The Booklist 2005 Project

Matthew Books

In the past, this has been my method for determining my reading list:

  1. Go to library
  2. Wander over to “new releases” section
  3. Judge books by cover

This has led me to some great stuff. Unfortunately, it has also resulted in long stretches of mediocrity.

One of those stretches was the year affectionately known as 2004, and I said as much in my annual recap. But then, as an afterthought, I asked readers to send me recommendations for future reading.

And boy-howdie, did I get ’em. And it would be a shame to let them go to waste. So this year I’m going to try the Booklist 2005 project, and try and plow through the majority of the books that were endorsed by dy readers. And although I was terribly lax about writing book reviews last year, I intend to comment on every B2K Project novel I read on these virtual pages.

Here is my current list of a dozen (Update: now 20) books. Below it are some 25 more, that I will add to the list if they receive seconds from commenters. And if you know of something that really, really ought to be on here but isn’t mentioned at all, you can put that in the comments as well. (Although, given the rate at which I read books, the list as it stands is probably sufficient to keep me in fiction until 2008).

The Current List
(i.e., books that received a second and/or intrigued me)

  • Annals of the Black Company, Glen Cook [Read first 20 pages, didn’t like. May try again later.]

  • Civilwarland in Bad Decline, George Saunders [Done!]

  • Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell [Done!]

  • The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen

  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon [Done!]

  • Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow [Done!]

  • The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq

  • Freedom & Necessity, Stephen Brust and Emma Bull

  • Game of Thrones, George Martin [Have — trying to find a sufficient block of time to read]

  • Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

  • Gringos, Charles Portis [Don’t like — abandoned.]

  • Hardboiled Wonderland And The End Of The World, Haruki Murakami

  • House of Leaves, Mark Z. Dainielewski [Done! One of my favorite books of all-time!]

  • An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears

  • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke

  • Oracle Night, Paul Auster [Done!]

  • Oryx and Crak, Margaret Atwood

  • Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke [Yeah, it was okay …]

  • The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon [Enjoyable, but not fantastic]

  • The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger [Done!]

  • Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West, Gregory Maguire

Candidates
(i.e., books in need of a second)

  • The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

  • Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

  • Dirt Music, Tim Winton

  • The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad, Minister Faust

  • Facing the Music, Larry Brown

  • The Fermata, Nicholson Baker

  • Little Children, Tom Perrotta

  • The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

  • McCarthy’s Bar, Pete McCarthy

  • The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

  • Pattern Recognition, William Gibson

  • Pest Control, Bill Fitzhugh

  • The Plot Against America, Philip Rothv

  • Seven Types of Ambiguity, Elliot Perlman

  • Sock, Penn Jillette

  • Star of the Sea, Joseph O’Conner

  • Sunshine, Robin McKinley

  • The Towers of Trebizond, Rose Macaulay

  • When the Nines Roll Over, David Benioff

P.S.1. These are all fiction recommendations, because that’s what I specifically asked for in my recap. But, if suggesting brand new titles, non-fiction is also welcomed.

P.S.2. Feel free to warn me away from any books I am considering if you’re so inclined. You guys are picking these, so the more input the better.

225 thoughts to “The Booklist 2005 Project”

  1. I recommend staying away from Nicholson Baker’s “The Fermata” or, rather, be forewarned you might as well go visit a Web site offering amateur porn. I read it because I was intrigued with the idea of stopping time, purely for perverted reasons. It seems Baker has the same fantasy. Talk about a waste of time. I could’ve just read my own journals… What? Why are you looking at me like that?

  2. 3 things:

    1) As others have mentioned House of Leaves is a bit of a pain in the arse to read. Not to be attempted in 10min session on the toilet. Good story, not great. More of a ‘concept book.’

    2) The Lovely Bones >> Two thumbs up.

    3) The new Harry Potter book comes out this summer! Woohoo.

    heh.

  3. For fiction; “The Toy Collector” by James Gunn.

    Non fiction; “Sean & David’s Long Drive” by Sean Condon.

    I see “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson on your list. It’s done really well in the Books on CD version. So I’d recommend that if you use audio books when communting or working out.

  4. It seems like you’ve got plenty to go on, but it’s hard to resist throwing my two pennies at you:

    “The Namesake”, by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a good book, but her pullitzer-winning collection of stories, “Interpreter of Maladies”, is better.

    George Saunders is like no one else. Funny, sad, satiric, insightful. I see that his “Civilwarland in Bad Decline” has made it. You should also read my favorite book of his, “Pastoralia”.

    Michael Chabon’s “Kavalier and Clay” is long but well worth it.

    My only naysaying would be against “The Plot Against America”. Roth is a genius, but not in that book. Try “Portnoy’s Complaint.”

