Books Read by Me in the year 2009
"Cannery Row" - John Steinbeck
This one is a standard Steinbeck. Its a great personal look into several people's lives, and like most Steinbeck books it reflects life as it truly IS; happy endings aren't as common as music, books, and the media would have you believe.
"Catcher in the Rye" - J.D. Salinger
One of my brother's favorite books. I enjoyed it, but the main character was a little too much like me for my liking. He's kind of a pretentious asshole who looks down on EVERYONE to hide the fact that he's lost. Good writing. Made me want a red hunting hat that covers your ears.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - Ken Kesey
I really like this book. A fictional account of a sane man's existence in an insane asylum and how he affects the lives of the other inmates (and nurses). Some prove to not be a crazy as they thought.
"Animal Farm" - George Orwell
Interesting. I'm told there's all kinds of Cold War allusions in the characters and events. Basically, the animals on a farm take over. They chase the farmer out and set up their own government on the principals of Communism. As it turns out, all people (and creatures) are not as equal as communism would like. Some people are smarter. Some work harder than others. Some are leaders and some are followers by nature. Eventually the animals suffer the same fate as communism in the U.S.S.R. Communism is a great theory. The problem is that it assumes that people are all truly equal in capacity and benevolent intentions. One look at human history shows that's not the case.
"The Slaughterhouse Five" - Kurt Vonnegut
This was a WEIRD book. The main character becomes 'unstuck' in time (think LOST) and is forced to jump around his life, reliving the best and worst times of his existence. That's the 'normal' part. Eventually he gets abducted by aliens and taken to their home planet to be place in a zoo. These aliens are unique in that they can see time as a dimension, so they can see all of history as well as their civilization's future. Knowing how they end makes living less bloody and 'useless' as human life on Earth. Our open-ended futures make us ambitious and violent. An interesting take. Vonnegut's always a little strange but never fails to make you go, "...........huh. I never thought of it like that."
"Cannery Row" - John Steinbeck
This one is a standard Steinbeck. Its a great personal look into several people's lives, and like most Steinbeck books it reflects life as it truly IS; happy endings aren't as common as music, books, and the media would have you believe.
"Catcher in the Rye" - J.D. Salinger
One of my brother's favorite books. I enjoyed it, but the main character was a little too much like me for my liking. He's kind of a pretentious asshole who looks down on EVERYONE to hide the fact that he's lost. Good writing. Made me want a red hunting hat that covers your ears.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - Ken Kesey
I really like this book. A fictional account of a sane man's existence in an insane asylum and how he affects the lives of the other inmates (and nurses). Some prove to not be a crazy as they thought.
"Animal Farm" - George Orwell
Interesting. I'm told there's all kinds of Cold War allusions in the characters and events. Basically, the animals on a farm take over. They chase the farmer out and set up their own government on the principals of Communism. As it turns out, all people (and creatures) are not as equal as communism would like. Some people are smarter. Some work harder than others. Some are leaders and some are followers by nature. Eventually the animals suffer the same fate as communism in the U.S.S.R. Communism is a great theory. The problem is that it assumes that people are all truly equal in capacity and benevolent intentions. One look at human history shows that's not the case.
"The Slaughterhouse Five" - Kurt Vonnegut
This was a WEIRD book. The main character becomes 'unstuck' in time (think LOST) and is forced to jump around his life, reliving the best and worst times of his existence. That's the 'normal' part. Eventually he gets abducted by aliens and taken to their home planet to be place in a zoo. These aliens are unique in that they can see time as a dimension, so they can see all of history as well as their civilization's future. Knowing how they end makes living less bloody and 'useless' as human life on Earth. Our open-ended futures make us ambitious and violent. An interesting take. Vonnegut's always a little strange but never fails to make you go, "...........huh. I never thought of it like that."
"The Andromeda Strain" - Michael Crichton
This was MC first big 'break.' The book is bad ass. A great fiction read. A space probe gathering samples from the solar system crash lands near a small town in Nevada. The people bring the object back to town. The next day, the entire town is dead - stopped dead in their tracks doing everyday work. A new biological organism is found, contained, and tested. Just when scientists think they understand the organism, it mutates.
