Books read in 2005

Here it is folks, your way too detailed book list and reviews of 2005.

2005 Book Reviews

Best Non-Fiction:

• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis – So readable, so interesting, and so important if you like baseball.
  
• Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy – A few problems but overall one of the best feminist critiques, especially of pornography, that I’ve read recently.
  
• Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks – Perfect little book dispelling all the myths and lies about feminism.
  
• Imperial Bodies: The Physical Experience of the Raj, C.1800-1947 by E. M. Collingham – If you are into colonialism or body politics, this is revolutionary.
  
• The Deadly Truth: A History of Disease in America by Gerald N. Grob – Nothing mind blowing, just a good concise overview of my field.

Best Fiction:

• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – I can’t praise this book enough. It’s the sort of book that requires some work on the part of the reader, but the kind you are rewarded for.
  
• Three Junes by Julia Glass – Surprisingly good and touching.
  
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith – Like three amazing books in one.
  
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers – The only Modern Library top 100 book that actually made my favorite list. If you don’t cry by the end of this book, you’re not human.
  
• The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov – I’m so glad I read these, entertaining and "foundational" to modern science fiction.

Best Graphic Novel/Trade Paperback:

• V for Vendetta – Not only is the story great, but there is some great pacing, structure and concepts in here.
  
• Y the Last Man – I don’t know why you haven’t read this yet. Sure, the concept is amazing, but Brian Vaughn isn’t resting on his laurels and keeps pushing the story.
  
• The Sandman: Preludes and Noctures by Neil Gaiman – Glad I finally got around to reading these, although it is amusing to read it after American Gods and see where all those ideas started.
  
• Channel Zero by Brian Wood – Do yourself a favor and try this out, you won’t be sorry.
  
• Watchmen by Alan Moore – Think Superheroes are played out? Try this.

Best Narration on an audio book:

• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – Somehow he made even the footnotes playful and interesting.
  
• Series of Unfortunate Events – This whole series just has the best narration.
  
• Ender’s Game – Used multiple voice actors (which a book like A Game of Thrones could really use).
  
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – There is just something about an Irish accent reading this book.

Modern Library top 100 books read:

• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  
• A Passage to India by EM Forster
  
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
  
• A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul

Honorable Mention:

• A Game of Thrones
  
• Ender’s Game
  
• American Gods
  
• Close Range
  
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
  
• All the Pretty Horses (which gave me my favorite line of the year: "In history there are no control groups.")

Worst Non-Fiction:

• Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss – Useless if you want to learn anything, insulting and pretentious.
  
• What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank – A poorly structured argument with questionable evidence.
  
• Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health by Susan E. Cayleff – An example of how one should NOT write a history book.
  
• Domesticity in Colonial India: What Women Learned When Men Gave Them Advice: What Women Learned When Men Gave Them Advice by Judith Walsh – A great topic, but it should have been an article and I put it on here because too many historians try this trick. If it’s an article length concept that restrict it to an article, don’t drag it out into a repetitive book.
  
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain – Just not impressed. Didn’t learn anything and found it rather childish.

Worst Fiction:

• Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson – What might happen if a 15 year old boy read Shapin and Scaeffer and decided to do a NaNoWiMo on the topic. I cannot count the ways I hated this book. It made me retroactively hate his other work and I sold them on Half.com so that my house would cleansed.
  
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini – So derivative and uninventive. I mean, Tolkein is bad enough, do we need a bad imitation of him?
  
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd – Am I the only person that hated this? To me, this was the epitome of all that is wrong with modern fiction.
  
• Walk Through Darkness by David Anthony Durham – I wanted to like this, his first book was so good, but this was predictable and unimaginative.
  
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover – If I hadn’t listened to this, with all the nifty sound effects, I would have put it down after the first chapter. Really poorly written and trite.

Worst Graphic Novel/Trade Paperback:

• Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith – Written by someone who has no idea what Star Wars canon is.
  
• Star Wars: Union – Were they trying to appeal to women here? Either way – it’s insulting.
  
• Star Wars: Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire – Someone just thought it would be cool to have Boba Fett fight Darth Vader. Just because something sounds cool to a fanboy does not make it a good idea.

MOST productive Month:
December (although August was the most productive month as far as non-graphic novels)

LEAST productive Month:
February – what the hell was I doing?

COUNT:
Books: 51
Audiobooks: 27
Graphic Novels/Trade Paperbacks: 38
Male: 46
Female: 31
TOTAL: 116

( The Complete List, Month by Month )