Books, Best of 2007

Yep, I really read 106 books last year. I’d read more if I could find the time but I really do have other things to do & if anything, maybe I should read a little less (don’t really want to do that) in order to concentrate on more important items.

As was my decision last year, I will put forth two top ten lists. One with books released in 2007 only and the second will be comprised of books released in years prior to that (because there are too many good books that I have not read yet).

Without any further bloated meanderings, here are my top ten books (in order) of 2007:

1. Dead Boys Richard Lange
   
2. A Good and Happy Child Justin Evans
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling
4. Crashing Through Robert Kurson
5. After Dark Haruki Murakami
6. In the Country of Men Hisham Matar
7. Blaze Richard Bachman
8. Mistress of the Art of Death Ariana Franklin
9. Heart-Shaped Box Joe Hill
10. The Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett

Here is the second list (in order) but I will not place books in this list that I have re-read such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, older Stephen King titles, Murakami, Herbert etc- you know, favorites you read again & again.

1. Special Topics in Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl
2. The Book of Lost Things John Connolly
3. Feeding a Yen Calvin Trillian
4. The Stupidest Angel:A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror Christopher Moore
5. Gringos in Paradise Barry Golson
6. Heat Bill Buford
7. Comes a Horseman Robert Liparulo
8. Mostly True: Collected Stories & Drawings Brian Andreas
9. Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with The Rolling Stones Robert Greenfield
10. Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn

I read a lot of good books last year and there are authors on the list such as John Connolly, Cormac McCarthy and Don DeLillo that I had never read before. I look forward to reading more of their work in the future.

Newer authors such as Marcus Sakey, Bill Cameron, Hisham Matar, Richard Lange & Justin Evans are also not to be overlooked.

There are also new titles to look forward to in the coming months:

1. The Serpent’s Tale (Ariana Franklin- released 01/31/08)
2. At the City’s Edge (Marcus Sakey- just released)
3. Indefinite Leave to Remain (David Sedaris- released 06/03/08)

Finally, if you have not heard of Granta (The Magazine of New Writing) and you like good short stories, non-fiction, poetry, photography & overall quality literature, then check it out. It is a quarterly publication that is issued in trade paperback format and retails for around $15.00. It is money well spent and a great way to learn of authors/subjects you may not have heard about.

Below is a complete list of what I read in 2007 and when I finished each title (nerdy, I know). The books have varied in length… some less than 50 and others almost 900 pages.

There are lots of good books on the list.

Happy Reading!

