I read only 24 books this year–compare that to 59+ last year!  I suck!

19 non-fiction/79% (47 last year/-1% last year)

5 fiction/21% (12 last year/+1% from last year)

10 audio/42%  (16 last year/+15% from last year)

My commute drastically shrunk this year.  Not only do I live about 40 mins closer to work, I work from home 2 days a week and half my commute has internet access.  I think there’s no doubt that my iPhone has put a MAJOR dent in this list–in good and bad ways.  All of my audiobooks were listened to on my iPhone, as the train in Chicago is quiet enough to listen to audiobooks on (NYC was not).  But clearly all my email checking and music listening in the morning made me less likely to read.  I can’t even say I’ve been spending my time reading magazines–I have totally fallen down on reading.  The Chicago Public Library has also contributed to this drop off.  In short, it’s awful. Their byzantine policies and ridiculous fining structure (if you have even a 1 cent fine you cannot use online resources, e-books, or renew anything) very much contributed to me never using their e-audiobooks, which was a large number of the books I read last year.

Biggest surprise: The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson It was pretty witty!

Things I have not done in more than a month:

1. Drunk more than 2 beers in a row.
2. Read a non-electronic book.
3. Listened to my music library.
4. Read a magazine.
5. Been home alone.
6. Been naked for more than 10 mins.
7. Cooked anything.
8. Eaten salmon
9. Had the Internet at home.
10. Read an audiobook.

Since these are my favorite things ever, this is sad. Soon these will be rectified, but in the meantime, in the words of Morrissey, if I seem a little strange, well that’s because I am.

I am very particular about bookmarks.  While I will use a tattered reciept or old baseball ticket in a pinch, I have a true obsession for the good bookmark.  I am currently obsessed with magnetic bookmarks, but form might beat out function when it comes to the book on fire bookmark.  Holy jeeb that’s awesome.

You can take the librarian out of the physical book world but you can’t take the books out of the librarian.  No, siree.

As a child, one of my favorite books was Fat Men From Space.  The plot is essentially, a boy gets a filling and he can hear aliens.  Those aliens look like Drew Carey, and attack the US for its junk food.  He barters peace.   This totally fed my love of conspiracy theories and hocus pocus (the DDC 000s were my friend as a child).

Every once in a while I see what Daniel Pinkwater (the author of Fat Men From Space) is up to.  I was looking up his books and noticed that in a few online databases (those not using MARC), not all of them have all of his books tied together because his name is different on many of them.
That’s when I read this about him on his wiki page:

Pinkwater varies his name slightly between books (”Daniel Pinkwater”, “Daniel M. Pinkwater”, “Daniel Manus Pinkwater”, “D. Manus Pinkwater”, etc.); allegedly, he claims that he does this in order to annoy the librarians who have to catalogue his books.

I love you Daniel Pinkwater. Now more than ever.  Personally, and professionally.

Sent to me by Richard, this is well worth a look if you are a Chicago lover.

Author: Hefner, Hugh

While I am sure I am a pickier library customer than most, since I have worked in libraries, it saddens me that I have had a supremely horrible customer service experience at almost every library I have patronized. Today’s included a circulation desk worker lying about the ability to make a claims return on a book (you’re using Horizon, so I know how it works, circ meanie), and telling me I had to find the book on one of several library branches’ shelves or pay for the book. No option for if a library actually loses the item. When I asked for the number of the other library to get them to do a shelf check, she said she didn’t have it.

She didn’t have the phone number of a branch library in her system? No. No offers to find it, or directions to ask a reference librarian. When I did get the number (from a reference librarian who avoided looking at me to pretend I wasn’t there until I interrupted her) and called the other library I was transferred FOUR times, each time having to retell my story. The reference librarian I finally got shunted to (for a circulation problem) was extremely awesome. The silver lining.

All of the reference help I have had at this library has been extremely awesome (except the first woman today), actually, and weirdly, the majority of their reference librarians seem to be young men. Those are not related, but both can be statistical oddities in the public library!

Ironically, I was there to pick up Free For All.

Booksthatmakeyoudumb is getting a lot of publicity, which I understand because it is interesting. But it is the worst named “research” I have ever heard. It makes me so angry!

In case you haven’t heard of it, basically someone correlated the favorite books of colleges on facebook with the average SAT scores of people who attend those colleges in order to say which books make you go to a “dumb” school. Okay first, what you read before you take the SAT and when you are in college is very different. In fact, the self-reporting seems sketchy to me. Also, I am still considered in my undergraduate institution’s community. Again, my reading tastes are pretty different from when I was 17, so alumni years older are considered in this study. Beginning your study with the idea that some books “make you dumb” is so infurating and biased. Plus, I love that “not reading” makes you LESS dumb than reading Zane. Clearly. Since when have SATs been the only factor on getting into college? And when did your SAT score determine if you were smart or not. A BRIEF look at the books basically shows you that people in some socioeconomic categories do worse on the SATs than others. SHOCKING.The major outliers I don’t understand are Anna Karenina and Fahrenheit 451. Do you really think kids who love Anna Karenina are equally smart as kids who love Harry Potter? Kids who read Fahrenheit 451 are really dumber than kids who don’t read? I totally do not believe that.

