My one sentence movie reviews for 2009 seems to have struck a chord, so let’s see if I get a response from someone (Dan Brown?) for my books of 2009.
- The Pump House Gang – I generally like Tom Wolfe; a few of these essays were excellent, like the La Jolla surfers and Hugh Hefner, but many others were incredibly boring.
- Twelve Hours’ Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old – Bought when we were desperate for the girls to sleep through the night. This had much more practical real world advice than other sleep books we’ve read.
- Childhood’s End – Revisiting a high school book.
- Brave New World – Another high school book. These two were paired together, probably because they offer two different views of a Utopian society. I enjoyed them both the second time around.
- Tesla: Man Out of Time – A long read, dry at times. I found it hard to respect Tesla at times; he seemed to be a genius but had trouble following through on so many great ideas.
- A Thousand Splendid Suns – Hard to believe, but this was equal to Kite Runner in my opinion. Not as much heartache in this one though.
- Underworld – I really disliked this book; worst book of the year. It was extremely popular when it came out (still is), but I just didn’t get it. I was very disappointed by the end and am turned off Delillo now. Tell me if there’s another one of his that I would like better.
- Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know – Very good, but a little scary. Am I remembering to follow through on all 10 secrets everyday?
- Bringing Down the House – Excellent, a page turner. Way better than the movie, naturally.
- House to House: A Soldier’s Memoir – This was an amazing story. It definitely got my heart racing at times and gave me a whole new level of respect for soldiers in Iraq. It was a tough call between this and The Right Stuff, but I’m giving this best book of the year.
- The Pillars of the Earth – Really good, fastest 1,000 pages I’ve ever read.
- The Right Stuff – Two Wolfe books in a year. This was one of my favorites for the year. I loved the dialog and all the different personalities Wolfe developed.
- The World Without Us – A big disappointment, although it was because my expectations were different. I wanted a whole lot more detail about how things will fall apart, and less about how the natural world will evolve in our absence.
- The Black Swan – I liked this book, but it was very dense at times. He was quite funny in some parts, which was unexpected.
- The Murder Book – Just so-so. Something I read so we could get rid of it without guilt.
- John Adams – Great book about an under-appreciated president. Got a little misty at the end when he and Jefferson (SPOILER ALERT!) died.
- Under the Banner of Heaven – Not a great effort from Krakauer. There was probably too much to cover in just one book, although he did do a good job explaining a very bizarre faith.
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I thought this was good, but perhaps a bit overrated. I still think I’ll read the next in the series.
- The Lost Symbol – I’ll admit it – I like the Dan Brown books. His style doesn’t really bother me; you know what you’re getting, kind of like a summer popcorn movie. I thought this was a good follow up to one of the best selling books of all time, which is a tough act to follow.
- Casino Royale – I was very surprised how much I liked this. Bond has some issues with women, which doesn’t come out as much in the movies. I’ll definitely pick up some others in this series.