2009 Reading List

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

2. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

3. Addresses by Henry Drummond

4. A Natural History of the Senses* by Diane Ackerman

5. Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in your Mind* by Joyce Meyer

6. Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop* by Paul Kingsbury

7. Twilight: Director's Notebook by Catherine Hardwicke

8. Wetlands* by Charlotte Roche

9. The Fortress of Solitude* by Jonathan Lethem

10. The Chronicle’s of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

11. Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale

12. Sheet Music by Kevin Leman

I hate Wuthering Heights. Heathcliffe and Cathy are both so deeply awful, and the love story is unhealthy, to put is mildly. I admire Emily Brontë a great deal and can appreciate the atmospheric description in the book, but I can’t bring myself to like the story even a little.

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman is a must read. I have given people the advice that they will understand themselves much better after having read this seminal work. This book had a profound impact on my self identity and how I shape how I interact with the world.

This is one of the first books that really got me interested in cognitive science. It also gave me the evidence I needed to be able to let go of my ideal of placing paramount importance on intellect alone. I had placed such a premium on book learning and academic pursuits that I had begun to undervalue other types of intelligence and perhaps even look down on those who had less formal education.

- From a 2014 Facebook post about books that have influenced me

A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman was a book that dovetails nicely with the work on emotional intelligence, and I really think all writers should read it. It’s a landmark work, though it’s not quite as accessibly written as other non-fiction scientific works.

Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in your Mind* by Christian self-help author Joyce Meyer was something I probably picked up to get a better handle on how to do adulting, but the Christian authors in that sphere are all pretty condescending and pander to their bases at the expense of giving truly useful advice.

A “shelfie” circa 2009 when I was still single and lived on my own. The “favorites” shelf is so bare because most of the books that should be there are in a stack on my bedside table. Orson Scott Card is still cancelled.

Twilight: Director's Notebook by Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first Twilight film may seem like such a fangirl purchase, but the book design is really excellent. It’s a visually stunning and fun read that I’ll never be ashamed of on my shelf.

Wetlands* by Charlotte Roche was another book that my girlfriend wanted me to read so she could get my reaction to it. It was crass. Apparently, it was written by a German equivalent of an MTV host, and she was definitely going for shock value, though I hear a lot of the work is autobiographical. It’s supposed to be a frank exploration of sexual awakening, but it’s just a tawdry retelling of an underage girl’s sexual exploits and it makes me cringe.

The Fortress of Solitude* by Jonathan Lethem was something I picked up because an ex-boyfriend was always reading these modern literary works, and I thought I should be reading them, too. So I went through a phase where I tried to catch up on all the latest Franzen and Lethem and whatnot. But here’s the thing, they often feature less-than-likeable characters, and I never can finish a book unless I think the character is a good person. In particular, I never felt like this story was going anywhere.

I set out to read through The Chronicle’s of Narnia and started with The Magician’s Nephew. I finished it, but I never went on to read the rest of the series. I just never felt like C.S Lewis’ writing was all that good.

Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale was a fun romp. I don’t often pick up derivative works like this, but when I do, I tend to enjoy them.

Sheet Music by Kevin Leman is a preachy “don’t have sex before you’re married” and “here’s how good Christians have sex AFTER they’re married” workbook for newly engaged couples, which I was at the time. It wasn’t required reading, but I was trying to fit into the mold that the modern evangelical church has labelled “good Christian”.

When Teachers Encourage Young Writers

As I was sorting through some old papers a few months ago, I found this note from my 2nd grade teacher...

May 27, 1990

Dear Lacy,

I want to thank you for working so hard this year. You are a very bright and creative young lady, and I’m sure you will do well in school. Always remember to pay attention and do your best.

You have a special talent at writing stories. Keep working at it and someday you can be a famous writer, or whatever you choose to be.

Keep up the hard work!

Love,
Mrs. Pinnick

I used to think back on my “writing life” and try to remember when I realized I was good at it. This feeling never came from my internal recognition of my talent. It was always prompted by someone else’s feedback.

I would think about the time my 7th grade literature teacher, Mrs. Freeburg, praised my incredibly angsty poetry, or my AP composition instructor, Mr. Sturgeon, telling me years later as we met up over beers that he was so proud that I was the first one of his students that he knew of to publish. (I now know of at least 3 others, not including the doctoral theses that his students have published who have books on the market now!)

