Orpheus Sings the Guitar Electric: Books Read 2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Books Read 2006

Updated 31 December 2006

#133. A Hat Full of Sky Terry Pratchett

#132. Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 5 Greg Rucka et al.

#131. H.M.S. Surprise Patrick O'Brian

#130. Gotham Central: The Quick and the Dead Greg Rucka et al.

#129. The Names of Things Susan Brind Morrow

#128. Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 2 Greg Rucka et al.

#127. The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett

#126. Batman: Hush, Vol. 2 Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee & Scott Williams

#125. Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 3 Greg Rucka et al.

#124. The Guermantes Way Marcel Proust

#123. Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous Joss Whedon & John Cassaday

#122. No God But God Reza Aslan

#121. Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee & Scott Williams

#120. Infinite Crisis Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Ivan Reis & Andy Lanning

#119. Post Captain Patrick O'Brian

#118. A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway

#117. Death Note Vol. 12 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#116. Death Note Vol. 11 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#115. Death Note Vol. 10 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#114. Death Note Vol. 9 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#113. Death Note Vol. 8 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#112. Death Note Vol. 7 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#111. Death Note Vol. 6 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#110. Death Note Vol. 5 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#109. Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere Jan Morris

#108. Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life Michael Dirda

#107. Death Note Vol. 4 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#106. Death Note Vol. 3 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#105. Vita Nova Louise Gluck

#104. Death Note Vol. 2 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#103. Death Note Vol. 1 Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

#102. Utz Bruce Chatwin

#101. Thirst: Poems Mary Oliver

#100. The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov
[translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky]

#99. BLEACH #6 Story & Art by Tite Kubo

#98. BLEACH #5 Story & Art by Tite Kubo

#97. BLEACH #4 Story & Art by Tite Kubo

#96. BLEACH #3 Story & Art by Tite Kubo

#95. BLEACH #2 Story & Art by Tite Kubo

#94. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower Marcel Proust

#93. Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser

#92. Marcel Proust: A Penguin Life Edmund White

#91. The Black Dahlia James Ellroy

#90. Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems Jane Hirshfield

#89. The Lives of the Heart: Poems Jane Hirshfield

#88. Batman: Dark Victory Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

#87. Hellblazer: Son of Man Garth Ennis

#86. Batman: The Long Halloween Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

#85. Alias Vol. 4: The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos

#84. Wonder Woman: Paradise Lost Phil Jimenez et al

#83. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka

#82. Alias Vol. 1 Brian Michael Bendis

#81. JLA: League of One Christopher Moeller

#80. Wonder Woman: The Contest William Messner-Loebs Jr. & Mike Deodato

#79. The Moonstone Wilkie Collins

#78. Identity Crisis Brad Meltzer & Rags Morales

#77. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Alison Bechdel

#76. Strangers In Paradise: Love & Lies Terry Moore

#75. Swann's Way Marcel Proust

#74. Marcel Proust: Overlook Illustrated Lives Mary Ann Caws

#73. Silk Alessandro Baricco

#72. Batman : Arkham Asylum Grant Morrison & Dave McKean

#71. Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 4 Greg Rucka

#70. Gotham Central: Half a Life Greg Rucka

#69. B.P.R.D.: The Black Flame Mike Mignola, John Arcudi & Guy Davis

#68. How Proust Can Change Your Life Alain de Botton

#67. The Snow Leopard Peter Matthiessen

#66. Invisible Cities Italo Calvino

#65. The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers

#64. The Road to Oxiana Robert Byron

#63. The Pure and the Impure Colette

#62. Mike Mignola's Hellboy: Weird Tales, Vol. 1 Edited by Scott Allie & Matt Dryer

#61. Hellboy: Strange Places Mike Mignola

#60. Hellboy: Conqueror Worm Mike Mignola

#59. The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman

#58. Betrayal Harold Pinter

#57. Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez

#56. The Praise of Folly Desiderus Erasmus

#55. The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman

#54. The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

#53. Reading Diary : A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books Alberto Manguel

