What Have I been reading in 2012?

As my loyal reader knows, I was on quite a reading kick in 2011.  I challenged myself to read 52 books in 52 weeks and surpassed my expectation by reading 54 instead and starting my 55th before year-end.
So far this year, I have not been as active on the reading circuit mostly because I have been working a ton and generally busy with living (mostly all good things).   But since I'm not dead, I am still reading some books and now that the first quarter is up and at this time last year I had already consumed 16 books, I am happy to report I am on pace to read half of my output from last year and have finished 8 books as of yesterday.  Surprisingly, many of them have been Non-Fiction. They will be listed below with commentary followed by my reasons for reading this book at this time:

1) Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (306 Pages) - B+

I have now read all of Gladwell's books.  I am always amazed by his ability to take mundane statistical analysis and compose them in an interesting and engaging narrative.  He explains certain aspects of society that make perfect sense after his explanation but I had never thought about in that way before.   This book explains how and why certain successful people became so good at their craft and happened to be at the right place and the right time to innovate, excel and change our world.  He comes up with a 10,000 hour theory, where if you do something for 10,000 hours you will become an expert at it.  This includes such skills as playing an instrument, sport, writing computer code and flying a plane.   This theory explains how people were able to put in those 10,000 hours in niche industries (like computer coding in the early 1970s) and as a result had the unique ability to be pre-qualified for those industries when they exploded.  It also explains why certain stereotypes of people exist, where they came from and why they may, in fact, be true.  Over all, this was a fun, engaging book that makes you feel better about yourself for not being as successful as you wish you were simply by saying you weren't in the right place at the right time.

This book came to me by my friend Bridget just bringing it over for me and Aubrey to enjoy.


2) Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (374 Pages)  - A-

This is a book written by a nerd for nerds.  This novel takes place in a future society where a Mark Zuckerberg/Steve Jobs type creates this fictional on-line game that becomes more popular than the real world called the OASIS.  Think about it as an online World of Warcraft/Facebook place where everyone goes to school, socializes and does their shopping.  As a result, the rest of the country has kind of gone to hell since everyone is always online instead of living.  But this creator dies and creates a contest where whoever can figure out where to find an EGG that he hid somewhere in the OASIS, they will inherit his entire fortune.  The twist is this creator was a product of the 1980s and everything has to do with old movies, music video games and basic 1980s pop culture.  This makes all of society obsessed with that decade since everyone in the world is trying to crack this code to win this contest.  It sounds insane, and it is, but this book was truly the most fun I've had reading in a while.  It was engaging and because I got most of the references, it felt familiar.  Ernest Cline is not the best writer, but he obviously loves his pop culture.  He made this book which could have been insanely confusing into something that I can honestly recommend to anyone of my generation.

I actively searched for this book since I had read about it on a number of message boards and websites.  I reserved it at the library and when it was made available to me, I devoured this relatively large novel in days.


3) The Social Animal - David Brooks (376 Pages) - D

 Sometimes it's easier to review and to discuss books that you hate more than what you like.  To tell what's good, I would have to give away a plot that I would genuinely like other people to be surprised by and enjoy.  This book was a selection for my Book Club and I could not have hated anything more.   The concepts were very similar to what was discussed in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, but the presentation and the writing was the main difference.   David Brooks decided to tell a Non-Fiction book through the narrative of a fictitious couple and how they went through life together.  This decision was obnoxious and did not add to the story.  He spent so much time explaining what these people did and their careers but there was no point to their story.  The book would have been better (and shorter) if he took these fictitious people away and just explained the science and social differences between people.  I could write more, but that would mean giving David Brooks more time than he deserves.  I hated this book with a passion.

This was a book club book that I had to read.... Unfortunately



4) 11/22/63 - Stephen King (850 Pages)  - A-

After the disaster of the Social Animal, I was excited to read the newest Stephen King novel about a man who travels back in time to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing John F. Kennedy.  As everyone knows, I am a rabid Stephen King fan, but I truly believe this book is one that anyone can enjoy.   It is not a horror book at all, and although the plot revolves around this Science Fiction plot, it is really more about the characters and about a man living out of time and making the most of it.
There is a sweetness to Stephen King's writing lately and although I do not want to ruin anything with this book for anyone that wants to read it, I will warn you there is an undertow of sadness within this book.

