Clarification

Several of you have written to say that, based on my recommendation, you've read The Sparrow. Most of you have also mentioned that you found it depressing. Well, yeah, that's probably true. The second book, Children of God sets what happened in The Sparrow into a different context, but CoG is not nearly as well written. If you pick it up, feel free to skip the chapters that are clearly not relevant to the plot from the first book (you'll know what I mean if you start reading the book).

Spoiler Alert
If you don't feel like wading through CoG then let me just say that it turns out that everything Emilio did and said on the alien planet was misinterpreted. As strange as it seems, they thought they were honoring him, and doing him big favors. Ah, miscommunication, ain't it great?!?

2006 Book #1

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell — Theodicy as science fiction. Really outstanding, highly recommended. Quite possibly my favorite novel of all time. I also read the sequel, Children of God, but found it much less satisfying.


My Favorite Books of 2006 Series
Intro and Worst Books
2006 Book #5
2006 Book #4
2006 Book #3
2006 Book #2

Book #2

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy is unlike anything I’d ever read (and not just because it’s a western). Yes, it is also a movie (which I’ve apparently failed to review here) but read the book; it’s better.

All the Pretty Horses is the first volume of McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, and I’m on the lookout for the other volumes as I visit used bookstores. McCarthy’s The Road is on a number of best books of 2006 lists, and it is also on my “to buy” list I’ve just purchased it. I finished McCarthy's No Country for Old Men in 2006 (at about 10:30 pm on December 31). Very good, but no Pretty Horse.

My Favorite Books of 2006 Series
Intro and Worst Books
2006 Book #5
2006 Book #4
2006 Book #3

Book #3

Back to the book business . . .

My #3 book for 2006 is David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, which may prove to have more long lasting effects on my life than any book I’ve read in a while. I certainly haven’t found productivity to be stress-free, but there is much in the book that has improved my work habits. And 43folders.com, which is based on but as far as I know not officially affiliated with the book, is lots of fun (if you're into all that GTD stuff).

My Favorite Books of 2006 Series
Intro and Worst Books
2006 Book #5
2006 Book #4

2006 Book #4

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that everyone should read. I don’t know of a better way to explain my recommendation other than to say that it unpacks much about the way the world of sales/marketing/advertising works, and it has ramifications for the way that we communicate in many areas of our lives. I had actually listened to the book on tape in the summer of 2002, but I wanted a print copy for reference, and I wanted to refresh my mind on the content, so I read it again in the summer of ’06.

2006 Book #5

Caught up in the hype over the movie Capote, I read In Cold Blood (which someone very kindly loaned me). The book is excellent, and the movie makes a heck of a lot more sense once you’ve read the book. (It is also possible that the movie made no sense the first time I saw it because I was watching it on a red-eye flight at 2 AM).

and Other Stuff

I do have a list of movies I’m working on reviewing, but in the mean time, how about some book info?

I was able to read a number of very good books in 2006 (and I read some real stinkers, too). Doubtless, a trip to a certain city-state helped me get more reading done than I would have otherwise. Also, learning to let skimming suffice on a number of books, as well as letting myself skim/skip to the end of lame books both helped.

Over the next few days I’ll post my top five reads for 2006. For today, though, how about a list of bad books?

Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers — I know that Powers is a certified genius, and this book is probably a rare work of true greatness. But all of that escapes me when it’s so boring I can barely force myself to continue skimming.

Confessions of a Memory Eater by Pagan Kennedy — Similar to Galatea 2.2 in a number of ways (ploddingly slow), but with the advantage of being shorter. Kennedy tries very hard to write clever turns of phrase, but it simply doesn’t work (said the pot, calling the kettle black).

Finally, Michael Crichton’s Next. This Aussie review sums it up as well as I could, if I were to write a full review.

So, tomorrow, the top 5 countdown begins. And more movie reviews soon. Really, I mean it.