electronic age in a basic, but still intelligent manner. A fun read.
Next up is What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My review
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I do love me some YA books. They're so quick to read, I can knock em out in a couple of days.
With The Hunger Games, I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't read Battle Royale a couple of years ago. But since I did, the similarities are too obvious to overlook. About the only difference was the "twist" that the protagonist and her friend throw at the Gameplanners in order for them both to stay alive rather than having to kill one another. While I enjoyed this monkeywrench, as it got to the root of the struggle against the Capitol, I lost my enthusiasm for it when the book closed with the phrase: "End of Book One." I kinda felt like the author had pulled a bait-and-switch on me there, because by making it into "Book One," I don't feel like I got a resolution. I don't mind if you're going to make a sequel, but I honestly would have liked this book and its ending better if that last phrase had been eliminated and I could just go on under the illusion that this was the end of the story.
This Saturday we headed downtown for the National Book Festival. We hoped to see such famous authors as Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, Tiki Barber, and more. As it turned out, we very nearly walked into a couple of them.
We drove downtown and arrived well before we wanted to arrive, but had to circle for 30 minutes to find a parking spot. It turned out that, thanks to Bike DC, it would have been a great day to ride our bike downtown, or take Metro. Closed streets and construction everywhere, ugh.
After we finally got to the festival, we were dismayed at the huge line. Turns out that Laura Bush was still there signing books, and the line was to get through security. Thanks to that brilliantly idiotic move, we missed out on seeing Jan Brett, who wrote The Mitten and other fun kids' books. Instead we walked around for a little bit before making our way, after they took down the security line, back to the children's tent. On the way there a golf cart pulled up next to us, and I nearly walked smack into Neil Gaiman (author of my favorite Sandman comic books and American Gods, among others) who was speaking at the Teen tent. We got to the children's tent and saw the newest member of the New York Knicks, Chris Duhon, who was there as part of some NBA literacy program (not as an author).
I left Lisa and the kids to wait for David Shannon (author of "No, David" and others) and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin (authors of "Click, Clack, Moo" and others) and went to check out the signing area. I was hoping that since we had missed Jan Brett's talk, we'd at least be able to get the book signed. Turned out there was no chance in hell of that happening. I got in line ten minutes before she started signing, and the line was already 400 people long. She signed for an hour and a half and there were still 300 people in line for when she would start signing again an hour and a half after that. No way. Instead, I ran back and grabbed our David Shannon books and got in line for his signing an hour away from starting. I was only about 20 people back for him. He started signing just as Lisa and the kids arrived, and I sent Lisa over to the Cronin/Lewin line. Ellie ended up bonding with David Shannon as fellow lefties. Lisa reported that she had nearly run over Salman Rushdie with the stroller!
At this point, it was well past lunchtime, so I left Lisa in line to get the Cronin/Lewis signatures and took the kids for lunch, but not before snagging a picture of Tiki Barber. Lisa got the signatures just as we finished up lunch, and we decided to head home.
We may not have gotten every signed book we wanted, but overall it was a fun time, and we managed to avoid the rain too. Next year though, we're leaning toward just going up to Baltimore for their book festival. They may not get the celebrity authors, but it's much less crowded and more laid back than the craziness of this one.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
My review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Halfway through this book, I had to go onto the internet and make sure that yes, it did in fact win the Pulitzer Prize. It just shocked me that a book about a couple of kids making it big through writing comic books would win the Pulitzer. But of course there are deeper issues here: the kids are Jewish (one has escaped from Prague and the Nazis) and the novel is set in 1940's and 50's New York. There's plenty of substance for the comic book geeks, as well as for the plain ole book geeks. Best of all, in spite of its 600+ page bulk, the story never really drags, though some of their "adventures" are less amazing than others. I was thoroughly entertained throughout, so it earns the highest praise from me.
Next up is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
I don't think I'm going to be able to have a "Banned Books Week" special review this year, I've got 4 books out from the library right now and two other books from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer group to read. But just so you can celebrate it yourself, check out this year's top ten list.
1) "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
2) The Chocolate War," by Robert Cormier
3) "Olive's Ocean," by Kevin Henkes
4) "The Golden Compass," by Philip Pullman
5) "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain
6) "The Color Purple," by Alice Walker
7) "TTYL," by Lauren Myracle
8) "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," by Maya Angelou
9) "It's Perfectly Normal," by Robie Harris
10) "The Perks of Being A Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky
If I had to recommend just one on that list, it would have to be "The Perks of Being A Wallflower." It pisses me off to no end that such a wonderful book might be off-limits to people who want to read it.