#52. Rereadings : Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love Edited by Anne Fadiman

#51. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader Anne Fadiman

#50. Written Lives Javier Marias

#49. The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion

#48. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

#47. Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas Elaine Pagels

#46. Istanbul : Memories and the City Orhan Pamuk

#45. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia Orlando Figes

#44. Hadji Murat Leo Tolstoy

#43. Death in Venice Thomas Mann

#42. Dhammapada
Version by Thomas Byrom

#41. Wanderlust Rebecca Solnit

#40. This Book Will Save Your Life A. M. Homes

#39. Chess: A Novella Stefan Zweig

#38. In a Country of Mothers A. M. Homes

#37.The Quiet American Graham Greene

#36. The Book of Five Rings Miyamoto Musashi

#35.A Compass Error Sybille Bedford

#34. The Future of Ice Gretel Ehrlich

#33. Tibet, Tibet Patrick French

#32. Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke

#31. To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee

#30. Jack A. M. Homes

#29. The English Patient Michael Ondaatje

#28. Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian

#27. Strangers in Paradise: Tattoo Terry Moore

#26. Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers

#25. Kim Rudyard Kipling

#24. Locked Rooms Laurie R. King

#23. A Burnt-out Case Graham Greene

#22. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Nikolai Leskov

#21.Why I Wake Early: New Poems Mary Oliver

#20. Secret Histories Emma Larkin

#19. Break, Blow, Burn Camillie Paglia

#18. The Game Laurie R. King

#17. A Journey Around My Room Xavier de Maistre

#16. A Feast For Crows George R. R. Martin

#15.Babyji Abha Dawesar

#14. The Night Watch Sarah Waters

#13. A Storm of Swords George R. R. Martin

#12. The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon

#11. Wild Girls Diana Souhami

#10. The New York Trilogy Paul Auster

#9. Paris to the Moon Adam Gopnik

#8. The Deptford Trilogy Robertson Davies

#7. The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster

#6. Dostoevsky's Last Night Cristina Peri Rossi

#5. Meditations Marcus Aurelius

#4. Fruits of the Earth Andre Gide

#3. The Key Junichiro Tanizaki

#2. In Praise Of Idleness Bertrand Russell

#1. Without Blood Alessandro Baricco

3 comments:

Imani said...: Well, you put my 2006 list to shame. :p What did you think of Moveable Feast? I started it once but did not make it past the first chapter. The quality of writing suffered in comparison to his other novels. I could only identify a few sentences that sounded like Hemingway to me.

I think I gave it away or lost it. I am left bewildered by my reaction because it seems as if everyone else loved it immensely. Maybe it was a bad day.; 29 December, 2006
Anonymous said...: I think I can put 2006 down as "The Year I Did More Yoga, Read More, And My Social Life Was Sent Out to Pasture."

I've only read "Old Man and the Sea" - a loooong time ago. I picked up "Moveable Feast" because I was enchanted by the Lost Generation period, and Hemingway was one of the members of this romantic group of writers.

Well, I didn't love it, but I did find something to enjoy.

There was some good lines, mainly when Papa wrote about being a writer. His portrait of Getrude Stein and the other writers was unkind, the quality of the writing seemed commonplace to me. (Any Hemingway fans out there?)

There was a sense of a time and place, a time that encouraged writers and experimentation, a beautiful nostalgia. That was what I was looking for, and I got that.; 29 December, 2006
Imani said...: Ahhh, in that light I can understand your reaction. I bought it solely with the expectation of getting that lingual Hemingway experience. But, like you said, most of the writing was commonplace. It really threw me for a loop and I had to share some of it with a friend, who had also read a lot of Hemingway, to see if he shared my bewilderment. He did.

I've read Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms. I find his depiction of intimate relationships highly questionable, and thought he flopped his attempt at distinguishing Spanish from English as a language and an idea in Bell. But he has few rivals when he's using language to paint a scene or convey a story. (So, obviously, Sun Also Rises is my favourite.)

I have Old Man and the Sea in my mile high TBR pile.; 30 December, 2006

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