 I got this book as a Christmakah present from Aubrey.  It was only a matter of time before I found I had the 2-3 weeks required free to read this book.  Once I started hearing positive reviews for it, I knew this book would be the cure to my Social Animal blues


 


5) The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway (251 Pages) - C+

My friend Bridget is in the process of reading all of Hemingway's novels as a challenge to herself this year.  I was interested in reading him too since I am not as well versed in the classics as I probably should be.
or the most part, I was not very impressed with this book.  It reminded me of the Great Gatsby which makes sense since it was written around the same time and Hemingway and Fitzgerald were friends.  But the basic plot of spoiled rich kids traveling around Europe because they're disassociated from The Great War and their place in the world just seems very shallow.  (Yes, I understand how that sounds coming from a Blog who's sole purpose is to share ones insights, but I do not have any delusions of being considered a Hemingway).
Overall, I was kind of bored by the book and although I realize I probably am missing a ton of symbolism and impressive writing style, I can't say I enjoyed this book much and instead was thinking about when it would be over.

I almost read this before reading 11/22/63, but Stephen King always wins out.  I tried this afterwards.  I'm curious if most books after a King book pale in comparison.  Simply because for me, he is one of the best in the field.  This will have to be pondered over as I continue reading Stephen King (Including next month's Wind Through The Keyhole)



6) Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson (571 Pages) - A

I then read the Biography of Steve Jobs.  This book impressed me more than I expected.  Although he seemed to have been a difficult person to work with, it was inspiring to read about someone who had a vision that most others disagreed with and used his influence and drive to create a product line that he thought was the correct way.  His idea of closing off his computer systems went against the "Hackers Code" where they wanted an open source where people could poke around and innovate, but it turned out to be a better business model than almost all others.
There was a lot I didn't know about Steve Jobs before this book and this book also opened up the idea of reading Biographies to me, which I never really considered before.  As long as the character in question is interesting, I am excited to read more biographies, including some by Walter Isaacson since he also wrote well respected ones on Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.

I got this book for Aubrey for Christmakah.  She had yet to read it and I decided to be the guinea pig.  Also, I was curious to know more about Steve Jobs since I only knew the bare minimum of anecdotes.



7) Kill Alex Cross - James Patterson (365 Pages) - C+

As I've written before on this blog, I have read all the Alex Cross novels.  They are not so much good, as they are fun and easy reads.  I guess I'm stuck coming back to every one of these (since I've already invested 18 books of this character).   I will always be curious about what will happen next to my favorite DC Police-Man/FBI Agent.  I will always be curious about if Nana Mama will ever die, and what may happen to his kids or his friend Sampson.


This book follows about three distinct story-lines that actually did not really converge, but instead one was wrapped up well, one appears to lead into the next book and develop a new major villain in the series and one establishes something new for the Cross family.


These books are like Soap Operas to me, and everyone loves a good Soap Opera.


8) Life - Keith Richards (550 Pages)  - B

Aubrey's sister left this book at our house and since I am open to biographies now, I decided to try my hand at an autobiography.   I would not consider myself a Rolling Stones fan.  I firmly park my car in The Beatles garage, but after reading the book and loading up my ipod with Stones CDs while reading, I feel I understand the band much more.   The Stones were an English band copying what they were hearing coming out of America, mostly the Chicago and Southern Blues scene.  Keith Richards is a true guitarist and musician vs. The Beatles who are more pop-oriented and song-writers.
Reading the book is a lot like what I would imagine being with Keith Richards would be like.  Fun, a little disjointed with stories jumping around from one thing to the other with only a loose narrative, but interesting.

If you only know The Rolling Stones hits like Start Me Up and Satisfaction, then that's really only scraping the surface of the band.  They really thrive at their simple blues which are backed by Richards's strong guitar skills. Since I play a little guitar and this book also appealed to me by him explaining how he learned, and his migration over to 5-stringed Open G tuning and why he felt that helped him develop his and The Stones distinct sound over time.

 I was not expecting to read this book at this time, but it dropped into my hands and although it may be a little long, I was glad to have read it.


I am now caught up in my readings through April 10, 2012.   I am now reading another Book Club book that I am not excited about, but will muscle through so I can get to some others I'm more more excited about, as well as some that I'm not that were recommended to me by people that I trust. 
We will see what happens throughout the rest of the year.