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
My review
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm struggling to figure out what to say about Netherland. On the one hand, I really enjoyed reading the words. Joseph O'Neill is able to turn a phrase to make even cricket beautiful and interesting to any American philistine. On the other hand, I felt something slightly lacking from the story part of the novel. Ultimately though, the main story (which sometimes felt like a side story to the more exciting saga of Chuck Ramkisoon) of Hans' relationship with his estranged wife resonated with me. Truth be told, 9/11 affected, and indeed damaged, many people beyond just those who personally knew someone who died on that day. The relationship explored in this novel is a microcosm of all the emotions felt by those people, and I don't that has been explored nearly enough, in literature or any of the arts. Kudos to O'Neill for braving those subtle, yet turbulent, waters.
Next up is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.
Personal Days: A Novel by Ed Park
My review
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I might have liked this book more if I hadn't, like many others who reviewed this one, read Joshua Ferris' "Then We Came To The End" last year. The comparisons are inevitable, but the two books are similar only in their setting, really. While Ferris crafts his novel around the illness of the boss, Park's revolves around a subterfuge within the office that, frankly, I didn't realize was there until the final rambling chapter. This ending almost saved the book for me, but I ended up feeling like it sort of threw everything together piecemeal, just to tie up all the loose ends, and it didn't quite work for me.
Next up is Netherland by Joseph O'Neill.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
My review
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I will say this much: I'm glad I read Twilight. Now I can safely avoid reading the sequels and move on to other items on my reading list, because it's just not worth it to me to continue reading the series.
I know that I'm not the target audience for this book, which is SO clearly tween and teen girls, but somehow I hoped that I would enjoy it anyway. I thought that maybe I might even find something in it that tween/teen boys might like, with it being a vampire novel and all, but there's very little of that. Almost 450 of the nearly 500 pages are sappy love-sick episodes where Bella can't stand to be away from Edward, or vice versa. He's a moody jerk a lot of that time, but she can't help her attraction, and the reader is often left to wonder what the attraction is. When events (a group of nasty vampires breezes into town) to finally push the plot forward, the action is brief and mainly takes place while the narrator/main character is only semi-conscious, placing the final straw to break this camel's back.
I really do like a lot of young adult fiction that out there, but I really couldn't get into this one. Thankfully, it's a quick read, so I only wasted one weekend on it, and no more.
Next up is Personal Days by Ed Park.
A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
My review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
To say this book is vast in scope would be an understatement. It begins way out at the far edges of the Milky Way galaxy (the Beyond) and eventually makes its way toward the "core" (the Slowness). The beings encountered are also unique and interesting, not to mention the "Powers" who live in the Transcend past the Beyond. Vernor Vinge weaves together the tales of the medieval dog-pack Tines with the humans and Skroderiders so deftly that you scarcely notice when he shifts from one world to another. The one thing I did wish is that he would have delved into the mind of the Blight a bit more, as he did at the beginning. But such is a minor quibble for a novel that managed to tell its whole story in one book, unlike the proliferation of trilogies and multi-book sagas that plague the genre so.
Next up is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, one of THREE books on hold that came in while I was on vacation. I've got a lot of reading to do.
He Said Beer She Said Wine by Marnie Old and Sam Calagione
My review
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Many people don't think much about which beer they are going to drink with their meal. That's because most people drink the ubiquitous light lager, rather than one of the multitude of styles which could be more appropriate as a pairing. The good news is that brewers like Sam Calagione are out to change that. After running beer vs. wine dinners with Marnie Old over the years, the pair got around to writing a book summarizing the finer points of their arguments for pairing their fine beverages with food.
The book is a fun read, with the playful banter coming through quite well for printed text (it isn't always like that, as anyone who's used the internet can testify). They each begin with an introduction to the different styles of wine and beer, and then get right into the thick of it: picking foods and the beverage to go with it. This part of the book is quite comprehensive, with each section devoted to a specific main course (poultry, pork, pasta and pizza, etc), and then pairing 6 individual dishes with the appropriate beer or wine. They encourage readers to take an active role in the argument, and even give recipes and planning pointers for running your own beer vs. wine contest.
I definitely enjoyed reading this one, as I'm always trying to learn more about beer. Maybe someday I'll even host my own beer vs. wine dinner. It seems like a lot of fun, and I'm sure Marnie and Sam would agree on that point.