1. Heat Bill Buford 01/06/07
   
2. Talk to the Snail Stephen Clarke 01/08/07
   
3. The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror Christopher Moore 01/11/07
4. The Book of Lost Thing John Connolly 01/16/07
5. Comes a Horseman Robert Liparulo 01/18/07
6. Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn 01/22/07
7. Exile on Mainstreet: A Season in Hell with The Rolling Stones Robert Greenfield 01/26/07
8. The Road Cormac McCarthy 01/28/07
9. Travels in the Scriptorium Paul Auster 01/30/07
10. You Suck: A Love Story Christopher Moore 01/31/07
11. The Alexandria Link Steve Berry 02/04/07
12. 102 Minutes Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn 02/05/07
13. The Blood Spilt Åsa Larsson 02/08/07
14. Suite Francaise Irene Nemirovsky 02/10/07
15. The Castle in the Forest Norman Mailer 02/19/07
16. Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich Mark Kriegel 02/22/07
17. In Harm's Way Doug Stanton 02/24/07
18. In the Country of Men Hisham Matar 03/06/07
19. Heart-Shaped Box Joe Hill 03/08/07
20. Mistress of the Art of Death Ariana Franklin 03/18/07
21. Granta 96: War Zones Ian Jack (Editor) 03/22/07
22. Gringos in Paradise Barry Golson 03/26/07
23. Scavenger David Morrell 03/31/07
24. Nocturnes John Connolly 04/09/07
25. Climbing the Mango Trees Madhur Jaffrey 04/12/07
26. Crashing Through Robert Kurson 04/17/07
27. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller 04/26/07
28. The Far Side Gallery 5 Gary Larson 05/03/07
29. Jamestown Matthew Sharpe 05/13/07
30. The Double Eagle James Twining 05/15/07
31. After Dark Haruki Murakami 05/17/07
32. The Adventuress Audrey Niffenegger 05/22/07
33. The Judas Strain James Rollins 05/23/07
34. The Overlook Michael Connelly 05/24/07
35. The Witch of Portobello Paulo Coelho 06/04/07
36. The Curse of Madame "C": A Farside Collection Gary Larson 06/05/07
37. The Far Side Gallery 4 Gary Larson 06/06/07
38. A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 06/11/07
39. Blaze Richard Bachman 06/19/07
40. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Christopher Hitchens 06/19/07
41. The Good Guy Dean Koontz 06/20/07
42. Michael Tolliver Lives Armistead Maupin 06/22/07
43. Wall and Piece Banksy 06/23/07
44. Mediterrean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur… David Shalleck with Erol Munuz 06/24/07
45. The Children of Húrin J.R.R. Tolkien 06/27/07
46. The Rug Merchant Meg Mullins 06/29/07
47. Zugzwang Ronan Bennett 07/02/07
48. Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2 Ian Jack (Editor) 07/06/07
49. Lost Dog Bill Cameron 07/07/07
50. The Atheist's Bible: An Illustrious Collection of Irreverent Thoughts Joan Konner (Editor) 07/08/07
51. Milk Eggs Vodka Bill Keaggy 07/09/07
52. The Dark River John Twelve Hawks 07/13/07
53. The Blade Itself Marcus Sakey 07/15/07
54. Mostly True: Collected Stories & Drawings Brian Andreas 07/15/07
55. Chill of Night John Lutz 07/16/07
56. Still Mostly True: Collected Stories & Drawings Brian Andreas 07/16/07
57. Rickles' Book Don Rickles with David Ritz 07/17/07
58. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling 07/22/07
59. Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things Gary Geddes 07/28/07
60. Falling Man Don DeLillo 07/31/07
61. The Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett 07/31/07
62. A Good and Happy Child Justin Evans 08/06/07
63. Granta 98: The Deep End Ian Jack (Editor) 08/10/07
64. The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table-Hop Like a Pro Adam D. Roberts 08/11/07
65. Interred With Their Bones Jennifer Lee Carrell 08/13/07
66. Spook Country William Gibson 08/20/07
67. Different Seasons Stephen King 08/21/07
68. Dune Frank Herbert 08/25/07
69. Crooked Little Vein Warren Ellis 08/28/07
70. Dune Messiah Frank Herbert 08/30/07
71. Nexus Confessions: Volume One Lindsay Gordon (Editor) 08/30/07
72. The Sanctuary Raymond Khoury 09/03/07
73. Children of Dune Frank Herbert 09/06/07
74. Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden 09/08/07
75. Special Topics in Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl 09/16/07
76. Death and the Devil Frank Schatzing 09/18/07
77. The Intruders Michael Marshall 09/23/07
78. Dead Boys Richard Lange 09/29/07
79. Super Crunchers Ian Ayres 10/01/07
80. Inside Kenneth J. Harvey 10/04/07
81. Red Sea Emily Benedek 10/07/07
82. Fire in the Blood Irene Nemirovsky 10/11/07
83. I Am America (And So Can You!) Stephen Colbert 10/14/07
84. God Emperor of Dune Frank Herbert 10/17/07
85. The Sad Truth About Happiness Anne Giardini 10/21/07
86. Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami 10/28/07
87. The Hobbit (or There and Back Again) J.R.R. Tolkien 10/30/07
88. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien 10/31/07
89. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien 11/06/07
90. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien 11/07/07
91. Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription William F. Buckley Jr. 11/09/07
92. Exit Ghost Philip Roth 11/12/07
93. Sword of God Chris Kuzneski 11/14/07
94. Deadfall Robert Liparulo 11/19/07
95. Holidays on Ice David Sedaris 11/25/07
96. Granta 99: What Happened Next F. Ahmed, L. Jobey, M. Weiland (Editors) 11/26/07
97. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry Kathleen Flinn 11/27/07
98. Skeleton Crew Stephen King 12/01/07
99. Feeding a Yen Calvin Trillin 12/03/07
100. I Am Legend Richard Matheson 12/11/07
101. 2033: The Future of Misbehavior Nerve.com, Editors 12/12/07
102. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles Jennifer 8. Lee 12/19/07
103. Granta 67: Women and Children First Ian Jack (Editor) 12/23/07
104. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (A Pop-up Book) Stephen King 12/25/07
105. The Venetian Betrayal Steve Berry 12/27/07
106. The Darkest Evening of the Year Dean Koontz 12/31/07

