Updated Books List

What's This Page All About?I read a lot. And I get caught up sometimes in obsessive little tasks, like for instance, keeping track of what I've read. So here it is, starting from about October 2005 forward.

Books marked with blue are ones I really enjoyed.

Those marked in orange are titles I didn't even finish, for one reason or another.

The rest...somewhere in between. Anyone with an eye towards statistics will notice the unreasonably high average rating I give these books. There's a reason for that - as noted, I stop reading books I don't like, and I don't give them a rating because I think it's wrong to rate a book you haven't finished. Therefore, it's hard for me to imagine reading a book all the way through and giving it a rating below, say, 5.0, since anything lower than average wouldn't hold my interest long enough to meet that standard. So, were I even geekier than I'll admit to here, I could probably create an adjusted rating by subtracting five from every book here. Therefore, The Tipping Point, a book I really liked, would get three stars out of five, whereas a book I loved, like Kafka On The Shore, would get 4.75 stars out of five. Hm. I might have to do that.Hm. I might have to do that.

Book Title	Author	Rating (out of 10.0)	Thoughts
The Brass Verdict	Michael Connelly	8.0	First, there's a nice twist in that his main character, Harry Bosch, is a secondary character instead of the narrator. Then, a very entertaining and compelling mystery with an additional twist at the end that promises more. Can't ask for that much more.
People Of The Book	Geraldine Brooks	9.0	A great, riveting novel about a Haggadah found in Sarajevo, and it's trace through history -- all told in a casual, modern fun story about the woman tasked with restoring it. I feared this might be dry but it was anything but. Makes me want to read more by this Pulitzer Price winning author.
A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around The World	The Japan Foundation (collected)	6.0	I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but this does contain some interesting articles about Haruki Murakami, a great collection of international book covers ... and some academic papers that I really had no interest in reading.
The New Kings of Nonfiction	Ira Glass (editor)	7.5	Largely really good previously published essays and articles by some of my favorite writers (Malcolm Gladwell, Chuck Klosterman, Michael Lewis). Small points off for a few misses plus one or two I realized I'd already read elsewhere.
Good People	Marcus Sakey	7.0	Sakey's least satisfying effort, it's still a good suspenseful novel and enjoyable.
The Elephant Vanishes	Haruki Murakami	6.5	A somewhat uneven collection of stories, including what evolved into the first chapter of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, it's enjoyable but obviously done prior to hitting his stride.
Travels In The Scriptorium	Paul Auster	5.5	A disappointment from one of my favorite authors, Auster is overly cute here and worse yet, not all that interesting. Next!
The God Delusion	Richard Dawkins	N/A	Did Not Finish -- as much as I wanted to like this, Dawkins is pretty boring and proud of himself and it's not a great read. Oddly, the only book I started but didn't finish in 2008.
Nixonland	Rick Perlstein	9.5	Absolutely fascinating account of American politics from 1964-1972 in particular, with Richard Nixon paving the way for the morass that things have largely become. Full review here.
At The City's Edge	Marcus Sakey	9.0	Fantastic second novel by Sakey, a mystery thriller set in Chicago. Sakey is right up there with Lehane, Pelecanos and Connelly in terms of being the best in this kind of novel.
The Crying of Lot 49	Thomas Pynchon	4.5	Probably worth reading, but well past it's prime and far too clever for its own good. But I'm glad to notch this one as being finally read.
The Nine	Jeffrey Toobin	8.0	Really interesting non-fiction account of the Supreme Court, notably the last thirty years or so. Well worth reading.
The Complete Persepolis	Marjane Satrapi	9.0	Brilliant graphic novel (now a film) about a young woman growing up in and out of Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
The Blade Itself	Marcus Sakey	9.0	Phenomenal. If you like gritty crime novels, Sakey immediately jumps into the landscape here. Just a shockingly good book that is impossible to put down.
The Ha-Ha	Dave King	7.5	An uneven but overall beautiful story about an adult male who lost the power of speech and writing in Vietnam, and how his life changes over a short period of time almost 30 years later.
Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras	Jeff Henderson	7.0	Certainly an interesting life (from crack dealer to gourmet chef) but that should be slightly more compelling than it was. And the foodie in me wanted more details about the cooking.
Rigged	Ben Mezrich	7.0	As always, Mezrich is very "readable" but this was my least favorite of his. But I want to go to Dubai.
In Defense of Food	Michael Pollan	7.5	Not nearly the level of "Omnivore's Dilmena" it is still very good and a sad account of what has happened to our food and the way we eat it.
The Design of Everyday Things	Donald A. Norman	9.0	Review
The Wisdom of Crowds	James Sureowicki	7.0	Reading it five years after it was written, its insights aren't as new to me as it would have been back then. But still, interesting tings to say about how we learn and operate.
Sputnik Sweetheart	Haruki Murakami	7.0	While enjoyable, it's probably my least favorite Murakami. It felt a bit sophomoric and undeveloped. Still very good, though.
Drama City	George Pelecanos	7.0	Straight ahead crime story - sad, honest truth about D.C. ("Drama City") from a great author.
Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions	Ben Mezrich	8.0	Quite good account of Western bankers running rampant in Southeast Asia in the 1980s and 1990s. Mezrich is unbelievably readable.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln	Doris Kearns Goodwin	9.0	Review
Jennifer Government	Max Barry	7.0	Not as good as Company, still a biting satire about our corporate culture.
Exile	Richard North Patterson	4.5	Review
The Year of Living Biblically	A.J. Jacobs	7.5	Not nearly as engaging as The Know It All, this memoir of Jacobs trying to live by the literal rules of the Bible is still quite entertaining.
Bridge of Sighs	Richard Russo	8.5	Outstanding - which seems to be par for the course for Russo. Woefully underrated author.
2008	2008	2008	2008
Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life	John Sellers	8.0	A funny memoir detailing the author’s fascination with my own favorite genre of music.
Citizen Vince	Jess Walter	8.5	A very compelling account of a former gangster, set amidst the 1980 election.
The Echo Maker	Richard Powers	7.5	Review
Committed	Mark St. Amant	6.5	Silly but fun read of an obsessed fantasy football fan. Ahem.
A Spot of Bother	Mark Haddon	6.0	Disappointing follow-up to 'Curious Incident' but a decent story in and of itself.
Dork Whore	Iris Bahr	N/A	Did Not Finish
Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World	Haruki Murakami	8.5	Really good. Full review here.
Killing Pablo	Mark Bowden	7.0	Good, tight story of the hunt for Pablo Escobar.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union	Michael Chabon	5.5	A disappointment. Full Review
The Overlook	Michael Connelly	5.5	My least favorite Harry Bosch novel; unsurprised to read in the afterword that it originally was a serial of stories fo a magazine. Just felt that way in novel form.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning	Jonathan Mahler	8.0	Wholly entertaining account of New York in the late 1970s.
Hard Revolution	George Pelecanos	6.0	A bit of a letdown, more of a look back and generally not as interesting as his other novels.
Soul Circus	George Pelecanos	7.0	Another good Pelecanos story.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	J.K. Rowling	9.0	Suprisingly amazing. Didn't realize how attached I'd become to the series until the end of this totally satisfying, moving conclusion.
Hell To Pay	George Pelecanos	7.0	Solid, insightful crime novel by one of the writers of The Wire.
Suite Francaise	Irene Nemirovsky	8.5	Review
The Man of My Dreams	Curtis Sittenfeld	6.0	Review
The Draft: A Year Inside The NFL's Search for Talent	Pete Williams	6.5	It claims to be the NFL version of Moneyball It ain't, but it's not terrible.
The Road	Cormac McCarthy	9.5	Review
The Man Who Ate Everything	Jeffrey Steingarten	N/A	Did Not Finish
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth	Christopher Ware	8.5	Review
The Ghost Map	Steven Johnson	7.5	Review
Then We Came To The End	Joshua Ferris	9.0	Excellent!
after the quake	Haruki Murakami	7.0	Review
Random Acts of Badness	Danny Bonaduce	5.5	Yeah, I read it. So what?
The Wishbones	Tom Perotta	7.5	Good, but clearly an early effort.
Y: The Last Man - Unmanned	Brian K. Vaughan	7.0
Chuck Klosterman IV	Chuck Klosterman	8.0
American Gods	Neil Gaiman	7.5
Company	Max Barry	8.0
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History in Four Meals	Michael Pollan	9.0	Review
Talking Right	Geoffrey Nunberg	7.0
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil	George Saunders	7.5