I'm still waiting for my books to come into the library. I'm sure that once they do, I'll end up with 3 books to read at the same time. Until then, I'll make do with some books I have on the shelf at home.
Stalking Irish Madness: Searching for the Roots of My Family's Schizophrenia by Patrick Tracey
My review
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
I am usually horrible at reading non-fiction, but this book surprisingly kept my attention throughout. Part history lesson, part memoir, part scientific investigation, we follow along as Patrick Tracey searches Ireland for answers about his family's tendency toward schizophrenia. I learned a lot about mental illness, and even quite a few things I didn't know about the history of Ireland. I also picked up some tips for when we travel to Ireland as tourists next year.
The author's search was as maddening as the illness itself, but I was ultimately satisfied with the book, fruitless as the results may have seemed. I learned a lot, as did he, which is sometimes all you can ask for.
I'm sort of reading He Said Beer, She Said Wine at the moment, waiting for some books to come in to the library. No idea when they will come in, so we'll see if I finish this before they do.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
My review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This would be a great summer reading book if it weren't set in such a bleak place: Stalin's Russia of the 1950s. As it is, it's quite the page-turner of a thriller, as the flawed protagonist chases a serial killer against all odds, while repeatedly getting knocked down over and over (and over) again. At some point, it seemed like the author was thinking, "What else can I do to screw this guy over even worse than I have already?" And yet, it pretty much worked for me, and I ate it up.
Next up is an advance review of Stalking Irish Madness by Patrick Tracey. I snagged an Early Reviewer copy from LibraryThing, in advance of the book coming out in late August. So far, it's surprisingly interesting, despite my aversion to non-fiction.
A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
My review
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
A Year in the Merde is largely what you might expect from the cover. It's a funny stab at French stereotypes: the strikes, the dog merde, the indifferent shrugs. It manages to nail all those things in a funny way, even though they've all been lampooned before. It only falters slightly when it comes to the plot linking everything together. The story following the protagonist's efforts to start a chain of tea rooms in Paris sort of drives the book forward, but at times also seemed predictable and like it was just a bridge between the funny bits. Still, it was quite funny, in the way Brits making fun of the French often is.
Next up is Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
My review
Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Another bit of a mind-bending book for me. Maybe not as much as Brasyl, but I found the concept of, well, conceptual sharks and dissociative conditions rather interesting. Somewhat less interesting were the relationships between the characters, but they worked to their purpose of driving the plot along. My biggest complaint was that the shark scenes were far to reminiscent of "Jaws," but I suppose that's a minor quibble. The book really was quite good, and I'd recommend it as summer beach reading. As long as there aren't any real sharks around your beach.
Next up is A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
My review
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's interesting to think that if a few things had gone just a little bit differently, I might have been a grad student under Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon. As it turned out, I never heard of him until seeing his last lecture video, and of course I had to read the accompanying book.
His advice is pretty simple really: live your childhood dreams. Easier said than done of course, but he effectively lays out how brick walls are thrown up to prevent you from reaching your goals, and how to overcome them. It's not a self-help book per se, but I could see it getting people off their rears to change the way they're living. For me, this means that one of these days, I'm totally doing one of those baseball fantasy camps. Yeah, it's not quite the same as living the dream of playing in the majors, but it's about as close as I'm gonna get at this point. Thanks Randy.
Next up is The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall.
My Rating: 
Absolutely fascinating and smart novel from Ian McDonald. He deftly maneuvers between three completely different time periods and manages to weave them together with quantum theory to make my head hurt, but in a good way. He somehow manages to make it make sense, while simultaneously boggling the mind with the implications of quantum computing. Extremely entertaining read, recommended to sci-fi fans who like science in the sci-fi.
Next up is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
I just can't seem to get into this book right now. Too many nonfiction titles in a row, so I need to get a breezy or captivating bit of fiction. It'll probably be Brasyl by Ian McDonald.
Not much to say about this that I didn't already say about How to Live Well Without Owning a Car. But, while I found that a quick breezy read, this was much more dense, meticulously researched and footnoted. Unfortunately for me, it worked against my interest level, so I ended up skimming a bit of it. I think I need to move on to some breezier summer reading soon.
Alas, next up is Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. I've been meaning to read it for a while, but my library just got it, so there you go.