"I am Legend" - Richard Matheson
The book is much different from the popular movie of the same name. One human man is left in a world overrun by a blood virus that effectively turns people into vampires. The book is about his struggle to 'fix' the problem, only to end up coming to terms with the fact that he is now the minority. His exploits are feared far and wide by the 'infected.' He is seen as a mass murderer and his name is know by everyone, hence the name. Lets just say that the book ends much differently than the movie.
"Catch-22" - Joseph Heller
This one was a tough read. The basic premise is that a bombardier wants OUT of the war. He's flown enough missions to go home, but they keep upping the required number of missions to get shipped home just after he completes them. He tries to plead insanity to get out, only to be stymied by 'Catch-22' which says that if you're sane enough to plead insanity to get out of the war, then you're not insane. So the main character does all types of things to get out of flying missions. There doesn't seem to be much else going on at first; lots of individual story lines that don't seem to be all that connected. As the book goes on, a smaller character swells to influence the entire tide of the war just by buying and selling... well, anything at all. Cotton, chocolate, beans, eggs, etc. Parts of this book are pretty hilarious.
"Fahrenheit 451" - Ray Bradbury
This book was awesome. Its set in a fictional future after the Cold War where all books are outlawed to prevent critical thought. The population is a dull, dumb and drugged mass where 'firemen' no longer prevent fires - they start them. When books are discovered in a house, the firemen are sent to the location and torch the entire house and everything in it. The story follows one of these 'firemen' who watches an older lady refuse to leave her books behind and burns with them. It starts his mind wondering what could be in them worth dying for. He starts to think critically for himself and eventually his interest gets him into trouble. Incidentally, 451 degrees Fahrenheit is mentioned in the book as the point at which paper auto-ignites. I thought this seemed too low, and in fact, its 450 degrees Celsius (842 °F), but apparently RB thought Fahrenheit made a better title. I agree.
"Mother Night" - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Vonnegut book - this one isn't quite as strange as SH5. An American finds himself in Germany leading up to WWII. He becomes a Nazi propagandist to stay alive, though he is secretly sending coded messages for the U.S.A. Only one person knows that he is a double agent, so after the war he is quietly saved from execution and shipped to New York. He lives his life in obscurity until he's found much later in life. A book about how one man's fight just to LIVE can look from several perspectives.
"Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck
This was MC first big 'break.' The book is bad ass. A great fiction read. A space probe gathering samples from the solar system crash lands near a small town in Nevada. The people bring the object back to town. The next day, the entire town is dead - stopped dead in their tracks doing everyday work. A new biological organism is found, contained, and tested. Just when scientists think they understand the organism, it mutates.
"I am Legend" - Richard Matheson
The book is much different from the popular movie of the same name. One human man is left in a world overrun by a blood virus that effectively turns people into vampires. The book is about his struggle to 'fix' the problem, only to end up coming to terms with the fact that he is now the minority. His exploits are feared far and wide by the 'infected.' He is seen as a mass murderer and his name is know by everyone, hence the name. Lets just say that the book ends much differently than the movie.
"Catch-22" - Joseph Heller
This one was a tough read. The basic premise is that a bombardier wants OUT of the war. He's flown enough missions to go home, but they keep upping the required number of missions to get shipped home just after he completes them. He tries to plead insanity to get out, only to be stymied by 'Catch-22' which says that if you're sane enough to plead insanity to get out of the war, then you're not insane. So the main character does all types of things to get out of flying missions. There doesn't seem to be much else going on at first; lots of individual story lines that don't seem to be all that connected. As the book goes on, a smaller character swells to influence the entire tide of the war just by buying and selling... well, anything at all. Cotton, chocolate, beans, eggs, etc. Parts of this book are pretty hilarious.