My Private Concert For Myself

I don't know how to write about music.  How can one express in words the feeling you get from a great song?  And how can you explain in words what distinguishes a good song from a bad one?  I have never been able to say why I like a song or a band.  But I do have bands that I love and I understand not many people like everything I do so for me music is a very private thing.  And since I rarely have time to really listen to music, it is rare for me to really rock out and enjoy music fully. I have found that the times that this is most likely to happen is during solo road trips where I can listen to whatever I choose and scream (mind you not "sing") along with my stereo. 
This most recently happened in the last weekend of February when I had a chance to drive by myself from my house in Vermont back home to Queens.  It started out during a pseudo-blizzard in the middle of the mountain when I decided to brave the elements and try and get home to my beautiful girlfriend.   The first thirty minutes of this drive is through the mountains and were frankly quite scary.  It was a white-out and I couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of me.  The roads were windy through the mountains and I wasn't even paying attention to what was on my ipod.  After 45 minutes of driving I finally reached the highway and the snow stopped almost at the exact moment that this song came on randomly from my 1000+ loaded songs:

This started off my private 3 hour concert.

Below I will list a selection of the set list that happened in my car.  If you can, please feel free to picture me screaming at the top of my lungs to all of these songs.   As I write the set-list, I will warn you 1) it is possible you do not know many of these songs, and if you do, it is quite possible you don't know these specific songs by this band.  For example:  Not many people know the song "It's Late" by Queen, but it has all the elements of a classic Queen song, but for whatever reason it is not as popular as some of their worse songs.   2) I will simply list the songs as they come, and perhaps add an anecdote from time to time if I feel the need.  3) I just got into the band My Chemical Romance.  I think they are actually pretty good.  But do not know them very well.  However, on this specific trip, they were my ipod's favorite band.   That said, I was happy when they came on because since I don't know the songs very well, but do like them, when they came on I was able to get a much-needed reprieve from my singing work-out.

The set list was (with my notes in italics):
1) It's Late - Queen
2) Little Acorns - White Stripes
3) Land of Gold - Shawn Smith
4) Skylines and Turnstiles - My Chemical Romance
5) Luna Park - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead  - Here's another band that really should be a lot bigger than they are.  They have been making some great music for over a decade and everytime I listen to them (which isn't often) I am surprised by how good they are.  I recommend them for anyone.
6) Go To The Mirror - The Who - Yeah, I like The Who!  So shoot me!
7) Seen Your Video - The Replacements
8) Ashes to Ashes - Faith No More - What an amazing song!!!!  Faith No More is just an amazing band.   Oh yeah, I forgot to say, this set list got a little heavy....

 9) To Live is to Die - Metallica - Surprisingly, I have JUST started to get into Metallica recently.  I always thought they just weren't for me. 
10) New Cannonball Blues - TV On The Radio - Their new album has not quite grabbed me like their first and third did.  They may be an every-other album band for me.  We'll see.
11) Communication Breakdown - Led Zeppelin - This is where the wheels started to come off of my road trip.  I think I was going horse by now, but I was only in Springfield Massachusetts with a lot more road to cover.   This song made me go 90 MPH.   Sometimes you forget how good some songs are.
12) Guns of Summer - Coheed & Combria
13) Southern Girls - Cheap Trick -  Another Great band that I am just getting into again (like The Rolling Stones)
14) Ghost Woman Blues - The Low Anthem
15) You - TV On The Radio
16) At Least That's What You Said - Wilco
17) Pop Is Dead - Radiohead
18) Palo Alto - Radiohead - Do you sometimes kill bands for yourself for a while?  I go in phases where I listen to a certain band for days/weeks on end until I am sick of them.  This happened for me with Radiohead last summer and as a result, I only have a few unreleased tracks of theirs on my ipod.  Don't worry, I'll come back.  I always come back to my greatest loves
19) Try It On - Interpol - When I'm in the mood for Interpol they are amazing.  When I'm not, I can barely listen to 20 seconds of their stuff.  I've been into them lately though.
20) We're All Gonna Die - Slash - He has a new solo CD with different singers.  I'm not going to say it's good, but I can listen to slash do anything, so I know my judgement is skewed.
21) Keep Your Heart - TV On The Radio
22) Fields of Coal - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead -- This song sounds like an updated Irish Drinking Song.  And I think this may be the song that caused me to get back into my concert after a few songs where things looked like they were slowing up:  
23) Take a Bow - Muse - Over the last 2 years, I think Muse has been my absolute favorite band.  They always seem to shock me.  This song never really grabbed me fully until this night while driving.   It is a great driving song the way it builds up and sucks you in.
Take a listen:

