Books J'ai Lu 2009

This is the first year, I think that I've read any amount of books worth listing- the result of a full year of reading-goodness-working in a bookstore. Almost all of these were excellent reads, or at least fulfilled their purpose at the time, because I usually will abandon a book if I find that it doesn't hold my interest for whatever reason. The following are in no particular order.

1. Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
2. Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon
3. Education of a British Protected Child, Chinua Achebe
4. The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Pamuk
5. Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler
6. Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro
7. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli
8. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
9. Youth, JM Coetzee
10. Elizabeth Costello, JM Coetzee
11. What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell
12. The Confessions of Edward Day, Valerie Martin
13. Superfreakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
14. Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes
15. Brightsided, Barbara Ehrenreich
16. Nickle and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
17. Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
18. What is Stephen Harper Reading, Yann Martel
19. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
20. Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
21. The Blue Hour, Lillian Pizzichini
22. Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
23. Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
24. This is Not a Book, Keri Smith
25. Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, Carl Wilson
26. French Women for All Seasons, Mireille Guiliano
27. The First Person and Other Stories, Ali Smith
28. Food Rules, Michael Pollan
29. Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay
30. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris
31. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
32. Things I Have Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi
33. Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963, Susan Sontag
34. A Blue Hand, Deborah Baker
35. Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
36. After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, Jean Rhys
37. Somewhere Towards the End, Diana Athill

- All the ones that I had recorded or could readily remember, but the list may get slightly longer.

Who do you think you are?

Rose spends her entire adult life trying to run from her small town upbringing, and trying to invent herself as an artistic, "cool", middle class woman. She tries out several different lifestyles and styles of morality, but seemingly always to her own detriment, ultimately creating her own unhappiness. Her constant sadness and self-doubt rings very true, and is devastating at times to read. It ends sadly, but is beautifully written. A very nice Munro.

How I like to

Come across my books of choice entirely independent of Oprah.