I Would Rather Be Reading

Every year for the last few years, I have set for myself the goal of reading 50 books a year. Once again, in 2009 I fell short. I read 36 books in 2009. This is an increase over 2008 (29) but still below my levels of 2007 (40) and 2006 (46). I guess I will have to wait and see what 2010 brings. I have not blogged about each book I read in 2009, but I thought I would give some quick hits of just some thoughts about some of the books I read this year.

Best Book in a Genre I Didn’t Think I Liked: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. I loved this book. I know I wrote a review of it, but I had to mention it again. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it.

Best Michael Connelly Book: I love Michael Connelly. He is one of my favorite crime/thriller authors. However, I was less than impressed by 9 Dragons. Sure the Hong Kong imagery was good, but I didn’t feel like the story was there, like is has been in previous books. Yes, I enjoyed the book, but not one I have any interest in reading again. I also enjoyed The Scarecrow, but my favorite Michael Connelly book I read this year was The Brass Verdict. I found the story compelling and I loved seeing Bosch from another person’s perspective. With exception of the “surprise” at the end of the book (which I found disappointing) this was a great book.

Best Conclusion to a Trilogy: One of my new favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson. I read Mistborn and absolutely loved it. In 2009, I read the final two books of the Mistborn Trilogy: The Well of Ascension and The Hero of the Ages. In these final two books, Sanderson does what few authors do. He completes a trilogy in which each of the books is interesting, and enjoyable, yet each tells a different story and accounts for the changes that occur as a result of the actions in the prior book(s). I particularly like The Well of Ascension in that it tells the story that is rarely told, namely the rebels have won and are in charge: now what? I cannot recommend these three books highly enough.

Nonfiction Book I Bought on a Whim: I normally do not read a lot of nonfiction. This year, however, I was in Seattle and browsing at the Elliot Bay Book Company when I came across Traffic: Why We Drive the the Way We Do. I flipped through the book and thought it looked interesting. I eventually bought the book and really enjoyed it. Traffic is one of those things that endlessly frustrates me. It was great to read this analysis of traffic as well as many explanations about how our views about traffic are intuitive, but wrong. I know this is a strange book to point out, but I enjoyed it so much, that I sent it to my sister as a Christmas present.

Of course I read a number of other books that I enjoyed as well. Without going into details, I would just say that I really enjoyed the following books as well: The Reapers and The Lovers by John Connolly, 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins, and Whiskey Rebels by David Liss.