2009 Book List
Posted: 2/8/2010 11:25:06 AM

Looking for inspiration!? Read on...

Every year, my brother compiles a BOOK LIST. I look forward to this every year, because it not only makes me laugh, but it inspires me to READ! (which leads to better writing). Hopefully it will inspire you as well...enjoy!

-autumn

Word to all my gangstas,

It'ss the start of a new year which means it'ss time for my annual year end booklist. (Hold for applause, praise, laudation, cat calls, hotel rooms keys, and red satin thongs). For those of you new to the list, welcome. For those of you returning, welcome back. For those of you who deleted this email once you saw it was from me, please enjoy burning in Hell.

There are many non-alcoholic activities I enjoy on this planet: spelunking, bum fights, Miley Cyrus movies, fist-pumping, crashing White House parties, burning stuff, getting older and watching high school girls stay the same age, Tokyo drifting But the one I love and cherish above all others, is reading.

Over the course of a year I try to read a book a week. The operative word being try , as I always seem to come up a bit short. ( That'ss what she said Shut up, I know you were thinking it.)

I try to be diverse, researching and reading works spanning a wide range of time periods, subjects, and genres - both classics and modern titles - all of which usually fall into the Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Biography categories. The books I select don'st have to be published within the given year, though many of them are.

I only count BOOKS on this list. Not the hundreds of screenplays or magazine articles or folded pamphlets on How to Prevent Spousal Abuse the guy outside WholeFoods tries to hand me as I briskly walk past pretending to talk on my cell phone. Listen, pal, you really want to know how to prevent spousal abuse? Don'st get married.

I kick off every year by reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Why, you ask? Read it, and you shall have your answer. I'sve followed this ritual for the past ten years, ever since my book list began. (So, yes, for those of you who can do math, I started my book list when I was 15, as I'sm now 25riiiight?)

I feel that each year of reading has been more eye-opening and rewarding than the last and this year was no exception.

Before we get to my TOP FIVE READS OF THE YEAR and the BOOK LIST in its entirety, here are a few thoughts and highlights from the year that was 2009:

- I completed the final book in the four book series of Rabbit novels written by American wordsmith John Updike. (The novels, in sequential order, are: Rabbit, Run , Rabbit Redux , Rabbit is Rich , and Rabbit at Rest ��" the last two winning Pulitzer Prizes). The novels tell the story of fictional everyman Harry Rabbit Angstrom, each book picking up close to ten years in time after the one prior. I won'st go into too much detail, but this is one of the best series I'sve ever read, exquisitely capturing the all-encompassing arc of one man'ss existence on this planet. I recommend everyone read this series at some point in their lives. Personally, I decided to space it out, reading one book a year, for four years. I enjoyed this as each subsequent book felt like a homecoming ��" getting to revisit a beloved character ten years down the road in his life; seeing all that was the same, all that had changed. Finishing this series in 2009 feels especially apropos and meaningful; unfortunately for the world of letters, John Updike ��" one of the great writers of our time ��" passed away earlier this year. That said, he'ss kind of like the Tupac of writers. He'ss miraculously published a couple books since his death

- The most dazzlingly fun, page-turning, genre twisting, pulp soaked, can'st-put-it-down novels I read this year include Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson; and, City of Thieves by David Benioff. One was written by a young doctor while working the traumatic ER night shift. Two were written by a now dead Swedish political journalist. And one was written by the screenwriter who wrote The 25th Hour and Troy . If you'sre interested, you'sll figure out who'ss who. That'ss why Wikipedia was invented, motherbitches!

- New authors I discovered this year. (And when I say new I mean new to me, not to like, the Earth). A couple of these literary uber pimps I'sd been hearing about for years, just hadn'st gotten around to scratching their itches. A couple were unknowns to me before our paths intertwined. A good unexpected book or author can be a lot like a pregnant ex-girlfriend you owe money. You don'st find them. They find you.

We'sll start with Charles Bukowski. He'ss the type of novelist that is so well renown ��" for his writing as well as his lifestyle ��" I can'st believe this year was the first time I picked up one of his succulent tomes. Good lord. This guy is an animal. All brain stem. The ID on hyperdrive. He eats, breathes, lives in the dirt. No polish, all edge. And I love it. Just saying the man'ss name makes me want to brush my teeth. And floss. With a brillo pad. Dipped in Clorox. For those of you who watch Californication (which, if you don'st, slap yourself for being a disgrace to humanity), Charles Bukowski is the original Hank Moody, minus David Duchovny'ss looks, charm, and penchant for marital fidelity. If you'sd like to submerge yourself in some meaty, decadent, delicious darkness, start by checking out Bukowski'ss Post Office or Factotum . Just be prepared to take a long hot shower afterward. Trust me, you'sll be the opposite of clean.