I would think of the college history professor I had who gave me Cs on my papers, not because they weren’t factual, complete, or had incorrect citations, but because she didn’t like my writing style. She insisted that only one point should be made per paragraph and my habit of leading into the next section with a sentence at the end of a paragraph that introduced the next thought was “wrong”. I insisted that if she were my composition instructor, I would consider her criticism of my academic writing style valid, but since she was my history professor, she should only grade on the merits of the thesis and facts presented, not on how they were presented. We…didn’t get along after that.

I would think of the professor whose classes I never took, but who I would hang out with at the poetry reading series he co-hosted who thought one of my narrative non-fiction pieces was good enough to publish in an anthology.

But I would never think of my elementary school teachers. I don’t have a lot of memories from elementary school, and I was completely unaware of the existence of this note until I unearthed it in a box of “school papers” that I brought over from my mom’s house. I remember my Kindergarten teacher praising my drawing skills, but I don’t remember any praise for my writing. But, clearly, my teachers were encouraging me to write or Mrs. Pinnick wouldn’t have written this lovely note to me at the end of the year.

I can’t think how much of a loss it would have been if this note hadn’t been preserved. I’m so very grateful to have it. This and another like it from my third grade teacher are framed and hanging in my office now.

2008 Reading Log

1. Jane Eyre by Charlottte Brontë

2. On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction by Karl Iagnemma

3. NNNN: A Novel by Carl Reiner

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5. Mysteries of the Unknown: Psychic Power by Time Life Books

6. Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West* by Benazir Bhutto

7. A Good Year by Peter Mayle

8. Rainbow Party by Paul Ruditis

9. Seeing Past Z: Nurturing the Imagination in a Fast-Forward World by Beth Kephart

10. Bubbles: A Self-Portrait by Beverly Sills

11. A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

12. Wyrms by Orson Scott Card

13. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

14. The Portrait of Dorian Gray* by Oscar Wilde

15. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

16. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

17. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

18. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Alas, as I began getting my professional life put in order, I had less and less time to read. I didn’t have a smart phone yet, so we can’t blame that for the decline, but this was a time in my life where I was beginning to establish a career as opposed to just holding a job, and was just beginning to figure out romantic and interpersonal relationships as well.

Let the record show that I read Jane Eyre as a 27-year-old virgin.

All I've the will to do is curl up with some knitting or needlepoint or a bottle of glue and some rhinestones....or else devour a book in an afternoon as I did with C's suggestion of "The Bride Stripped Bare" and am now in the process of doing with "Jane Eyre", which I downloaded in the form of an e-book and am reading on my PDA. I'm sincerely entertaining the idea of getting a Kindle, but can't quite justify the expense. But anyway, in the case of both books, I find somewhere in their pages a character with whom I can sympathize. I like very much Jane's will to remain humble and useful while simultaneously entertaining ideals of adventure and tragic romance. She puts me in mind of Fanny Price from Austin's Mansfield Park who would be my favorite Austen heroine but for Eleanor Dashwood (who strives for goodness and mental fortitude over romance). I have many thoughts on The Bride Stripped Bare, but will defer them as I've already talked them over with Carly and have moved on to other topics so I don't feel the need to take the time typing them out. I will say, however, that I'm very much entertained by the idea of having such old books tucked into my SD card. If the authors only knew! I don't know why I find the disconnect so very amusing, but I do.

From a blog dated Thursday, January 03, 2008

On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction is a collection of short stories by Karl Iagnemma. What interested me about this book is that Karl Iagnemma is a mechanical engineer and roboticist who is also an author. I find his perspective to be very original. He’s since written a novel-length work, and I really should read it.

Fantastic series of short stories drawing from many disparate disciplines of science and many eras of history. I am in awe of the author's range.

- From my Goodreads review of On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was so pleasantly surprised by Steve Martin’s writing ability, that I thought I’d give another comedic actor a shot and picked up NNNN: A Novel by Carl Reiner. It’s a book about a writer, a subject I generally enjoy, but this book was bad.

Pretty terrible book. Don't give a crap about the characters. The scenes aren't sketched in nearly enough detail and the story is populated with people who have far too many distracting quirks.

-From my Goodreads review of NNNN: A Novel, ⭐️⭐️

I never read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in high school, so I picked it up at the age of 27. I’m sure my perspective would have been different if I were reading it at an age closer to Scout’s in the book, but I think I’m glad I read it when I did.

I read Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West by Benazir Bhutto at the request of my now husband. We had met at a political discussion group, and he figured this would be a book I would really enjoy because of my interest in Eastern thought and politics, but I am not now, nor have I ever been a reader of biographies, and I didn’t finish this one.