 24) What is and What Should Never Be - Led Zeppelin
25) JellyBelly - Smashing Pumpkins
26) I'm One - The Who
27) 48 - Sunny Day Real Estate
28) 47 - Sunny Day Real Estate - I swear on all that is holy that my ipod decided to randomly play these two songs back to back out of all of the 1000+ songs loaded on it.  I need to understand the logic that Apple put into their products because sometimes it's just insane.  How many times have I been thinking of a specific song and then it comes on next?  I can't even count. 
29) Rock & Roll - Led Zeppelin - One of the absolute greatest songs ever recorded.  And really, a perfect title to a perfect song.  I listened to the studio version, but this is pretty good too:

30) We Are The Waiting - Green Day - A song that gets better the louder you play it.
31) Guiding Light - Muse
32) Rhythm and Soul - Spoon- Another great band that only gets credit in Indie circles
33) We Almost Lost Detroit - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr  - A band that I picked up at the library simply because their name made me laugh.  But I was pleasantly surprised by their music
34) Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 - Muse - At the end of their most recent album, Muse included what they call  a three part symphony to close out the album.   Yes it is amazing.  Hauntingly beautiful and amazing.   It's amazing that this is a three piece band.  Feel free to listen to the entire thing: http://youtu.be/YEH98_Ha2aA 
35) If I needed Someone - The Beatles
36) Lies Of The Beautiful People - Sixx AM
37) Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles - Another band that I have recently killed for myself, but started listening to Rubber Soul and Revolver instead of the staples of Abbey Road and Sgt. Peppers.  This helps keep things fresh.
38) Glorious - Muse - Yes, I love them!
39) Exhausted - Foo Fighters
40) Faded Beauty Queens - The Thrills
41) A Quick One While He's Away - Green Day

This concluded my Road Trip.    I was riding a natural high that is difficult to reproduce.  I hope even one person in this world decides to try some or all of these songs out for themselves.  I know it's my dumb taste in music, but I truly think these are great bands and some great music.  Given: They're not all home runs, but most are.

Enjoy.  And I hope to be writing more than just this one post.

How did I choose to Read books 32-52??

A while back I started a post not just reviewing books (since anyone can review a book), but instead explaining how I came to read those specific books.  I will now finish that for the remaining books I read this year.  Starting at book #32:


32. A Game of Thrones- George RR Martin  809 Pages -- A
  I loved the HBO show.  On a whim I bought the books on Amazon when I saw a deal where they were selling the books for approximately $20 for the first four books.  I wasn't sure I'd like the books, but I figured why not.  I guess you can tell, I liked them.  If anyone's looking to read these themselves I recommend this cheap set: http://www.amazon.com/Books-Thrones-Clash-Kings-Swords/dp/B005CC0CMC/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1323232864&sr=8-22

33.  A Clash of Kings - George RR Martin 969 Pages - A
I didn't expect to jump right into this second book in the series.  I thought I would space them out and take my time, but that's not really my style I guess.  I couldn't help myself.  I had to know what was going to happen to the characters.  Especially since reading the first book was a lot like just watching the TV show again which I had just watched a few months prior.

34.  Shopgirl - Steve Martin   130 Pages -- B+
Earlier in the year, I read An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin's newest novel about a young woman.  I happened to be in my laundry room and saw his earlier novel from about 10 years ago covering a similar subject matter.  I had seen the movie, but didn't remember it.  The book was good and smart, but I'm happy he expanded the themes of his newest novel.

35.  A Storm of Swords -- George RR Martin   1,128 Pages -- A+
I read a short book, but couldn't stay away from the world George Martin has sucked me into.  I went back after a short hiatus and am happy I did so since this was the best book I read this year, and one of the best books I've ever read in my life.

36.  No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy   309 Pages --C+
I found this in my laundry room when I found Shopgirl.  I don't get Cormac McCarthy. After reading this and The Road, I have officially decided he's not for me.

