Wednesday, December 27, 2006
 
Year's Reading In Review
With the last post, I'm calling an end to this year's enumeration of reading. 2006ish stands at 89 books, which is probably far less than I bought at book fairs.

These books include:
  • The Empty Trap by John D. MacDonald
  • The Executioners by John D. MacDonald
  • Mine the Harvest by Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • Johnny Mnemonic by Terry Bisson
  • The Museum of Hoaxes by Alex Boese
  • Suspects by William J. Cannitz
  • Wild Pitch by Mike Lupica
  • The Olympics' Most Wanted by Floyd Conner
  • Peking Duck by Roger L. Simon
  • 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg
  • The American Private Eye: The Image in Fiction by David Geherin
  • Sea Change by Robert B. Parker
  • Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  • Collected Stories by Franz Kafka
  • Under the Grammar Hammer by Douglas Cazort
  • The Wealthy Writer by Michael Meanwell
  • Planning and Remodeling Family Rooms, Dens & Studios by Sunset Books
  • The Brass Cupcake by John D. MacDonald
  • The Substance of Style by Virginia Postrel
  • Blood Relatives by Ed McBain
  • The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford
  • Servant of the Shard by R.A. Salvatore
  • Gerald's Game by Stephen King
  • How to Break Software by James A. Whittaker
  • Slightly Chipped by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone
  • Warmly Inscribed by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone
  • The Case Against Hillary Clinton by Peggy Noonan
  • The Stainless Steel Rat for President by Harry Harrison
  • Bosstrology by Adele Lang and Andrew Masterson
  • Bump & Run by Mike Lupica
  • Blowback by Bill Pronzini
  • Everybody's Guide to Book Collecting by Charlie Lovett
  • His Affair by Jo Fleming
  • Sharky's Machine by William Diehl
  • The Baby in the Icebox by James M. Cain
  • Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe
  • Aftermath by LeVar Burton
  • Expecting by Gordon Churchwell
  • Poison by Ed McBain
  • The Life of Charlemagne by Einhard
  • Escape from Reason by Francis A Schaeffer
  • California Roll by Roger L. Simon
  • Ice by Ed McBain
  • You Might Be A Redneck If by Jeff Foxworthy
  • Existentialism and Human Emotions by Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Vespers by Ed McBain
  • Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker
  • Lloyd What Happened by Stanley Bing
  • Sinbad's Guide To Life (Because I Know Everything) by Sinbad with David Ritz
  • Big Trouble by Dave Barry
  • In Someone's Shadow by Rod McKuen
  • Stars and Stripes Triumphant by Harry Harrison
  • And Then She Was Gone by Susan McBride
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes
  • I Ought To Be In Pictures by Neil Simon
  • The World's Most Infamous Crimes and Criminals
  • RPG World Wolume One by Ian Jones-Quartey
  • How to Break Software Security by James A. Whittaker and Herbert H. Thompson
  • Barrier Island by John D. MacDonald
  • The Golden Gate by Alistair MacLean
  • Shopgirl by Steve Martin
  • Executive Blues: Down and Out in Corporate America by G.P. Meyer
  • Small Felonies by Bill Pronzini
  • TV Now: Stars and Shows by Dorothy Scheuer
  • The Priest-Kings of Gor by John Norman
  • The Nomads of Gor by John Norman
  • An Alien Heat by Michael Moorcock
  • Unsolved Mysteries of the Past Reader's Digest
  • Kings and Queens of England and Great Britain by Eric R. Delderfield
  • The Way to Dusty Death by Alistair MacLean
  • The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais
  • The Night Crew by John Sandford
  • Hundred Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker
  • Whodunits
  • Assassin of Gor by John Norman
  • The Spy Who Never Was & Other True Spy Stories by David C. Knight
  • The Mystery Reader's Quiz Book by Aneta Corsaut, Muff Singer, Robert Wagner
  • Nice Girls Do And Now You Can, Too by Dr. Irene Kassorla
  • Emma by Jane Austen
  • Sons of Sam Spade by David Geherin
  • Ballroom of the Skies by John D. MacDonald
  • Thunderball by Ian Fleming
  • As Long As You Both Shall Live by Ed McBain
  • Twice in Time by Manly Wade Wellman
  • Word for Word by Andrew A. Rooney
  • Selections from Stars! by Daphne Davis
  • Ancient, My Enemy by Gordon R. Dickson
  • The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction Fourteenth Series by Avram Davidson (ed)
  • Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher Smith
I'll not trouble you with hyperlinks, gentle reader, but if you want any of the reviews, you can do a Google search using site:stlbrianj.blogspot.com and get what you want.

In review, this year's total includes:
  • 5 John D. MacDonald books
  • 5 Ed McBain books
  • 3 Robert B. Parker (the new ones this year)
  • 3 John Norman Gor books
  • 2 Roger L. Simon Moses Wine novels
  • 2 Alistair MacLean novels from the 1970s
  • 2 Bill Pronzini novels featuring the Nameless Detective
  • 2 David Geherin nonfiction books about crime fiction
  • 2 Harry Harrison novels of science fiction
  • 2 James Whitaker books about software testing
  • 2 John Sandford novels, neither of which featured Lucas Davenport
  • 2 Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone books about book collecting
  • 2 Mike Lupica books
  • 2 Stephen King books
So I guess I trend toward crime fiction, or at least I hover around crime fiction books I like. I read two bits of classical fiction (Emma and the works of Kafka) and some smart nonfiction (Existentialism and Human Emotions and The Life of Charlemagne).

This year, I can break my books down in my memory into several comfortable reading locatons:
  1. In my blue recliner in the old Casinoport house, with a cat on my lap and a gas fire roaring.

  2. In that blue recliner in the lower level of the new Old Trees home, listening to jazz with a cat on my lap.

  3. On the sofa on the main level of the Old Trees home, in the early months of Ferris Drooler's life amid his frequent feedings.

  4. In the living room of the upper level of the Old Trees home, after Dr. Fussamongstus has gone to bed for the evening.
Many of these books prompts a distinct memory that books in 2005 and 2007 will not.

Still, my collection of unread books is large and varied. I don't know what to tell you about 2007, D, but I'll probably read a bunch of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport novels and some Søren Kierkegaard.

As for my other 2006 goals, suffice to say I didn't do as well as I did on reading. But there's always tomorrow.


 
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."