Personally all the books I liked when I took the SAT have higher scores than the books I currently read. Also, if you look at the graph, apparently kids who get over a 1400 don’t read any books.

I only read about 44 books this year, which is down about 8 or so from last year. That’s interesting to me, as I have been reading pretty voraciously. The NYPL digital book service is making my total go up, however a shorter commute, and the lack of using an ipod to read audiobooks (a combined effort of my larger ipod dying and NYC being too loud to listen to an ipod at normal audio levels). I also consulted a lot of books, but didn’t READ them fully, especially about travel. I need to figure out a better way to deal with that.

17 fiction/39% (20 last year/ 1% more than last year)
27 non-fiction/61% (32 last year/1% less than last year)

Wow, I am so consistent.

Only 2 could be construed as “religiously themed.” But food (7) and music (4) figured prominently.
5 books were of authors I met.
19 were audiobook, which is way up from last year–thanks NYPL!

____________________________

Biggest surprise: To Catch a Predator
Biggest letdown: Omnivore’s Dilemma, Smashed
Favorites: Nightmare Alley, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, the Dexter books, Outposts, God’s Harvard
Most Overrated: Omnivore’s Dilemma
Books I could not finish this year included:
Lenin’s embalmers (I will finish this, but haven’t yet–carryover from last year)
Lamb by Christopher Moore (Started on the plane)
4-Hour Work Week (started before I left home)
Thunderstruck (Started before I left home)

by Chris Hansen

Yes, I love TCaP.  I love it so much I had to read this book.  Yes, it’s crazy exploitative, but, they are CHILD MOLESTERS, so I don’t care.  Actually it’s probably because I love the show so much that I don’t care.  Does that make me bad?  Maybe, but at least I am no CHILD MOLESTER.

I thought this book would be awful and cheesy–something written just to capitalize on the popularity of the show.  But it’s actually kind of well researched and written.  A lot of it is not about the show at all.  And, shockingly for a Dateline themed book, it points out that the Internet has made this kind of crime drop.  Wow.  Chris Hansen is like, a real journalist.  Crazy.

26 Truths About Your Twenties 

This book made me angry. It was clearly marketed to me, in its pretty chick lit packaging. Reading it, I realized it was EXACTLY the kind of shit written about NYC that I HATED before I moved here. I mean, I still hate that shit, but I guess it’s the kind of chick litty stuff that’s supposed to make me relate to it because the main character is BUYING EXPENSIVE STILETTOS! AT a NAME BRAND STORE! That’s ON FIFTH AVENUE! To denote its NEW YORKINESS! Because it’s one of the few things about NYC you’ve heard of if you’ve never been here. Oh the glamour of a publishing job and a small roachy apartment! Oh the loneliness/freedom of drinking too many cosmos and cabbing it home.

I wanted to throw this book.  Maybe I am too old for it, which makes me a little sad.  It would be more accurately titled: “My Parents Pay My Rent: Being 22 and an Upper Middle Class White College Graduate and Manufacturing Disaffection About It Until I Get Married and Become a Successful Writer.”  That’s probably not catchy enough though.

by oliver sacks

Man I have always wanted to read an Oliver Sacks book.  It seems perfect for me.  I listened to the audiobook, which was a bad move because non-American accents kill me on an audiobook.  It was just okay.  I found many of the vignettes interesting but there was no real common thread to bring it together.  Perhaps I have to try a non-audio version.

by Michael Pollan

It took me almost the whole year to read this book. I expected it to be SO GOOD, and everyone raved about it, but holy god is this book boring and pompous. First, could we get a food book that, instead of yelling about how horrible the food is in America, could even barely mention how LUCKY WE ARE to be able to choose between different kinds of food? I don’t feel quite in the food crisis Michael Pollan feels we are. Also, the interesting part of this book would have been inside the corn syrup factories, which he cannot go to. And there’s no real conclusive scientific evidence that HFCS is worse for you, not that this book has very much science in it. I did like the conversations with farmers. But the middle of this book almost killed me. I considered not finishing it. Basically this book says what tens of other books say, but in a more boring way, written in a voice that I find grating, ignorant, and unthankful.

