2009 Book List

BOOK LIST 2009


1. The Given Day Dennis Lehane Boston cops, Labor unions, Babe Ruth and racial strife leading up to the 1920s, make for an entertaining read.

2. Milking the Moon Eugene Walter as told to Katherine Clark Eugene’s life told through his own entertaining anecdotes. Talented seven from Mobile Alabama goes to NY, Paris, Rome, befriends artists of all sorts and has a fun life.

3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski A mute boy and his mother and father raise and train their own breed of dogs. Father dies. Boy knows why. Drama begins. The dogs role is key to story. Brilliant first novel. Loved it.

4. Indignation Philip Roth The old guy – what is he, a hundred? – has still got it. Here he writes a tale about a teenager that’s perfectly believable. Good read, hard ending.

5. Eats Shoots and Leaves Lynne Truss A book about punctuation that is – believe it or not – a page turner. Well, at least for those of us who care; helpful and funny throughout.

6. Cesar’s Way Cesar Milan TV’s The Dog Whisperer’s “as told to bio and philosophy” to Melissa Jo Peltier. Helpful in understanding dogs.

7. A feast For Crows George R.R. Martin Fourth book of the Fire and Ice Series Story of derring-do and intrigue continued.

8. O’Hara’s Choice Leon Uris Tight little “love against all odds” story. The “choice” was not what most people would expect. I though, ta daa!, was on to it.

9. On God Norman Mailer with Michael Lennon A conversation about Norman’s take on the big picture. Old Norm’s thoughts are always interesting.

10. Widow’s Walk Robert B. Parker Spencer, Hawk and Susan are always a welcome respite from “serious” reading.

11. The Inheritance Details the crap Obama was left to deal with. It’s not looking good for the good guys. Peace and prosperity seem doubtful.

12. Cryptonomicon Neil Stephenson The book makes the title seem tidy. Long enough for four books (1152 pages), it alternately engaged me and passed by over my head. In the end, I plowed to the finish by sheer determination augmented by skimming.
Among the plots were code breaking, winning WWII, finding Nazi gold, laying telecommunications under the sea to the Phillipines, dodging rivals and linking a diverse group of people from different eras. Well done…I think.

13. South Beach Brian Antoni My kind of book. Offbeat characters doing offbeat things in an offbeat setting.

14. The Lost City of Z David Grann Non fiction tale of explorer P.H. Fawcett’s attempts to find a mythical city in the Amazon wilderness and the author’s subsequent attempt (as well as many other’s) to find Fawcett and his son who never came back from their last trip there.

15. Pandora in the Congo Albert Sanchez Pinol Entertaining “off the wall” account of a Congo adventure, a love story, a subsequent murder trial and a young writer’s struggle to deal with all those events.

16. The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford This tale of love gone awry among the leisure class, published in 1927, holds up well. Common human flaws bring a bad end to all.

17. A Great Deliverance Elizabeth George The first of many mysteries by Liz that I will have to read. Great characters, believable plots, terrif writing.

18. Payment in Blood Elizabeth George Mysteries intertwined with mysteries. All unraveled nicely. Great stuff.

19. Can’t Buy Me Love Jonathan Gould Comprehensive biography of the Beatles and their Times. Well researched, well written.

20. Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John? Gavin Edwards. Subtitled, “Music’s most enduring mysteries, myths, and rumors revealed.” That says it all.

21. If You Didn’t Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat? Bill Heavey Humorously told hunting and fishing stories. Misadventures for the most part.

22. Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium So Far Often laugh out loud funny.

23. Well Schooled In Murder Elizabeth George The mystery is solved, the murderer caught and the continuing cast of characters…continue.

24. Ser Como El Rio Que Fluye Paulo Coelho (Read in Spanish, of course) Paulo’s thoughts on this and that as he travels the world in search of spiritual truths.

25. Dude, Where’s My Country? Michael Moore. A lot of the book that was good stuff at the time (2003) is now dated. Much remains, though, that is still interesting. Reasons, for instance, why Nixon was our last liberal president and that one million Americans have been killed by guns since Kennedy was assassinated. (More than if we had fought Viet Nam 15 times.)

26. The Walking Dead This is a comic compendium whose authors I diligently wrote down and just as diligently misplaced. Plague survivors against zombies and each other. Quite compelling, actually.

27. A Suitable Vengeance Elizabeth George More murders and mayhem in Jolly Old with the usual cast sorting things out.

28. Cold Skin Albert Snchez Pinol An island, a light house, monsters from the sea and madness make this another Pinol whacko wonder. Strange, but nevertheless entertaining read.

29. The Last Duel James Landale A tediously told story of the last duel in Scotland and a history of dueling in general. Interesting here and there.

30. Stillness Speaks Eckhart Tolle Old Eck, his friends call him Eck, joins a long line of spiritual guides telling us To Be Here Now. Ram Dass (not pronounced rammed ass) was the first one to get to me. I’ve been trying ever since. Sometimes I’m successful.

31. For the Sake of Elena Elizabeth George Liz’s fifth and best book so far in her write-em-until-I-die-ogy. Murder solved, human relations resolved…for now.

32. Consider the Lobster David Foster Wallace I can’t define brilliance, but like a Supreme Court Justice once said of pornography, “I know it when I see it.” Brilliance is displayed here and there in this book of essays.

33. The Appeal John Grisham Predictable. Kind of a fictionalized version of “A Civil Action.”

34. Electricity Ray Robinson A British woman with fierce epileptic seizures searches for long lost brother. Very unusual narrative voice.

35. The Old Fox Deceiv’d Martha Grimes I love these British murder mysteries. They are so….civilized. Most of the time…even the murderers. Grimes and George together with Dick Francis, my cup runneth over.

36. The Book of General Ignorance subtitled Every thing you think you know is wrong. John Lloyd and John Mitchinson Fun facts about stuff you think you know but don’t really.

37. The Inimitable Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse The second time I’ve read this book. Needed a P.G. fix and couldn’t fine any I hadn’t read here in Panama.

38. The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie I can’t say I fully understand this book; there’s mythology and fantasy alternating with reality and an unclear (to me) timeline, but the prose is spectacular and very readable.

39. Greenwich Killing Time Kinky Friedman Funny, somewhat Elmore Leonard-like prose. Reminds me of me, only Kinky is better.

40. The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera Non-typical love and philosophy during the Czech occupation by the Soviet Union. A deep read.

41. The Reader Bernhard Schlink A boy’s affair with an older woman leads to a Nazi back story, a trial and a sad ending. Good stuff.

42. Odds Against Dick Francis Well told, well plotted, well done.

43. The Farmer’s Daughter Jim Harrison Three novellas featuring less than main stream characters. All are sexually charged. Jim has grown more ribald with age.