Instead of a year-end recap, I'll just update this list each time I complete a book. This will surely fuel the bulk of you to engage me and your peers toward somewhat frequent book discussions - or at the very least, shame you into reading more books.
C'mon. It's what Hillary Clinton would want for the entire village.
FICTION
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Joe Collegeby Tom Perrotta
pub. 2000
This book reads like a literary version of The River by Bruce Springsteen. And while most of you assume I'd give something like that an A, it just didn't have enough moxy or drive to break through. B
Lucky Wander Boy by D.B. Weiss
pub. 2003
This is High Fidelity for the videogame audience. And while it has its clever moments of fanatical energy, it also suffers from a sludgy insistence upon discussing early 80s gaming technology - which is the equivalent of Nick Hornby discussing the evolution of the phonograph. C
Catch 22by Joseph Heller
pub. 1966
I've heard so much about this book, I expected more. Like reading several O. Henry stories one after another, Heller's literary tricks get old and the humor only arrives in energetic spurts. This classic certainly isn't bad, but the author's intent is occasionally so heavy-handed and repetitive, I often had to fight the urge to flip ahead 25 pages. B-
If nothing else, Heller did construct a wonderful passage toward the book's finale that I've since used to introduce my blog entitled The Poor Die Young. The Rich Live Forever.
1929 by Frederick Turner
pub. 2003
Borrowing the grandiose brushstrokes Fitzgerald used to bring Gatsby to life, Frederick Turner weaves through a disappointingly familiar pastiche of metropolitan Americana during the Art Deco age. Following the life of fictional coronet player, "1929" suspiciously sponges off of films like "Singin' in the Rain," "Some like It Hot" and "The Untouchables." While Turner wonderfully establishes the era, it comes only at the expense of passion and drama. C+
A Thousand Splendid Sunsby Khaled Hosseini
pub. 2007
"The Kite Runner" was one of the best books I've read in years and I was both apprehensive and excited for Hosseini's follow-up novel following three generations of Afghani women, as they seek shelter from the tyrannical storm of war and inequality. Explaining the specific plot points of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" would be a great injustice to the manner in which those plot points are revealed and illustrated. Hosseini summons strength and heartbreak in a mere whisper. While this book is less surprising than "The Kite Runner," it is certainly an admirable follow-up. A
The Tender Barby J.R. Moehringer
pub. 2005
No, I've never befriended a group of burlesque men in a dusty tavern and my bookstore experience was less tender than the author's, and of course, I've never attended Yale, but for all the dissimilarities there are between the letter of Moehringer's memoirs and my own life, there are a striking amount of similarities found in the spirits of both. Rarely do I feel the kinship with an author that I felt reading this book. Not only did it entertain me, it reflected parts of my personality that I've never truly studied before. I will not recommend a book any higher this year than "The Tender Bar." A+
NONFICTION
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingby Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
pub. 2005
At some point, "thinking outside the box" is going to become commonplace. But because it hasn't yet, books like these always have a welcomed spot on my shelf. My only complaint is that the book feels unfinished. Mostly because, as Levitt admits, it is largely unfinished. He could write 30 volumes of this book and there would remain more to say. how stagnant we've stayed in the 10 years since this book was written. A-
We the Media: A Citizen's Guide to Fighting for a Media Democracyedited by Don Hazen and Julie Winokur
pub. 1997
This propagandistic patchwork of articles taken from countless (vastly leftist) publications, does a fair job of introducing, informing and identifying the world of media control, bias and ownership. While the political cartoons make for an embarrassing read on the train, it's more embarrassing how stagnant we've stayed in the 10 years since this book was written. B-
News & Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversy in Health and Other Fields by Victor Cohn and Lewis Cope pub. 2001
Do you like statistics? Do you enjoy applying statistics to uncover greater truths kept hidden by a nation of spin doctors, PR members and biased lobbyists? Yeah, well it doesn't matter, 'cause this book is an underwritten, overlong, exercise in exploring common sense journalistic techniques and mathematical writing guidelines. F
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
pub. 1985
A clever, albeit overly-written, manifesto on the growing spell television caste on the nation midway through the Reagan era. Part philosophical waxation on the nation's influence on televised programming, the book's truly intriguing portions come when Postman ruminates on television's influence on the nation. Believe it or not, 22 years after its publication, much of this book remains pertinent. B
Media/Society : Industries, Images, and Audiences (3rd Ed.) David Croteau & William Hoynes
pub. 19??
Aside from the creepy baby on the cover haunting me throughout the semester, there are few other detracable aspects of this text. It is probably the most comprehensive and complete (albeit somewhat outdated) work to focus on the media's stranglehold on our society, while illustrating a reciprocative understanding of the specifics that allowed and continue to allow such a stranglehold to take place. A-
Uncivil Wars: The Controversy Over Reparations For SlaveryDavid Horowitz
pub. 2002
I didn't even intend to read this book, I intended to order a different "Uncivil Wars" on Amazon.com, but got this. And since I'll be damned if I waste my money, I gave this book a go-round. Reparations hasn't been a hot-button topic for half-a-decade, and Horowitz strikes me as the type of man who gets into shouting matches about his favorite food, song or color, but the book certainly makes its case and warrants some consideration, even if it's a few years too late. B
Reporting on Risk: Getting it Right in an Age of Risk
by Victor Cohn
pub. 1990
When I look back on this literary year I will almost assuredly view it as the year I continuously read oddly out-of-date non-fiction. Nevertheless, this oddly out-of-date non-fiction was helpful during my tenure at the hospital as well as distinguishing what, in the media, is important versus what is claimed to be. B-
The Glass Castleby Jeannette Walls
pub. 2005
Although most people think their family is crazy, the growing trend in bestselling memoirs is to out-crazy the last author. Just as Augusten Burroughs finished fighting off rumors that his cracked-mirror of a childhood was greatly exaggerated, MSNBC gossiper, Jeannette Walls thrusts her dirty laundry into the limelight for all to see. The difference between this memoir and several over-the-top familial recounts is that Jeanette turned out fairly balanced and wrote this story, not from a place of embittered revenge, but of surprising awe, shame and and occasional revelry. A
The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do About Itby Marcia Angell, M.D.
pub. 2004
After having seen Michael Moore's documentary, "Sicko," I was hungry to investigate the health care industry further. I read this book based on a recommendation from my dad. Turns out that most of the drug companies are crooked as question marks and this award-winning book explains how they've remained this way. Drug companies produce very few innovative drugs, opting instead to repackage already available pills. They've purchased the FDA, the agency created to monitor the drug companies; they influence clinical research on their own products and exploit patent and marketing loopholes. While this book will not enamor, it will enlighten. A-
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