by John Grisham

I am not a regular Grisham reader, but this is such an odd direction for him. A book about a couple who skip Christmas. I really really really want to skip Christmas. Seriously I am such a grinch. I would prefer to say I am actually quite pro-Christmas, but not the form Christmas takes–running around, buying people gift cards, stressing, guilt, etc. The first half of this book was amazing, but inevitably it becomes a heartwarming xmas tale. Blech. Still good, but I hated seeing the character I liked and agreed with so much get demeaned. I think you are supposed to think he’s an ass in the beginning, but instead I liked him. Harumph.

by Ian Christie

I really wanted to read Lords of Chaos, but the library didn’t have it, but this history of metal was good anyway. I have a hard time figuring out what kind of metal I like. I have figured out I like orchestral arrangement, falsetto, anything with piano-y stuff, some speed, but really no one subgenre. I do love that the metal sign is totally based on Italian-American hand gesturing. I need to go over this book more and look at a few more bands, but basically I have been listening to a lot of Blind Guardian, DragonForce, In Flames, Hammerfall, and Iced Earth. Oddly, even though I have an irrational hatred of dragons, I love bands that sing about them.

This is a pretty good explanation of subgenres. It’s a little academic, but I liked it.

by David Weinberger

This book, for me, must be what it’s like for Brad Pitt to read Star Magazine. “Why do these people care about my job? Who would read this?” I mean I like my job, but who picks up a popular non-fiction book on metadata? I have no idea. Which is sort of the problem with librarians reviewing it, I guess, is because of course it’s simplified, it’s not FOR US. It’s for other people to understand what we do. I have no idea why they would want to, but it would be cool if one day I could explain my job to people in other fields.

That said, while this book is (literally) dedicated to librarians and generally very pro-librarians, I think the author has a prejudicially anti-traditional cataloging stance. I understand why, since Dewey is crazy. But still, just because we need to PHYSICALLY colocate things in the real world doesn’t mean we can’t also do a lot of awesome digital stuff away from traditional book cataloging FOR BOOKS. He seems to think it is one or the other–either you catalog physical stuff and are chained to something like DDC, or you are open to a wonderful world of user tagging. Why can there be no compromise?

This is generally how I feel at all discussions of this subject.

Also he seems to really dislike Melvil Dui. Okay, I get it he was racist and sexist, and kind of a crank, but he also did some awesome stuff. Not everything is bad just because you don’t personally like him.

Given that I have a personal stake in keeping some traditional cataloging perhaps I am biased. But honestly it makes me angry when people think we should just let everyone tag everything all the time. That works with many things. MANY THINGS. But it doesn’t with others. And why can’t there be both to allow for maximum access? Do we have to have a rap battle? Can’t we all just get along? Because of this I think all works that don’t move toward a combo of both are basically moot.

Also, he specifically mentions what he thinks the people doing what I do at the place I work should do. Which we are not doing. Which made me snicker. A book hasn’t really ever pointed its finger at me like that. In fact he referred to me and my coworkers as, “men in a well-lit room.” I think this is a funny characterization of my job as the vast majority of librarians are women and work in really dark confines.

My favorite part of the book is this quotation from Dewey:

“My heart is open to anything that’s either decimal or about libraries.” Way to use the Boolean, Melvil. Okay I am stopping before this all gets too biblioblogosphere and I have to argue about piddly things ALA does.

Ten Commandments for Texas Politics
by Kinky Friedman

Reading this book made me popular with cowboy-dressing Hispanic men on the train. I think they were surprised to see me reading a book with a man like Kinky on the cover. Several guys did literal double takes.

I liked this book, but I love Kinky, his music, and his ideas (except for prayer in schools). This was a very fast read. I have only read Kinky’s non-fiction, so maybe I will try some fiction now. The parts about the campaigning were the best, and the parts about the animals I found very boring, but that would be expected. I highly recommend it.  Now I will go play with my Kinky action figure!

by jennifer crusie

I have been on a fictional binge!  I liked this one, it had actual male characters unlike some of her other books.  But more wacky dog hijinks.  I don’t care about wacky dog hijinks.

by john green

Wow why am I only reading depressing books? This is very Catcher in the Rye, but funnier. Another one from John Green of Brotherhood 2.0. I enjoyed the whole emphasis on people’s last words.

by Douglas Brinkley

Man this was the wrong book to read just as the nights got longer. It was obviously depressing. I had been meaning to read it for a while, and then Chad suggested it and it was available digitally. Thanks, NYPL!

While I enjoyed the book, and agreed with most of it, I didn’t feel like I learned a lot more than I already knew. The beginning of the book sets out very bluntly to find out whose fault it is. And yet, in the end, it’s still kind of everyone’s fault. While I agree with Brinkley’s statement that those who say it isn’t important whose fault it is probably say that because it would implicate them, I don’t think that fault is the be all and end all. It would have been more useful to know, say, how to prevent it happening again. And part of my frustration about this part of the book is because if someone did SOMETHING, anything at many points, the extent could have been lessened. That’s probably more a frustration with the situation than with the book though….