  5. i’m sure someone else has mentioned this already, but almost anything by italo calvino is worth reading if you haven’t before. on the plus side, a book like “invisible cities” or “castle of crossed destinies” are short enough that you could blow through them in less than a week!

  7. without reading anyone elses comments I will send a vote to promote The Namesake. I am iffy on The Lovely Bones-I love and hate it simultaneously.
    I do thank you for the list and appreciate the fact that I share the same book strategy of going to the new release section in the library and flipping through jackets.

  8. also after reading some comments I agree that Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies is better than The Namesake and I usually hate short stories.

  10. I *highly* recommend these 2 books:

    1. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

    2. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

  11. I found The Corrections to be really, really annoying, and not in the way that House of Leaves was. House of Leaves was annoying, but it was legitimate – I don’t think Danielzswki (I know I misspelled his name) was showing off – he was doing something, and it didn’t always succeed, so it was irksome, but not flaunting for sake of demonstrating his cleverness whereas the Corrections was show-off annoying, and also not very interesting. Lovely Bones was way too precious for me – it was creepy in a precious way and it was precious in a precious way and overall, I found it precious.

    Someone up there suggested John Crowley’s Little Big, which is one of the best books I have read, and I still don’t know *why* it is so good. Another good recommendation up there was Altered Carbon. AS Byatt’s Babel Tower series continues to be finely written and very engaging. Perdido Street Station and The Scar were both great. Iron Council was slower moving, but some of the writing just shimmered. Literally anything at all by Jonathan Lethem is worth reading at least once, and probably more than once. Vikram Seth is great. A Suitable Boy is brutally long, but his nonfiction, especially the one about hitchhiking across china and thru tibet was very accessible and An Equal Music was gorgeous.

    Rose MacCauley’s Towers of Trebizond – how did you come up with that?

  13. i really liked reading “Shogun” my James Clavell.. it’s an oldie, but a goodie. It’s kind of like The Last Samurai, but more so.

  14. Well, it looks like you have plenty to keep you busy, but I’ll add two of my recent favorites anyway:

    “Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates” – Hysterical and Perfect.

    “A Prayer for the Dying” – Brief, Brutal and Brilliant.

  15. I know you’ve already bumped it up to the varsity list, but I thought I’d reiterate that Houllebecq is excellent. Read it about sandwiched between some of those other books you have up there and you’ll appreciate its fearless, unique, brilliance even more.

    Although you aren’t taking new nominees, I thought while we were on the topic I’d plug New York Review of Books’s collection. So many great books have slipped through the cracks over the years. Browse through some of their titles for something different, and try and help break this dependence on publishercrats and their book reviewing minions.

    Two recommendations from the list: Blaise Cendrar’s “Moravagine.”

    and Andrei Platonov’s “The Fierce and Beautiful World”

  16. Edith Wharton is so. very. boring. I don’t recommend reading anything by her unless you are cruely forced to by an English teacher.

    Lovely Bones is wonderful though (with a slightly meh ending) I highly, highly recommend it.

  17. Add my vote for “Kavalier and Clay.” Chabon’s other book that one should read, apparently not mentioned above, is “The Wonder Boys.” The movie’s not bad either. “Summerland,” I should note, is indeed SF, but it’s more of an adolescent novel. It’s less Harry Potter, more “His Dark Materials,” but much sunnier and more fantastic than both.

    I read Lahiri’s “The Namesake” in a form that seemed to me like a complete story in The New Yorker fiction issue from a couple years ago– great story and writing, but I’m not sure, having read what I have, that there’s a point in getting the book myself.

    Connie Willis’ “To Say Nothing of the Dog” is a same-universe sequel to her “Doomsday Book,” which is also an excellent read, if somewhat darker. The gist of the universe is that time travel has been discovered, but it’s largely useless for the usual wish-fulfillment, so people use it for arcane historical research. The second one’s pretty funny, but both have Willis’s great gift, IMO: her antagonists are generally just well-meaning but infuriatingly self-involved characters. I love them.

    I’ll second Donna Tartt, as necessary. I’m about 1/3rd into “The Little Friend,” but “The Secret History” was so good, I’ve bought, over the years, 3 copies to re-read and then pass along to friends, who do the same.

    As for my own recommendations, I’m trying to get through all of Joseph Conrad, and can recommend a couple: “The Arrow of Gold,” set during the first Carlist War (Spain 1870s), “The Rover,” Conrad’s only book set in the Napoleonic days of the late 18th century, and the short, pleasantly supernatural “The Shadow-Line.” “Lord Jim,” of course, tops the list.

