I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution guy, but I do normally write down a few goals for the coming year. One of my entries this time last year was to read 24-30 books in 2004. I passed the lower end of that threshold in May and was sitting at 36 books the day M.\u00a0was born. Not a bad year, although it sure helped to travel to the West Coast on a regular basis for six months and to live with a woman who works 2-3 overnight shifts a week. I think my goal will be a little less ambitious this year, as I’ve discovered it’s pretty much impossible to knock off three books a week when you’ve got a little one. A couple observations:<\/p>\n
This number is actually a little low from what I read in total, as I didn’t include the numerous baby and computer books I’ve read in a manner other than cover-to-cover. There are at least five baby books I read 90% of, as well as four other Mac books I’ve knocked 75-80% out of the way as I’ve taught myself how to use my new computing platform. However, since none were finished, I don’t count them.<\/p>\n
Interesting that my year began and ended with the same book. I got Wolves of the Calla last Christmas and read it as soon as I completed the book I started in late ’03. With the release of the last two books in the Dark Tower series this year, I decided to start from book one before I knocked them off. I just closed the back cover of Wolves for the second time this morning.<\/p>\n
Without a doubt my book of the year is Fortress of Solitude. Every year there are a few buzz novels that everyone seems to be reading. Fortress didn’t sell at the same level as The DiVinci Code, but it certainly garnered a lot of attention at its release. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. A fantastic tale. Language that is so beautiful to read it almost hurts. Absolute perfect spirit of the times translated to fiction. I spoke to a couple readers on my trip to Kansas City who are either reading it now, or had just finished it. I was glad to hear they agreed that it was a phenomenal work. My highest of high recommendations.<\/p>\n
Next to Fortress, the book that moved me most was Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey. Reasonable people can argue about any foreign policy action of the United States. There is no justification for not taking steps to end what is probably the purest example of genocide the modern world has seen. Stalin and Hitler were evil men who took great pains to kill efficiently. The evil doers in Rwanda were far worse, in my opinion, because they didn’t use gas, electricity, or other methods to kill large numbers of people with minimal effort. In Rwanda, young men were handed crude machetes made from scrap metals then paraded through villages hacking people’s heads open until no one was left living. It was medieval killing in modern times, and everyone in the West should be ashamed we allowed almost a million people to die in less than three months.<\/p>\n
I’ve still got quite a list of books I’d like to read, and I add to it constantly. I’ve got roughly 1000 pages left in the Dark Tower saga, then I hope to add some more variety to the list in ’05. Hopefully you can find something here that interests you. If you need a synopsis or recommendations, let me know.<\/p>\n
1 Wolves of the Calla – Stephen King
\n2 Milk It! – Jim DeRogatis
\n3 Imagining Argentina – Lawrence Thornton
\n4 Drinking, Smoking, & Screwing: Good Writers on Good Times
\n5 Out of Sight – Elmore Leonard
\n6 Joe College – Tom Perrotta
\n7 Sellevision – Augusten Burroughs
\n8 The Expectant Father – Armin Brott
\n9 Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
\n10 Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard
\n11 Shutter Island – Dennis Lehane
\n12 Plainclothes Naked – Jerry Stahl
\n13 In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz – Michela Wrong
\n14 Breakfast on Pluto – Patrick McCabe
\n15 Gun, With Occasional Music – Jonathan Letham
\n16 Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded – Simon Winchester
\n17 Little Green Men – Christopher Buckley
\n18 Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey – Fergal Keane
\n19 Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden
\n20 Nine Innings – Daniel Okrent
\n21 Moneyball – Michael Lewis
\n22 Foul Ball – Jim Bouton
\n23 Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs – John Lydon
\n24 Thieves in High Places – Jim Hightower
\n25 The Boys of Summer – Roger Kahn
\n26 Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
\n27 The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
\n28 Lies & The Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken
\n29 The Fortress of Solitude – Jonathan Letham
\n30 What’s the Matter With Kansas? – Thomas Frank
\n31 McCarthy’s Bar – Pete McCarthy
\n32 The Sweet Forever – George Pelecanos
\n33 The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
\n34 Mac OS X for Windows Users – David Coursey
\n35 I Was Right On Time – Buck O’Neil
\n36 The White House Mess – Christopher Buckley
\n37 Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman
\n38 Wilco: Learning How to Die – Greg Kott
\n39 The Partly Cloudy Patriot – Sarah Vowell
\n40 The Gunslinger – Stephen King
\n41 The Drawing of the Three – Stephen King
\n42 The Wastelands – Stephen King
\n43 Wizard and Glass – Stephen King