Mainly, though this book assigns fault, it doesn’t tell me WHY the people at fault did nothing. And that for me is the central mystery. Yes I know George Bush ignored NOLA’s pleas, but the book I want is WHY did he do so. I mean there is the easy Kanye West, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” which I do not doubt, although I think the more accurate statement would be, “George Bush doesn’t care about poor people.” This “WHY?” idea gets a SMALL mention at the end of the book (local lawmakers didn’t ask for anything specific from feds, just for “help,” which feds took as a sign they didn’t need anything) but not why any president would feel comfortable not doing anything in a time of national crisis is a question I still can’t answer. But probably no one can.

by Jennifer Crusie

I am reading pretty much every Jennifer Crusie book.  I enjoy them all about the same (which is a lot–they are funny and quick to read).  I also have the same, “I really don’t want people to see me reading this very pink book” shame about them, which, IS WRONG.  I know this because I had a whole class on it in library school, and I generally do believe, as a librarian that anything anyone enjoys reading is totally acceptable.  For some reason I can’t quite apply that to myself!

by Hannah Rosin

Nanette recommended this to me and oh boy is it up my alley.  A journalist goes to an ivy league built for home schoolers.  I am a sucker for the evangelical culture.  I liked it, but in a trashy way.  It didn’t really make me think and I didn’t learn anything from it, which is fine.  But it’s set up as a non-fiction important look into this culture.  I highly recommend it thought to everyone interested in Evangelicals, or how they are being groomed to take over politics.

by Christopher Buckley

Silly, political, addictive, funny, biting satire.  I feel like at this point Christopher Buckley is super consistent–all of his books bring the same amount of cutting amusement.  The only difference on this one is that it’s about blogging, so it was a little more interesting to me.  But who knew there could be so much humor in a book about social security reform?  Although I often get bored at the DC-centric nature of Buckley’s books, this book made me realize I really wish he would run for office because I’d love to see his actual political beliefs.

A lot of these audiobooks I have been reading have been from Overdrive at the NYPL.  Of course I can’t listen to them on my ipod, or on my home computer.  I can listen at work though, which is nice.  The major bummer of the system though is that you can only check out a certain number of books, and you cannot return books you have checked out.  So digital books I checked out and finished two weeks ago are still in my queue and I cannot get them out!  It’s really annoying.  I can understand most other aspects of the library digital books copyright issues, but not why they force me to keep the book!

75 Objects with Unexpected Significance

I got this book at Book Expo. It has a lot of very pretty pictures. Basically a lot of arty/semi-famous people are asked to photograph and explain something they own with significance. It’s funny and surprising what people choose, but I wish there were more stories and they were more in depth. It made me wonder what I would choose, and I could not figure it out.

by john green

I don’t normally read a lot of YA, but I have been obsessively been watching Brotherhood 2.0 all week since I discovered it. John Green and his brother Hank have decided to not textually communicate for a year and thus video blog to each other. If you are a ZeFrank fan, you’ll love it.

So after I exhausted all the videos, I went on to the audiobook. I kind of wish this weren’t YA. I think this book would have been more awesome if set with adults. But nonetheless it was really funny, personal, and dorky. I hear the print version has crazy charts and footnotes so I am going to check that out too. I read this in a day.

Wow this is a really depressing look at city life. The bummer side of all the coincidental things about living in a large city. The anonymity which makes people fall through the cracks. Still good, but, whew a downer.  I picked this up/completed it around my New Yorkerversary, when I went to the OLDEST library in New York–it’s the coolest.  It has glass stacks!  I felt like I was back in ye olde maths library.  Awwww.

As a young’un I read a lot of Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High.  That’s why I am GLUED to this website wherein a woman in her 20s rereads all the BSC books.  AMAZING.

Torture and Democracy’s finally out! And the jacket has a review from Zimbardo–one that I hope was not coerced. (Oh, the wacky torture humor!)
I know at least 2 readers who are torture nonfic readers, so, you know, the rest of you can get your learn on. I am totally excited to read it.

edited to add this amazing beach boys parody of waterboarding.

Ahhh!  Chuck Palahniuk was right.  Don’t let kids near pool drains.

I don’t know if it’s creepier that this happens so often, or that I only found out it happened this often from a fiction writer….

by Anthony Bourdain
I like reading short vignettes, so this book is great. It also has a lot of Bourdain saying he is/was wrong, which is hard to find.  And it also points out how wrong ketchup on hot dogs is.

by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

I started this on audiobook and hated it.  I read it in real book form and much preferred it.  I liked the whole mystery aspect but I do prefer her books without it….