Page last updated:
I tend to be a voracious reader, and I read widely. This list has its origins in an old signature file which I would update periodically with the current book that I was reading. That gradually transmogrified itself into the current massive archive with brief reviews.
| What I've been reading lately |
| Number of books read and reviewed each year | |
|---|---|
| 1995* |  (28) |
| 1996 | (47) |
| 1997 | (74) |
| 1998 | (61) |
| 1999 | (62) |
| 2000 | (27) |
| 2001 | (51) |
| 2002 | (60) |
| 2003 | (37) |
| 2004 | (36) |
| 2005 | (32) |
| 2006 | (46) |
| 2007 | (109) |
| 2008 | (78) |
| 2009 | (65) |
| 2010 | (68) |
| 2011 | (98) |
| 2012 | (129) |
| 2013 | (114) |
| 2014 | (101) |
| 2015 | (88) |
| 2016 | (82) |
| 2017 | (76) |
| 2018 | (67) |
| 2019 | (95) |
| 2020 | (90) |
| 2021 | (85) |
| 2022 | (101) |
| 2023 | (124) |
| 2024 |  (139) |
| * Partial year | |
[Finished 1 December 2024] The novel begins with a slow start and if I hadn’t stumbled across a note that talks about the time travel aspect of the story it would have come as a complete surprise, entering as late in the story as it does. I did find myself wishing I could go back to my 16th birthday and make some changes in the trajectory of my own life, although it’s not entirely clear, given the rules of time travel from this book what I could have done to make things different (not to mention that I have absolutely no recollection of my 16th birthday, or for that matter, most of my birthdays).
Twisted Tales From Shakespeare
by Richard Armour
[Finished 30 November 2024] I first read this in high school courtesy of a copy that my brothers had apparently liberated from the school library. When my kids were born, I was disappointed to discover that I had pruned it from my library so I found another copy to re-read it and discovered that it’s the source of some of my favorite jokes of forgotten provenance. Some of the humor is a bit dated, but it’s still very much how I came to know the stories of these plays.
Kinder than Solitude
by Yiyun Li
[Finished 28 November 2024] I rather enjoyed this story with its shuffling through time and geography to leave us wondering what exactly happened with the mystery at the heart of the story which seems to have left the central characters all broken in their own ways.
Three Women
by Lisa Taddeo
[Finished 27 November 2024] I didn’t read the descriptions of the book before reading this so I didn’t know it was to be about three women’s sex lives specifically and from the prolog about Taddeo’s mother being followed to and from work by a masturbating man, I had expected it more to be about living as a woman in the modern world and I think that book would have been much more satisfying and interesting.
Conversación en La Catedral
by Mario Vargas Llosa
[Finished 26 November 2024] Not my favorite Vargas Llosa, although I find that I’m better able to grasp his Spanish now that I’m two thick novels (and one slender children’s book) into reading his prose.
The Best American Poetry 2024
edited by Mary Jo Salter
[Finished 23 November 2024] In his introduction, series editor David Lehman reveals that he encouraged Salter to include one of her poems and she (perhaps remembering the hubbub around Major Jackson doing the same in his edition of the series) declined. A pretty good collection of poems this time around.
In the Distance
by Hernan Diaz
[Finished 21 November 2024] Not at all what I expected Diaz to be writing about in this novel, but it was, for all its directionlessness, rather satisfying.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
[Finished 19 November 2024] I was a little skeptical of this book which is part of why it languished unread on my shelves for so long, but it ends up being a surprisingly well-written book, even as it deploys so many of the standard tropes of modern narrative non-fiction. The culmination, a somewhat bizarre trail race in the Mexican wilderness and the ruminations on why so many runners end up injured (McDougall’s conclusion is that it’s the fancy shoes) make for a compelling read. It actually got me to go out for a run although I think my next run(s) are going to be on the treadmills at the Y given the arctic temperatures outside.
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
[Finished 16 November 2024] My second Bulawayo novel and I really liked this one, perhaps because of its fabulistic setting, in a country populated and governed by animals of various species and a strong narrative voice (I’m always a sucker for a strong narrative voice).
The Art of Bible Translation
by Robert Alter
[Finished 13 November 2024] As much an apologia for the choices Alter made in his translation of the Hebrew Bible as a text about Bible translation in general. Alter makes a good case that the literary style of the Bible tends to be ignored in contemporary translations which makes me really want to read his translation. I have it on my shelf, but at the moment, my Biblical reading is focused on reading (and translating) the Vulgate Bible.