37.  The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler   230 Pages-- B-
This was my book club book, so I ordered it from the library and read it quickly so I could run back to my world of Dragons, Direwolves and Kingslaying.

38.  A Feast For Crows -- George RR Martin   976 Pages -- A
I could only stay away for one book before reading the final book in the set that I bought.  I thought I would save it, but I couldn't.

39.  A Dance With Dragons -- George RR Martin  959 Pages -- A
I went out with my friend Mike and he told me he had the book and said since he was a little behind me he wouldn't get to it for a few weeks.  If I could promise to read it, and give it back within 3 weeks I could have it.  So I jumped at the opportunity to catch up with all the other fans and then to dive into the websites for theorizing.

40.  The Postmortal -- Drew Magary  365 Pages   --  B+
The newest book club book had to be read.  While walking through the rough aisles of Comicon, I happened to see that the book that was assigned was being sold at the nerd-haven.  Without thinking, I bought the book just so I had it

41.  The Tao of Pooh -- Benjamin Hoff  158 Pages -- B-
One weekend I went over my friend Evan's house.  He is a fellow lover of books and had a sweeping bookshelf of books that I was interested in reading.  I told him about my challenge and he mentioned that he was sure he had a ton of short, good books.  The next few books on this list come from Evan's shelf.

42.  After The Quake -- Haruki Murakami   145 Pages -- A-
I got Evan into Murakami when I read The Wind-up Bird Chronicles.  Since then, we have both read a few of his books.  Evan had this one so I stole it before even he had read it.

43.  The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros  110 Pages -- C
While going through Evan's books, Aubrey asked if she could borrow this one.  He said OK.  I decided to read the book simply because it was in my apartment and it was short.  It bored me.

44.  Techno Pulp -  Arty Nelson  203 Pages -- C-
Evan recommended this book saying he enjoyed it while he was traveling through Europe when he was 20.  I can see why it may have appealed to him, but reading it as a 34 year old, I couldn't relate as well.  But it fit my length criteria.  And the only good thing is I read it on the day my nephew was born.

45.  Son of Neptune -- Rick Riordan  513 Pages  -- C+
I've read all of Rick Riordan's Demi-god series of books.  My brother works for Disney publishing and this is one of his biggest sellers.  My brother gave this book to me and since they are quick, fun page-turners I decided to read it.  And I was getting sick of reading short books.

46.  Black Swan Green -- David Mitchell  294 Pages -- B-
Evan gave me this book.  David Mitchell is an author that he is in love with and I find to be very smart and very good.  This was not his crowning achievement (for that read Cloud Atlas).

47.  Bodega Dreams -- Ernesto Quionez  213 Pages -- B+
Another book that Evan recommended to me.  I had no expectations of this book which is a retelling of The Great Gatsby but in present-day Spanish Harlem.  I was pleasantly surprised by this story and how well the story was told in today's day.

48.  Miracle on the 17th Green -- James Patterson  195 Pages -- B
This summer I really got into golf.  This book was a book about golf by an Author who I have read at least 10 novels by.  I know he's a short read, and this was about golf.  I saw it on the library shelf and figured I would knock it out in a day.  I was right (I read it on the Friday after Thanksgiving), I just wasn't expecting to enjoy this sappy, predictable melodrama as much as I did.

49.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button --  F. Scott Fitzgerald   63 pages-- C-
I had seen the movie, but I had just read Bodega Dreams and didn't want to re-read Gatsby.  But I figured Fitzgerald deserved some respect.   I saw it in the library and it was only 3pages long with pictures.  It took 45 minutes to read.   Oh yeah--- It's also one of the rare instances where the book is better and longer than the movie.  And I didn't really like the movie.

50. Piercing  - Ryu Murakami  185 Pages -- B+
Ryu Mrakami's books are always next to Hiraku Murakami in the library.  I've always been interested  in what I see and heart his books were good, but disturbing.  After reading this one, I agree.  He's like the Japanese Chuck Palahniuk and that's a good thing.

51.  While Mortals Sleep -- Kurt Vonnegut  255 Pages -- C+
Saw this in the libraray and being someone that needs to read everything by an author, this series of unpublished short stories by the man needed to be read.  So I grabbed it off the shelf.

