The Books of 2012
These are the lovely books I'm reading this year.Click on the picture to hear my thoughts on each book.
If the book looks faded then I am currently reading and hopefully enjoying it.
Here is the lengthy list of books I plan on reading this year
Drop me a message if you have any book suggestions for me!
Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood
Summary: What is the role of the writer? Prophet? High Priest of Art? Court Jester? Or witness to the real world? Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain - or excuse! - their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play.
Review:
Date Read: April 23, 2012
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
Summary: Aldous Huxley, author of the bestselling Brave New World, explores, as only he can, the mind’s remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon, and takes its title from William Blake’s poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Huxley recalls the insights he experienced, which range from the “purely aesthetic” to “sacramental vision”.
Review: I had been wanting to read this book since my first few years of undergraduate college where the majority of my friends were dabbling in LSD and other psychotropics, finding them to be the most wildly fascinating experiences of their short lives. Huxley was a brilliant man, and much like his novels, this essay shows that he was also a man ahead of his time.
He felt that mescaline could be a valuable part of our human experience and our culture if used responsibly; we could abandon the more harmful vices of alcohol and nicotine and transcend “the door in the wall” of our own perceptions while also satisfying our constant need for transcending our self-conscious selves.
The beginning of his experiment and this essay serves the purpose of a record of what he was directly experiencing under the influence. Later on, he argues how mescaline could be the perfect drug for society and its role in spirituality. This latter half is the true essence of this work, and where I became completely invested in what he was saying. I don’t completely agree with all of his theories, but nonetheless, a riveting argument, which made me marvel at Huxley’s profound insight into the human mind and personality.
Date Read: April 15, 2012
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Summary: When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts
Review:
Date Read:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Summary: Something was happening in Bobbi Anderson’s idyllic small town of Haven, Maine. Something that gave every man, woman, and child in town powers far beyond ordinary mortals. Something that turned the town into a death trap for all outsiders. something that came from a metal object, buried for millennia, that Bobbi stumbled across. It wasn’t that Bobbi and the other good folks of Haven had sold their souls to reap the rewards of the most deadly evil this side of hell. It was more like a diabolical takeover…and invasion of body and soul—and mind.
Review: This was my first experience into the literary world of Stephen King, with the exception of my sudden abandonment of The Shining when I was somewhere around 11 years old, due to shear terror. To be honest, and slightly ashamed, my first thought while reading The Tommyknockers was “what a hack.” This opinion turned somewhere around page 200, but it sincerely took me that long to realize that King is certainly not a horrible writer.
I’m attributing this gap in judgment to the way King writes. He has a way about him, and a comical diction that takes a bit getting used to. I went from thinking his dialogue and use of inner monologue was corny and unnecessary, to genius and completely compatible with the story he was telling. The novel is about a community that can suddenly read each other’s mind due to an alien infiltration, so the reader was already in tuned to the thoughts of several characters before they started sharing their thoughts with each other.
In general, I found this book riveting and its pages would plague me while I was doing other things. However, King tends to become over obsessed with research and background details during a good majority of this book causing it to be close to 800 pages, which is hard to justify for a science fiction type novel.
Date Read: April 4, 2012
Sylvia: A Novel by Leonard Michaels
Summary: First acclaimed as a story-length memoir, then expanded into a novel, Sylvia draws us into the lives of a young couple whose struggle to survive Manhattan in the early 1960s involves them in sexual fantasias, paranoia, drugs, and the extreme intimacy of self-destructive violence. Reproducing a time and place with extraordinary clarity, Leonard Michaels explores with self-wounding honesty the excruciating particulars of a youthful marriage headed for disaster.
Review: I found this book because I was obsessed with The Antler’s album Hospice and after reading several interviews with the singer I discovered that he wrote it about an emotionally abusive relationship he was in and because he connected deeply with this novel. Emotionally disastrous relationships? How could I not read it?
