A Decade's Read In Review

Five years ago my New Year resolution was to read 50 books within the year.  I failed by five books.  But what this resolution started was a habit of keeping a running list of books I read each year.  Based on this list, over the past 5 years I've read 186 books.  That's a lot of books, but I still wish that number could be higher.  However, it seems that the more responsibility I have, the less I read.  In 2005 I was childless, living in an apartment and without a job for part of the year, so I had time to read 45 books.  This year I became a father of two, remained gainfully employed, and had a house to keep up, thus only got through 25.  Of course it's not all hard work and toil causing my decline in reading, my DVR in conjunction with my love of reality television gets some of the blame.

Looking over this list from the past five years is almost like looking through a scrapbook.  With certain books I remember exactly what was going on in my life as I read.  For example, Into the Wild was the book I brought to the hospital when my first child was born.  There are other books, such as Indecision, that I have no memory of ever reading.

Given the trend of looking back at the end of the year/decade, I found it only fitting that I put together my own list of top ten favorite books of the past five years.  While these ten are clearly standouts, don't hold me to the actual rankings as they are about as meaningful as the ranking in the BCS.

10. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey - This book changed how I look at money.  There's no big secrets or magic formula, just simple, common sense information.

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - This was like a page ripped out of my early high school years.  At times the book's diary entries mirror the journal I kept.

8. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - Like all of Gladwell's books, this one pulls back the curtain on life to see that most times there isn't as much luck involved as assumed.

7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - This is every father's anxiety filled nightmare.  The fact that someone wrote it all down assures me that I'm not the only one worrying.

6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Despite the high school English teachers of the country (myself included) forcing this book down the throats of young readers nation-wide, this is a great story and one of the few "classics" worthy of all the praise.

5. Superstud by Paul Feig - This is one of the few books that I have found to be laugh out loud funny, but that's probably because it was honest and embarrassing.  Few people would ever have the courage to admit to the what Feig did, although many of them are guilty of some of the exact same things.

4. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle - When you were an awkward teenager, reading about the mishaps of a follow brethren is funny because it's true.

3. Columbine by Dave Cullen - This will be the next book I write on so for now I'll just say, most of what we thought we knew was wrong.

2. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - If only all history books were written like this, but then again not all historical events are this interesting.

1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck - The average person could probably name 4-5 Steinbeck novels and East of Eden wouldn't be one of them, but it is by far his best.

In case you're interested (however I'm not sure why you would be) here is my reading list for the past 5 years:

Books of 2005
01. LANARK by Alasdair Gray - 1/2/05
02. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky - 1/5/05
03. THE JUNGLE BOOK by Rudyard Kipling - 1/13/05
04. DIARY by Chuck Palahniuk - 1/17/05
05. A SEPARATE PEACE by John Knowles - 1/21/05
06. THE POLYSYLLABIC SPREE by Nick Hornby - 1/23/05
07. NINE STORIES by J.D. Salinger - 1/28/05
08. TRUE NOTEBOOKS by Mark Salzman - 2/1/05
09. LIT RIFFS edited by Matthew Miele - 2/7/05
10. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon - 2/11/05
11. ECHOES DOWN THE CORRIDOR by Arhtur Miller - 2/20/05
12. RUNNING WILD by J. G. Ballard - 2/21/05
13. PETER PAN by J. M. Barrie - 3/3/05
14. THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE by Jonathan Lethem - 3/15/05
15. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand - 3/17/05
16. THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell - 3/24/05
17. BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN by Glendon Swarthout - 3/26/05
18. FEVER PITCH by Nick Hornby - 4/3/05
19. PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger - 4/15/05
20. LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME by James W. Loewen - 4/25/05
21. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder - 4/29/05
22. 10TH GRADE by Joseph Weisberg - 5/4/05
23. LIVE FROM NEW YORK by Tom Shales & James Miller - 5/14/05
24. CARRIE by Stephen King - 5/19/05
25. RUNNING WITH SCISSORS by Augusten Burroughs - 5/29/05
26. NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND by Fyodor Dostoevsky - 6/5/05
27. THE LITTLE GUIDE TO YOUR WELL-READ LIFE by Steve Leveen - 6/6/05
28. LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel - 6/14/05 
29. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 6/25/05
30. AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Easton Ellis - 6/30/05
31. THE FUNHOUSE by Dean Koontz - 7/10/05 
32. DEATH BE NOT PROUD by John Gunther - 7/27/05
33. LULLABY by Chuck Palahniuk - 8/21/05
34. SHEET MUSIC by Dr. Kevin Leman - 8/23/05
35. WHY DO MEN HAVE NIPPLES? by Mark Leyner & Billy Goldberg, M.D. - 9/11/05
36. THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE by Avi - 10/11/05
37. THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton - 10/17/05
38. MANIAC MAGEE by Jerry Spinelli - 10/19/05
39. JARHEAD by Anthony Swofford - 11/5/05
40. NIGHTJOHN by Gary Palsen - 11/**/06
41. WILD AT HEART by John Eldredge - 11/21/05
42. BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell - 12/4/05
43. ANIMIAL FARM by George Orwell - 12/23/05
44. WEIRD CHRISTMAS by Joey Green - 12/25/05
45. WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN by Kimberly Willis Holt - 12/27/05

