Catching Fire

a.k.a. The Hunger Games pt. 2

I actually finished this one in the first half of December, but am just posting it.

Really can't wait for the last book in the cycle.

With this I'm done for 2009, I'm gonna be moving this over to my Wordpress as soon as I can figure out how to make a seperate page for it.

2010 is gonna be my year of 52. I didn't even come close this time, but it also wasn't a full year and I didn't count re-reads.

The Tooth Fairy

I guess it's just about growing into the person you need to be...

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

A Crackup at the Race Riots

This is by the guy that wrote/directed Gummo. It's okay.

How to be Good

Not a total waste, but I wish I had gotten Fever Pitch instead.

The Unthinkable Thoughts Of Jacob Green

The guy from Scrubs brother wrote this. It was pretty good.

Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood is kind of one of my favorite writers now.

The Hour I First Believed

Skinema

A pretty funny autobiography in the form of porno reviews. Awesome.

This is the best book so far this year.

Jonathan Franzen describes despair and hope and resentment and love better than any writer I can remember....

I Never Had It Made

The first half was the good half. Jackie Robinson put up with some major shit to make the racial integration of baseball work.
The second half is more about his post-baseball career and how he was an activist for the NAACP.

Fool

A really funny semi-retelling of King Lear. Every time I finish one of his books I immediately start wondering when Christopher Moore's next book will be out.

Still getting back on track

Permanent Midnight

The Blind Assassin

I've been lagging so hard on reading lately. Mostly because my library card getting shut down, but that's not a good enough reason.

Getting back on the ball, I read this after like 50 foiled attempts.

The Graveyard Book

Men and Cartoons

Jonathan Lethem comes through with more really good shit in these short stories.

The Spray is really good, and so is Planet Big Zero (which I have lived). Super Goat Man is really, really good as a really, really sad story and, lastly, This Shape We're In was really cool.

Too Cool To Be Forgotten

This is one of those examples that small press books<i> are</i> too good for the masses and remain small press due to people being idiots.

Alex Robinson still hasn't disappointed me once.

The Amber Spyglass

The last part of His Dark Materials, and a really suiting conclusion.

This series is going on the "re-read once every year or two" list.

The Subtle Knife

2/3s of the way there.

Lee Scoresby is fucking gangster...

His Dark Materials Book One

I could go on and on saying how great this book is , but let me just say that Iorek Byrnison is the truth and use this awesome quote from someone awesomer than me to make my point:

"There's implied sex between two thirteen year-olds...There's a war on God, and God's the bad guy...it's fucking awesome"
-Vanessa Penn

A little non-fiction/polticalness

It's been a while. I'm actually in the process of reading 3 books, but I finished this one first.

Noam Chomsky does a really good job of explaining our shitty foreign relations and what we can expect in the future.

Worth reading twice.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

You know those quotes they put on the book jacket to let you know what critics and respected authors think of the book?

"Beautiful in it's representation of friendship, family and the sacrifices one will make for them. The ending made me cry like a bitch" - Joe.

'Spoils' and 'Happy Birthday,1951' are the best in my opinion.

In the first few months of 2007 I was happy to find out that Kurt Vonnegut was going to be speaking at a nearby university. Needless to say, I made plans to attend-the guy is my favorite author and was already 85. I really just wanted to shake his hand and say 'Thank you for the hope' while I still had the chance.

He passed away 2 months before I would have seen him talk. Thankfully, a lot of what he had to say was already written down.

So it goes.

Indignation - Philip Roth

Marcus stood up for what he "believed", and it paved the road to his demise.

World War Z

Another re-read. This is the best zombie book ever written. Told in a series of short interviews with the survivors of the Zombie War, this one really makes you think about how shit would really go down. Made me want to become a sharpshooter.

The Road

I read this once last year, but I just re-read it because it's really, really good.

Too bad I gave last year's copy away because now I looked like one of those assholes with the "now a major motion picture" editions.

Minor saving grace: it was only 5 bucks and the non-movie cover is 15.

There is that...

I Love You, Beth Cooper

We Owe You Nothing : Punk Planet The Collected Interviews

Edited by Daniel Sinker