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. Definately read “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin. It can get slow sometimes, but it’s definately the best series I’ve ever read. Also try “God’s Debris” by Scott Adams. It’s very thought provoking.

  2. oh crap, crap, crap. how can i NOT de-lurk when there’s so much book-smack flying about???

    thanks for putting this up, btw, as i now have to go read “instance of the finger-post” and “life of pi” and “house of leaves” and all these other books that have somehow evaded attention so far.

    yet it strikes me that there may be an obvious ommission in the selections thus far, one perhaps worth considering, as it blends both “pee-in-pants funny-ha-ha” with “mind-ripping science-fictional reconstrual of human-history.” that sort of thing, ya know?

    i’m blathering on (aparently) about good omens by neil gaiman and terry pratchet. link.
    anybody seen that before?

    …and if we’re going to add older items to the list, why not “the last voyage of somebody the sailor” by john barth?

    oops, back to lurking…

  3. I’m going to second “Sock” by Penn Jilette. He’s developed a bizarre writing style that’s peppered with song lyrics and pop culture references, and strange sentence structure – which suits the narrator, a sock monkey, very well. One of the best books I read last year, highly reccommend it.

  4. I’m a regular reader, but have never commented before.
    I just wanted to second “Dirt Music” and anything else by Tim Winton, particularly “Cloudstreet” which is my favourite so far.

  6. If you’re going to read something by Margaret Atwood, make it The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Cat’s Eye. Oryx and Crake was ok, but not one fo her best.

    Do NOT read The Lovely Bones, whatever you do. Has to be the worst book I read in 2004 – badly written, obnoxious ending, generally irritating and bad. I cannot begin to express how much I hated that book and how much I want those several hours of my life back.

    I second The Plot Against America or any Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint being another good one.

  7. I just finished pattern recognition and it was pretty interesting. I would not say “greatest book ever” but I very much enjoyed reading it while sitting on the beach.
    I also agree with the George RR Martin reccomendations.

  8. I saw someone recommend Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaimen. I’ve just got to say that any book by Neil Gaimen is as good as gold. American Gods, Smoke and Mirrors, Stardust, The Sandman novels, just pick anything; you can’t go wrong!

  9. I’m not sure about Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, since I haven’t finished it. But the reason I own that book at all is because of The Blind Assassin – that book I recommend very highly.

    I also think that Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are excellent books.

  10. Run, as fast as you can from the corrections. It is one of the worst books I couldn’t finish reading. I hated it so much I inadvertantly left it on the roof of my car and drove away, sending it flying into an intersection. And that wasn’t the worst part of it. The worst part was that I had to go and retrieve it because it was the book of choice for a book club I left shortly after that for similarly other really bad choices.

    And if that isn’t enough to make you want to run, it was an Oprah selection. Need I say more?

  11. I tried scanning all the comments to see if this was on here, but didn’t see it (I also gave up reading 2/3 of the way through): I’m more of a nonfiction reader, but in the memoir & science writing vein. So if you’re looking for nonfiction that’s not history writing, and particularly for good writing and a sense of humor, I suggest Augusten Burrough’s three memoirs (Running With Scissors, Dry, and Magical Thinking), and anything by Bill Bryson or Oliver Sacks. They’re all good writers who will leave you thinking, and I read all of them quickly (I’m normally a slow reader).

  12. Regarding Pattern Recognition: the initial criteria seemed to be “books recently published” or something along those lines. Indeed, Neuromancer trumps PR–yet I found the storyline compelling for its dwelling in the moment, or the moment just to come.

    And if you have only a limited amount of time, I would pick up Handmaid’s Tale over Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and Portnoy’s Complaint by Phillip Roth over The Plot Against America.

    Oh, aye, Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri is the better work… and yet, I have passed on several copies of The Namesake only to find them returned to me fetchingly sporting sticky notes with “Don’t miss!” and ” a MUST read” from someone further along the reading circle who didn’t know I initiated the proceeding!

    I agree with Teresa that The Time Traveler’s Wife is “interesting, beautiful and devastating–but also fluffy”– so it hasn’t quite made my “foist on everyone I know” list, whereas these…

    Highly seconded ( books here mentioned that I have actually pressed into the hands of people for whom I care )
    Fiction–adult
    * Cloud Atlas
    * The Curious Incident etc.
    * Jonathon Strange etc.
    * Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh
    * The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
    * Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin Series
    * The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
    * Cormac McCarthy (anything he has written)
    * Conrad (ditto)

    Specifically Sci-fi
    * The Sparrow and Children of God

    Non-Fiction
    *Bill Bryson (anything he has written. Laugh out loud funny– except for A Short History of Nearly Everything, which frightened the bejesus out of me)
    *McCarthy’s Bar (though ‘Round Ireland with a Fridge is a fun read as well)
    *Guns, Germs and Steel” as well as “Collapse” by Jared Diamond