  18. I thought The Age of Innocence was a great and touching book, and a fascinating portrait of New York City life in the Gilded Age. It’s actually the only Wharton I’ve yet read, so I can’t compare it to Ethan Frome or others. (Although consider that it won her the Pulitzer Prize.)

    Additionally, it was one of only 3 books that ever have ever made me cry.

  19. While I’ve enjoyed many of the books on the list (and am intrigued by many more), I cannot recommend “Game of Thrones” highly enough! I know, it’s already on the main list, but you should commence reading it immediately.

    The only downside — after devouring the first few books in the series, you’ll find that George RR Martin is still writing the next … after like 3 years. It’s almost cause for despair, until you realize that it means you’ll have time to read them all again…

    –David

  20. I’ve recently discovered China Mieville and the first in his fantasy series, Perdido Street Station. The reviews say he reads like a combo of Dickens, Kafka and Neal Stephenson, and I think there’s a hint of Jonathan Carroll in there as well. (And if you haven’t read Carroll, you should.) It’s also been referred to as “steampunk,” though I hate that term, and the book owes as much to fantasy traditions as to the “historical science fiction” that spawned steampunk.

    The book’s setting is the city of New Crobuzon, which comes across as a kind of Victorian London, complete with grit, grime, smoke and filth, with a population of humans, semi-humans and non-humans, all living under a repressive municipal authority. It takes about 20 pages to really get into it (at least, it took me that long), but once it gets going, it’s compelling. I’ve just moved on to the follow-up, The Scar, and Mieville has just released a third book set in or around New Crobuzon, The Iron Council. Highly recommended. (By me, at least.)

  21. I had originally seconded “Eastern Standard Tribe” by Cory Doctorow, but now that some time has passed I’m thinking I enjoyed his first, “Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom”, more. I agree his writing could improve, but his ideas are just so much fun.
    Digger, I’m glad you enjoyed “Red Thunder” by john Varley. It made me sick. I was an insatiable fan of his for many years and I’d highly recommend any of his previous efforts EXCEPT “Red Thunder”. The distracting product placement alone made it read like a soulless Hollywood screenplay.
    I just finished reading Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, and that was a lot of fun.

  22. Pattern Recognition was okay, but not one of his better efforts. Re-read the Bridge and Neuromancer books instead.

    Also: The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. THAT will keep you busy for 2700 pages.

  23. I strongly recommend Miriam Toews’ “A Complicated Kindness”, because it is beautifully written and funny and about Mennonites and angry teenagers. And it’s award-winning, in Canada at least.

  24. “McCarthy’s Bar” is non-fiction: quite a fun tale of visiting namesake bars in Ireland. In a similar vein, Tony Hawks’ “Round Ireland With a Fridge” begins (of course) with a bar bet, and results in hitchhiking around Ireland with a mini-fridge in tow. He takes it surfing. Nuff said.

  26. I recently read “Portrait of a Killer” by Patricia Cornwell re: Jack the Ripper’s identity. She has some pretty good arguments, although I’m not about to go to England and spend years trying to refute her claims. I’ll take her research under advisement. Good book, though.

  27. I recommend “The Quincunx” by Charles Palliser.

    It’s a bit older (from 1990), but worth a read if you like intricate, Dickensian tales of inheritance, poverty, and woe set in 19th century London (and, really, who doesn’t).

    Plus how many books have you read with a word in the title that starts with “Q” and sounds vaguely dirty?

    I don’t want to say much about it for fear of giving something away, but I can’t recommend it highly enough.

  29. _The Theif Lord_ is not that great. Her style is patronizing and rudimentary. There are some interesting plot elements don’t read it unless you’re bored.

    And if anyone else reads this, stop recommending _Kavalier and Clay_! Don’t you read this blog?
    Matthew probably read that book before you did!

  30. The Black Company series is great. Be warned that I also tend to call it “The Crack Company” though, because once you start reading it, you will have a hard time stopping until you’ve finished all nine books.

    I second “Pattern Recognition”. Gibson always has interesting stuff in his books–he can turn a descriptive phrase like no one else. Since this story is set closest to present day, it’s probably best to read it soon before his descriptions of internet related activities get too stale. After you’re done reading it, you can join the crowd over on williamgibsonboard.com and chat about it. Not to mention, notice that your site has turned up several times in the “Look what the internet hath brought us today” thread. :-)

  31. I’ll second “Resume with Monsters”, wonderfully dark theme (although I must admit to a having a penchant for Lovecraft).

  32. The Lovely Bones was a fantastic read. Read it for book club a couple of years ago and it’s one we still talk about occassionally.

  33. Please read Murakami!!! “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” or “A Wild Sheep Chase” are both super!

    I also recommend:
    “A House in the Country” by Jose Donoso
    “Hopscotch” by Julio Cortazar
    “The Crying of Lot 49” by Thomas Pynchon

    If you like complicated, slightly surreal, labyrinthine stuff, then these are the books for you!

