December 2016
The books I finished reading in December 2016:
 |
| December 2016 Reading: photo by Cliff Hutson |
A Year of Books
I read a total of fifty-four books in 2016. This puts me about 35% ahead of David Allen, who was the impetus for my starting to track my reading. My list, in chronological order:
Books Read - 2016
- “Go, A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design," Chip Kidd
- "Black Cherry Blues," James Lee Burke
- "Shock Wave,” John Sandford
- “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” Irving Stone
- “Dark of the Moon,” John Sandford
- “Heat Lighting,” John Sandford
- “A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams,” Michael Pollan
- “Rough Country,” John Sandford
- “Fight Club,” Chuck Palahniuk
- “Bad Blood,” John Sandford
- “Mad River,” John Sandford
- “Storm Front,” John Sandford
- “Deadline,” John Sandford
- “Faceless Killers,” Henning Mankell
- “Caesar, Let the Dice Fly,” Colleen McCullough
- “Red Gold,” Alan Furst
- “The Rosie Effect,” Graeme Simsion
- “After I’m Gone,” Laura Lippman
- “On the Beach,” Nevil Shute
- “Landfall,” Nevil Shute
- ”Sayonara Slam,” Naomi Hirahara
- “The Dragons of Eden,” Carl Sagan
- “The Postman,” David Brin
- "Breaking Cat News: Cats Reporting on the News that Matters to Cats,” Georgia Dunn
- “The Little Sister,” Raymond Chandler
- “Moscow Rules,” Daniel Silva
- "A History of the End of the World,” Jonathan Kirsch
- “An American Genocide,” Benjamin Madley
- “The Sixth Extinction,” Elizabeth Kolbert
- “Cooked,” Michael Pollan
- “The Man in the High Castle,” Philip K. Dick
- “Personal,” Lee Child
- “Make Me,” Lee Child
- “In a Sunburned Country,” Bill Bryson
- “Hogs Wild,” Ian Frazier
- “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” Philip K. Dick
- “The Mother Tongue,” Bill Bryson
- “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” Bill Bryson
- “Pied Piper,” Nevil Shute
- “The Harvest Gypsies,” John Steinbeck
- “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” George V. Higgins
- “Ecotopia,” Ernest Callenbach
- “The Devil’s Star,” Jo Nesbo
- “Biophilia,” Edward O. Wilson
- “Hold Tight,” Harlan Coben
- “Reversible Errors,” Scott Turow
- “Last Train to Istanbul,” Ayse Kulin
- "Escape Clause," John Sandford
- "The Wrong Side of Goodbye," Michael Connelly
- “W is for Wasted,”Sue Grafton
- “Heat Wave,” Richard Castle
- “Orphan X,” Gregg Hurwitz
- "Susie’s Seniors Dogs,” Erin Stanton
- "Shop Cats of New York,” Tamar Arslanian
It is fair to say that I am glad that I read all of these, as I have reached a point in my life where I no longer finish a book that I start but then has no appeal for me. However, not all of them were enjoyable. “An American Genocide”, for example, was very disturbing. But, it opened my eyes to a part of California history of which I was unaware, and gave me a new perspective in which to frame the work I do in ethnobotany.
Sheer entertainment was found in the Virgil Flowers mysteries by John Sanford. I guess I put the entire series under my belt just this year. Bill Bryson offers both humor and information, so his books were a real treat. (His "A Walk in the Woods" is one of my all-time favorites.)
Picking the best book of this year's lot is a bit problematic, but the nod goes to "Pied Piper" by Nevil Shute. He is probably best known for "On the Beach", which is also on my list. However, I choose "Pied Piper" as I found the story more compelling; and I strongly identified with the protagonist. He and I are the same age, seventy years old. It seems that was considered to be much more ancient in the early days of World War II than it is today. (I like to think that 70 is the new 50, anyway.)
Also near the top was “The Rosie Effect” by Graeme Simsion However, it was not as good as "The Rosie Project" which tied at number one for me last year.
I am starting 2017 with a pile of eleven books that I intend to get around to reading. The one that has been in it the longest is “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty, which I acquired back in May 2014. This might be the year for it.
Sheer entertainment was found in the Virgil Flowers mysteries by John Sanford. I guess I put the entire series under my belt just this year. Bill Bryson offers both humor and information, so his books were a real treat. (His "A Walk in the Woods" is one of my all-time favorites.)
Picking the best book of this year's lot is a bit problematic, but the nod goes to "Pied Piper" by Nevil Shute. He is probably best known for "On the Beach", which is also on my list. However, I choose "Pied Piper" as I found the story more compelling; and I strongly identified with the protagonist. He and I are the same age, seventy years old. It seems that was considered to be much more ancient in the early days of World War II than it is today. (I like to think that 70 is the new 50, anyway.)
Also near the top was “The Rosie Effect” by Graeme Simsion However, it was not as good as "The Rosie Project" which tied at number one for me last year.
I am starting 2017 with a pile of eleven books that I intend to get around to reading. The one that has been in it the longest is “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty, which I acquired back in May 2014. This might be the year for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment