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Wordful Wednesday: 2009 Reading Highs and Lows, a.k.a. Books That Transported Me or Made Me Pine For Illiteracy

My “thumb-through” process is sufficient to prevent me from reading truly bad books.  Nonetheless, sometimes I feel it’s incumbent upon me to take one for the team, as it were, and press on through a real stinker.

At other times, a book doesn’t need a thumb-through, because I’m excited about the subject material or have a good deal of comfort with the author.  Or the book comes so highly recommended that I know I’ll read it just as soon as I can get my hands on it.

There are also, rarely, books that trigger a twinge of I’m Not Sure-itis during the thumb-through, that turn out to be the Best Thing I Read All Year.

So this is my collection of Goods and Bads for the year.  My full list of everything I read will come later this week, after I’ve finished my last title.

First, the Goods:

Favorite Non-Fiction:
Escape From the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew, by Alex Kershaw.  Great subject matter?  Check.  Good writing?  Check.  Inspiring and gripping.

AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War, by Tom McNichol.  I’m a big-time sucker for History of Science books, and this one was just fascinating.  Edison v. Westinghouse was quite the epic battle.  “Savage” isn’t far from the truth.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller.  I don’t generally like Christian Inspiration titles.  But this one actually inspired me, and I can’t recommend it more highly.

Favorite Fiction:
Blindness, by Jose Saramago - Just remarkable, really.  I doubt if I will ever read a more unique book.  I loved the characters, loved the story, loved the style.  Definitely some difficult material in it, in a Lord of the Flies kind of way, but it’s the best Fiction I read this year.  And for its uniqueness, I’ll call it my Favorite Book of the Year also.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  It’s rare that a fiction book lives up to the hype.  This one did, by a comfortable margin. 

Colossus, by D.F. Jones.  Took me back to the era of Cold War paranoia, with shadows of Terminator mixed in.  And the ending was perfect.

The Inimitable Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse.  My first Wodehouse, but not my last, I imagine.  Charming and hilarious.  I read it before I started doing book reviews, but that’s not a reflection of how much fun it was to read.

Favorite Read-Aloud (The Pancake-Eating Boy’s pick):

The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Reid Banks.  Click on through for the Boy’s full review.

Favorite Audiobook:

(This is the place where I would recommend Audio Renaissance’s production of Speaker for the Dead again if I hadn’t already done it a bunch of times.  But in case you missed the other times, know that it’s close to a perfect audiobook.)

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.  Excellent narration by Anton Lesser, with terrific character differentiation (without being overdone).  Oh, and a great story, too.

And now for the Bads:

From the “How the Other Side Thinks, Depending On Your Definition of ‘Thought’” Category:

Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris.  Pathetic, whiny and completely underwhelming.  Makes me much less likely to read any other “New Atheist” titles.

From the “Grab-Bag of Truly Insightful and Just Plain Puzzling” Category:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, by Lynn Hiles.  I’ve softened somewhat on my opinion of this one, and there definitely was some thought-provoking stuff, but it was mixed in with some very bad editing and even worse hermeneutics.

From the “Lack of Creativity on This Scale Takes Effort” Category:

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Bible!, by Jonathan Goldstein.  Inspiring, in that if this kind of tripe can get published, there's hope for the rest of us.  I just really hope he didn’t get an advance for it.  Easily garners my Worst Read of the Year award.