    Children’s/Young Adult
    * anything by Rosemary Wells
    * His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman –an outstanding, moving trilogy, IMO much better, though in an altogether different category based on length alone, than The Thief Lord

    I liked, but they remain foistless, so to speak

    * Yonder Stands Your Orphan by Barry Hannah
    * Henderson The Rain King by Saul Bellow
    * Wide Sargasso Sea by John Rhys
    * Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
    * The Hyperion Cantos

    I was disappointed by
    * Wicked by Gregory Maguire
    * The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen

    Good on you for what Markus describes as “book-smacking”! I am fond of the process AND the title. Thanks for the opportunity to read recommendations– I am off the track down some Murakami.

    Smac40

    p.s. I heartily endorse Markus’ choices of The Voyage of Somebody the Sailor by John Barth and Good Omens by Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett is a carb-loaded delicious read!

  15. Hey Matthew, can you stand yet another opinion from yet another person who’s been reading your site forever but has never commented before?

    Two of my least favourite novels of the past 10 years are on your lists:

    The Lovely Bones: Gah, what an awful book. And I wanted to like it, I really did. It’s not even that the quality of the writing is bad; it’s much deeper than that. This book is suffused with a kind of creepy spiritual and psychological dishonesty, and the fact that so many people love it is intensely depressing to me. Also, incoherent storytelling, characterization, etc. Almost worth reading anyway, in a slow-motion-train-wreck kind of way.

    House of Leaves: Okay, here the writing is just plain bad. I honestly read the first 50-odd pages of this book believing it was a cruelly clever parody of painful, first-year-creative-writing-class fiction. You can imagine my disappointment as I slowly realized that no, the author was totally serious. It’s a terrific premise — shame about the execution. The unfortunate thing about this book is it may put you off experimental fiction, most of which is much better than this.

    All right, with THAT out of the way, put me down as another vote in favour of The Corrections and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Also Perdido Street Station if you like scifi (I can’t get round the goofy made-up jargon, but it’s a smart, well-written book).

    And two books I haven’t seen mentioned here that I think you would really like:

    253 by Geoff Ryman (which began life as an interactive online novel: http://www.ryman-novel.com/)

    and

    The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

    Okay, that’s my tuppenceworth. Love yer blog!

  16. My recommendations:

    Against All Enemies — Richard Clarke
    Plan of Attack — Bob Woodward
    Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them — Al Franken

    Just kidding — Bush proved that incompetence in foreign affairs doesn’t matter, so let’s move on to fun books! I think Pest Control is okay, but Fitzhugh is a pretty clumsy writer. I loved Fortress of Solitude too.

  17. I’ll second The Namesake – twice if I could. Brilliantly written, she has this style that’s simple but incredibly elegent and perfectly to the point. If you already know what’s going to happen she doesn’t waste time telling you.
    After finishing it I’ve never felt more hopefull and hopeless about life at the same time. One of the very very few books that actually changed my perspective on my own life. Just incredible.

    Quick comment on House of Leaves – saw someone on here bash it for the first 50 pages. Yes, the first half is very slow going and could be a seen as a little…. collegey/pretentious. But once you get to the second half you physically will not be able to put it down nor sleep until you’ve finished. It’s the inventiveness and sheer amount of work that went into it that’s the most enjoyable part.

    Anyway, looking forward to reading your reviews.

  18. Haven’t read through these comments yet, but I wholeheartedly second PEST CONTROL as being hysterical good fun! What happens when a pest control technician is mistaken for a hit man?

  19. I also loved THE STUPIDEST ANGEL” by Chris Moore, which is another half-a-day read that is well worth it, definitely laugh-out-loud funny. The pattern of recommends is coincidental, I’ll also second GOOD OMENS.

    If you can find it, the funniesy nonfiction book I’ve ever read is HARPO SPEAKS, the autobiography of Harpo Marx. YOU MUST ALL READ THIS! You’ll never again be able able to keep a straight face when introduced to someone with the last name of Fleming. Anyone for a game of Pinchie Winchie?

  22. Unable to read all the comments but I second the “Altered Carbon” nomination, plus add the new Simon Green series about the Nightside – starts with “Something from the Nightside”. Another series is by Glen Cook (who does the Black Company books) about a PI in a fantastical world – think Dashiell Hammet writing Grimms Fairy Tales, they all have a form of metal in the title such as “Sweet Silver Blues”.

  23. Oh, and you should check out Octavia C. Butler’s “Xenogenosis” series, assuming you’re into sci-fi.

    The series includes, “Dawn,” “Adulthood Rites,” and “Imago.”

    Small books.Good stuff. Easy reads.

