the year in [book] review

[keryx]

Inspired (as I often am) by snidegrrl's book summary of the year, here are some highlights from my list of books I've read this year. There are times when I read 4-5 books in a week, so I can't even remember everything I've read, let alone everything that was good.


These are the books I've meant to read and probably will read at some point when I can devote the right attention to them. It's the colons in the titles, I tell ya.
Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty-First Century
Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes
Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body
Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex
Nigger : The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word
Sexing the Body
Hip: The History



They're not exactly life-altering, but they're just really good books that I read for the first time this year. Surprisingly few of them are feminist books, but I think I've read all the feminist books that were going to have a major impact on me.
Mirror, Mirror
The Obesity Myth
Trickster's Choice
Complete Hothead Paisan
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Tipping Point
America



They're just good books I read this year, is all.
Big Fat Lies: The Truth about Your Weight and Your Health
Revolting Bodies
Oryx & Crake
Myths of Gender
Girls Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings From The Girl Zine Revolution
Four Spirits
Whatever, Mom



This book gets its own category at missmeridian's request. Because if marriage is all about "maturing" young people into good, conforming citizens, I don't want any of it.
Gay Marriage : Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America



These just kinda sucked.
Vanity Fair
Reviving Ophelia
Cryptonomicon



"Best" may be a strong word for these, but they're clever and not sexist, which is more than I can sometimes say for this genre.
Persuading Annie
Can You Keep A Secret?
Ghosts of Boyfriends Past
As Seen on TV
An Assembly Such as This
Born Confused
Goddess for Hire

Comments

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

You are quite the speedy reader!! I am envious. :)

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Hee. I said I read that many books, though. I didn't say I retained everything I read. :D

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

oh gawd, if i made a list of books with material i actually retained, it would be a very short list indeed. :)

[missmeridian.livejournal.com]

*betrayed*

i can't believe you put the book that broke up me and ben in the same category as neal "my new boyfriend - nyah nyah" stephenson's bestest ever novel!

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Dude, I said I didn't think they really belonged in the same category. I could go back and invent a "Books by Republicans that I'm sorry anyone ever made me read" category. :)

your new boyfriend

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

I loved Cryptonomicon, though I think maybe I loved The Diamond Age a teensy bit more, but then that is just my fondness for Mouse Armies... Have you read any of his newer series? [derailing keryx's thread to talk about books she hated]

Re: your new boyfriend

[missmeridian.livejournal.com]

i do love diamond age, which made me weep, but i hate its ending almost as much as i hate the ending of snow crash. i love me some neal, but like kevin smith, his endings do suck. i'm currently 1/4-through system of the world and i'm afraid to finish it because i've really loved the whole baroque cycle and i'm pretty sure the ending is going to bite hugely.

quicksilver is excellent, mostly because eliza is really the first well-drawn chick that neal's written, and because i lurve daniel waterhouse. lurve him. [ahem. i also love jack, but who wouldn't love a syphilitic pirate on a quest for redemption?] the confusion is just a teensy bit pretentious in design, but good. i could go on and on about the brilliance of baroque-as-prequel-to-crypto, but suffice it to say that you won't regret diving in [now somewhat available in paperback, i think].

i'm also re-reading zodiac, which is hilarious in it's datedness, and haven't yet gotten to the big u. as always, i highly recommend the article that inspired crypto: mother earth mother board. and in the beginning was the command line is simply must-read material for any windows/mac-bashing geek under the age of 30.

and finally - did you know he's written two trashy thrillers under the psuedonym "stephen bury"? they suck, but i own them!

Re: your new boyfriend

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

I thought Zodiac was dishy/trashy fun. So I am tempted to look up the pseudonymous thrillers! But I'll get Quicksilver first... if I can lift it. :-)

Re: your new boyfriend

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

* I should say -- dishy/trashy fun that made me never want to eat lobster again.

[lil-ms-drama.livejournal.com]

The only one of the list above that I've read is The Obesity Myth which I absolutely LOVED!

I wish I had read as much as you have. Despite all of the books I buy, I end up giving a lot to Bookcrossing.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

We, on the other hand, buy a zillion books and keep and read most of them. Our "library" (a spare room with bookshelves) is now overflowing. We should cull.

[puzzlement.livejournal.com]

My equivalent and much shorter list is on thecommonwealth: Best reading of 2004 (by which I meant "Best fiction reading"). It's clear from this post that it's time to pay off my library fines and get back into the swing :)