My Rating: 
Since I started riding my bike to work more often recently, I have started pondering an everyday bike commute, ditching our second car completely. This book has some valuable tips for people like me, and even more for people who want to go completely car-free, instead of car-lite like me. Some of the choices he presents are hard: move closer to work, closer to services like the grocery store, choose doctors, dentists, churches that are closer to your house, and so on. The author focuses on the financial benefits of going car-free: no car payments, insurance, maintenance, and so on, and does present a compelling case to someone looking to buy a car, or who is still paying for one. My Civic hybrid is paid off, so I don't have the car payments on that to worry about, but it is still costly enough to make it worth looking at.
For me, he convinced me to look closer at public transportation as an alternative/backup to biking, and it actually does look feasible. We only live a mile or so from a Metro station, and my work provides a shuttle bus from another Metro station. I could also take a bus, though I would have to plan in advance to catch it on schedule. Still, both are valid options if I couldn't ride my bike. My work even provides pre-tax paycheck deductions for transit, which I didn't know about before.
I'm going to keep riding for a few more weeks to see if it's really something I want to do all the time, but after reading this book, I can definitely picture our family cutting down to one car in the not-so-distant future.
Next up is Divorce Your Car by Katharine T. Alvord.
My Rating:
Just got this as an Early Reviewer. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but the book was not the whole book, it only had 15 of the 52 outdoor activities to do with your kids. I can't say I was too excited about the ones that were included. My kids are 4 and 1, and we have managed to keep them, in large part, away from the TV, and so they already love to play outside. Yesterday it was rainy most of the day, so we put on the rainboots and headed out for some good puddle stomping. The activities that were included weren't anything really beyond what we would already do, but the book does contain some valuable teaching points, like observing why female birds are dull-colored while the males are bright. One activity we will have to try though is building our own bird nest: it's harder than it looks!
In keeping with my current bike obsession, I'm going to try to get to the library to pick up How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish to read next.
My Rating:
This collection ended up being almost like one Buffy episode. As such, it doesn't really have an ending, but is open-ended so as to continue the story they started. But it is quite the story, bringing back all sorts of characters from the TV series, and getting the Scooby gang back together, this time with a bunch of Slayers-in-training. A fun, quick read. Can't wait for more.
Next up is I Love Dirt, which I received as an Early Reviewer at LibraryThing.com. I should mention though that it's not a complete book, so there you go.
My Rating:
Absolutely fascinating read, I wish it wasn't due back at the library so I could get into all the notes and such. The book is divided into 3 classes of impossibilities, based on the level of difficulty and whether they would break any laws of physics. I particularly liked how the author went into the background of the physics of each topic which led us up to the point he discusses. A fine layman-readable science book, considering all the pop culture sci-fi references.
I have no idea what I'm reading next. Probably another book I have sitting at home, just so that I don't have to worry about getting it back to the library.
My Rating: 
Hammered is a fascinating story about a former Canadian soldier who's been injured and "repaired," Bionic Woman style, with artificial limbs and implants. But now, a confluence of events conspire to draw her back in to the world she wanted to leave behind, and to take the battle to the next frontier: space.
I enjoyed reading the book, but I was ultimately really disappointed that it basically ended with very little conclusion. The book leads you toward the protagonist, Jenny Casey, getting new implants (nanites) and surgery so that she can pilot an alien-inspired starship, but she only gets as far as boarding the ship, never flying it. That's left for the sequel. The author does manage to resolve one storyline, but since that was a relatively minor subplot, I was left disappointed. I suppose this is yet another case where I'm just going to have to read the rest of the trilogy (Scardown, Worldwired) to be satisfied.
Next up is Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.
My Rating:
As read on CD by Wendy Dillon. The People of Sparks is the followup to City of Ember, in which two children lead their people out from their dying underground city to the surface. It follows the people as they try to assimilate themselves into a small town, only to find struggles and misunderstandings blocking their every move. As a juvenile fiction book, it has a fairly transparent war/peace analogy to the real world, but it's still a decent read, and the plot, such as it is, moves briskly to its obvious conclusion.
Back to my normal reading now, next up is Hammered by Elizabeth Bear.
My Rating:
As read by the author on CD. Daniel Gilbert presents some fascinating and powerful viewpoints on how our brain works, and why it always seems to be making the wrong decisions for us. The main gist is that it doesn't have the capacity to remember precisely every single memory, so it fakes us out by filling in the gaps without us knowing. As such, it also fills in the gaps when predicting the future, and thus leads us down paths we shouldn't take if we're looking to be truly happy. Indeed, he claims that the best decisions would be made by using others as test cases, which would be troubling to those who claim to be unique in this world (you're not). Fascinating stuff, backed up by numerous studies and real world examples.
