Bibliophilia 2010!

January

1. In the Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondaatje *
   
2. Danny, Champion of the World - Roald Dahl
3. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
4. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
5. L' étranger - Albert Camus *
   
6. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger *
   

February

1. In Search of Lost Time, Volume 1: Swann's Way (Revised English Translation) *
   
2. Shelley's Revolutionary Year, The Peterloo Writings - Percy Shelley
3. Books v. Cigarettes - George Orwell
4. The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
5. Anthem - Ayn Rand
6. The Boondocks "A Right to be Hostile" - Aaron McGruder (GN)*
   

March

1. Candide - Voltaire (R)
2. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
3. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
5. Valis - Phillip K. Dick
6. Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
7. The Boondocks "Public Enemy #2" - Aaron McGruder (GN)*
8. The Watch That Ends the Night - Hugh Maclennan
9. The Chosen - Chaim Potok

April

1. A Separate Reality - Carlos Castraneda
2. Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk
3. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

May

1. Barney's Version - Mordecai Richler
2. A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews
3. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess *

June

1. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens


July

1. Footnotes in Gaza (GN) - Joe Sacco
2. Two Solitudes - Hugh Maclennan

August

1. The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 1 The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
2. The Fionavar Tapestry Book 2 The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay
3. The Fionavar Tapestry Book 3 The Darkest Road - Guy Gavriel Kay
4. Exile and the Kingdom (Short Story Collection) - Albert Camus
5. Think on These Things - Jiddu Krishnamurthi
6. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

September
1. Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
2. The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie
3. How Football Explains America - Sal Paolantonio
4. The Age of Spiritual Machines;When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence - Ray Kurzweil *

October
1. Foundation - Issac Asimov
2. Jacob Two Two and the Dinosaur - Mordecai Richler *
3. Jacob Two Two's First Spy Case - Mordecai Richler
4. The Hobbit or There and Back Again - J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Solomon Gursky Was Here - Mordecai Richler

November
1. You Are The World - Jiddu Krishnamurthi
2. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein


December
1. Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
2. On Liberty - John Stuart Mill
3. On Representative Government - John Stuart Mill
4. Duono Elegies - Rainer Maria Rilke (Poetry)
5. How to Plant a Tree: A Simple Celebration of Trees and Tree Planting Ceremonies - Daniel Butler
6. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
7. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
8. Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
9. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
10. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
11. Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour - Bryan Lee O'Malley (GN)
12. The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What 35 Years of Running Have Taught Me About Winning, Losing, Happiness, Humility, and the Human Heart - Amby Burfoot

Year Count: 59

The Year in Reading 2009

They year finally came to a close last Friday and with it came to a close Bibliophilia 2009. What that is basically, is a list of works I read or re-read during the course of the year from January 1st 2009 until December 31st 2009. The list does not include magazines or journal articles as there are just too many things for me to keep track of as it is.

Six days into the new year I think is a great time to reflect over my year in reading, see what has been learned and what I can apply to this new year for Bibliophilia 2010.

In total 42 books were read or re-read this year, of those 30 were new reads. At times the reading was painfully slow and can be attributed to thick, sometimes onerous and dense material. Most of that material however was concentrated in the form of philosophy and theory work such as work by John Locke (in anticipation of Lost) and Carl Jung. At the risk of seeming like a snob, I would say those works were difficult as they were far more "scholarly" than other things I read in the year, far more reliant on theory rather than story. I am still woefully out of practice in scholarly reading so it was good to read those works and sharpen the dull edges of my mind. I find also that after reading heavy, dense works, I am far better at reading novels/stories and am able to pick up on ideas an symbols far better than I was previously able to.

