Reading List

As a voracious reader of novels (mostly) and non-fiction (occasionally), people frequently ask: “What do you enjoy reading?” Not intending to be flippant, I respond: “The good kind.”

But ‘good’, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and what appeals to me may, to others, be boring. I’ve tried to focus on traits that appeal but inevitably found exceptions. I took time to review the books read thus far this year (2015) and categorize them.  Some are new publications and others are oldies I just discovered. The balance will smolder in my slush pile as ‘also rans’.

Hope you find the list interesting and will be amazed if you agree in all cases.

Books Read:  – July 2014 – August 31, 2015  (No sequence)

Rating:  1-5 (5 is best)        DNF: (Did not finish)  IP: In process

Girl on the Train	Paula Hawkins	4
All the Light We Cannot See	Anthony Doerr	5
Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn	3
The Goldfinch	Diana Tartt	5
Big Little Lies	Liana Moriarity	4
Wash	Margaret Wrinkle	2
Natchez Burning	Greg Iles	5
The Cartel	Don Winslow	4
Istanbul Passage	Joseph Kanon	DNF
Cataract City	Craig Davidson	DNF
Painted Horses	Malcolm Brooks	DNF
The Stranger	Harlan Coben	4
Family Furnishings	Alice Munro	3
The Brethren	John Grisham	4
Dandelion Wine	Ray Bradbury	2
Pride & Prejudice	Jane Austen	3
On Writing	Stephen King	5
The Green Road	Anne Enright	DNF
We Are Not Ourselves	Matthew Thomas	2
Mightier than the Sword	Jeffrey Archer	3
I Am Pilgrim	Terry Hayes	4
The Nightingale	Kristen Hannah	5
A Spool of Blue Thread	Anne Tyler	2
Radiant Angel	Nelson DeMille	4
President’s Shadow	Brad Meltzer	IP
The Wright Brothers	David McCullough	5
Unbroken	Laura Hildenbrand	4
Boys in the Boat	Daniel James Brown	3
Silence in Hanover Close	Anne Perry	2
Go Set a Watchman	Harper Lee	3
Duty	Robert M Gates	5

 

 

Earlier Novels Reviewed (Prior to July 2014)

Title	Author	Comment
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, etc.	David Rakoff	Unbelievably talented novel written as poem
Another Country	James Baldwin	Bawdy but brutally realistic
Corelli’s Mandolin	Louis de Bernieres	Loved the theme
The Son	Phillipp Meyer	Terrific insight into American Indian culture
Brideshead Revisiteed	Evelyn Waugh	Oldie but timely gay story
Wash	Margaret Wrinkle	How did she ever get into the head of a black slave?
Mission to Paris	Alan Furst	I’ve always loved Paris
Lost Memory of Skin	Russell Banks	A nameless protagonist
Winter of the World	Ken Follett	Best prewar book ever written
The Cat’s Table	Michael Ondaatje	Love it when kids conquer
A Man in Full	Tom Wolfe	I’d read every one of his stories. (at least twice)
Art of Fielding	Chad Harbach	Deeply moving
Bad Monkey	Carl Hiaasen	Uproariously funny
And the Mountains Echoed	Khalid Hosseini	Not as good as Kite Runner but close
The Panther	Nelson de Mille	Should be required reading in high schools
Game of Thrones	Geo. R.R. Martin	Fabulous detail. You are really in the story.

NOVELS I DID NOT LOVE

 

Title	Author	Comment
Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn	Confusing format & not believable.  I may be the only one not enjoying this.
Inferno	Dan Brown	Brown is running out of puzzles and turns to city tours of Rome and Florence. Boring.
& Sons	David Gilbert	Very confusing story line and all character names begin with “a”

NONFICTION I LOVED

 

Title	Author	Comment
Dangerous Waters	John S. Burnett	Was precursor to high seas piracy
Steve Jobs	Walter Isaacson	Best biography I ever read
Killing Lincoln	Bill O’Reilly	Makes it real
Killing Kennedy	Bill O’Reilly	Makes it real
Wild	Cheryl Strayed	Gripping story of perseverance