My Rating:
Twas a mighty good feeling slipping back into Roland's world. And the amazing artwork by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove instantly pulled me in and didn't let me go. The story follows Roland as a youngster with his cohorts Cuthbert and Alain, and fills in some of the gaps left by the stories told in Wizard and Glass. It truly was breathtaking to see the renditions of the Man in Black, Roland, Susan Delgado, and so on. Just a great piece of work, and proof that comics aren't just for kids.
My Rating:
I'm a bit of a closet law junkie. I read the Decision of the Day blog, I follow the Supreme Court pretty regularly. This little book is a pretty good primer on the basics of Constitutional law, and it provides a good background on how seemingly innocuous rulings end up having broader implications. I also liked (but maybe question whether they deserve placement in the "most important" cases, since their historical relevance has yet to be determined) that the author included some very recent rulings like MGM v. Grokster and Kelo v. City of New London. About the only thing that disappointed me was the shortness of some of the summaries, and the lack of attention to the fact that the ever-changing makeup of the Court is as important as precedent at times. He does address the Court makeup to an extent in the afterword, but it would have been interesting to see a breakdown of each case's vote.
Still, a good starter book for the Supreme Court enthusiast.
I have no idea what I'm going to read next. Probably one of the books I got for Christmas like the Dark Tower graphic novel or some such. Check the right side for an update when I pick one.
My Rating:
This book seems like one that Michael Crichton and Dan Brown could have gotten together to write. Just a little bit of religious element and super fast pacing for the Dan Brown fans, and the cautionary science favored by Crichton. It truly was a breezy read, even as it tried to touch on higher metaphysical concepts. Fascinating stuff that might make you think deep thoughts, but that you'll more likely enjoy for the action packed thrills.
Next up is The Supremes' Greatest Hits by Michael Trachtman. My wife actually picked this one out and passed it on to me to read.
My Rating: 
I struggled with this review for a long time. I kept going back and forth over whether I just didn't care for it, or whether I really was torn up about the characters' fates. Ultimately, I found myself in the latter category, but it took a while, which prevents me from all-out praise for the book.
When it started out, I was somehow reminded of Slaughterhouse Five, but really that was only the first 100 pages or so. After that, it became clear that this novel deserves no comparisons to other works, it stands on its own. There will be those who quibble over the prose, but when I truly sat down to read this book, not just force myself through the pages so that it got back to the library on time, I was truly immersed in the characters' worlds. It's just too bad it wasn't a couple hundred pages shorter.
Next up is Blasphemy by Douglas Preston.
My Rating:
I was a bit rushed in finishing this book, and honestly, it almost seemed the author was too. I thought he did a fine job of intermingling two different past tenses (the 60s and events of a few months earlier) with a present, but near the end it was almost like he gave up and just threw a summary out there. Still, it did give resolution to the protagonist's revolution story, and overall, I definitely enjoyed reading it.
Next up is Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson.
My Rating:
Another year, another Stephen King novel. It's another good read, though I imagine it would make a better movie, with the protagonist's paintings coming to life and such. (They don't actually come to life, but that's what I picture the movie doing.) This is another novel that sort of hits on the accident where King was hit by a car while walking along the side of the road, as the protagonist had an accident in which he lost his right arm and has phantom itches in the missing arm. Only his itches end up pouring out through the other arm into his surreal and supernatural paintings. Oh, and his missing arm occasionally makes an appearance, this being a King novel and all. All in all, typical King, fast-paced, creepy, lots of fun to read.
Next up is My Revolutions by Hari Kunzru.
Tor is launching a new site, and they are giving away free eBooks from their catalog. All you have to do is sign up for a newsletter, and you'll get the link to download the books when they become available.
The next one is Old Man's War by John Scalzi, previously reviewed right here (4 stars). Scalzi himself is very excited about the new site, so sign up today.
Yesterday's Washington Post had a slew of great articles that I wanted to bring to your attention.
First, two related opinion pieces on American literacy. The first by Susan Jacoby nearly brought me to tears.
In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year.
...
That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place.
The next by Howard Gardner is slightly more optimistic: "[W]hatever our digital future brings, we need to overcome the perils of dualistic thinking, the notion that what lies ahead is either a utopia or a dystopia."
The final article on literacy by Randy Sulzman talks about the lengths to which people in oppressed countries like Iran go to read, which should inspire you to read as well.
