Wrapping It Up

Astoudingly, even to myself, I managed to read 50 books in 2008. That's an average of 4 books a month, a rather brisk clip.

Fortunately I am one of those guys that has three or four books going at once; I ended 2008 still reading Ha Jin's Under the Red Flag, David J. Schow's Gun Work, Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren, Brett Easton Ellis' Lunar Park (on audio book), and started both Cesar Millan's A Member of the Family and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight since Christmas.

Still, being conscious of having to keep reading, to read interesting books, to not re-read books, and so on, convinced me that I have already conquered this nerd summit and will look for another challenge in 2009.

In the past, for nerd extreme sports, I have done two 24 Hour Comic Book challenges, one 24 Hour Zine challenge, and participated in marathon gaming sessions at Gen Con and other places. People have asked what I will be doing as far as reading goes, and I have answered "Read Smarter."

I have been away from literature for a while, after minoring in Humanities in college, and I think I need to get back to reading some good, solid stuff again. It doesn't hurt that my wife has challenged herself to read all of the Pullitzer Prize novels, which has piqued my interest.

For the record, my top five favorite reads of 2008 were:

1. Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

2. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

3. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

4. The Wandering Ghost by Martin Limon

5. The Wheat Field by Steve Thayer

Though if I thought about it tomorrow I might pick three different ones; the top two will stay the same, methinks, but I also considered Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road, George Axelrod's Blackmailer, Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon, Robert B. Parker's Resolution and Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care.

It was the year I knuckled down and finally read Harry Potter, the year I re-discovered Philip K. Dick and discovered Samuel R. Delany, a year of Hard Case Crime and Ace Western Doubles and morose Scandinavian mysteries.

I hope this blog gave you some ideas for your own reading list; and thanks for checking in. You can see my ongoing adventures at my regular blog.

#50: Martian Time Slip by Philip K. Dick

I wanted to finish my 2008 reading challenge with Samuel Delany's Dhalgren to acknowledge my discovery of Delany's work this year, but I haven't finished up the chunky tome in time. However, I also sort of re-discovered Philip K. Dick this year, so it seems appropriate that I end with Martian Time-Slip.

This novel bears a lot of resemblance to a later novel of Dick's, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, that I also read this year. Both involve the hardscrabble lives of Martian colonists, with ruminations on time travel, psychology, and more. But where Eldritch was looser and more hallucinatory, Time Slip is denser, more somber, more filled with philosophical ideas. A worthwhile read, and I understand it will be part of the next Library of America edition of Dick's work.

I borrowed this from Morrison-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#49: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks

James Bond chases after a madman with a byzantine scheme to thwart the British Empire, and helps a lovely lady along the way, in Sebastian Faulks' bracing thriller Devil May Care.

Devil May Care is a pitch-perfect return to Bond adventures, after a hiatus, released to celebrate Ian Fleming's 100th birthday. Whereas the Bond adventures of John Gardner and Raymond Benson took place in the modern era, Faulks picks up exactly where Fleming left off in the swinging 60s.

And Faulks has all of the details right (at least the ones I can remember, being hooked on the originals around my middle school era) from Bond's "salt and pepper" showers to his favorite drinks and weapons. Naturally, Bond squares off against a strange bad guy with a deformity (in this case, a monkey's hand) with an equally strange henchman (in this case, a Viet Cong torturer called Chagrin).

I found this one thoroughly enjoyable throughout and hope that Faulks writes further Bond novels. Recommended for fans.

I borrowed this one from the Morrison-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#48: No House Limit by Steve Fisher

Chilly little character study, in the addictive Hard Case Crime pulp paperback series, features an independent casino owner in the early days of Las Vegas who runs up against the mob and, when he doesn't back down, finds himself beseiged by a famous gambler backed by mysterious forces.

Author Steve Fisher is probably best known for the definitive noir I Wake Up Screaming (a favorite of mine), but he was a busy writer and I always enjoy his pulp stories when I come across them. This one draws a distinct portrait of that era in Vegas and includes several characters based on real people. A satisfying read throughout, with some really adept writing.

I bought this one in a mighty swoop of Hard Case Crime with a gift certificate that, I think, I either got for my birthday or anniversary. A nice compliment to the Hard Case Crime series.

#47: Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

Skin-crawling horror about a young woman, living with her husband's family in a close-knit island community, whose artistic abilities come to life with ominous consequences.

After having my brain flayed by Chuck Palahniuk's latest, Snuff, I went right back to the Kool-Aid bowl for more. This outing surprised me by being more subdued than the last one I read, though with plenty of surprises. Palahniuk is a clever writer, fashioning an interesting epistolary novel focused on a "coma diary" that the protagonist writes to her unconscious husband, who narrowly survived a suicide attempt. The storytelling is creepy-crawly thoughout, with a surprising denouement. Despite my earlier misgivings, I have enjoyed both Palahniuk novels I have read to date.

Diary compares favorably to Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby with a splash of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper and a whiff of the original British film version of The Wicker Man. If this sends a chill up your spine, by all means go looking for this one.

I listened to a very good audiobook version read by Martha Plimpton that I checked out from the Morrison-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.