For Pete’s sake stop already!

I’ve just about had it with the so called clothing style for teenage boys where they wear their pants pulled down past their ass. You can plainly see they can afford a belt (because it is usually worn the wrong way), but I am mystified as to why they wear pants like this. I cannot think of any specific role model/musician/actor who could possibly be a trendsetter for this horrible clothing concoction. If I have to see one more kid on the job somewhere while their store management is oblivious I am going to slap someone. Plus, I am really tired of having to see plumber crack when my household water is working just fine.

Please, please, please make this go away!

Duma Key

I am currently about a quarter of the way through Stephen King’s latest book titled Duma Key. Wow! What a great book so far. Folks, this is Stephen King at his absolute best. When this comes out next week (Tuesday, January 22nd), run right out and buy it.

Movies, Best of 2007

2007 was an off year for me. What I mean is that I did not get to see the number of movies I normally do. 26 movies seen makes it very difficult to rate my top ten movies of the year, when there were so many others that I missed that could potentially rate as a favorite. The other part of what make this difficult is that many of the movies I saw in the beginning of last year were movies that were “officially” released in 2006 in order to be considered for the Academy Awards- even though they were not shown in my area until 2007. Do I say that ‘The Lives of Others’ is not available to be my number one movie of 2007 because of that? Who can say?

This year, I will not do a top ten only because I did not see enough films- but I will say that ‘No Country For Old Men’ was the best film I got to see last year friend-o.

The Coen Brothers have achieved many things in their storied careers and this film puts them into the rarified air of top directors. Yes, they also make quirky films but this film shuts up any critic or anyone else who says they cannot make a serious and epic film. Plus, they write too! Bonus for all of us.

Popcorn movie of the year: Juno. What lovable movie this is. I want to go see it again to laugh at the same zany dialog and smile like I did when I left the theatre. Maybe the most fun I had at the movies this year.

Movie I waited for a long time that did not disappoint: The Simpsons Movie. Homer and the gang (should I really say Groening and the Gang?) delivered the Simpsons movie we’ve waited a long time to see. Now I can laugh at the things I missed because I got the DVD for Christmas. Woohoo!

Here is the complete list of movies I saw in 2007:

1) The Painted Veil
2) Notes on a Scandal
3) Children of Men
4) Letters From Iwo Jima
5) Pan's Labyrinth
6) Venus
7) Little Children
8) Breach
9) Days of Glory (Indigenes)
10) The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
11) Zodiac
12) Shooter
13) The Namesake
14) Grindhouse
15) The Reaping
16) Shrek the Third
17) 28 Weeks Later
18) Black Book (Zwartboek)
19) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
20) The Simpsons Movie
21) 3:10 to Yuma
22) American Gangster
23) No Country For Old Men
24) Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
25) I Am Legend (IMAX)
26) Juno

Music, Best of 2007

Hello Music Fans!