Then there is this series on helping military families get out of debt. Of course, the stories are predictable, as they are not unique to military families. The Bathiches make $65k/year and have $27600 in credit card debt. But the military pays for their housing, and gives them a food allowance as well. Yet they somehow rack up the debt, despite the two biggest spending categories being essentially taken care of for them. Worse, they borrowed money from the man's father to pay off credit cards, only to get right back to the same amount of credit card debt a short time later.
The Colons make $191k/year. The article doesn't say whether they have their housing and food paid for by the military, but it does say they have three houses. They also have three very expensive cars. His BMW Z3 costs $700/month, and he foolishly traded in a Ford Mustang (on which he still owed $10k) for a Ford Explorer, making his new loan balance on that one almost $50k, making payments of $853/month! Yes folks, over $1500/month on two cars. No wonder they're in trouble. Then tack on an expensive wedding, and it's a recipe for disaster.
Finally, the Holmeses make $135k/year. They have two houses themselves, one of which they are renting out for $1000/month LESS than the mortgage costs. They put a lot of money into their Thrift Savings Plan (government equivalent of a 401(k)), but they also took $20k in loans on the retirement account. Ugh. So many mistakes, so little time.
At least these people recognize that they have made mistakes and they are willing to put a giant spotlight on their problems to try to dig their way out. Americans across the country make similar mistakes every day, getting in trouble with credit card debt, fancy cars, and things they can't afford. I just wish it was so easy to predict their stories before even reading them. The solutions for most of them are simple: cut down on unnecessary spending, cut up your credit cards, sell the fancy things you bought that you can't afford (those cars!), and stop trying to live beyond your means.
My Rating:
I really enjoyed this book. Its wry sense of humor combined with the feeling of watching the author falling in love with his daughter really did draw me into the story and push me forward. I had previously read "The Poo Bomb," and couldn't help but compare this book to that, even though they are not very much alike at all. "Crawling" was kind of like "The Poo Bomb" on This American Life/NPR. The stories are sweet, funny and heart-warming, which made for a great reading experience.
Next up is Duma Key by Stephen King. A 600+ page behemoth after reading two slim 200 pagers in a row. Ugh.
My wife asked me another good question yesterday that I thought deserved answering on the blog, so that everyone can see the answer. How do you find new books to read?
Largehearted Boy is where I first heard of my favorite author Haruki Murakami. It's a nice intersection of music and books, and an endless source of potential reading material (he does a "52 Books" feature, from which my 12 Books took its inspiration).
Newspaper reviews, award lists, year end lists. Just the other day, I put "Blasphemy" by Douglas Preston on my list based on a review I read in the Washington Post. I also make sure I check out the nominees for awards like the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award. Sometimes I'm even ahead of the curve in discovering a book before it was nominated for an award ("Then We Came To The End" by Joshua Ferris). And a great source for reading material is the cacophony of year-end top 10 or whatever lists. In case you missed them this year, Fimoculous has you covered.
Recommendations from people like you! I read a lot of blogs, and I'm always interested in what other people are reading. I don't get a lot of direct recommendations, but I'm always willing to take them, so feel free to send yours in.
My Rating: 
Usually when I read a book in 2 days, it's because I really liked it and couldn't put it down. In this case though, it was more like, I couldn't wait to put it down so I could move on. It's not that it's a bad book, it's just not for me. Larry Winget's in-your-face persona probably works a lot better in person, or on TV. It doesn't work quite as well in a book, because you can always just put the book aside. If this book is going to help you, you have to want the help, and you have to actually be broke. Which I am not. There's a whole chapter about "some stuff you haven't heard before," but I had heard pretty much all of them. And that's what it comes down to: the book is a lot of common sense stuff, presented in a way that is a swift kick in the ass for people who don't have that common sense. "You have $20k in shoes, you should probably sell them to pay for your credit card bill." The worksheets and exercises could come in handy for some, and I enjoyed the success stories of his rich friends in the last chapter. But overall, it's probably not a book I would recommend to many people, unless they are in denial about their financial strife.
Next up is Crawling by Elisha Cooper.
My Rating:
When last we saw David Valentine, he was an up and coming Wolf in the Southern Command, fighting against the alien Kur race who use "Reapers" to feed off the auras of humans. This time around, Valentine gets caught up in military politics and is forced to resign from the Wolves. However, he quickly takes up with another military faction, the Cats, and learns their stealthy ways. He uses his newfound skills to go after a new group, the Twisted Cross, before they can build up their forces to go after Southern Command.
It's not quite as strong as the first volume, but the Twisted Cross provides a good (or evil, as the case may be) antagonist for Valentine, strong enough for me to eventually want to read the next volume, though I probably won't review any more of them.
