Books Read in 2008

The final total for books read in 2008 came-in at 59, including some very lengthy works (indeed, Moby Dick was at best the 5th longest book read this past year).

The year began with the last parts of Eugene Sue's sprawling (21 volume; 2000+ page) Mysteries of the People and ended with Phineas Finn, the second volume of Anthony Trollope's "political" series: The Palliser Novels. From Sue's ardent chronicle of the struggle of the French proletariat to Trollope's respectful anatomy of degrees of rank among the British upper crust suggests what is lost as my French-dominated reading of the past ten years gives way to more British texts.

Other trends included a fair amount of nonfiction including, in sequence, books related to World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. I finally caught-up with several of Hemingway's major works. I picked-up the pace on Walter Scott, finding more nuance in his works (one needs, I think, to look past his central characters) than had previously been apparent. I also continued to work through key high gothic novels, which provided some of the best reading of the year. Discovered as well that Thomas Hardy's more obscure novels are surprising and very offbeat (including overt gay and lesbian characters).

Spent the month of August with back-to-back accounts of the American form of destructive obsession: first Nixon in Rick Perlstein's Nixonland and then Ahab in Melville's Moby Dick -- both leaders took their ships down with them.

Favorite 2008 Readings: Probably James Hogg's Private Confessions and Memoirs of a Justified Sinner, Nicholson Baker's angry slow-burn on WWII history in Human Smoke, and rereading Kipling's Kim.

Worst 2008 Readings: Certainly David Wrobleski's absurdly overpraised and insipid The Story of Edgar Sawtelle but also Thornton Wilder's effete The Cabala and the sad spectacle of Russell Banks coasting with The Reserve.

Biggest Surprise: David Rhodes's smart and humane Driftless.

Biggest Disappointments: Nicola Barker's disorganized (though occasionally stunning) Darkmans; Abe Kobo's extended toilet humor in Ark Sakura; rereading Larry Woiwode's Beyond the Bedroom Wall and finding it undisciplined as a whole if still revelatory in places.

Reading Log for 2008:

13-Jan-08, Sue, Eugene: The Mysteries of the People (1857 France)
20-Jan-08, Murakami, Haruki: Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of World (1985 Japan)
21-Jan-08, Dinesen, Isak: Ehrengard (1962 Denmark)
26-Jan-08, Sciascia, Leonardo: Day of the Owl (1961 Italy)
27-Jan-08, Vollman, William: Riding Toward Everywhere (2008 USA)
2-Feb-08, Robb, Graham: The Discovery of France (2007 England)
3-Feb-08, Pollan, Michael: In Defense of Food (2008 USA)
6-Feb-08, Wilder, Thornton: The Cabala, The (1926 USA)
10-Feb-08, Hardy, Thomas: Desperate Remedies (1871 England)
21-Feb-08, Barker, Nicola: Darkmans (2007 England)
5-Mar-08, Scott, Walter: Quentin Durward (1823 Scotland)
22-Mar-08, Collins, Wilkie: The Woman in White (1860 England)
23-Mar-08, Turgenev, Ivan: A Nobleman's Nest (1858 Russia)
30-Mar-08, Conrad, Joseph: Under Western Eyes (1911 England)
5-Apr-08, Dumas, Alexandre: Captain Pamphile (1839 France)
7-Apr-08, Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864 France)
13-Apr-08, Baker, Nicholson Human Smoke (2008 USA)
27-Apr-08, Halberstam, David: The Coldest Winter, (2007 USA)
3-May-08, Banks, Russell: The Reserve (2007 USA)
7-May-08, Sebald, W.G.: Natural History of Destruction (1999 Germany)
7-May-08, Heim, Scott: We Disappear (2008 USA)
12-May-08, Hemingway, Ernest: Islands in the Stream (1952 USA)
19-May-08, Bird, Robert Montgomery: Sheppard Lee (1839 USA)
25-May-08, Purdy, James: In the Hollow of His Hand (1986 USA)
26-May-08, Millhauser, Steven: Dangerous Laughter (2008 USA)
2-Jun-08, Malloy, Brian: Brendan Wolf (2007 USA)
9-Jun-08, Frederic, Harold: Damnation of Theron Ware (1896 USA)
15-Jun-08, Zweig, Stefan: The Post-Offce Girl (1942 Austria)
22-Jun-08, Wroblewski, David: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008 USA)
25-Jun-08, Hanley, James: Boy (1932 Wales)
29-Jun-08, Dylan, Bob: Chronicles, Volume One (2006 USA)
6-Jul-08, Hemingway, Ernest: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940 USA)
15-Jul-08, Kipling, Rudyard: Kim (1901 England)
20-Jul-08, Bock, Charles: Beautiful Children (2008 USA)
27-Jul-08, Hadju, David: Ten Cent Plague (2008 USA)
3-Aug-08 McGrath, Patrick Ghost Town: Tales of New York (2006 England)
21-Aug-08, Pearlstein, Rick: Nixonland (2008 USA)
1-Sep-08, Melville, Herman: Moby Dick, or the Whale (1851 USA)
7-Sep-08, Abe, Kobo: Ark Sakura (1984 Japan)
8-Sep-08, Kantner, Seth: Shopping for Porcupine (2008 USA)
16-Sep-08, Scott, Walter: Guy Mannering (1815 Scotland)
21-Sep-08, Hemingway, Ernest: Farewell to Arms (1929 USA)
28-Sep-08, Hardy, Thomas: A Loadicean (1881 England)
3-Oct-08, Hemingway, Ernest: In Our Time (1925 USA)
5-Oct-08, Didion, Joan: Where I Was From (2003 USA)
12-Oct-08, Woiwode, Larry Beyond the Bedroom Wall (1975 USA)
19-Oct-08, Zola, Emilie: Piping Hot (1888 France)
5-Nov-08, Trollope, Anthony: Can You Forgive Her? (1865 England)
9-Nov-08, Hogg, James: Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824 Scotland)
13-Nov-08, Reid, Forrest: The Garden God, The (1905 Ireland)
16-Nov-08, Arnott, Jake: The Long Firm (1999 England)
25-Nov-08, Scott, Walter: The Antiquary (1816 Scotland)
30-Nov-08, Doyle, Arthur Conan: Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896 England)
30-Nov-08, Lewis, Matthew: The Monk (1796 England)
10-Dec-08, Rhodes, David: Driftless (2008 USA)
11-Dec-08, Bachelder, Chris: Bear v Shark (2001 USA)
17-Dec-08, Rezzori, Gregor von: The Hussar (1960 Austria)
20-Dec-08, Marsh, Richard: The Beetle (1897 England)
30-Dec-08, Trollope, Anthony: Phineas Finn (1869 England)