The year 2011 is drawing to a close, and as we reflect back on the past twelve months, I find it useful to review my reading list for the year, to see how the highlights as well as the failures have influenced me and are leading me forward.
I read the most books in the months of July and December (10 books each) and the least in the month of March (2 books), though I have to admit that I was working on a pretty hefty read (Team of Rivals) through most of March and didn’t finish until the beginning of April. As expected, I’ve read more non-fiction than fiction (49 versus 35), though it wasn’t as overwhelming of a difference as some might imagine.
The author who I read the most books by this year was Rick Riordan with 6 books (I read the entire Percy Jackson series as well as the first in his Kane Chronicles series). The oldest book I read was Sun Tzu’s The Art of War from the 6th century BC, followed not so closely by Moliere’s Tartuffe from 1664 AD.
Twelve of the books that I read were published in 2010, and 52 of the 84 books (62%) were published in 2000 or after.
As I did last year, I won’t comment on all of the books as 84 books are too many to individually comment on. However, as I began my wrap-up last year with the worst, I’d like to begin this one with the best. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow is, by far, one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. Chernow is very detailed in his narrative of Washington’s life, yet unlike with many history texts, the reader doesn’t get lost in the details. Rather, the details provide a vivid picture of Washington’s surroundings and the events that shape him as he progresses through the various stages of his life. The Washington that comes out in Chernow’s biography is more well-rounded and believable than any other characterization of Washington that I’ve yet to see. He wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was a man who tried to do right and to serve the nation as best he could.
The next book on my list, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, is nearly as impressive. It highlights Lincoln’s presidency with a focus on how he incorporates his various rivals for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination into his Cabinet. Goodwin’s style of writing is easily approachable, yet full of details to thrill the history geek.
The top fiction book on my list is The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. It’s a hauntingly beautiful tale of love gone awry. Greene does an excellent job of both plot and characterization. Likewise, Marianne Wiggins’s Evidence of Things Unseen is a fantastical journey that begins in North Carolina and carries on into Tennessee in the time between the world wars. The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl, though being the first book that I finished in 2011, still stands out in my mind enough to end up in the number five spot on my list.
Some non-fiction highlights include: Alison Weir’s Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (#7) which is impressive not just in her style but also in the fact that the records are rather spotty from the time, yet Weir succeeds in doing justice to relaying the facts of Eleanor’s life and separating the factual from the myths and legends that have grown up over time; The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics by Rob Christensen (#12), which does an excellent job of highlighting the progression of politics in North Carolina through the 20th century leading up to the present day; Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian Toll (#21), which, despite a couple of minor factual errors that only a hardcore early republic American history buff would catch, interested me in learning more about the history of the Navy; Carl Sandburg’s Lincoln series (The Prairie Years and the War Years), which I believe tells Lincoln’s story in the way that Lincoln himself would’ve told it.
Some tried and true favorite authors read this year include Erik Larson, Alexander McCall Smith, and Anthony Everitt – it’s always a pleasure to pick up a book by an author you ‘know’ and have the near-assurance that it’s going to be good. An author that I’ve come to know well over this year is the aforementioned Rick Riordan, and I’m looking forward in the year to come to continuing with the Kane Chronicles and delving into the Heroes of Olympus series.
A couple of new authors caught my attention with their books – Matthew Gallaway with The Metropolis Case (#38) and Rebecca Makkai with The Borrower (#39). Though both books fell a little short, I thought they were admirable enough first novels that I’d like to read more of their work in the future and would encourage others to do so as well.
The biggest disappointment from an author I’ve read before was Mark Dunn’s Ibid: A Life (#72). I really wanted to like this book as I had enjoyed his Ella Minnow Pea so much. However, I just didn’t get into the characters as much as I would’ve wanted and the literary device he uses (a story told in footnotes) got a bit tiring and didn’t really work for me.
The three worst books of the year were all in some way, shape or form presidential biography-related. Marvin Kitman’s book, The Making of the Prefident, 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography (and yes, he did spell “President” with an f instead of an s in the title), while trying to be humorous, came off as more flippant to me. The anonymous O: A Presidential Novel fell far short of being interesting. It came across as more of a novelty than a serious attempt to make a point about modern politics or to have an interesting plot. The worst, however, was Paul Finkelman’s Millard Fillmore. Most of the time, even with history books that I don’t necessarily like or feel were effective, I still find something useful, interesting or informative in them. This is one of the very rare exceptions. The only person that I would recommend this book to is someone who wants to know what not to do when writing a historical biography. Finkelman acted as a biographical bully, constantly berating Fillmore through 137 pages and making no attempt at all to try to understand the subject of his biography. I even tried listening to Finkelman when he was featured on C-SPAN promoting this book and had to turn it off.
