101 Books in 1001 Days

Here's the final list for 2007. I'm way behind in my attempt to get to 101 in 1000 days. I do have another ten or so in progress though. Maybe I'll finish them all right away and get back on track!

22. The Gum Thief, by Douglas Coupland

21. Sky Burial, by Xinran Xue

20. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, by Evan Marshall

19. Plot and Structure, by James Scott Bell

18. Slam, by Nick Hornby

17. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid

16. You Don't Love Me Yet, by Jonathan Lethem

15. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto, by Chuck Klosterman

14. Failing Man, by Don DeLillo

13. Killing Yourself to Live, by Chuck Klosterman — Lots of fun. Gotta read the rest of his stuff.

12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling — Excellent!

11. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov — I like this one! Reminds me of Voltaire's Candide for some reason.

10. The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon — I love his writing!

9. Ten Thousand Things, by Maria Dermout — Quirky and interesting.

8. Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs — Movie was okay; book was slightly better.

7. Thinking Points, by George Lakoff — Excellent "progressive's handbook" describing how the right frames public discourse in such a way as to advance their cause, and what the left can do to reframe the discussion to eliminate that bias.

6. All the Names, by José Saramago — Interesting read, but a little infuriating. Why no paragraph breaks, and no quotation marks or breaks around dialogue?

5. CSS Web Site Design, by Eric A. Meyer — This is why it's "101 books," not "101 novels." Gotta learn more about CSS. My Web development skills are getting too outdated.

4. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini — Very good, satisfying story.

3. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho — Good, but not as great as I'd heard.

2. Until I Find You, by John Irving — Maybe I was feeling guilty for choosing such a short first book. Man, this one was long. I loved it! A real return to form.

1. Shopgirl, by Steve Martin — Because, if you're going to read 101 books in 1001 days, you'd best include some short ones! Also because my B&N book group is reading it this month. I could have sworn I read it several years ago, and didn't like it. I remember a certain ironic detachment that rendered the story rather cold and unaffecting. Reading it now, though, it didn't seem familiar, and I really enjoyed it. Martin's writing style is a bit dispassionate, but maybe the irony was all in my mind, remembered from all his stand-up routines and misfit movie characters. The book is actually quite warm, smart, and affecting.