Next up is You're Broke Because You Want To Be by Larry Winget.
My Rating:
I had seen "The Omega Man" a long time ago, and always wanted to read the book upon which it was based. With the recent release of the movie starring Will Smith, I went ahead and reserved it at the library. I won't say I was disappointed, but the Omega Man version is definitely different from the book. The book focuses a lot on Robert Neville's search, as the lone person immune to a bug that has turned everyone into vampires, for a cure. Only near the very end of it does it bring in the possibility that not everyone went crazy and bloodthirsty, whereas the Heston movie seemed to play on that aspect of the story a bit more.
So, even though it wasn't quite what I expected, I enjoyed the story, and found many times where it could have influenced later vampire fiction like Buffy.
Next up is Choice of the Cat (Vampire Earth Book 2) by E.E. Knight.
My Rating:
It took a little while for me to get into this book, but once I got started, it moved along fairly quickly. I found it interesting the story elements that I recognized in this book. There's a little bit of Oedipus, and some Romeo and Juliet, along with the usual Tolkien Middle-Earth stuff like Elves and dragons and good and evil. I still don't think it is quite on par with his other work, but if you are a fan, it is a must read.
Next up is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, "now a major motion picture starring Will Smith!" But we all know I don't get to see movies very often, so I'll just read the book.
Michael Oher, subject of previously reviewed "The Blind Side," is contemplating going pro after his junior year of college. Oher was an All-SEC selection this year.
My Rating:
People who know me know well that I love me a good vampire story (one of my wife's Christmas gifts to me was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book collection). So it should probably come as no surprise that I plowed right through this book and plan on reading the other books in the series in quick succession (though I may not review them all). Although it took a bit of "suspension of disbelief" to get past the alien-gate-traveler/vampiric-aura-consumer thing, it turned out to be an interesting twist on the traditional vampire mythos. While the ending to the book was somewhat predictable, the book overall was enjoyable enough that I'm going to pursue the rest of the series as well.
Next up is The Children of Húrin, ostensibly by J.R.R. Tolkien, but compiled by his son Christopher.
My Rating:
I picked up this book recently because I heard that there were some vague links to the Lost television series. Vague indeed. One might see the mystical elements of the island and attempts to build a perfect civilization in the book, but it's more likely true that the book is but one of many influences on the writers.
As to the book itself, it was a quick read, with not much plot substance (the book really is a starting point for a much larger story, which came in several sequels of sorts). The events are fairly predictable once the story gets rolling, but for a pre-teen level reader, it would probably be pretty interesting.
Next up is Way of the Wolf by E.E. Knight.
My Rating:
I tried to come into this book with an open mind, but I was probably skeptical of the skeptical environmentalist. I don't know that I am too much less skeptical, but Bjorn Lomberg coolly dissects the carbon dioxide cutting arguments, deftly presenting what he describes as more humane alternatives. It's hard to disagree with a lot of what he has to say. He thinks that the Kyoto treaty costs too much for the little good it does in the long run (especially since it takes a political commitment over several generations), and he is able to lay out ways in which we could take on global suffering more effectively and more cheaply. I may not be a convert to Mr. Lomberg's camp, but I am probably going to be more skeptical the next time I hear a media report of a coming ice age and global devastation due to climate changes.
Next up is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, which was recently mentioned on NPR and was also mentioned as a "Lost" allegory, so I decided to read it in anticipation of Lost's imminent return.
We're nearing the end of 2007, so it's time once again for my favorite stuff of the past year.
I tried 28 new beers this year and came up with one new summer favorite, Dogfish Head Festina Pêche and two new winter favorites which both tied my all-time best beer rating, Bell's Kalamazoo Stout and Dogfish Head World Wide Stout.
It was a prolific year of reading for me, as I raced through 45 books! Ten of those books managed to garner 5 stars, but my overall favorite was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The other 5 star ratings went to Maxed Out, I Love You, Beth Cooper, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Little Children, Soon I Will Be Invincible, Boomsday, The Zero, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, and Lisey's Story.
We had a great vacation to Disney World, including our awesome dinner at Victoria and Albert's.
Favorite event (outside of kids walking and other various accomplishments): buying our minivan
Favorite album: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon. I really dig this band.
Favorite new TV show: Pushing Daisies. The most visually interesting new show of the year, and it even manages to breath new life (har) into the old "will they or won't they?" saga.
Another year has passed, but I look forward, as always, to the excitement of the new year ahead.