  34. The Thief Lord is good but it’s very light. Something you might want to save and read to the squirrelly when he’s about 9 or 10. (Or read together.)

  36. I also second “Pattern Recognition”–a couple other people have already, but I wanted to balance out the nos.

    “Plot Against America” was OK but not great. It’s certainly an interesting premise, but the ending was a little forced (he wanted the alternate history to phase back into the actual timeline). I’d put it on the backup list.

    I want to add to the support for Connie Willis’s “To Say Nothing of the Dog” as well as Neal Stephenson. A quick guide to Neal:
    If you want a quick read, “Zodiac” is great.
    If you want a fairly quick read that has some serious geek cred, go for “Snow Crash.”
    “Cryptonomicon” has even more geek cred, and is better than “Snow Crash,” but it’s a bit long.
    The “Baroque Cycle” is interesting historical fiction featuring Newton, Lord Marlborough, William of Orange, and contemporaries. I can’t speak to historical accuracy, but it’s a decent story wrapped up in Stephenson’s interest in the establishment of the modern system of banking/economics. However, it’s a bit slow-starting; I would test the waters with “Cryptonomicon” first.

  37. Hi! I’m another first time poster. Loving the site!

    I can second the recommendations for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West, and definitely the The Song of Ice and Fire books. Although I agree with another post that it might be worth waiting till they are complete. Martin also has a couple of related short stories affectionatly referred to as The Adventures of Dunk and Egg that are some good reading. I will also second another post’s recommendation of Life of Pi.

  38. I hate when I dislike a book that I think I should like. I can hate the Da Vinci code and feel good about it – it is, afterall, only one step removed from that Left Behind garbage, but I really thought I should like The Curious Incident…and I didn’t. I couldn’t even finish it. Maybe because I was in the middle of a string of novels featuring oddball protaganists. I dunno, I just couldn’t stand the kid.

    Even though it’s very trendy right now, I would still recommend The Kite Runner.

    I would demote Cavalier and Klay unless you have nothing to do for two weeks.

    I haven’t read it yet, but everyone in my office is still yapping about Middlesex and The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I think the latter is a chick book. I also recommend Snow Crash.

    And who can put down He’s Just Not That Into You?

  40. What, is there nobody else to second Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance”? I was moved to read it after listening to a book talk about it on the radio. There was supposed to be a phone-in discussion, but no discussion ever got started because caller after caller only said the same thing when they phoned. It was all variations on, “When I picked up this book and started reading it, for 3 (or however many) days, my family, my job, all my physical surroundings disappeared. While I was reading it, I lived in the book, not in the real word.” Quite a recommendation. I was not disappointed.

  41. Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn.

    This is the only book I’ve ever read where I can’t describe it to someone as “you know, kind of like [insert name of some other book].”

    I’ve been sitting here for a while trying to figure out how to describe the book such that you’ll read it, but, I just can’t. Everything falls short. Just go read it.

  42. I would elevate Jhumpa Lahiri, although I actually liked her book of short stories (Interpreter of Maladies) better than The Namesake.

    She uses really clear prose and the stories rely on really tight structure, which is great, and they deal a lot with cross-cultural India-America immigration themes, which make good subjects.

  43. Oh, also, I highly second the post that suggested Philip Pullman’s ‘Dark Materials’ series for children’s books. Those are great reads.

  44. I recommend against Nicholson Baker’s “Fermata”, currently on the “looking for a second” list. I love some of Baker’s books, but “Fermata” is one of his worst — simply bad pornography. If you’ve never read his “The Mezzanine” or “U and I”, put them on the list.

    I second the recommendation for William Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition”.

  45. I second (third?) “A Fine Balance”.

    I enjoyed “Straight Man” by Richard Russo.

    In the short story category, “Dress Your Family in Corduory and Denim” by David Sedaris and “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” by Alice Munro are wonderful.

  46. i second “the plot against america” assuming it hasn’t been seconded already

    and if it has, i still second it

    p.s. there’s no “v” in roth

  48. I second “The Lovely Bones” and “The Namesake.” I also highly recommend “The Apprentice” by Jacques Pepin, especially for the foodies out there. It is rich and wonderful reading, and there are recipes to compliment each chapter.

  49. it says on your sidebar, your obsession is bicycling, if that is the case you should enjoy The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart (better known as the drummer/lyricist of the band Rush).

  50. Not that you’ll see this (comment no. 150) but try Joey Goebel’s “Torture the Artist.” A dark comedy that addresses the idea that great art must be inspired by great suffering.

    Tell me what you think about the ending; I have my own opinions, of course.

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