The novel ended up being really fascinating and well-written. The relationship between the couple was not as insane as I excepted, but their hopeless need and hate for each other really drew me into their depraved world. Michaels is certainly an accomplished writer, and ever word in this book is very simply to the heart of the matter—this matter being something that has seemed to have haunted him for years. I think a lot of people can relate to the tragic emotions and turmoil of this novel.
Date Read: March 5, 2012
The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
Summary: “One day there is life … and then, suddenly, it happens there is death”. So begins THE INVENTION OF SOLITUDE, Paul Auster’s moving and personal meditation on fatherhood. After the death of his own father, Auster discovers a 60-year-old family murder mystery that could account for the old man’s elusive character. Later the book shifts from Auster’s identity as son to his own role as father.
Review: Being the Paul Auster fangirl that I am, I plan on reading all of his books non-fiction and fiction; this being one of the non-fiction books about his life. Most of his works are a bit quirky, but usually in a fashion that pleases me. However, The Invention of Solitude had me torn on so many levels.
I loved so much of it, and there were countless amazing quotes and arguments about the interaction between life and storytelling. However, the format of the second half of the book frustrated me. The first section was traditional memoir style, where Auster remembers his late father. This part was fascinating and seamlessly written. Then, within the section half, Auster shows his strange side. This half, called the Book of Memory, was written from a confusing third person narrator referred to as A. By this point, I just wanted to power through the remainder of the book so it would be over.
I think the most frustrating part would be when I read a section that was miraculous and made me feel so connected to that exact incident, but then the immediate moment would be about some historical detail or narrative that just made my mind wander away. Despite all that, the book certainly wasn’t a waste of time, and Auster remains as insightful as ever.
Date Read: February 15, 2012
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Summary: On a windy spring day in the Chilterns, the calm, organized life of science writer Joe Rose is shattered when he witnesses a tragic accident: a hot-air balloon with a boy trapped in its basket is being tossed by the wind, and in the attempt to save the child, a man is killed. A stranger named Jed Parry joins Rose in helping to bring the balloon to safety. But unknown to Rose, something passes between Parry and himself on that day—something that gives birth to an obsession in Parry so powerful that it will test the limits of Rose’s beloved rationalism, threaten the love of his wife, Clarissa, and drive him to the brink of murder and madness. Brilliant and compassionate, this is a novel of love, faith, and suspense, and of how life can change in an instant.
Review: This was an incredibly strange book; the word strange perhaps being an understatement. This book stays with you after you read it, buried somewhere beneath the surface, which I’m assuming is a phenomenal accomplishment for a novel, but ultimately off-putting for the leisure reader.
Don’t be mistaken; I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were remarkably real and absolutely unreal at the same time. It’s an incredible book in the way that it makes you feel so flabbergasted afterwards, but also leaves the reader slightly disconnected from this odd reality McEwan has fashioned.
Date Read: February 6, 2012
Wool by Hugh Howey
Summary: For generations, they’ve lived underground, looking out at the bleak world as it gets blurrier. The only way to preserve that view is to go outside and clean, but to go to cleaning is to go to death. That’s why they have a system. A brutal code. And Sheriff Holston, after a lifetime of serving that code, has now broken it.
Review: :I found this book on my Kindle for a dollar and saw that it had amazing reviews and almost a cult following. It turned out to be novella, and the first book in a series of five (after fans pleaded with the author to write more). I’ve decided to write one review for all the books so this may be a lengthy one.
It took a bit to get into and to really understand the setting of this futuristic world, but once I oriented myself I literally couldn’t put the book down. With each short novel I became more obsessed with the characters, even though there was a new narrator with every installment. Honestly, once you thought you liked this particular narrator the best, Howey made you change your mind instantly.
It was fantastically written and made me feel like I was inside a world similar to William Gibson’s steampunk dreamscapes or fighting against the authoritative conspiracies of 1984. Hugh Howey is a remarkable inspiration for any new writer, and his stories keep you riveted whether you enjoy the genre of science fiction or not.