  24. UPDATE: I earlier recommended Too Beautiful for You: Tales of Improper Behavior by Rod Liddle not having read it. Well, after that post, I couldn’t hold out for the library so I went and bought it and began reading it. I still recommend it, but it’s dark. Very clever though.

    Other recommendations:
    Gathering Blue
    The Giver
    Messenger

    all by Lois Lowry. They’re kind of a continuing saga. These books are marketed toward older youth, but they’re some of my favorites even as an adult. Definitely easy reads and terrific stories.

  25. Non-fiction: “Seabiscuit”

    Laura Hillenbrand writes her socks off. This amazingly well-written book is even more impressive when you learn what the author had to go through to write it. My how that young woman suffers (crippling vertigo and chronic fatigue) — and yet she shines.

  26. You really should read The Lovley Bones by Alice Sebold. It is a little gruesome at first with the rape and death of a young girl but it is a REALLY good book. Honest.

  27. I am not even going to try to read all the comments, so if this duplicates, apologies in advance. I can recommend The Corrections, Lovely Bones and Wicked. I have also read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire which I enjoyed more than Wicked.

  28. I have to recommend The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad. And Pattern Recognition, although anything by the gifted William Gibson isn’t going to disappoint; the man’s a genius. His novels are techno-spyish-mysterylike-social thingies, and a really involving read…

  29. I second/fifth/sixth/whatever The Age of Innocence — it’s brilliant. And so is The House of Mirth, actually. Seriously. To paraphrase someone above, looks like chick book, reads like (cynical, incisive) butter.

  30. I haven’t read Seven Types of Ambiguity but my father warned my against it. He got halfway thru and then stopped reading it as he said it was just too depressing.

  31. I second “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond. It presents theories, based on geography and available flora and fauna, on why western civilization advanced faster than areas like the New World, sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, etc.

  32. I suggest Iron Council, by China Mieville. Also, I haven’t read any of Steven Brust’s collaborations, but his books on his own are quite outstanding. He’s always challenging himself to do something new.

  33. If you can find a reasonably priced copy (or get one at your library), check out Iain M. Banks’ _The Player of Games_. It’s a revisionist space opera about a highly revered game player who is sent to an alien culture to play the game of his life. Funny, thought-provoking, and just plain smart. Banks is a genius.

    I heartily concur with those recommending Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series. In the fantasy vein, I also recommend _The Briar King_ by Greg Keyes, which kicks off his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series. The characters are so well drawn I couldn’t wait to dive into the second book (but haven’t yet, since I only recently acquired a used hardcover).

    _House of Leaves_ contains some of the most interesting, creepy writing I’ve ever read, but I wish I had skipped over the parts about the guy who works in the tattoo parlor — those are the ones that seem amateurish and silly — and just read the good bits about the family in the house.

  34. Hee hee, back to second some more!

    Abbi’s Player of Games nomination is a great suggestion! If you want a fun scifi read, bump this way up the list.

    Also, Altered Carbon is quite good too. Very interesting future he’s created and some enjoyable gumshoe detective/ninja worked into the mix.

  35. First off, I really liked “Perdido Street Station”, but the two other books (King Rat [seems *real* derivative of Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere”] & The Scar [just kind of a letdown, the ending is inconclusive and getting I couldn’t really relate to the main character]) I read by China Mievelle were sort of a letdown.

    Also, if you liked the other Gibson books, you’ll probably like “Pattern Recognition”, just don’t expect all of the trappings of cyberpunk that made his earlier stuff so cool to read.

    Anyway, “The Professor & the Madman” by Simon Winchester was pretty interesting non-fiction, if you don’t mind some really really really obscure words and more than you ever wanted to know about grammar. It’s about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

    An older book that you might want to check out come next Halloween is the really kick ass book “A Night in the Lonesome October” by Roger Zelazny. It’s told from the viewpoint of Jack the Rippers dogs and manages to Frankenstein (both Doctor & Monster), the Wolfman, Dracula, and H.P. Lovecraft and if that doesn’t make for one ass kicking book I don’t know what does.

  36. Sock is not worth your time. I read it for a class and the novel comes up lacking. Thank God, Penn is famous or it would have never been published, huh?

    Kick that off and either go with the Andre Dubus III novel The House of Sand and Fog or Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

  37. I’d third or fourth the recommendations for Perdido Street Station, Kavalier and Clay, and Geek Love (I forgot until I saw it recommended just how good that book is), but Oryx and Crake is very overrated. An interesting premise, but the book comes up short by about 100 pages – too many ideas aren’t fleshed out at all and the whole story comes to a rapid and untimely close.

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces”, which is an incredibly brutal and honest autobiographical story about the author’s experience in rehab.