52.  The Visible Man -- Chuck Kloserman   225 Pages -
The first book I read this year was Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman.  I have never read his fiction before, but saw it in the library and thought there was something fitting about reading my 52nd book of the year by the same author that I read the first by.  I'm glad I read this book.  Although I'm getting sick of Klosterman's style and his obsession with what "matters and means" and if something is "important" (Seriously!!! Read anything he writes and check out how many times he uses those words Like This Article)

52 Books in 52 Weeks

I'm sorry to my loyal reader.  But I've been busy.  It has been over 2 months since my last post, but I was a man on a mission.  In the beginning of the year I attempted to read 52 books in 52 weeks.  I was on a great pace and then I decided to read the Game of Thrones novels which are approximately 1000 pages each and there were five of them.
Well, I finished that, but when I did I realized I had only read 39 books and there were about 12 weeks left.  That meant I had to read 14 books in that time period.  So I decided to "cheat".  Of course, I made up the rules, but I decided to try and only read "short" books.  Now this doesn't mean there is anything wrong with a short book vs. a long book, but I normally don't plan my reading this way.  But even though I wanted to read shorter books, this does not mean there was not a ton of quality in these books, nor does it mean these were not books I didn't want to read.  I just chose not to read some books that are longer than some that are shorter.  For example: I'm sure if I wasn't trying to complete this challenge, I would have read the newest Stephen King book by now, but since it is about 1100 pages long, I felt it could wait.  The best part is that I finished a little early.  I will most likely read about 55 books this year instead of the 52 I expected to read.
So now: 18,032 pages later, an average page count of 346.77 pages later, please humor me and take a look at all the books I read this year.  The books breakdown as 41 Fiction Novels,  8 Non-Fiction and 3 collections of short stoies:  Included is the approximate date it was read (the month), the page count and the letter grade I would give as a rating from A-F.

Enjoy:

Number	Book	Author	Pages	Rating	Date
1	Eating The Dinosaur -	Chuck Klosterman	270	B	Jan-11
2	Catching Fire  -	Suzanne Collins	391	B+	Jan-11
3	Full Dark, No Stars -	Stephen King	368	B	Jan-11
4	Endurance: Shakleton's Incredible Voyage -	Alfred Lansing	280	A-	Jan-11
5	Mockingjay  -	Suzanne Collins	290	B-	Feb-11
6	The Vintage Caper  -	Peter Mayle	225	C-	Feb-11
7	Brains: A Zombie Memoir  -	Robin Becker	182	C	Feb-11
8	As God Commands  -	Niccolo Ammaniti	405	A	Feb-11
9	Never Let Me Go  -	Kazou Ishiguro	288	B	Mar-11
10	Mr. Funny Pants  -	Michael Showalter	250	B+	Mar-11
11	The Book Thief  -	Markus Zusak	550	B	Mar-11
12	Cross Fire  -	James Patterson	350	C	Mar-11
13	The Big Short  -	Michael Lewis	266	B+	Mar-11
14	South of the Border, West of the Sun  -	Haruki Murakami	213	A	Mar-11
15	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  -	Mark Haddon	225	B+	Mar-11
16	On Writing  -	Stephen King	300	B+	Mar-11
17	Zombie Spaceship Wasteland  -	Patton Oswalt	191	D+	Apr-11
18	Everything Is Going To Kill Everybody  -	Robert Brockway	260	C-	Apr-11
19	House of Leaves  -	Mark Z. Danielewski	710	B	Apr-11
20	20th Century Ghosts  -	Joe Hill	310	B+	May-11
21	Jar City  -	Arnaldur Indridason	285	D	May-11
22	The Day I Turned Uncool  -	Dan Zevin	172	C+	May-11
23	Flatland  -	Edwin A. Abbott	118	B+	May-11
24	Room  -	Emma Donoghue	322	A-	May-11
25	A Visit From The Goon Squad  -	Jennifer Egan	342	A	Jun-11
26	Super Sad True Love Story  -	Gary Shteyngart	332	A-	Jun-11
27	The Red Pyramid  -	Rick Riordan	516	C+	Jun-11
28	The Throne of Fire  -	Rick Riordan	450	C	Jun-11
29	An Object Of Beauty  -	Stever Martin	293	A-	Jul-11
30	Tell-All -	Chuck Palahniuk	179	D+	Jul-11
31	The Imperfectionists -	Tom Rachman	265	B+	Jul-11
32	A Game of Thrones -	George R.R. Martin	809	A	Jul-11
33	A Clash of Kings -	George R.R. Martin	969	A	Aug-11
34	Shopgirl -	Steve Martin	130	B+	Aug-11
35	A Storm of Swords -	George R.R. Martin	1128	A+	Sep-11
36	No Country For Old Men -	Cormac McCarthy	309	C+	Sep-11
37	The Big Sleep -	Raymond Chandler	230	B-	Sep-11
38	A Feast For Crows -	George R.R. Martin	976	A	Sep-11
39	A Dance With Dragons -	George R.R. Martin	959	B+	Oct-11
40	The Postmortal -	Drew Magary	365	B+	Oct-11
41	Tao of Pooh -	Benjamin Hoff	158	B-	Oct-11
42	After The Quake -	Haruki Murakami	145	B	Oct-11
43	The House on Mango Street -	Sandra Cisneros	110	C	Nov-11
44	Techno Pulp -	Arty Nelson	203	C-	Nov-11
45	Son of Neptune -	Rick Riordan	513	C	Nov-11
46	Black Swan Green -	David Mitchell	294	B-	Nov-11
47	Bodega Dreams -	Enersto Quinonez	213	B+	Nov-11
48	Miracle on the 17th Green -	James Patterson	195	B	Nov-11
49	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -	F. Scott Fitzgerald	63	C-	Nov-11
50	Piercing -	Ryu Murakami	185	B+	Nov-11
51	While Mortals Sleep -	Kurt Vonnegut	255	C+	Dec-11
52	The Visible Man	Chuck Klosterman	225	B+	Dec-11