Looking over the list, the dominant theme over the year seems to be one of transformation and change. Works ran in many directions around this theme from Athletic, scientific and straight stories. So much of what I read this year from fiction to non-fiction was very much about self-discovery, growing up and transformation. Secondary themes in many fo the works were ones of the individual's relationship with nature and their fellow man, which I suppose goes hand in hand with stories of change and discovery. At the beginning of the year, personally I felt I needed to change, my life was something that needed personal overhaul. It find it interesting that I was drawn to books about change, even books that had been recommended and I had either little or no idea about the contents of the books. Some were obvious with what I was going to find, while others were pleasant surprises. Others still were books on my penultimate list to read and found their way into my hands this year, and being a sort of fatalist, seemed destined for me to read at this particular time in my life. As the new year has begun, I am eager to see where my literary journey will take me this year and how my reading choices will be affected by my constantly changing self. With that I'll leave you with a few wrap it up thoughts from the my year in reading.

• I found myself finally confirming to myself that Mordecai Richler is my favourite Canadian author.

• Re-reading the Sandman series and especially finishing the last two before the new year was a treat as it always is. The more I read the series, the more I discover and I am still amazed at the finely woven tapestry of stories about stories. Neil Gaiman started with a base idea of combining various mythologies and in the end created his own sets my myths and characters that stand out on their own.

• Top 5 new reads of the year are (in order):

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
2. St. Urbain's Horseman
3. Of Human Bondage
4. Proust was a Neuroscientist
5. Two Treasties on Government

Honourable mentions go to The Fountainhead (would have made the top 5, but Ayn Rand is not a good writer but her ideas are insanely poignant and affecting - and I'm not even a capitalist!), Memnoch the Devil (for Anne Rice's creation story alone), White Noise (for its meditations on the increasing disconnectedness of human beings especially those close to them), The Killing Joke (for re-defining the Joker character and the life altering moment with Barbara Gordon becoming part of the Dark Knight canon) and Neuromancer (for being so far ahead of its time, it was scary to read it at points).

Lastly, the best piece of advice or wisdom I extracted from the year in reading is from the character of Philip Carey from W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. It is his personal philosophy, the way he ethically chooses to live his life and one that I believe we either all currently follow or perhaps should make note of It is as follows: Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman around the corner."

Happy Reading!

-s

Thoughts From the Leaf Game (43)

1. Looks like the New Years Resolution breaking has begun. Leafs down 1-0 in the first for the 879th time this season.

2. McCabe is getting soundly booed everytime he touches the puck. I understand that perhaps we overestimated his skill and value and perhaps the pressure finally got to him when he played here, but really there is no real reason to boo him other than the fact that Leafs fans are upset that they are Leaf fans. He still is a pretty good player.

3. As I write that McCabe gives the Panthers a 2-0 lead. He has played very well in the sunshine state.

4. Stempniak gets them to within one and they end the period on a better note than they started...

5. That being said, after McCabe's two markers the Panthers have lost their legs and settled into a rut. 2 goals in the second from the Leafs give them the lead going into the third.

6. A win, and the first of the new year! Alexei Ponikarovsky, welcome back to the land of the living. Nice to see you show up every now and then, Gistavsson, you won the game for us in the third. Great Goaltending.

The Weather Report (a chill sets in)

Snow covers the ground, it has been snowing since yesterday
now slightly less steady,
its icy grip still squeezes the city

the winds are sharp and stinging
the cold air can be felt through the windows and over your toes
from our mouths come long curls of steam, streaming, cutting
through brightness of this particular morning
The air is taken in freezing lungfuls, clean and fluid
we are still breathing in the city

Thoughts From the Leaf Game (42)

1. Oh my, the Leafs score first! Could the new year have ushered in some bad habit breaking aplomb?

2. Always tons of Leaf fans in the West. Good to see the Nation alive, well and louder than their stodgy Toronto counterparts.

3. Iginla is a beast. What a player. A joy to have watched him in my lifetime. I still maintain he should have been named the captain for the Olympics. Either way he is going to have a nice Olympics I think.

4. This new Calgary top line is devastating tonight. Glenncross is thriving playing with Iginla...

5. That being said our top line of late has been stale and not worthy of much attention, perhaps shuffled lines (once more) be a band-aid solution, a la Calgary?

6. Identical 3-1 loss to another Alberta team. The west coast was not kind to the Leafs, but to be honest they haven't done themselves any favours of late either.