  38. I’m the one who recommended the Black Company series in the 2004 recap comments, and I’m glad to see it got a few seconds (er, I guess that’d be a second and a thir and a fourth, etc.). And as Brian said, Cook’s other series (the Garret, PI novels) are also very good. He writes characters very well, and I love character-driven stuff. Garret’s sort of a ’40’s gumshoe-type PI in a fantasy setting.

    I listed Black Company because it’s my favorite fantasy series. So I guess as another recommendation, I can list my favorite sci-fi series ever: Dan Simmons’ Hyperion novels. I don’t often re-read books, because my “to-read” list is so long. But I’ve read all of the black company books 3 times (and the first 3 books an additional time or two), and the Hyperion series twice. And I’m slowly working my way through the Game of Thrones series yet again, but that one’s already on the list.

    Oh, and here’s one more recommendation, this time on where to get the books. I really like the sci-fi book club for picking up a whole series, because they put all the books together in an omnibus. They have all of the Black Company novels and all of the Garret novels together. I don’t think they carry Song of Ice and Fire or the Hyperion books, but they do have lots of Terry Pratchett which is always a good thing (and another good recommendation).

  39. Fitzhugh’s “Pest Control” is well written and extremely funny. I’m trying to gird my loins to read Roth’s “Plot Against America,” because everything I’ve heard and read about it indicates that it’s eerily appropriate to our times. Also, Roth is simply one of the best American writers (though he is a misogynist, which comes out clearly in his writing).

  40. I’ll comment on the titles I’ve read. I won’t suggest any new titles, as you have enough to keep you busy.

    Oryx and Crake is no good. Wicked is ok but not much better. Both are fairly absorbing and quick reads, but both are too transparent and neither digs deep enough into its respective themes to provoke much thought. Since you claim to be frustrated with mediocrity, I hope you’ll steer clear of these.

    The Fermata is one of my very favorite books of the last few years, though it’s certainly not for everyone. My mother would call it vile and horrid. I can’t wait to read your review of it.

  41. like other lurkers, the topic of tangible media in the blogosphere got me all excited…thanks everyone for the suggestions too; even if they don’t make the main list, some of them have made mine. Speaking of which…

    Mezzanine is definitely more enjoyable than the Fermata, but if you think that one’s randy you should (or shouldn’t, I guess) check out Vox.

    House of Leaves is an interesting, albeit unsolvable (for me) pandora’s box…maybe another three read-throughs or so will elucidate things.

    Pattern Recognition has some interesting thoughts, but has a largely pedestrian plot

    on the topic of superquick literary jolts, Neal Pollack’s faux rock-doc Never Mind the Pollacks was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

    ok back to work, thanks again for the suggestions

  42. wtf? I recommend Altered Carbon, and like 4 people second it, and it’s not on your list yet. :)

    I hate spam, so here’s my email address SECRETLY ENCODED to prevent pork products!

    dan DOT walkowski AT gmail DOT com

  43. I’ll second “Pattern Recognition” and the previous commenter’s suggestion of “Altered Carbon,” but you must put “A Game of Thrones” to the top of you too-be-read list. ;-)

  44. I second Pattern Recognition. Really enjoyed it. I somewhat enjoy cyberpunk, not a die hard fan, and this one was much less fantasy-ish. I can’t put my finger on it, but he created a really great mood… I dunno…. vibe… in this book. A great combination of cold aloofness and intimacy in the main character.

  45. If you’re willing to try something very different, I strongly recommend Ann-Marie MacDonald’s “Fall On Your Knees”. It’s a few years old and absolutely not for everyone, but I thought it was unforgettable. The simplest way to describe this book is as a gothic “Little Women” – but that just doesn’t do justice to the dark complexity of the story. Really a well written, haunting book.

  46. On the lighter side, check out “Love Monkey : A Novel” by Kyle Smith. Laugh out loud funny and a 24 hour read. Also, anything by Anne Lamott; my favorite so far is “Hard Laughter.” And finally, Baker’s “The Firmata” is worth the time, and it IS vile and pornographic.

    Have a nice day.

  47. as a french reader, I don’t know most of the books you mention in your list, but I’d leave the Houellebecq book at the bottom of the optional extras, despite the noise around the book, it is not much worth (cheap provocative thrills), and the author lately got into very unpleasant racist comments about Islam being the dumbest religion of them all, his next book is very ambiguous about pedophilia and sex tourism etc. That’s the kind of dude.
    Imo, it shouldn’ belong in a list that features Philip Roth and J. Franzen.
    Enjoy your reading.

  48. God, I loved AGE OF INNOCENCE. I was actually assigned it for an American Novel class I took at the University of East Anglia, but I read it straight through because I LIKED it! I vote for that one!

  50. Okay, I think “The Fermata” now deserves a bump to the top: it’s been “seconded” by several people, and even those who’ve recommended against it have offered these glowing reviews: “amateur porn,” “vile and horrid,” and “bad pornography!”

    What more could you ask for?!

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