(no subject)

[winterbadger]

I'm just about to start another class in my M.A. course, so I probably won't have as much time for 'fun' reading over the next two months. That said, I finished a good book today, and I figured I would start chronicling the books that I've read over the last year. I know a number of people have signed up for the 'fifty-book challenge', and while I rarely need any encouragement to read, I thought it might be amusing to see how many I have read and whether I've come close to fifty, come short, or blown way over it.

I broke the list down into books I'm sure I've started over the last year (or read part of), but know I haven't finished; books I'm fairly sure I've started and finished over the last year; and books I have read sometime recently, possibly this year but maybe last. This illustrates a number of things, including my preference for fiction over nonfiction and my poor memory (why can't I recall when I read something?) Titles in italics are re-reads.

Started, but not finished
The Last Great Revolution by Robin Wright: Good book, but I keep getting distracted by other things
The Mantle of the Prophet by Roy Mottahedeh: same
Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq by Ahmed S. Hashim: very interesting book by a US war college lecturer who's been on the ground there; I want to finish it sometime soon, but I had to take the copy I was reading back to the library
Claiming Scotland by Jonathan Hearn: I got this briefly from the library; somehow I remember it being more interesting than it is.
Crowded with Genius by James Buchan: another excellent book I just got distracted from
How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman: likewise...
Scatterbrain and The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven: I fear I've gotten to the point where I'm far less fascinated by how clever Larry Niven is than he is
Lebanon: A House Divided by Sandra Lackey: Also a good book, but it ends earlier than I thought it would (stops in 1988). I have several books books I've read that cover the early 1980s, but I was hoping for something that would deal with the *last* 10 years. Definitely plan to finish it, though.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: Another writer who is far more impressed with how clever he is than he ought to let on in his writing. This was less entertaining than the first time I read it, so I stopped.
Island by Alastair Macleod: Incredibly good, but incredibly painful short stories from Cape Breton. I have to ration them, because reading too many at once is too difficult.
Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China by Sterling Seagrave: Peter loaned me this. It's very interesting, but Seagrave is on too much of a hobbyhorse about how flawed previous biogrpahies have been (undoubtedly true) and not enough of a true historian to do a first-rate job. Still, good enough that I do mean to finish it.
The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey: I read some of her books in high school and enjoyed them. I think my taste has matured more than Lackey's ability has.
Cruel as the Grave by Sharon Key Penman: I'm afraid the same is true here. I'm really reluctant to reread some of her historical novels that I really liked years ago, based on how atrociously bad this mystery is.
The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson: Chris and Mel both loved this. I thought it was good, but it didn't grab me the way it did them.
Inside Al Qaeda by Rohan Gunaratna: Another good nonfiction book on current affairs that I haven't had time to finish. Definitely on the "must read" pile.
Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen: Ditto.
Through Our Enemies' Eyes by Michael Scheuer: Ditto.
A History of Inner Asia by Svat Soucek: Assigned for my Central Asia course that I dropped when the professor turned out to be an unprofessional jerk with delusions of grandeur. Dry, tough going. May finish someday.
Jihad, The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid: An excellent book that I had started reading before takng the aforementioned course. Plan to finish it, too.
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch: A very good, but chilling book on Rwanda--the background, the events, the aftermath. I will be finishing this.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Laron: Another excellent book, about murders at the 1893 World's Fair and the Fair itself. Also intend to finish.

OK, that's just the unfinished books. I think I need separate entries for the other categories.

Comments

[magaidhbhan.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely fascinated by this. I heard about it in my translation class (we were talking about how ridiculously little Arabic literature has been translated because, as one translator was told, "it's a controversial language" -- and seriously, can you think of any well-known Arabic authors aside from Mahfouz? And he's hard enough to find!

But anyway, thought I'd bring it to you attention. Useful, I know, seeing as part of the point of this post was to say you won't have time for much pleasure reading for a while! Sorry =) But there you go. I don't have it myself yet, and have no idea what it's about, but I can't wait to find out.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

I've been keeping track of my reading since 1993, and the lowest number of books I've ever read in a year was...fifty. And that was my year at Oxford, I'm pretty sure!

[winterbadger]

Thank you! There was also a recent review on ATC of a new collection of Arabic literature. I *think* it was this, but I'm not sure. It sounded well worth tracking down.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

I like 50bookchallenge because its a good place to find a wide range of new-to-me books being recommended/reviewed (though it gets tedious when people just list without comment). *scans list* Wow, heavy stuff, all sounds very interesting though..