Date Read: February 2, 2012
My Stroke on Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Summary: Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind complete deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of her life, all within a space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain—the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side—swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realities: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely.
Review: I decided to go down the non-fiction road for a bit since I’m currently fascinated by the brain and how it functions (and it was at Wegmans for 3 dollars, so how could I not get it?). It was extremely interesting and not too complicated when talking in depth about the brain and the medical aspect of the book. It was a pretty quick read, and right as I was starting to get bored the content redeemed itself and added an extra half of star to my rating. Until the end I didn’t feel like I was getting enough knowledge to take away with—which is required for me in a non-fiction reading—it was an interesting retelling of what a stroke does to a person’s brain, through a first person account, and how the brain has the amazing ability to adapt and repair, but the true merit of this book is that it teaches the reader how to communicate within their own brain in order to achieve a peaceful state of mind. Taylor spent a lot of time explaining the differences between the right and left side of your brain, and how sometimes the detail-oriented left side can impede the natural calm and joy of the right side. This book actually made sense and didn’t seem far-fetched when saying that you can communicate with your brain in a way so that you can choose to be happier and work every day to change your overall mood away from stress and anxiety.
Date Read: January 25, 2012
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Summary: “Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading jornalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigated. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.”
Review: I started reading this not only because I’ve heard that it’s fantastic, but mainly because my Aunt wants me to see the movie with her and she insists that I read the book first so the film doesn’t ruin all the good stuff. She was definitely correct. There was just so much detail and description of the investigation that can’t possibly fit within the time constraints of film, but it absolutely necessary and intriguing all the same. At times I felt myself getting overly anxious to get to the exciting bits that I knew were bound to show up, but I could tell from the start that all the information would pay off eventually. I also always wanted to know more and more about Lisbeth because her character was completely fascinating to me, so I’m extremely excited to read the rest of the series and learn more about her. This trilogy sucked me right in like some kind of Swedish Law and Order; the more accelerated twists and gruesome turns, the more I couldn’t stop reading.
Date Read: January 22, 2012
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Summary: “Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn’t know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again — in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle — each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: ‘What if you could live your life over again?’”
Review: This was everything I ever want in a book (hence the 5 stars) especially that of the sci-fi nature. Again, I’m obsessed with memories and looking back on the life you’ve experienced so of course I just ate this story up, especially because it leaves you wondering about how many possible lives could be out there for yourself. I just absolutely loved this novel, and it will probably be one of those that stay with me forever in which I smile fondly when I think back to its reading. At first, this kind of attachment seemed unlikely because it had too much of a Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day vibe to it, but as the narrative progressed new characters and ideas emerged that certified its own cabinet in my brain, and stuck to the aorta of my semi-sci-fi heart.
Date Read: January 11, 2012
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Summary: “Moving from San Francisco in the 1970s to a vividly imagined New York City sometime after 2020, Jennifer Egan portrays the interlacing lives of men and women whose desires and ambitions converge and collide as the passage of time, cultural change, and private experience define and redefine their identities.”
Review: This book was honestly not as great as I thought it was going to be (or hoped it would be). I have a personal fascination with novels dealing with the passing of time and the storytelling of memories, so I think I had different expectations for this book than what it actually was. The beginning started out wonderfully, but by the end I was sort of wishing it would just hurry up an end. Mostly because I kept getting thrown off by the overall format of the narrative. Instead of a novel, is was more like several short stories linked by characters and events—that seems to be the newest trend, but nevertheless confusing as hell. It certainly wasn’t a bad book (which is where 3 1/2 star rating came from)—every chapter has its own distinct style and character depth even though we only saw snippets of their life, and I can remember certain scenes with clear and nostalgic detail so something about it certainly left an impression on me.
Date read: January 5, 2012