Here are my top 15 releases from 2007 (In Order):

1) Southern Culture on the Skids - Countrypolitan Favorites
2) Lyle Lovett and His Large Band - It’s Not Big It’s Large
3) Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge 05/06
4) Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
5) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
6) UNKLE - War Stories
7) Sloan - Never Hear the End of It
8) Radiohead - In Rainbows
9) Stax 50^th Anniversary Collection
10) Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band - Live in Dublin
11) The Rosebuds - Night of the Furies
12) Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War
13) Imperial Teen - the hair the tv the baby & the band
14) The Bird and the Bee - The Bird and the Bee
15) Feist - The Reminder

When Southern Culture on the Skids released Countrypolitan Favorites early in the year, I was really psyched to hear it. When I finally did, I was a bit disappointed because I wanted the old SCOTS that I come to love over the years. Sure, I liked a lot of the songs on the cd, but the disc did not stay with me… that is until I saw them live. SCOTS has always been one of my favorite bands to see live. Their show at The Rhythm Room in October made me love this album. Let me repeat that: I L.O.V.E. this album. Listening to it for weeks after the show made me realize that the “old SCOTS” that I was pining for was just buried in songs and a style that I normally don’t enjoy: Country… which leads me to my number two album from 2007.

It’s Not Big It’s Large by Lyle Lovett and His Large Band is as classic Lyle Lovett as you will ever get. With his desolate Texas songs & swing sensibility that makes me want to crank up my Bob Wills cd’s, It’s Not Big It’s Large is almost the perfect Lyle Lovett album. If you are a fan of Lyle’s & if you get a chance to see him live do not pass up the opportunity as he is a fantastic live performer.

Other Worthy Releases this year:

Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion
Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Lucinda Williams - West
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer’s Block
Air - Pocket Symphony

Guilty Pleasure of the Year:

I spent a week in Portland earlier in the year in an attempt to see if it was going to be a place I’d like to move to (it wasn’t). I had a great rental car while I was there (a brand new Nissan Murano with an impressive factory made sound system). I brought a variety of cd’s with me to listen to while I was checking out the surrounding area plus I purchased 10 or 12 cd’s while I was there. The guilty pleasure part of this was just riding around in a new area listening to great music. I don’t get to do that here as my car stereo is limited to radio. While the trip ultimately was a bust for me, I do remember those days driving around- windows down, wind in my face and music blasting. There is nothing like listening to music in your car.

Musical Disappointments of the Year:

PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob

PJ Harvey’s White Chalk was heartbreakingly disappointing for me. She’s always been one of my favorite artists, but as soon as I heard that warbling falsetto on the opening track, I knew it was just going to suck… and it did. I applaud the effort to try something new, but I hope she does not continue in this direction.

Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs suffered the dreaded sophomore slump that is the slayer of many bands. Hopefully they will rebound with better efforts in the future.

Debut of the Year:

I cannot think of one new artist that really blew me away this year. Amy Winehouse made the most noise this year as a relatively new artist (her debut album was issued a few years before last years Back to Black) but now I just wish she’d go away because I am tired of seeing her face appear online and tired of hearing her where I work (not saying anymore about that!).

Trend I wish would go away:

mp3 dominance. I miss good record stores- hell, I miss bad ones too. I have a decent used place here I shop at and I get my hits cheaply at a large big box retailer that I frequent occasionally- but I live in a metropolitan area that has over five million people yet I can count on two hands the number places I could buy music at. I lived in an area in the 90’s that had 250,000 and it had the same amount or more. How can that be? As I talked about last year in my music best of list, the music industry has shot itself in the foot in many ways and now mp3 is their latest target to complain about. It will never be what it was before, but can’t we all just get along?

2007 was a down year for me musically. I did manage to add 122 titles to my collection but a large number of those were either freebies from work or titles I copied from friends of mine. There were plenty of other cd’s I was interested in checking out that I just wasn’t able to. A few examples:

Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
New Pornographers - Challengers
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Joy Division reissues (all three of them)
Taken by Trees - Open Field
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Siouxsie - Mantaray
Rumble Strips - Girls and Weather
White Williams - Smoke
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
John Fogerty - Revival

Hope you enjoyed my list.

Feedback is hoped for and encouraged.