stories from the book shelf scan

Callie at Counterbalance reflects on a subject that hits close to home: book snobs and the lies they tell.

I know several bloggers of all stripes (lit, design, music, etc.) who don't list certain books in their "just read" or "currently reading" columns. Sandra at Book World (who has just made a lovely shift in her blog from covering books to covering writing and books about writing) mentions that she would never place these books about writing in her left-hand column. Instead of gasping at her declaration, I thought: my god, I do the same thing...

My next thought was: well at least I don't pretend to have read books that I haven't. That seems a far worse offense. Or is it? Isn't the shame -- for those who haven't read something they feel they should & those who've read something they'd rather not advertise -- and the hiding of said shame, equal on both sides? I wonder. While I continue to probe this question & my own guilt (no doubt induced by a brand of crazy that only my christian school education could provide), I reserve the right to leave these aforementioned read-but-not-going-to-admit-it books off my public "Books I've Read List."

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. I am actually trying to meet a somewhat difficult goal for someone with two jobs - 52 books in 52 weeks - and when I delve into the occasional self-help book because let's face it, I need help, I don't list it! What kind of help is that? And boy, do I check out other people's book shelves. I've yet to end a friendship over it, but one friend's Nelson DeMille collection haunts me. I thought I was at least off the hook for lying about things that I haven't read when I realized that just the other day I was asked if I had read a particular classic, and I replied, "Parts of it." Parts of it?? Where do they publish parts of a novel? Did I travel back to the nineteenth century and read it in serial form? For that matter, am I in the habit of beginning books and not finishing them? Not even. Ah, I have seen the lying book snob and the lying book snob is me.

52 books in 52 weeks

28. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

I was not impressed by this book. The overnight adventures of one sister were mildly interesting, but the voyeurism on the sleeping sister seemed fetishistic at best, terribly dull at worst.



29. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

Gilbert's idea that despite our most elaborate of plans, we have absolutely no way of predicting what will make our future selves happy is, in my opinion, an essential truth of human nature. He makes many similarly incisive observations, but these popular science books don't quite hold my attention like novels do.

30. This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes

After The Mistress's Daughter, I was eager to read another book by Homes, and her last novel did not disappoint. What was most surprising and delightful to me was the way she took the traditional tropes of the Hollywood novel and put a modern and distinctive spin on them.


31. Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

This engaging character study made me nostalgic for the time I've spent in England - especially my trip to Cambridge a few years ago - but it was possibly the least suspenseful serial killer narrative I've come across.


32. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta

God Bless Tom Perrotta. I picked up this book wanting to spend a couple of days on the couch absorbed in a story and it did not disappoint. I'm still unsure how I feel about its conclusion, but that doesn't diminish my gratitude for the escape.


Considering these four books took up most of my semester, I will count them toward the total.

33. NextText: Making Connections Across and Beyond the Disciplines, edited by Anne Kress and Suellyn Winkle

Upon my return to teaching composition, I went looking for a textbook that would excite me with little expectation I would succeed, but lo and behold, I found this reader. It was perfect for my science and technology focused students and perfect for my desire to explore unconventional genres and contemporary texts. I'm trying it out next semester with more of a business and education crowd, so we'll see if it holds its charm.

34. Cultural Conversations: The Presence of the Past, edited by Stephen Dilks, Regina Hansen, and Matthew Parfitt

For one class I taught this semester at someplace other than my main gig, I was given a choice of three anthologies. I chose this one.


Both of the following handbooks are exceptionally helpful, though if I had to choose only one, I'd probably lean toward the Little, Brown - a decision based almost entirely on the introduction/conclusion section.



35. The Little, Brown Handbook (10th Edition) by H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron





36. A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker





I may not get to 52, but the year is still alive, I'm on vacation, and some books are mercifully short.
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52 books in 52 weeks

20. Best of the Web 2008

This first entry in a new series from Dzanc Books features the best fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction appearing in the wide wide world of web in 2007 (according to series editor Nathan Leslie). My LA Times review is here.

21. Tin House: Fantastic Women

This 2007 special issue of Tin House features women writers who are fantastic both in style and content. Including many of the writers from the Women of the Slipstream panel at this year's Festival of Books, the collection can serve as a valuable introduction to the "genre" that resists characterization or a sweet indulgence in other worlds.

22. Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon

It's been awhile since I've read something so bleak and misanthropic, and I forgot how much I love books like this. Even though the second half of this story of soullessness under German occupation didn't satisfy, the atmosphere is irresistible. Stabbed a man in undetermined European country just to see him die.

23. My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampikeby Joyce Carol Oates

Despite reading lukewarm reviews beforehand, I enjoyed this fictionalization of the Jon Benet Ramsay story. The narrator - brother of the murdered child star - rambles and rambles, but it's part of his charm and makes sense for the character. I am sure the story could have been told more succinctly, but I didn't mind Oates taking her time.

24. A Fraction of the Wholeby Steve Toltz

I can't remember the last time a novel made me laugh out loud so often. Steve Toltz has a gift for observation and a strong sense of narrative pacing. At times, it seems as if an episodic tale is included more because Toltz wanted to share it than have it serve as character or plot development, but there's much joy here.