"Fahrenheit 451" - Ray Bradbury
This book was awesome. Its set in a fictional future after the Cold War where all books are outlawed to prevent critical thought. The population is a dull, dumb and drugged mass where 'firemen' no longer prevent fires - they start them. When books are discovered in a house, the firemen are sent to the location and torch the entire house and everything in it. The story follows one of these 'firemen' who watches an older lady refuse to leave her books behind and burns with them. It starts his mind wondering what could be in them worth dying for. He starts to think critically for himself and eventually his interest gets him into trouble. Incidentally, 451 degrees Fahrenheit is mentioned in the book as the point at which paper auto-ignites. I thought this seemed too low, and in fact, its 450 degrees Celsius (842 °F), but apparently RB thought Fahrenheit made a better title. I agree.
"Mother Night" - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Vonnegut book - this one isn't quite as strange as SH5. An American finds himself in Germany leading up to WWII. He becomes a Nazi propagandist to stay alive, though he is secretly sending coded messages for the U.S.A. Only one person knows that he is a double agent, so after the war he is quietly saved from execution and shipped to New York. He lives his life in obscurity until he's found much later in life. A book about how one man's fight just to LIVE can look from several perspectives.
"Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck
Ugh. A very long read. I thought there would be resolution at the end. I must have forgotten that it was Steinbeck. It follows the plight of the Joad family as they move from their foreclosed farm in Oklahoma to try and find work in California during the dust bowl years. Nothing but sadness in this book (like most Steinbeck) but I guess the idea of the book is to show how even the hardest of times can't defeat the human spirit. People come together to make the best of what they've been given.
"The Gathering Storm" - Robert Jordan
After all the tough reads, I saw that this sci-fi/fantasy book had come out. Its book thirteen of a series I started reading in junior high. Each book is about 900+ pages. Yeah. Anyways, the author died a few years ago just before he started writing the LAST book in this crazy awesome, crazy detailed series. Argh! I almost cried when I thought this series wouldn't have an ending. However, since he knew he might not make it to write this book (he'd had a fatal heart disease for several years) he made detailed notes so someone could finish the last book. Of course, the last book would have been about 2,200 pages so its been divided into 3 books. (nice Tor, I'm sure it had nothing to do with milking one of the best selling sci-fi series of all time after the author died. Its not like 13 was a significant number in the series or anything. Damn suits. They'll get theirs.) Anyways, its a guilty pleasure to get back into the Wheel of Time series and follow the 3 ta'varen from the Two Rivers. The Dragon Reborn rides to Last Battle...
"The Gathering Storm" - Robert Jordan
After all the tough reads, I saw that this sci-fi/fantasy book had come out. Its book thirteen of a series I started reading in junior high. Each book is about 900+ pages. Yeah. Anyways, the author died a few years ago just before he started writing the LAST book in this crazy awesome, crazy detailed series. Argh! I almost cried when I thought this series wouldn't have an ending. However, since he knew he might not make it to write this book (he'd had a fatal heart disease for several years) he made detailed notes so someone could finish the last book. Of course, the last book would have been about 2,200 pages so its been divided into 3 books. (nice Tor, I'm sure it had nothing to do with milking one of the best selling sci-fi series of all time after the author died. Its not like 13 was a significant number in the series or anything. Damn suits. They'll get theirs.) Anyways, its a guilty pleasure to get back into the Wheel of Time series and follow the 3 ta'varen from the Two Rivers. The Dragon Reborn rides to Last Battle...
"Pirate Latitudes" - Michael Crichton
MC has always been one of my favorite authors, and his death last year made me very sad. This book was a completed manuscript found in his files after his death. Its a short and fun fiction novel about a privateer (don't call him a pirate).
"The Wrecker" - Clive Cussler
Another easy fiction read. Set in 1907, a detective follows a railroad saboteur around the country to stop him before he manages to seize control over every railroad in the US.
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3 comments:
wow, that's a great list, I haven't read hardly any of those. Nice list.
nice list!
interesting that it is exclusively fiction. some great titles on there. we should tackle a few of the same classics this year.
An impressive list. I must say that a number of these works I know only through film versions, which is a whole different breed. Steinbeck, from my reading ("The Pearl") and viewing ("Grapes of Wrath" & "Of Mice & Men") is tough: suggest avoiding in winter! I note that your list is as deficient in non-fiction as mine is in fiction! If only there was more time!
Great list.
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