Charlie Kaufman tells a story

Roger Ebert tweeted this story little story that Charlie Kaufman wrote: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/oct/03/charlie-kaufman-how-to-write

It made me think about him.  Like most people, I first was exposed to Charlie Kaufman when Being John Malkovich came out in 1999.  Retroactively, it seems that I've been a fan since Get A Life.  But I really liked this little story he wrote about himself.   Two things I liked about it:
a) I really like the exercise.  Much like in his movies, he was able to break down a simple concept that I never even thought of and make it thought provoking.   He seems to be the king of deconstruction a story which is what he did when thinking about the difference in how you tell a story the first time vs. the hundredth.

b) I was really surprised by how simply his story was told.  What I mean is, I really liked how the words he used were simple, direct and to the point.

I looked him up on IMDB after reading this article and realized he hasn't done anything in three years and has nothing in the works.  Hopefully Charlie Kaufman will work on something soon, because so fare all of his movies have been different, smart and fun.  Those are three things that are very tough to merge, but he seems to find a way to make it happen whenever he writes something new. 

Song of Ice and Fire

I began my journey into Westeros on July 19th and now 73 days and 3,882 pages later I have caught up on the first 4 books of the series by George RR Martin.  I have not been this caught up and addicted to a series of books since the first time I read through the Stephen King's Dark Tower series or watching the first few seasons of LOST.   There is really nothing I can say about the plot and story because telling anything will give away too much. 
The only thing I will write here is for people like me that enjoyed the HBO TV show and are worried that the remaining books/seasons of the show can't be as good as that first one I will say that after reading the rest book 1 really was just set-up and the tip of the iceberg for what comes next.

I'm impressed by how the books are written because Martin has a way of writing that almost makes every chapter a cliff-hanger with enormous cliff-hangers at the end of each novel.  I know I've also mentioned this before on this blog, but I love how I cannot predict anything.  Everytime I think I have an idea of the direction the story is headed something happens that makes the story go in the complete other way.

These are some of the most fleshed-out characters of anything I've ever read (I know they better be after almost 4,000 pages), but no one is really a villain or a hero.  In fact, after four books, I still am not sure who the overall VILLAIN of the series is going to be (like Sauron is in LOTR or the Crimson King is in Dark Tower), or how the story can ever end. Some of my favorite characters were introduced midway through book 2 and didn't even last until the end because of one of the other reasons I love this series: No one seems to be safe.  The main characters change from chapter to chapter and they are not lacking interesting people.

I am ecstatic that there is a fifth book already available, while at the same time I am already dreading the waiting that will come between book 5 and book 6, especially since there was a 6 year hiatus between book 4 and book 5.  What will this mean for me over the next few years?   Besides disappointment, I think there may be a chance I will have to read other fantasy series that I've stayed away from in the past due a) being overwhelmed and b) thinking I wouldn't enjoy it.   If anyone has any recommendations of things I should be reading, please pass it on.

