Like I said, I’m writing another Reading List of <Insert Year Here>.  I didn’t read as much this year as I did in 2008, which is surprising considering I was unemployed for so long.  I guess that time was spent cleaning, because my house was never so kept (or maybe it’s “kempt?”  I know “unkempt” is a word but is “kempt?”  PS nobody is allowed to use the “I think it is in Europe” line) as it was when I didn’t have a job.  Of course, this means it’s a pigsty now that I’m gainfully employed, but I suppose I can’t hope for much else in the way of tradeoffs.

I was initially bummed at myself for not keeping a running list of everything I’d read in 2009, and I suppose I sort of still am.  I know I’m missing a few books, but I can’t remember them because I have a job and all kinds of stuff can’t fit into my brain anymore.  Sonofabitch tradeoff.

Also, I took a look at the 2009 list and it’s not terribly smart of me.  Lots of…fluff.  Lots of stuff I plowed through pretty quickly because it wasn’t very challenging.  Not like my 2007 or 2008 lists were super challenging, either, but they just looked a little more impressive.  To me, anyway.  At least I saved those.

2009 Reading List

City of Thieves, David Benioff
Just After Sunset, Stephen King
Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Loose Girl, Kerry Cohen
French Laundry Cookbook, Thomas Keller
No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July
Bitten, Susie Bright
White Noise, Don Delillo
Tender At the Bone, Ruth Reichl
My Life in France, Julia Child
Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman
The Quiet American, Graham Greene
I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, Giulia Melucci (I didn’t pay for it but still, fuck off, it may have been dumb, but it still wasn’t as dumb as Twilight)
Love Is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield
Candy Girl, Diablo Cody
How to Make Love to Adrian Colesberry, Adrian Colesberry
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (better late than never, I guess)
Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Very, Very Bad For Me, Sarah Katherine Lewis
Don’t Mind if I Do, George Hamilton
Are You There, Vodka?  It’s Me, Chelsea, Chelsea Handler
God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre, Richard Grant
Manhood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon
Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby
Complete Patti Smith, someone associated with Patti Smith plus some Patti Smith herself
At Work, Annie Leibowitz
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson

Below is some of the stuff I re-read.  I didn’t keep a list and again, I know I’m missing stuff, but for the future, let’s just assume that I will always re-read at least five of the following, which will always include the top four:

Slaughter-House Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, Kurt Vonnegut
Man Without a Country, Kurt Vonnegut
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Forced Entries, Jim Carroll
Void of Course, Jim Carroll
House, Michael Ruhlman

Also, I’m currently in the very beginning of the first book in the below list (1700 pages, christ), and I just bought all of the other ones.  Next ones up for purchase are here.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Will Work For Drugs, Lydia Lunch
Cassette From My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves, Jason Bitner
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, David Sheff
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories, Robert Matheson

Lastly, the book* my mom got me for Christmas, and I’m so glad I waited for it to go on sale and therefore didn’t buy it myself when I had the chance:

Look At the Birdie, Kurt Vonnegut

* She also bought me Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkeyhouse and Armageddon in Retrospect, both of which I already own (in Monkeyhouse’s case, I already own it twice).  Both were blatantly re-gifted to Graham.  He’s a big Philip K. Dick fan, and I always picture Dick as a Kilgore Trout-esque kind of guy, so he may find them worthwhile.