Looking back on 2014, I read a couple great books (Germinal, Waiting for the Barbarians, Do Androids Dream...), but many more were tiresome (Possession, Emma, The Bell Jar, Notes from a Small Island).
The realization has led me to change my perspective towards reading. A change that mirrors my new approach to travel: check the boxes and finish the lists, then be more spontaneous and discerning in the experiences I sign up for.
I'm glad I've paid my dues by visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids, the Coliseum, and the Parthenon. But, like books, my most memorable travel experiences have little to do with these well-known destinations. These places are over-photographed and analyzed to the point of abstraction while a more vibrant reality surrounds. I'm glad I've read as many classics as I have, but it's time to move on.
Like the chauffeur realizes in Ishiguro's
Remains of the Day, sometimes a dedication to structure and
lists keeps us from something better. On to the list...
My 2014 in books (with links to posted excerpts):
| 1. | Emma | Austen, Jane |
| 2. | The Wasp Factory | Banks, Lian |
| 3. | Hawaii's Keiki Christmas Collection | Brown, Zola |
| 4. | Notes from a Small Island | Bryson, Bill |
| 5. | Possession | Byatt, A.S. |
| 6. | Waiting for the Barbarians | Coetzee, JM |
| 7. | America Again | Colbert, Stephen |
| 8. | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep V.1 | Dick, Philip K |
| 9. | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep | Dick, Philip K |
| 10. | Cold Comfort Farm | Gibbons, Stella |
| 11. | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Haddon, Mike |
| 12. | The Remains of the Day | Ishiguro, Kazuo |
| 13. | Who Owns the Future? | Lanier, Jaron |
| 14. | Child of God | McCarthy, Cormac |
| 15. | Suttree | McCarthy, Cormac |
| 16. | Amsterdam | McEwan, Ian |
| 17. | The Innocent | McEwan, Ian |
| 18. | Comptia a+ Study Guide | Meyers, Michael |
| 19. | Superior | Millar, Mark |
| 20. | A Fine Balance | Mistry, Rohinton |
| 21. | Arkham Asylum | Morrison, Grant |
| 22. | 30 Second Theories | Parsons, Paul |
| 23. | John Cage: Composed in America | Perloff, Marjorie |
| 24. | The Bell Jar | Plath, Sylvia |
| 25. | Swallows and Amazons | Ransome, Arthur |
| 26. | The Fortunate Era | Smith, Arthur |
| 27. | There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly | Taback, Simms |
| 28. | A Confederacy of Dunces | Toole, John Kennedy |
| 29. | The Color Purple | Walker, Alice |
| 30. | Brideshead Revisited | Waugh, Evelyn |
| 31. | Germinal | Zola, Emile |
2013 in Books:
| 1. | Corelli's Mandolin | Bernieres, Louis De |
| 2. | Silence | Cage, John |
| 3. | Elk's Run | Fialkov, Josh |
| 4. | Bridget Jones Diary | Fielding, Helen |
| 5. | Madam Bovary | Flaubert, Gustave |
| 6. | The Corrections | Franzen, Jonathan |
| 7. | Far From the Madding Crowd | Hardy, Thomas |
| 8. | Jude the Obscure | Hardy, Thomas |
| 9. | Tess of the D'Urbervilles | Hardy, Thomas |
| 10. | Temptation | Havel, Václav |
| 11. | Think and Grow Rich | Hill, Napoleon |
| 12. | Best of Robert Ingersoll | Ingersoll, Robert G. |
| 13. | Wicked | Maguire, Gregory |
| 14. | Daredevil: | Miller, Frank |
| 15. | Soul of Sex | Moore, Thomas |
| 16. | 30 Lessons for Living | Pillemer, Karl |
| 17. | Eulogy on Independence Day | Smith, Arthur |
| 18. | Daredevil: Visionaries Vol 1 | Smith, Kevin |
| 19. | Of Mice and Men | Steinbeck, John |
| 20. | The Simple Feelings of Being | Wilber, Ken |
| 21. | Shadow of the Wind | Zafon, Carlos Ruiz |
2012 Reading List