My Rating:
The plot of this book didn't really surprise me. You can pretty much see where it's going most of the time. Where the book really shines is in the way Perrotta treats his characters. You might expect him to be biased one way or the other: toward the born-again Christian, or toward the agnostic sex-ed teacher. But he actually manages to treat both sides with respect, and portrays the characters as they probably would be in real life: they're only human, after all.
Next up is Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming by Bjorn Lomberg.
My Rating:
Not particularly one of my favorite Gibson novels, but still readable and interesting if only for its commentary on current events. The plot moves along like a Dan Brown novel, with short chapters which alternate between characters who inevitably come together near the end. Unfortunately, you realize that this is going to happen and it makes the story somewhat predictable. I still found it good enough to read through fairly quickly, and I wouldn't dissuade anyone who was planning on reading it. But at the same time, I don't think I could recommend it to anyone who hadn't been planning on reading it already.
Next up is The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta.
My Rating:
Continuing with my "young adult" book reading, I decided to check out the latest from Nick Hornby. "Slam" is definitely for the more mature side of "young adult," since it deals with teenage pregnancy almost exclusively (I feel a ban coming on from the religious right!). Hornby, as usual, brings his characters to life in a compelling way. Sam, the 16 year old son of a 32 year old mom, is obsessed with Tony Hawk. He even talks to his "TH" poster in his room, and sometimes, the poster talks back, albeit in quote snippets from Tony Hawk's book. When Sam meets and gets Alicia pregnant, Tony whizzes Sam to the future to give him a glimpse of his life. Sam may not be the role model for teenage parenting, but he learns a lot along the way, and provides a unique look at a world that most people would just as soon ignore.
Next up is Spook Country by William Gibson.
My Rating:
(Side note: still trying to work out a new review system, since my old one didn't quite make the transition. This will have to do for now, so that I can keep reading.)
I guess I just don't get the hype for this book. Ostensibly about the life of Oscar Wao, Oscar himself is absent for much too much of the book, as the author flashes back to the life of his mother and of his mother's parents for the majority of the text. While I understand the importance of their stories to the overarching theme of fukú, I struggled to get through them, much as I struggled with the Spanglish interjections, as I don't speak Spanish. I was most entertained when reading of Oscar's lonesome geeky life, which is what drew me to the book in the first place, but that account was too sparse for me, even if it was an interesting story.
Next up is Slam by Nick Hornby.
The Stolen Child takes the myth of fairies (or goblins, or changelings) in the forest and takes it in a new direction: Suburbia. This group of changelings lives outside a small town, and they change places with children in the town, and make the taken children one of their own. This particular story tells the tale of Henry Day and Aniday, who switch places, then spend the ensuing years chasing after each other, tormenting each other's nightmares. For a while, they leave each other alone, but as suburbia encroaches on the forest, their paths cross more frequently, and to greater intrigue. A fine read for a more realistically based tale of fantasy.
Next up is The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
One way to get through reading a lot of books is to read so-called "youth" targeted fiction. I've read a few this year, and they have been good stories, even if they don't require large vocabularies and a lot of time. City of Ember is no exception. The people of Ember live in a dark world, and rely on an increasingly cranky generator powered by a river to keep their lights going. When the lights go out, they are enveloped in complete darkness. Luckily, the "Builders" have an escape plan, but the problem is that few know about it, and no one can find it. And when someone does, it is quickly gummed by an exuberant toddler (boy, can I relate to that!), obscuring the instructions. The characters are fairly one-dimensional, but it's an entertaining story and a quick read (for adults anyway). There is youth fiction beyond Harry Potter.
About the only bad thing I can say about this book is that I now feel obligated to read its sequel, People of Sparks, so that I can finish the story. But that will come later. Next up is The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue.
Molly Ivins, the famous Texan journalist, passed away earlier this year, and I promised I would finally get around to reading one of her books. This one is focused on George W. "Shrub" Bush, during the 2000 campaign. It really does shed a good deal of light on how he managed to bumble his way into the Presidency with every step of his life. Seriously, the only thing you can say about the guy is that he knows how to use his name to make money. Everything from his failed oil ventures, to his ownership of the Texas Rangers, to his short and unproductive reign as governor of Texas is addressed. And while Ivins' bias is obvious and she probably overlooks some of Ann Richards' shortcomings as well, she lays out a clear indictment of Bush and pretty much everything he's done.
Next up is City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, soon to be a major motion picture starring Bill Murray.