_Mark Smith Reading List
(featured in the March 2011 newsletter)
_
I had a good year of reading. I set a goal of four books a month but ended up with slightly better average of one a week. Not what I read when I was in college, but more than I've probably read in any given year since then. I found that the books tended to fall into some interesting and unintended patterns. For example, there were several books about the Jewish experience: "Invisible Bridge," "The Plot Against America," and the "Finkler Question." There were also a number of books about the poor treatment of women: "Half the Sky," "Mr. Peanut," "Little Bee," and all three of the "Millennium Trilogy" by Stieg Larssen.
Anyway, here's my list. My top ten for the year are in bold:
1. "The Time of Our Singing" - Richard Powers
2. "Chicken with Plums" - Marjane Satrapi
3. "Shape of Things to Come" - Greil Marcus
4. "Noah's Compass" - Anne Tyler
5. "Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular" - Ravi Singh
6. "Return to Sender" - Julie Alvarez
7. "The Echo Maker" - Richard Powers
8. "The Graveyard Book" - Neil Gaiman
9. "Prater Violet" - Christopher Isherwood
10. "Let the Great World Spin" - Colum McCann
11. "American Rust" - Philipp Meyer
12. "House of Houses" - Pat Mora
13. "The Underdogs" - Manuel Azuela
14. "The Artist of the Floating World" - Kazuo Ishiguro
15. "Surfacing" - Margaret Atwood
16. "Operation Wandering Soul" - Richard Powers
17. "Thelonious Monk: Life and Times of an American Legend" - Robin D. G. Kelley
18. "Other Voices Other Rooms" - Truman Capote
19. "Nocturns: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall" - Kazuo Ishiguro
20. "In Cold Blood" - Truman Capote
21. "Sport of the Gods" - Paul Laurence Dunbar
22. "One Crazy Summer" - Rita Williams
23. "Poet-Slave of Cuba" - Margarita Engle
24. "Plot Against America" - Phillip Roth
25. "That Old Cape Magic" - Richard Russo
26. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - Steig Larssen
27. "Girl Who Played with Fire" - Stieg Larssen
28. "Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest" - Steig Larssen
29. "Tinkers" - Paul Harding
30. "Just Kids" - Patti Smith
31. "Half the Sky" - Nicholas Kristof
32. "Little Bee" - Chris Cleve
33. "Mr. Peanut" - Adam Ross
34. "Achilles" - Elizabeth Cook
35. "Invisible Bridge" - Julie Orringer
36. "Delta Girls" - Gayle Brandeis
37. "Four Fish" - Paul Greenberg
38. "Freedom" - Jonathan Franzen
39. "Revolutionary Road" - Richard Yates
40. "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" - Alan Sillitoe
41. "Interpreter of Maladies" - Jumpa Lahiri
42. "Three by Handke" - Peter Handke
43. "Pegasus Descending" - James Lee Burke
44. "Parrot and Olivier in America" - Peter Carey
45. "Room" - Emma Donaghue
46. "Kensington Gardens" - Rodrigo Fresan
47. "Push" - Sapphire
48. "A Week in December" - Sebastian Falkes
49. "How to be Good" - Nick Hornby
50. "The Finkler Question" - Howard Jacobson
51. "Diario de Oaxaca" - Peter Kuper
52. "Bob Dylan in America" - Sean Wilenz (in progress)
I had a good year of reading. I set a goal of four books a month but ended up with slightly better average of one a week. Not what I read when I was in college, but more than I've probably read in any given year since then. I found that the books tended to fall into some interesting and unintended patterns. For example, there were several books about the Jewish experience: "Invisible Bridge," "The Plot Against America," and the "Finkler Question." There were also a number of books about the poor treatment of women: "Half the Sky," "Mr. Peanut," "Little Bee," and all three of the "Millennium Trilogy" by Stieg Larssen.
Anyway, here's my list. My top ten for the year are in bold:
1. "The Time of Our Singing" - Richard Powers
2. "Chicken with Plums" - Marjane Satrapi
3. "Shape of Things to Come" - Greil Marcus
4. "Noah's Compass" - Anne Tyler
5. "Harry Smith: The Avant-Garde in the American Vernacular" - Ravi Singh
6. "Return to Sender" - Julie Alvarez
7. "The Echo Maker" - Richard Powers
8. "The Graveyard Book" - Neil Gaiman
9. "Prater Violet" - Christopher Isherwood
10. "Let the Great World Spin" - Colum McCann
11. "American Rust" - Philipp Meyer
12. "House of Houses" - Pat Mora
13. "The Underdogs" - Manuel Azuela
14. "The Artist of the Floating World" - Kazuo Ishiguro
15. "Surfacing" - Margaret Atwood
16. "Operation Wandering Soul" - Richard Powers
17. "Thelonious Monk: Life and Times of an American Legend" - Robin D. G. Kelley
18. "Other Voices Other Rooms" - Truman Capote
19. "Nocturns: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall" - Kazuo Ishiguro
20. "In Cold Blood" - Truman Capote
21. "Sport of the Gods" - Paul Laurence Dunbar
22. "One Crazy Summer" - Rita Williams
23. "Poet-Slave of Cuba" - Margarita Engle
24. "Plot Against America" - Phillip Roth
25. "That Old Cape Magic" - Richard Russo
26. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - Steig Larssen
27. "Girl Who Played with Fire" - Stieg Larssen
28. "Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest" - Steig Larssen
29. "Tinkers" - Paul Harding
30. "Just Kids" - Patti Smith
31. "Half the Sky" - Nicholas Kristof
32. "Little Bee" - Chris Cleve
33. "Mr. Peanut" - Adam Ross
34. "Achilles" - Elizabeth Cook
35. "Invisible Bridge" - Julie Orringer
36. "Delta Girls" - Gayle Brandeis
37. "Four Fish" - Paul Greenberg
38. "Freedom" - Jonathan Franzen
39. "Revolutionary Road" - Richard Yates
40. "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" - Alan Sillitoe
41. "Interpreter of Maladies" - Jumpa Lahiri
42. "Three by Handke" - Peter Handke
43. "Pegasus Descending" - James Lee Burke
44. "Parrot and Olivier in America" - Peter Carey
45. "Room" - Emma Donaghue
46. "Kensington Gardens" - Rodrigo Fresan
47. "Push" - Sapphire
48. "A Week in December" - Sebastian Falkes
49. "How to be Good" - Nick Hornby
50. "The Finkler Question" - Howard Jacobson
51. "Diario de Oaxaca" - Peter Kuper
52. "Bob Dylan in America" - Sean Wilenz (in progress)