Next is Jay McInerney, wunderkind author of Bright Lights, Big City . (Yes, the same craptastic 80'ss flick starring Michael J. Fox ��" good for you, you remember something he'ss in other than Back to the Future and The Secret of My Success too). This novel is anything but crap. Told in second-person narrative, this existential romp through the cocaine-fueled night life of 1980'ss Manhattan marked a new era in contemporary literature. What'ss so compelling about it is the work feels just as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. I'sve heard McInerney'ss later books never quite live up to this debut novel, but I'sm still excited to further explore his curriculum vitae. Holla!

Thirdly is a new dude named Lev Grossman. He wrote a book published this year called The Magicians . It'ss kind of like Harry Potter ��" but with sex-starved, drug-addled, angst-ridden college drop outs. Hey, there'ss one in all of us

And lastly is a an Irish author named Colum McCann. This man has written (as you'sll see below) my favorite book of the year. It'ss called Let the Great World Spin . It just won the National Book Award. I'sll only tell you two things about it. It involves New York. And tight-rope walking. There'ss some hookers in there too. It'ss a towering achievement and if you'sre still reading this you should stop and go buy. It will look great next to all the other books on your shelf you promised you'sd read.

And that'ss all I have to say about new authors. I'sm winded.

- For an exceptionally funny, laugh-out-loud, possibly-just-defecated-my cut-off-Jordache-jean-shorts read, check out: How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. The author is so amusing, he was hired this season as a staff writer on 30 Rock . He also guest stars as the dead border collie that is Tina Fey'ss new haircut.

- And now for my biggest disappointments of the year. Perhaps most upsetting was the book Sunnyside by Glen David Gold, who'ss debut novel, Carter Beats the Devil is one of my favorite all time reads. Sunnyside is a well written, well researched, plotless train wreck of a story. I'sd rather read The Notebook in Sanskrit while having a root canal on my cornea than trudge through this hulking soft cock of a book again.

The other saddening calamity this year is The Angel'ss Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a Spanish author who'ss only other English-translated novel, Shadow of the Wind , is one of the most atmospheric and chilling works I'sve ever had the pleasure of visually molesting. My younger brother got me the advanced galleys of The Angel'ss Game for my 30th birthday. (I don'st know what he had to do to get it, but I assume it involved lots of insert your own naughty words here ). Turns out I had something else to cry over that birthday (aside from the loose skin and old balls which strike all men at the portentous death gong of 30). This book was a preachy, bombastic, overly florid attempt at mixing magic, religion, and some city called Barcelona. Bar-thee-lona. I'sd advise travelling elsewhere.

Also, let me pepper in here right quick: I'sve never been a big Dan Brown fan. And yet, you'sll notice I read two of his books this year. One old. One new. Why, you ask? Excellent question. Do I enjoy torture? Depends on who'ss holding the whip. You see, I liked The Da Vinci Code fine. It was a fun read and functions well as a coaster. I guess I was hoping I'sd get a mildly entertaining read out of these two abominations, but it was not to be. I'sm going to go ahead and take full responsibility here. This is my fault. I'sm to blame. If the marketing machine behind Dan Brown can convince me to eat not only one, but two of his half-baked, salmonella-filled, shit sandwiches, then more power to them. I guess I kind of feel like I did when I read that book The Secret . You want to know what the secret is? You just wasted twenty bucks.

- A final shout out goes to original gangster Ernest Hemingway for writing a book I didn'st entirely hate. I actually (bite my tongue) really liked it. (For those of you who aren'st familiar, I'sm not Hemingway'ss biggest cheerleader ��" but that'ss a whole other conversation. It will require alcohol. Knives are strictly prohibited) A Moveable Feast is a real life, non-fiction account of Hemingway'ss years in Paris as part of the American expatriate circle of writers of the 1920'ss. Famous peeps that make an appearance include Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford, John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce. Pretty cool he got to party, hang, and in some cases have relations with, all these people. Take it for a spin. It will make you want to dance, drink wine, and travel to exotic locations. Like the closest French restaurant to wherever you live.