52 books in 52 weeks (sort of)

I'm reposting the April 15th post below with brief additional descriptions...

I'm going to bite Largehearted Boy's style and join the ranks of those participating in his annual project to read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. Now, I know you may be saying, "It's Week 15! Where have you been?" Well, I've been on a sabbatical from pleasure reading, but now I'm back and up for the challenge. I did manage to fit in some fiction here and there since 2006 began, so without further ado, I'll begin.

1. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

From what I can gather, if you read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close first, you like that novel better and vice versa. There is some credence to the argument Mr. and Mrs. wrote the same book, both excellent.

2. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Smith has a remarkable ear for dialogue that alone makes this book worth reading.


3. The Best American Short Stories 2005

Michael Chabon's taste is more apparent than any previous editor of the series, but this is not necessarily a criticism.

4. Veronica: A Novel by Mary Gaitskill

Gaitskill's style is not for me: too much self-conscious darkness.


5. Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories by Deborah Eisenberg

The title story is a remarkable entry in the September 11th genre.


6. This Minute by Jean Gallagher

A book from a friend, rife with spiritual and intellectual resonance - buy it or try Stubborn.

6 down, 46 to go.
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52 books in 52 weeks

19. The Best American Short Stories 2008

Salman Rushdie edited last year's collection and it seems he's fond of shorter, action-driven stories. Kevin Brockmeier's story "The Year of Silence" was quite nice as well as Rebecca Makkai's "The Worst You Ever Feel" and Danielle Evans's "Virgins." I'm always amazed how many heavy hitters - Munro, Lethem, Millhauser, Saunders, Homes, Woolf - rise to the top despite their anonymity.

20. The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle

Boyle had me at "Kinsey" so I was predisposed to the subject before beginning this fictionalized chronicle of Kinsey's sex studies and the man's personal life. The narrator, however, is what makes the novel impressive. Perhaps based on real-life assistant Ralph Voris, John Milk relates events with a consistent, conservative voice that makes the narrative seem a convincing historical record.

21. The New Valley by Josh Weil

At a Skylight Books reading a couple of months ago, Josh Weil read from the third novella in this collection of three, and I was pretty blown away. "Sarverville Remains" is chilling, poignant, and told in a well-executed, effective form of West Virginian dialect. The other two novellas are sadly not as good. "Ridge Weather" establishes the setting of the collection well and has its touching moments, but "Stillman Wing" didn't do it for me at all.

22. Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums That Changed Their Lives, edited by Peter Terzian

I reviewed this book here.




23. Throw Like A Girl: Stories by Jean Thompson

I borrow most of the books I read from the LA Public Library, so while the waiting list for Thompson's latest Do Not Deny Me was on the long side, I was able to get this earlier story collection pretty quickly. The variety and depth of the many female characters she created here may be unrivaled. Thompson has great range and a finely tuned sense of when a story should end.

52 books in 52 weeks

So surprisingly, this isn't the worst year yet, despite being quite preoccupied with non-reading endeavors. In 2006, I read 32 books. In 2007, I read 40. Here's to breaking at least 45 in 2009 if not making it all the way to 52.

30. This Must Be the Place by Anna Winger

This is a simple, lovely story about expat/pat friendship in contemporary Berlin. The characters and the city are drawn with detail and warmth. While not a feel-good cop-out, the novel still makes you feel quite good about the possibility of redemptive love, platonic or otherwise.

31. Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth

I covered this McSweeney's release here.





32. One More Year: Stories by Sana Krasikov

Krasikov quite successfully captures the modern-day Russian emigré existence (I assume). Her stories portray characters of all ages, dispositions, and locations, struggling to make connections with each other and their homeland. Only rarely does Krasikov's youth seep through.

33. The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon

The two tales intertwined in this novel are perfectly complementary yet distinct in style and purpose. The narrator's return journey to his native Sarajevo with the somewhat sinister and sexy Rora is suspenseful and lush, and the story of Lazarus is heartbreaking and illuminates an important (though not proud) moment in American history. The fact that it wasn't all that long ago that Hemon mastered English is pretty damn humbling.

34. Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dungby Lester Bangs

It was interesting to see how Bangs's prose could be so prescient and dated at the same time. His narrative energy is palpable, and it's obvious his legacy pervades most music journalism today.

35. The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin

I'm all about the Slavs this month apparently. This book is fun - I mean, werefox prostitute in modern Moscow? - of course, it's fun. The question is whether it's valuable beyond the surface. I'm still deciding.

52 books in 52 weeks

37. Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster

I think I recall this novella got some critical grief for collecting and recycling characters, but I found it sort of a fun imaginative exercise of what it would be like to live in Paul Auster's brain.


38. Him Her Him Again The End of Him by Patricia Marx

Note to self: Do not use those obsessive, unrequited affairs from your past as material for a book.



39. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing

Despite Lessing's disappointing remarks about the evils of "blugging," I still totally enjoyed her version of the demon seed. If you think you may want to have children, don't read this book.


40. The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind

This is a compact meditation on the perils of trying to establish rigid control over the events in your life. Virginia Woolf meets Knut Hamsun meets Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I wish Süskind would write more.


Well, I didn't make it to 52, but I did get 8 books beyond last year's total while completely switching careers, so there. Onward to 2008...