For the fourth year in a row (2007, 2008 and 2009 as well), I’ve put together my list of the top five books I read during the course of the year. And for the fourth straight year, it was a struggle. With a toddlant rambling around, I seemed to have less time for reading this year, but still managed to make my way through some tremendous tomes. And yes, for those keeping score at home, Cormac McCarthy took home top honors for the second year in a row. Sue me.
So without further ado, here are “The Scooties” winners:
#1: “Blood Meridian,” by Cormac McCarthy
What I Wrote Then:
McCarthy’s choice to interject himself only as a narrator to the unimaginable -- yet true and real -- violence of the Mexico-Texas borderlands in this time, along with his decision to employ the kid only as a guide on this journey, forces the reader to handle the heavy lifting of judgment and categorizing who is good and evil.
For those able to withstand the gag-reflex-threatening violence of the tale until its final words, taking on the task of assigning morality seems easy in comparison -- if impossible to answer definitively.
What I Say Now:
“Blood Meridian” is a book that constantly challenges you, from understanding the prose to pondering morality to guessing at motivation. It’s a grueling work; it makes you work for it. But as you may be able to guess from my insanely long review, it certainly rewards you with plenty to consider and assess. This piece is nothing short of an epic, a must-read for anyone interested in the West, in morality, in a compelling tale.
Read My Review
Passage to Remember:
“The truth about the world, he said, is that anything is possible. Had you not seen it all from birth and thereby bled it of its strangeness it would appear to you for what it is, a hat trick in a medicine show, a fevered dream, a trance bepopulate with chimeras having neither analogue nor precedent, an itinerant carnival, a migratory tentshow whose ultimate destination after many a pitch in many a mudded field is unspeakable and calamitous beyond reckoning.”
#2: “Under the Dome,” by Stephen King
What I Wrote Then:
King’s story about how a invisible, impenetrable, semipermeable, unidentifiable wall of glass suddenly settles over a small sleepy town captivates you from word one and never lets you go.
In the end, never has a 1,100-page book been devoured so quickly by me. Rarely has King so acutely sketched a villain that inspires such deep hatred by a reader. And never have you wished for a dome to keep an entire town locked in for just a few pages
longer …
What I Say Now:
Spurred by King’s unparalleled character creation and unequalled storytelling, “Under the Dome” was an engrossing and fascinating read. No one else is capable of willing—nay, forcing—you to suspend belief, and he so vividly paints person and place that you find yourself a part of the location, a mute witness on a dark street corner. In sum, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of King’s career demise have been grossly exaggerated.
Read My Review
Passage to Remember:
“ … a little girl who made the mistake of thinking she was big when she was small, that she mattered when she didn’t, that the world cared when in reality the world is a huge dead locomotive with an engine but no headlight.”
#3: “Beatrice & Virgil,” by Yann Martel
What I Wrote Then:
The true appreciation and borderline magic of Martel’s work comes in the aftermath, as you’re forced to examine and apply value to what you’ve just digested. He’s accomplished a clever, clever trick, in finding such a remarkable and unique approach to analyzing such a taboo subject -- leaving you to silently clap your applause in the wake of the total experience.
What I Say Now:
“Beatrice & Virgil” was a short, quick read that packs an almost unbelievably emotional punch. This autobiographical-ish piece combined chilling beauty with suspenseful morbidity, employing metaphor and symbolism to epic degrees. One of the many things I loved about it was how different, yet equally effective, it was to the first two books on this list: While “Blood Meridian” was challenging and thought-provoking and “Under the Dome” was long and engrossing, “Beatrice & Virgil” hammered you in just under 200 pages. I’ll always think of it fondly, and not only because much of it was read in the OBX, on the back deck, with a beer in hand and the sun in my hair.
Read My Review
Passage to Remember:
“Henry had written a novel because there was a hole in him that needed filling, a question that needed answering, a patch of canvas that needed painting—that blend of anxiety, curiosity and joy that is at the origin of art—and he had filled the hole, answered the question, splashed colour on the canvas, all done for himself, because he had to.”
#4: “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Brontë
What I Wrote Then:
Like many of the true classics, “Jane Eyre” is heavily dependent on strings of coincidences, and perhaps it is the challenge of a modern audience to quell the cynicism that comes so naturally to us, and just embrace the story overall and accept the unlikely, connected events.
All in all, however, it is a more than worthwhile read, touching in some parts and poignant in others. It contains social commentary, examination of gender roles, analysis of the caste system, questions of morality vs. responsibility, and thoughts on sexual mores. As one of the landmark books that features a heroine, it is refreshing in some ways to be introduced to a fiercely independent female with a growing realization of what she truly wants and a temperamental mind as well as a thoughtful one.
What I Say Now:
“Jane Eyre” wasn’t always the easiest read, but I did enjoy Brontë’s very brave and powerful rendering of a female lead character, which was a controversial and difficult choice in her time. Looking back, No. 4 seems like a pretty low rank for what is rightfully considered a literary treasure, but that is no slight considering the company this book keeps this year. I had looked forward to reading this one for a long time, and I found much more than the anticipated coming-of-age tale; I was pleasantly surprised with the emotion and thought-evoking prose that Brontë shared with the world against all odds.
Read My Review
Passage to Remember:
“The vehemence of emotion, stirred by grief and love within me, was claiming mastery, and struggling for full sway and asserting a right to predominate -- to overcome, to live, rise, and reign at last; yes, and to speak.”
#5: “Gold Coast,” by Nelson DeMille
What I Wrote Then:
Once the reader becomes cognizant of this identity of Sutter, the idea of narrator-as-asshole brings up lots of issues of trust between you as the reader and Sutter. While I found him to be funny and a smart-ass (both qualities ascribed to me by various people in various, colorful ways), his social, religious, caste and class commentaries within the writing are both thought-provoking and hypocritical.
I read it without any preconceived notions or expectations, and while I found it both funnier and less sophisticated than I might have guessed, I was also completely captivated. And at the end of the day, there aren’t many higher compliments you can pay a book.
What I Say Now:
“Gold Coast” was your classic guilty-pleasure read, and in that sense, it was a little difficult to place it in the top five here. As for the actual mechanics of writing and prose, it fell short on all counts; yet for pure draw-you-in storytelling and suspense-building, it was hard to surpass this year. The followup, “The Gatehouse,” was horrible, but I was conscious of not downgrading “Gold Coast” as a result of that. So, in the spirit of the fun read, here’s where it ended up.
Read My Review
Passage to Remember:
“And there was a time, you know, not so long ago, as recently as my own childhood in fact, when everyone believed in the future and eagerly awaited it or rushed to meet it. But now nearly everyone I know or used to know is trying to slow the speed of the world as the future starts to look more and more like someplace you don’t want to be.”
HONORABLE MENTION
I had no choice but to add an honorable mention this year. "Social Media 101" by Chris Brogan was so essential to my professional development and career growth in 2010 that I had to find a spot for it. Since it’s basically a collection of links, resources and recommendations, it was hard to classify it into my top-five, but it certainly screamed for recognition on some level. Unquestionably, a tremendous tool from Brogan.
Editor’s Note: I’d be remiss not to mention some of the other standouts from this year, each with varying degrees of awesomeness or suckitude. “Blockade Billy” (Stephen King), “The Gatehouse” (Nelson DeMille), “When March Went Mad” (Tim Peeler), “Call to Action” (Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg), “Social Media is a Cocktail Party” (Jim Tobin, Lisa Braziel) and “Fail Nation” (collection).
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