The Story of My Baldness	Marek Van Der Jagt	N/A	Did Not Finish
Two For The Road	Jane & Michael Stern	7.0
Wait Till Next Year	William Goldman & Mike Lupica	9.0	Review
Blood and Thunder (audio)	Hampton Sides	N/A	Did Not Finish
The Mind of Bill James	Scott Gray	6.5
Love Is a Mix Tape (audio)	Rob Sheffield	6.5	Review
The Nasty Bits	Anthony Bourdain	8.5	Review
The Ruins	Scott Smith	4.5	Review
Shanks for Nothing (audio)	Rick Reilly	7.0	Review
The Reach of a Chef	Michael Ruhlman	7.0
Special Topics in Calamity Physics	Marisha Pessl	8.5
The Keep	Jennifer Egan	8.5	Review
Candyfreak	Steve Almond	6.5
Hour Game (audio CD)	David Baldacci	6.0
The Collectors	David Baldacci	N/A	Did Not Finish
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt	Nick Hornby	7.5
Heat	Bill Buford	8.0
Wild Fire	Nelson DeMille	7.0
Echo Park	Michael Connelly	7.5
Julie and Julia	Julie Powell	7.0
Consider The Lobster: And Other Essays	David Foster Wallace	8.0
The Night Gardener	George Pelecanos	8.5
2007	2007	2007	2007
Candy Girl: A Year In The Life of an Unlikely Stripper	Diablo Cody	6.0
The Final Solution	Michael Chabon	6.0
Honeymoon With My Brother	Franz Wisner	7.0
Blue Latitudes	Tony Horowitz	7.5
The History of Love	Nicole Krauss	8.5
Dance, Dance, Dance	Haruki Murakami	8.0
Touching The Void	Joe Simpson	6.5
The Know It All	AJ Jacobs	8.0
The Blind Side	Michael Lewis	9.0	Review
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card	6.5
Battle Royale	Koushon Takami	7.5	Review
John Adams	David McCullough	8.5	Review
Florence of Arabia	Christopher Buckley	6.0
No Way To Treat A First Lady	Christopher Buckley	7.0
Never Let Me Go	Kazuo Ishiguro	9.0	Review
Shadow Of The Wind	Carlos Ruiz Zafon	8.5	Review
The Tipping Point	Malcolm Gladwell	8.0
Everything Changes	Jonathan Tropper	7.0
The Book of Joe	Jonathan Tropper	8.5	Review
You Look Nice Today	Stanley Bing	6.5
Never Mind The Pollacks	Neal Pollack	8.0
A Ship Made of Paper	Scott Spencer	7.5
A Wild Sheep Chase	Haruki Murakami	7.0
A Year In Provence	Peter Mayle	7.5
Norwegian Wood	Haruki Murakami	8.0
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised	Joe Trippi	8.0
Conviction	Richard North Patterson	6.5
Chasing The Dime	Michael Connolly	7.0
The Girls of Summer	Jere Longman	N/A	Did Not Finish
The Truth (with jokes)	Al Franken	8.0
The Defining Moment: FDR's First Hundred Days	Jonathan Alter	8.0
Prep	Curtis Sittenfeld	7.5
blink: Think Without Thinking	Malcolm Gladwell	8.5
How To Make Love Like A Porn Star	Jenna Jameson	7.0
Freakonomics	Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner	8.5
Lucky: A Memoir	Alice Sebold	N/A	Did Not Finish
Twelve	Nick McDonell	7.0
The Year of Magical Thinking	Joan Didion	7.5
Fantasyland	Sam Walker	8.5
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle	Haruki Murakami	8.5	Review
The Lincoln Lawyer	Michael Connolly	7.0
House of Bush, House of Saud	Craig Unger	8.0
Lost Lake	Phillip Margolin	5.0
Fraud: Essays	David Rakoff	N/A	Did Not Finish
Freedomland	Richard Price	7.0
Three Junes	Julia Glass	8.5
Crashing The Gate	Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and Jerome Armstrong	7.0
The Dante Club	Matthew Pearl	8.0
The Fruit of Stone	Mark Spragg	8.0
Love Monkey	Kyle Smith	7.0
Lucky Girls	Nell Freudenberger	N/A	Did Not Finish
The Devil In The White City	Erik Larson	7.5
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green	Josh Braff	6.5
What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal	Zoe Heller	N/A	Did Not Finish
Kafka On The Shore	Haruki Murakami	9.5	Review
Who’s Your Caddy?	Rick Reilly	7.5
The Los Angeles Diaries	James Brown	7.5
I Have Chosen To Stay and Fight	Margaret Cho	5.0
Look At Me	Jennifer Egan	8.0
Dreams From My Father	Barack Obama	8.0	Review
The Best American Sports Writing 2005	Mike Lupica (editor)	7.0	Review
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live	Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller	6.0	Review
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America	David Von Drehle	5.0	Review
Fatherland	Robert Harris	7.0	Review
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	Jonathan Safran Foer	9.0	Review
The Brooklyn Follies	Paul Auster	8.5	Review
Killing Yourself To Live	Chuck Klosterman	6.5	Review
The Patriots Club	Christopher Reich	5.5	Review
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	Susana Clarke	8.5	Review
2006	2006	2006	2006
The Business	Iain Banks	5.5	Review
Blue Blood	Edward Conlon	7.0	Review
Little Children	Tom Perotta	9.0	Review
Spanking The Donkey	Matt Taibbi	7.0	Review
The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell	John Crawford	8.5	Review
October 2005	October 2005	October 2005	October 2005