A Good Year by Peter Mayle was a book I picked up off of the strength of the movie adaptation. This may be a rare case in which the movie was better than the book. It’s not a bad book, but the movie is very good.

Rainbow Party was a preachy tome about girls wearing different color lipstick and giving boys blow jobs to leave a “rainbow” of lipstick on their dicks. It’s a YA “don’t cave to peer pressure” morality tale that leans on shock value. The modern equivalent is newscasters breathlessly warning parents not to let their kids eat Tide pods as if that’s a thing that is much more prevalent than it is.

Seeing Past Z: Nurturing the Imagination in a Fast-Forward World by Beth Kephart was something I picked up to do more research, but I was already abandoning my work-in-progress. Also, this lady is pretty nuts.

Bubbles: A Self-Portrait by Beverly Sills was a biography, or rather an autobiography, that I actually did enjoy about opera singer Beverly Sills. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but I do. Also, I really do love opera. I think I started listening to it because I thought it was a very grown up acquired taste and something that rich, sophisticated people do, not poor working class folk like me…and I guess I actually did acquire the taste.

A War of Gifts is a book of prequel stories from Orson Scott Card’s Enderverse. I heard him mention at a reading that his wife would warn him when the bank account would get too low and he’d buckle down and finish another novel. This prequel nonsense felt like a cash grab. Orson Scott Card is definitely still cancelled.

Absolutely bonkers cover art. Intense and unrelenting sexual desire for someone you find completely repulsive as a means of physical and mental torture? Imagine having the hots for Dick Cheney and you'll have an instant sympathy for the main character of this sci fi classic.

I have the first edition with the original dust jacket art featuring a well-endowed alien being looming over a damsel in distress. It's second only to Hot Sleep (which later became the Worthing Chronicles) as the most hilarious cover art in the Card bibliography.

The story itself is one part Enderverse (on Lusitania with all the Hive Queen controlling the hive mind / Piggies reproductive cycles / genetic mutation madness) and one part Homecoming (on Harmony with the coming of age, mental struggle against the OverSoul; and on Earth with all the Digger/Angel reproductive cycles, genetic mutation madness). There are some pretty heavy-handed religious overtones throughout the book, which is standard Card fare, though there is some Plato (a la The Republic) doctrine thrown in. The real reason to read this forgotten gem is because it's Card's most sexual book. He gives homosexuality a quick treatment and takes on pedophilia. There are many passages dealing with sexual desire and self-restraint.

I do find it seriously off-putting that the protagonist is only 15 and her would-be lover is never given an age, but we deduce from the fact that he's been in several military campaigns that he is MUCH older than her. Gives me a case of the Yucks almost as bad as when Bean and Petra start popping out babies in their mid-teens.

- From my Goodreads review of Wyrms

I attempted to read The Portrait of Dorian Gray* by Oscar Wilde, but I never did finish it. For one thing, I know how it ends, so there’s not going to be any surprise twist ending where I discover the true merit of the portrait in the attic. I guess I didn’t feel like I could trudge through this intensely unlikeable character being a shitty person for a whole book if there wasn’t going to be the payoff of the surprise ending.

And, alas, I discovered Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I am, unabashedly, still a Twilight fan. I definitely have a clear vision of the flaws of the books and their writing. But they are engrossing in a way that few other stories are, and I can’t ignore the kind of power in storytelling that create the kind of fandom that Twilight did. In any event, I discovered while reading the first books that the final book in the series was due out very shortly, so I powered through reading them on barely any sleep so I could rush out at midnight and grab the last book. I think I finished them all in about a week? I can’t remember the timing exactly.

There are very few books I have read straight through the night without noticing the passage of time till the sun comes up. This is one of them. I immediately went straight out and bought the sequels.

The first half of the Twilight is extraordinarily suspenseful, or maybe that's not the right word. Intriguing? Mesmerizing? Surely not dazzling (snicker, snicker). In any event it's not the adrenaline-pumping, page-turning sort of suspense. The narrative has a more mellow, captivating flow. Very gentle but with bursts of violent emotion. It sort of enfolds you continually. The second half is true suspense and quite a bit of action for what I'd assumed was strictly chick lit.

That being said, parts of it are sappy almost beyond description, so if you're not inclined to like an overkill of romance, then you might hate it. It's like pop music. It can be a little repetitive and annoying, but you can't help from liking it immensely and then feeling stupid for liking it immensely. The pacing is its strongest point, I think. The dialog is where the repetition gets annoying, but one is able to overlook it for the most part. Descriptive passages are few and far between but well crafted. The book design is simple but top notch.

—From my Goodreads Review of Twilight