January in books

Here is a list of books I read in January. It isn't exhaustive, believe it or not, but I only started writing down what I could remember reading last week in a Day Minder. I can't believe it took so long to discover the pleasures of a Day Minder. If you do not have one, buy one with a month on two pages. It has convenient scratch pages so I can note down books or CDs I want to read/hear. The only thing it's missing is a way to track my finances.

If I love anything more than the Day Minder, it would be the Tacoma Public Library's website. It has an incredibly handy feature where you can do a search and then place a hold on any item in its stacks including videos, music, language tapes and more. About the only thing I believe you can't place a hold on are the puppets. Yes, in Tacoma you can borrow a puppet for a week for free from the library (eew. Can you imagine all the sweaty, dirty hands that have been in those puppets, all the kid drool on them? It's like cute, plush disease vectors).

I had been reluctant to tackle this new technology — partly because of my Neo-Luddite granola-y tendencies, partly because I just don't feel it is sporting (it inordinately favors those with web access since all notification is by email) — but once I tried it last November (how else was I going to read "Eragon" with all the kiddos reserving it?) it was just the balm for my information habit.

Unfortunately, with my enthusiasm came an onslaught of books. I am still grinding away at a stack of 'em as we speak. Worse, I dropped into the Peninsula Library in Gig Harbor recently (I was scoping out the bulletin board for story ideas — it's amazing how many people have things going on that they want people to know about but don't approach the local paper) and the Friends of the Library were having a book sale and I bought six hardbacks for six bucks. Score. There's that Al Franken book about liars, two of those "traveling pants" books I fully intend to mail to my little gal cousins once I've taken a gander (they were recommended to me about two years ago by a children's buyer for a really wonderful local bookstore), Sebold's "Lovely Bones," which I read and adored and "The Gift of Fear" which I had recommended to me by a karate instructor. Oh yeah, also McCourt's "Tis," which I think I may have yawned through before. Frank McCourt can be a little much but I don't think I'll live to regret the dollar.

This also isn't taking into account the Wallace Stegner book ("Crossing to Safety") that is languishing. It's from the Y's book-swap library where there are no fines.

Anyway — here are the books of January:

"Against All Enemies," Richard Clark. A worthy read; not as exciting as the Times led me to believe, but with some full-on scary revelations.

"Gilead," Marilynne Robinson. About as lovely a piece of prose as I could have hoped to read this year. A main character with rare grace. Didn't get the whole deal with the Broughton boy — he wasn't even a sneak thief, for pity's sake. I like the conceptualization of religion in this book.

"Bushworld," MoDo. Too many snarky columns! It makes one appreciate how they are rationed to two a week in the paper. Couldn't drag myself through the whole thing; read a column or two in each chapter. Must be hard-core snarker/lover of feeling terrified of the Bush Administration to plow through.

"New Yorker Cartoons" Remnick, Mankoff. Discovered I really needed to be in a New Yorker state of mind to appreciate the cartoons. It's hard to balance humor and intellectualism and class snobbery at the same time for such a stretch without a respite of wonderful, topical writing. The older ones are fascinating. Some of the artistry — especially that of Gluyas Williams, George Price and Peter Arno — really matches the subject matter; some of it is astoundingly good. Still, be warned that having two weeks to peruse it in toto is a bad idea and either the book should be purchased or ignored.

"Case Histories," Kate Atkinson. Reminiscent of PD James both in the language and the main, mega-masculine depressed character.

"One for the Money," "Two for the Dough," Janet Evanovich. Airplane novels. Chick-mystery-lit private eye main character. Bad boy cop love interest. Hard-bitten self-depricating first person POV. I think it's Trenton that makes this thing work as well as some of the well-observed details (the whole funerals thing was hilarious).

"The Working Poor," David Shipler. Good writing, good journalism. Hopeful; has priorities straight. Recommended.

"Backstory," Ken Auletta. For a rehash of old magazine articles it was pretty compelling. I wish he'd write something that addresses the same topics — when corporate synergy meets news, declining readership, new media — with a thesis. Most interesting piece for me was the one where profit wasn't the standard of success — the NY tabloid war piece — partly because it encapsulates everything that is wrong with journalism (celebrity-centered, trashy, loudspeakery ego mongering, synergy) with everything that is right (advocacy for the readership, relentlessness, passion for product) in a kaleidoscopic funny house.

"Assassin's Apprentice," Robin Hobb. An Eric Francis recommendation. Like all fantasy novels, it was really long with a corny cover. Had a few precious conventions of fantasy in it that I'm not fond of — the scented candles thing swept me back to the Ren Faire. Why did I read the whole thing? Because, when it comes down to it, Eric's judgement is not often wrong. Besides, who doesn't find assassins appealing? I just wish the would-be assassin had done some actual assassinating at some point.

"The Time Traveller's Wife," Audrey Neffenegger. A near-quote: "I left like a child carried away by goblins." If you can deal with that, and ultimately the incredibly small scope of this book (everlasting wuv), it may pay off. Or else, like me, you might just get sucked in.

Well, those are the books of January.

Please send your reading recommendations to me. This month, I am in the queue for "Blink," "Persepolis," "Matter with Kansas," "America the Book" and two guides on weight lifting for women. On deck are "Jane Austen Book Club," "Cryptonomicon," "9/11 Commission Report," "Da Vinci Code," "Blue Blood."