And now without further ado

My Top Five Reads of the Year. The only criteria is that I found them worthy. While I dug a lot of books this annum, these are the ones I can'st get out of my head. Keep in mind, while I like all kinds of reads, when it comes to assigning a hierarchy, I tend to lean toward the more literary works (which is just a nice way of saying I'sm a book snob. And a Republican). Tales I'sve read before like The Great Gatsby or Old School by Tobias Wolff (which if you haven'st read, you must ��" don'st fret, it'ss not the book version of the Vince Vaughn movie, although that'ss a book I'sd like to read) aren'st in consideration. I won'st go into detail on these bad boys because half the fun of reading is browsing through Amazon and making your own discoveries. If you'sre looking for great reads to start off the new year, you can'st go wrong with my:

TOP FIVE READS OF 2009

1.) Let the Great World Spin ��" Colum McCann
2.) Nocturnes ��" Kazuo Ishiguro
3.) Rabbit at Rest ��" John Updike
4.) Netherland ��" Joseph O'sNeill
5.) Lowboy ��" James Wray

RUNNER'sS UP
(AKA: IF THIS WAS A TOP TEN LIST AND NOT A TOP FIVE LIST)

6.) A Moveable Feast ��" Ernest Hemingway
7.) The Rum Diary ��" Hunter S. Thompson
8.) Pictures at a Revolution ��" Mark Harris
9.) Bright Lights, Big City ��" Jay McInerney
10.) Post Office ��" Charles Bukowski
10.5) Beat the Reaper ��" Josh Bazzel

BOOKS READ IN 2009

1.) The Great Gatsby ��" F. Scott Fitzgerald
2.) The Rum Diary ��" Hunter S. Thompson
3.) Beat the Reaper ��" Josh Bazell
4.) Rabbit at Rest ��" John Updike
5.) The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death ��" Charlie Huston
6.) How to Read Literature Like a Professor ��" Thomas C. Foster
7.) City of Thieves ��" David Benioff
8.) Invisible Cities ��" Italo Calvino
9.) The Tourists ��" Jeff Hobbs
10.) Lowboy ��" James Wray
11.) The Lie ��" Chad Kultgen
12.) The Women ��" T.C. Boyle
13.) Maps and Legends ��" Michael Chabon
14.) The Angel'ss Game ��" Carlos Ruiz Zafon
15.) Angels and Demons ��" Dan Brown
16.) Old School ��" Tobias Wolff
17.) Bright Lights, Big City ��" Jay McInerney
18.) A Moveable Feast ��" Ernest Hemingway
19.) Netherland ��" Joseph O'sNeill
20.) The Informers ��" Brett Easton Ellis
21.) B is for Beer ��" Tom Robbins
22.) A Separate Peace ��" John Knowles
23.) Brief Conversations with Hideous Men ��" David Foster Wallace
23.) Sunnyside ��" Glen David Gold
24.) The Bricklayer ��" Noah Boyd
25.) The Book of Laughter and Forgetting ��" Milan Kundera
26.) Post Office ��" Charles Bukowski
27.) The Four Hour Work Week ��" Timothy Ferriss
28.) Factotum ��" Charles Bukowski
29.) Ham on Rye ��" Charles Bukowski
30.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ��" Stieg Larsson
31.) The Crying of Lot 49 ��" Thomas Pynchon
32.) And Here'ss the Kicker ��" Mike Sacks
33.) The Girl Who Played with Fire ��" Stieg Larsson
34.) How I Became a Famous Novelist ��" Steve Hely
35.) That Old Cape Magic ��" Richard Russo
36.) The Moon is Down ��" John Steinbeck
37.) Zeitoun ��" Dave Eggers
38.) The Magicians ��" Lev Grossman
39.) The Winter of Our Discontent ��" John Steinbeck
40.) The Lost Symbol ��" Dan Brown
41.) Nocturnes ��" Kazuo Ishiguro
42.) Indignation ��" Philip Roth
43.) Manhood for Amateurs ��" Michael Chabon
44.) When You are Engulfed in Flames ��" David Sedaris
45.) American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood ��"Marc Elliot
46.) Last Night in Twisted River ��" John Irving
47.) Pictures at a Revolution ��" Mark Harris
48.) Bel Canto ��" Ann Patchet
49.) The Fortress of Solitude ��" Jonathan Lethem
50.) Let the Great World Spin ��" Colum McCann

A home without books, is like a body without soul. ��" Cicero

Happy Reading,

Joey Boukadakis