Reading In 2008
One of my personal goals for 2008 was to spend more time reading. I was successful in this goal, thanks in large part to the fact that I started going to bed earlier, and read before going to sleep (rather than my previous habit of staying up late watching television).Without further ado, I present my reading list for 2008:
- The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis
- The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
- The House on the Cliff, Franklin W. Dixon
- Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
- The Ministry of Fear, Graham Greene
- Life of Pi, Yann Martel
- The Return of Mr. Campion, Margery Allingham
- The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
- Why is the Foul Pole Fair?, Vince Staten
- The Teammates, David Halberstam
- Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning
- Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn
- Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn
- The Last Command, Timothy Zahn
- Shadows of the Empire, Steve Perry
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
- The Holy Spirit: Unraveling the Mystery, Bobby Dockery
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
- The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
- The Master of Ballantrae, Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Witchmaster’s Key, Franklin W. Dixon
- The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton
- Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
- Fire in my Bones, Jimmy Allen
- Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
- Yukon Ho, Bill Watterson
- The Catcher Was A Spy, Nicholas Dawidoff
I’m a little embarrassed by some of my guilty pleasures (Star Wars and Hardy Boys books), proud of some books which I re-read and was better able to appreciate (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and The Man Who Was Thursday in particular) and was able to find a few books that I really, really liked (Thursday, Life of Pi, The Teammates).
I read 29 books in all, which comes out to a little more than a book every two weeks. That isn’t too bad, but I’m hoping to do better in 2009, and already have a stack of books picked out to read (and am always open to suggestions for more).
I’ll have to get on the ball though. Between being sick for the first week of the year (I typically don’t read at all when I’m sick) and moving to a new house for the past week (and misplacing the book I was in the process of reading), I’m not off to a good start at all.
I read 29 books in all, which comes out to a little more than a book every two weeks. That isn’t too bad, but I’m hoping to do better in 2009, and already have a stack of books picked out to read (and am always open to suggestions for more).
I’ll have to get on the ball though. Between being sick for the first week of the year (I typically don’t read at all when I’m sick) and moving to a new house for the past week (and misplacing the book I was in the process of reading), I’m not off to a good start at all.
6 comments:
When's a blog post coming on the new house?
A nice representation by Timothy Zahn. I approve.
I'm attempting to compile a similar list of literature for the year. Any absolute favs I should look into?
Derek,
I’m sure it will happen eventually. Right now, the new house is a source of frustration and exhaustion (still trying to move stuff in, having problems with some stuff being broken, etc.), so I’m not exactly eager to write about it.
Mrs.D,
While Star Wars novels will never be considered to be serious literature, Timothy Zahn is, in my opinion, clearly the best Star Wars author around.
I would recommend his stuff to anyone with a passing interest in Star Wards (which I wouldn't with most SW books).
Alex,
I’m always a little hesitant to give recommendations, because I don’t always know what people like to read.
Generally speaking, I like a story that entertains me but also causes me to think deeply on some theme or issue.
With that said, here are some suggestions, both from this past year, and in general (I included links to blog posts I had written about them to help you get a better idea). The first two are pretty easy reads, the third is a novella, and the last is kind of a beast.
-Life of Pi
http://lukedockery.blogspot.com/2008/05/life-of-pi.html
-The Ministry of Fear
http://lukedockery.blogspot.com/2008/04/ministry-of-fear.html
-The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
http://lukedockery.blogspot.com/2007/05/conflicting-natures.html
-Crime and Punishment
This is the one I always hesitate to recommend. It's long, Russian names can be confusing, and some people hate it because they think it's so boring.
I liked it though, and there's some really good stuff in there…a look at some Nietzschean ideas, and a lot of forgiveness and redemption.
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