\n44 Wolves of the Calla – Stephen King<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution guy, but I do normally write down a few goals for the coming year. One of my entries this time last year was to read 24-30 books in 2004. I passed the lower end of that threshold in May and was sitting at 36 books the day M.\u00a0was born. Not a bad year, although it sure helped to travel to the West Coast on a regular basis for six months and to live with a woman who works 2-3 overnight shifts a week. I think my goal will be a little less ambitious this year, as I’ve discovered it’s pretty much impossible to knock off three books a week when you’ve got a little one. A couple observations: This number is actually a little low from what I read in total, as I didn’t include the numerous baby and computer books I’ve read in a manner other than cover-to-cover. There are at least five baby books I read 90% of, as well as four other Mac books I’ve knocked 75-80% out of the way as I’ve taught myself how to use my new computing platform. However, since none were finished, I don’t count them. Interesting that my year began and ended with the same book. I got Wolves of the Calla last Christmas and read it as soon as I completed the book I started in late ’03. With the release of the last two books in the Dark Tower series this year, I decided to start from book one before I knocked them off. I just closed the back cover of Wolves for the second time this morning. Without a doubt my book of the year is Fortress of Solitude. Every year there are a few buzz novels that everyone seems to be reading. Fortress didn’t sell at the same level as The DiVinci Code, but it certainly garnered a lot of attention at its release. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. A fantastic tale. Language that is so beautiful to read it almost hurts. Absolute perfect spirit of the times translated to fiction. I spoke to a couple readers on my trip to Kansas City who are either reading it now, or had just finished it. I was glad to hear they agreed that it was a phenomenal work. My highest of high recommendations. Next to Fortress, the book that moved me most was Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey. Reasonable people can argue about any foreign policy action of the United States. There is no justification for not taking steps to end what is probably the purest example of genocide the modern world has seen. Stalin and Hitler were evil men who took great pains to kill efficiently. The evil doers in Rwanda were far worse, in my opinion, because they didn’t use gas, electricity, or other methods to kill large numbers of people with minimal effort. In Rwanda, young men were handed crude machetes made from scrap metals then paraded through villages hacking people’s heads open until no one was left living. It was medieval killing in modern times, and everyone in the West should be ashamed we allowed almost a million people to die in less than three months. I’ve still got quite a list of books I’d like to read, and I add to it constantly. I’ve got roughly 1000 pages left in the Dark Tower saga, then I hope to add some more variety to the list in ’05. Hopefully you can find something here that interests you. If you need a synopsis or recommendations, let me know. 1 Wolves of the Calla – Stephen King 2 Milk It! – Jim DeRogatis 3 Imagining Argentina – Lawrence Thornton 4 Drinking, Smoking, & Screwing: Good Writers on Good Times 5 Out of Sight – Elmore Leonard 6 Joe College – Tom Perrotta 7 Sellevision – Augusten Burroughs 8 The Expectant Father – Armin Brott 9 Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis 10 Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard 11 Shutter Island – Dennis Lehane 12 Plainclothes Naked – Jerry Stahl 13 In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz – Michela Wrong 14 Breakfast on Pluto – Patrick McCabe 15 Gun, With Occasional Music – Jonathan Letham 16 Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded – Simon Winchester 17 Little Green Men – Christopher Buckley 18 Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey – Fergal Keane 19 Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden 20 Nine Innings – Daniel Okrent 21 Moneyball – Michael Lewis 22 Foul Ball – Jim Bouton 23 Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs – John Lydon 24 Thieves in High Places – Jim Hightower 25 The Boys of Summer – Roger Kahn 26 Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer 27 The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 28 Lies & The Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken 29 The Fortress of Solitude – Jonathan Letham 30 What’s the Matter With Kansas? – Thomas Frank 31 McCarthy’s Bar – Pete McCarthy 32 The Sweet Forever – George Pelecanos 33 The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 34 Mac OS X for Windows Users – David Coursey 35 I Was Right On Time – Buck O’Neil 36 The White House Mess – Christopher Buckley 37 Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman 38 Wilco: Learning How to Die – Greg Kott 39 The Partly Cloudy Patriot – Sarah Vowell 40 The Gunslinger – Stephen King 41 The Drawing of the Three – Stephen King 42 The Wastelands – Stephen King 43 Wizard and Glass – Stephen King 44 Wolves of the Calla – Stephen King <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,81],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books","tag-lists"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15552,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/15552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}