Next up, getting back to my goal of finishing 52 books this year.  I am now up to 28 books.  So that means I have 12 weeks to read 14 books.  I know I can do it if I cheat and read some short books (and I probably will), but I really like my way of picking up books as they come to me and there are some great, long books coming out soon including Stephen King's new 1000 page tome.  That along with Book 5 of this series, it's going to be tight.  Wish me luck, but in the meantime please read these books.  I need more people to discuss this with.

Best of the Week Mid-September

Best Movie I Saw: Now that summer is ending and Netflix is super-expensive and quickly shrinking my portfolio, I have decided to get back to using it again.  Over the last few weeks I've been watching a movie a week on Neflix and most have been pretty good.  My two newest additions to my personal library has been Paul  and Super.
Much like how Shaun of the Dead was a love-letter to Zombie films, and Hot Fuzz was dedicated to the buddy-cop flicks of the 1980s, this one was an homage to the two types of films: The early films of Steven Spielberg and the alien movies of the 1980s.  This had many shout-outs to some classic movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Aliens and (of course) E.T.  Paul is a silly alien movie, but if you're looking for something funny you could do much worse.

Both Paul and Super are "comic book movies", but neither have ever been comic books, but they will both be loved by people that enjoy that genre.  Paul even had the beginning and ending of the movie take place at the comic book Mecca that is San Diego's Comicon.  While Super takes a concept that is becoming popular of someone with no training, or powers deciding to become a superhero for all the wrong reasons.  The thing that makes Super different is its realistic violence.  Rainn Wilson stars as a guy that has some serious problems, and after a traumatic event decides to become a Batman type of superhero but with literally no means or skill.  It leads to some pretty sick outcomes, but you should not expect anything else from a writer-director that got started with the Troma studio. 
Best TV Show I Saw: Since I cannot think of anything off the top of my head that I've seen lately, I can only assume the best thing I saw on TV was the return of the NFL.  I'm so happy you're back football.  I missed you.
Best Thing I Read:  Once again I'm on a reading kick.  This week the best thing I read though was easily the newest collection of Locke & Key entitled Keys to the Kingdom.   Joe Hill continues the story of the Locke kids and their struggle against the Dark Lady.  This issue really was probably the best one yet since the stakes get even higher especially with the latest cliff-hanger where this story ends.  The highlight though (besides the amazing conclusion) was the one chapter showing the month of February where each page correlated to one day of the 28 days that hath February.  I'm surprised no one has ever done this in a comic book before since comic books have 30 pages normally.  In the thousands of comics I've read in my life I can't believe I never thought of that and no one else had done it either.

I also read: No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.  I guess he's not a writer for me.  I read The Road a few years ago and I know that people love it, but I didn't get it.  I thought it was a badly written post-apocalyptic story that I've read hundreds of times before.  No Country was a little better, but I really do not like his writing style.  McCarthy writes in a very simplistic was that must be nice for people that don't read much, but there is no description.  McCarthy just writes "He did this and He did that...."  it gets very repetitious and I found it boring.  Then he also chooses to not write with any quotation marks when his characters are talking.  It makes for a confusing read at times when you're not sure who is speaking or if it is dialogue or just narration.
The story itself is fine and I really liked the ending of the book which was different than the movie.  But the writing style was such a turn off that I've basically decided no matter how good people say any of this other books may be, I will just figure like his other books, it's just not for me.

Best Thing I Heard:  Aubrey did a great thing the other day.  She bought tickets to the band The National.  We both were pretty huge fans of their previous CD and especially the song Fake Empire.   We saw that the band was going to be playing The Beacon Theater in December and before going to that show we figured we should have their most recent CD, High Violet, which was released last year.  We listened to the CD on a road-trip this weekend about 3 times.  It is surprisingly great.  I am not good about explaining style of music, but lately I'm most interested in music that has songs that build.  Songs that start slow or deconstructed that build up until they reach an apex of sound.  Other bands that I love that seem to have this style are Muse, Radiohead, Airborne Toxic Event and Secret Machines Songs like this one really make me happy and now I'm even more excited for this show in December.  As always:  My recommendation is to play this VERY LOUD: