The rest of 2009

Here's what I read in the remainder of 2009:

THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD (Margaret Atwood) - Atwood is growing on me. This one was actually pretty good, although being the nosy investigator that I am, I want to know what happened and why. This is a post-apocalyptic book. Really good. But I wanted more about the actually apocalypse I guess. I'm morbid that way.

THE CORRECTIONS ( Jonathon Franzen) - ok Franzen must be a supercool guy, right? Because David Foster Wallace was his BFF or something. And Wallace couldn't put up with just any random dumbass. And yeah, Franzen's writing style is fine. Unmemorable which is good, at least it didn't annoy me. But I don't really get they hype over this story. I didn't find it any different than the 100 stories written in that "stories of american life and poor us and our 1st world problems" John Updike / Philip Roth genre. Maybe I missed something.

MY NEW ORLEANS (essays by various authors) - I actually turned down some pages to which I could refer back. I liked some of the thoughts presented here. As with any multi-author collection, I liked some and didn't like others. Worth reading.

AMERICAN GODS - I like Neil Gaiman a lot. For some reason, I can't read his stuff back-to-back. This was the first novel of his I'd read in awhile. It was probably my favorite. If you are fan of any sort of mythology, this is one you'd get a kick from.

THE HELP - yeah yeah sometimes I get caught up in the hype of the day. This was a good one though. I can never remember character names but that one woman - you know which one I mean - is a BE-YOTCH. And so is Karma. She'll get hers.

WHY I LIVE @ THE P.O & OTHER STORIES (Eudora Welty) - Although I love Eudora Welty as much as the next Mississippi girl, her writing is not actually something I've ever just easily picked up on a whim. However, I've always wondered just WHY this woman did live at the P.O.? And so a while back, I read Mississippi Sissy. I wrote a blurb about it on this blog previously. And Mississippi Sissy made me think of Eudora Welty in a whole new way. I way that involved bourbon. So when I saw this one on the bookshelf I picked it up. And now I know why the woman lived in the P.O. And yeah, it's pretty funny.

AMERICAN PASTORAL (Philip Roth) - I was thinking this was the 70's version of The Corrections, but actually, it was a way better story with some craziness and intrigue and murder and heartbreak. Glad I read it.

UNSEEN ACADEMICALS (Terry Pratchett) - It's Terry Pratchett. I laughed. That's all I need to say about this one.

THE MOVIEGOER (Walker Percy) - ok I'm glad I read it just because it's a local guy and whatever. And yeah - I read a lot too and probably don't interact one on one with people more than I have to. Sue me.

OK that does it for 2009.