2006 in books I read
Reviewing a biography of Jorge Luis Borges, Colm Toibin wrote, “the books he read mattered much more to Borges than the mere events of his life.” I wouldn’t go that far about myself—the “mere events” of my life matter a great deal to me, too—but meeting my resolution of reading 50 books in 2006 was one of my prouder accomplishments last year, and one I hope to be able to duplicate in 2007. Consequently, here, in the spirit of the “personal annual report,” is “2006 in books I read.”
I included books that I read for school, so the list is somewhat biased toward two classes that had a lot of reading: Philip Roth & Company and Ancient Philosphy.
Miscellany
Total books: 50
Unique authors: 33
Living authors: 18
Female authors: 6 [an area for improvement -ed]
Most life-changing book: Humboldt’s Gift
Funniest book: Portnoy’s Complaint
Saddest book: Patrimony
Longest book: The Brothers Karamazov (824 pages)
And, for the curious, the complete list in chronological order:
- The Shipping News
- A Million Little Pieces
- Mirror, Mirror
- Humboldt’s Gift
- Hamlet
- The Adventures of Augie March
- City of Your Final Destination
- The Master
- Henderson the Rain King
- Elizabeth Costello
- Patterns in the Mind
- Him with His Foot in His Mouth
- The Sound and the Fury
- A Man Without a Country
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- The Trial
- Kafka on the Shore
- Campos de Castilla
- Memorias de mis putas tristes
- King Dork
- The Sun Also Rises
- The Brothers Karamazov
- Anagrams
- Nausea
- Crime and Punishment
- Death of a Saleman
- Nine Stories
- Lolita
- Shadows on the Rock
- Portnoy’s Complaint
- Laches
- The Professor of Desire
- Protagoras
- The Metamorphosis
- Gorgias
- The Ghost Writer
- The Breast
- The Counterlife
- The Republic
- American Pastoral
- Patrimony
- The Dying Animal
- Nicomachean Ethics
- Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman
- Shop Talk
- The Giant’s House
- Go Tell It on the Mountain
- Crabwalk
- French Lessons
- In the Time of the Butterflies