The full list is below. If you’d like to learn more about any of these books, feel free to either check out my reviews on Goodreads.com or just ask me! I’m always glad to talk about good reads. I hope everyone has a happy New Year’s and that 2012 brings fun reading adventures to all!
01. Washington: A Life – Ron Chernow
02. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln – Doris Kearns Goodwin
03. The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
04. Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel – Marianne Wiggins
05. The Last Dickens – Matthew Pearl
06. Daniel Webster: The Man and His Time – Robert V Remini
07. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life – Alison Weir
08. The People on Privilege Hill – Jane Gardam
09. Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals – John A Buehrens
10. Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union – Peter A Wallner
11. Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, 1864-1865 – Carl Sandburg
12. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections, and Events That Shaped Modern North Carolina – Rob Christensen
13. Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor – Anthony Everitt
14. The Art of War – Sun Tzu
15. Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, 1861-1864 – Carl Sandburg
16. House of Leaves – Mark Z Danielewski
17. A Short History of Reconstruction – Eric Foner
18. Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History – Erik Larson
19. Spin – Robert Charles Wilson
20. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies – Alexander McCall Smith
21. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy – Ian W Toll
22. A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
23. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years – Carl Sandburg
24. 84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
25. The Call of the Wild – Jack London
26. Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President – Robert J Rayback
27. They Also Ran – Irving Stone
28. Washington’s God – Michael Novak and Jana Novak
29. President James Buchanan: A Biography – Philip S Klein
30. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics – John Niven
31. Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green and David Levithan
32. Fever 1793 – Laurie Halse Anderson
33. The Sherlockian – Graham Moore
34. The Last Olympian – Rick Riordan
35. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Annie Barrows
36. Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire’s Favorite Son – Peter A Wallner
37. Mr. Chartwell – Rebecca Hunt
38. The Metropolis Case – Matthew Gallaway
39. The Borrower – Rebecca Makkai
40. Joshua Coit: American Federalist, 1758-1798 – Chester McArthur Destler
41. The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan
42. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol I – The Pox Party – M T Anderson
43. The Titan’s Curse – Rick Riordan
44. Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick
45. Profiles in Courage – John F Kennedy
46. The Supreme Court: A C-SPAN Book, Featuring the Justices in their Own Words – C-SPAN
47. Courage to Stand – Tim Pawlenty
48. Andrew Johnson: Plebeian and Patriot – Robert W Winston
49. The Full Cupboard of Life – Alexander McCall Smith
50. Doctor Who: Galaxy Four – William Emms
51. Light Boxes – Shane Jones
52. The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
53. The Red Pyramid – Rick Riordan
54. No Apology: The Case for American Greatness – Mitt Romney
55. People of the Wolf – Michael W Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear
56. The Sea of Monsters – Rick Riordan
57. The Battle of the Labyrinth – Rick Riordan
58. Decision Points – George W Bush
59. Wanting – Piper Vaughn
60. Believe in America: Mitt Romney’s Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth – Romney for President
61. George Washington – Roscoe William Thayer
62. The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World – Frank Lambert
63. The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers – Jerald A Combs
64. An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government – William C Davis
65. Doctor Who and the Web of Fear – Terrance Dicks
66. Martin Van Buren – Ted Widmer
67. The Choice – Bob Woodward
68. The Cornplanter Memorial: An Historical Sketch of Gy-ant-wa-chia — The Cornplanter – James Ross Snowden
69. George H W Bush – Timothy Naftali
70. Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness – Walter Isaacson, ed.
71. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed
72. Ibid: A Life – Mark Dunn
73. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest – K Jack Bauer
74. Eisenhower and the Cold War – Robert A Divine
75. The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson – Forrest McDonald
76. Abraham Lincoln – George S McGovern
77. Tartuffe – Molière
78. Sherman – Steven E Woodworth
79. Amistad: The Slave Uprising Aboard the Spanish Schooner – Helen Kromer
80. Ambling Into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W Bush – Frank Bruni
81. The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House – Barbara Olson
82. The Making of the Prefident, 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography – Marvin Kitman
83. O: A Presidential Novel – Anonymous
84. Millard Fillmore – Paul Finkelman