Books of 2006
01. THE KNOW IT ALL by A.J. Jacobs - 1/9/06
02. EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck - 1/30/06
03. JOURNAL OF A NOVEL by John Steinbeck - 2/8/06
04. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut - 2/13/06
05. MY LIFE AMONG THE SERIAL KILLERS by Helen Morrison MD - 2/19/06
06. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Chaim Potok - 3/12/06
07. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee - 3/25/06
08. FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury - 4/3/06
09. RUMBLE FISH by S. E. HINTON - 4/6/06
10. ULTRAMARATHON MAN by Dean Karnazes - 4/9/06
11. TORTILLA FLAT by John Steinbeck - 4/14/06
12. OF MEN AND MICE by John Steinbeck - 4/18/06
13. MISSING PERSONS by Stephen White -5/13/06
14. BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Matherinw Paterson - 5/14/05
15. MIXED by Angela Nissel - 5/30/06
16. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger - 6/8/06
17. INVISIBLE MONSTERS by Chuck Palahniuk -6/15/06
18. EATS SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss - 6/25/06
19. SUPERSTUD by Paul Feig - 7/3/06
20. BUSTING VEGAS by Ben Mezrich - 7/10/06
21. THE RULES OF ATTRACTION by Bret Easton Ellis - 7/17/06
22. A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby - 7/24/06
23. CHOKE by Chuck Palahniuk - 7/29/06
24. THE MEMORY OF RUNNING by Ron McLarty - 8/4/06
25. TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER by Dave Ramsey - 8/17/06
26. THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini - 8/20/06
27. FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES by Chuck Palahniuk - 8/21/06
28. HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by M. J. Hyland - 8/26/06
29. REASONS TO LIVE by Amy Hempel - 8/28/06
30. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway - 9/13/06
31. THE DANTE CLUB by Matthew Pearl - 9/27/06
32. KICK ME by Paul Feig - 10/7/06
33. WORD MYTHS by David Wilton - 10/9/06
34. FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahiuk - 10/12/06
35. PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf - 10/26/06
36. TWO SOULS INDIVISIBLE by James S. Hirsch - 10/28/06
37. HOUSEKEEPING VS. DIRT by Nick Hornby - 10/31/06
38. THE BRETHREN by John Grisham - 11/9/06
39. IS TINY DANCER REALLY ELTON'S LITTLE JOHN? by Gavin Edwards - 11/10/06
40. GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn - 11/18/06
41. DEAN & ME by Jerry Lewis - 11/22/06
42. THUMBSUCKER by Walter Kirn - 11/25/06
43. BAIT AND SWITCH by Barbara Ehrenreich - 11/27/06
44. INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer - 12/3/06
45. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding - 12/20/06
46. A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS by Dito Motiel - 12/24/06

Books of 2007
01. EARLY BIRD by Rodney Rothman - 1/9/07
02. THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe - 1/20/07
03. THE 48 LAWS OF POWER by Robert Greene - 1/28/07
04. FREAK THE MIGHTY by Rodman Philbeck - 1/30/07
05. LITTLE CHILDREN by Tom Perrotta - 2/5/07
06. HAUNTED by Chuck Palahniuk - 2/17/07
07. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London - 2/19/07
08. INDECISION by Benjamin Kunkel - 2/25/07
09. EMPIRE FALLS by Richard Russo - 3/7/07
10. NIGHT by Elie Wiesel - 3/11/07
11. THE KNIFE MAN by Wendy Moore - 3/19/07
12. THE BEACH by Alex Garland - 3/14/07
13. OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL by Sean Wilsey - 4/6/07
14. RICH DAD POOR DAD by Robert Kiyosaki - 4/8/07
15. EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE by Johnathan Safran Foer - 4/16/07
16. THE DIRT by Motley Crue - 4/29/07
17. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky - 5/4/07
18. FREAKONOMICS by Steven Levitt - 5/13/07
19. THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA by Philip Roth - 5/20/07
20. FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Scholsser - 5/28/07
21. WHY DO MEN FALL ASLEEP AFTEER SEX? by Mark Leyner - 6/3/07
22. INSIDE THE AUCTION GAME by Frank Stefanick - 6/9/07
23. BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago - 6/19/07
24. ON WRITING by Stephen King - 6/20/07
25. YOU REMIND ME OF YOU by Eireann Corrigan - 6/28/07
26. MIDDLESEX by Jeffrey Eugenides - 7/8/07
27. THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho - 7/12/07
28. FOUNDING MYTHS by Ray Raphael - 7/26/07
29. HEY NOSTRADAMUS! by Douglas Coupland - 8/6/07
30. SMASHED by Koren Zailckas - 8/17/07
31. MR. ADAM by Pat Frank - 9/3/07
32. TWELVE by Nick McDonell - 9/12/07
33. TWISTED by Laurie Halse Anderson - 9/18/07
34. LOVE IS A MIX TAPE by Rob Sheffield - 9/26/07
35. AMERICA'S CHEAPEST FAMILY by The Economides - 10/28/07
36. NARRATIVE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS - Frederick Douglass - 11/16/07
37. MONKEY WRENCH GANG by Edward Abbey - 12/9/07
38. THE BLIND SIDE by Michael Lewis - 12/16/07
39. GILEAD by Marilynne Robinson - 12/29/07
40. THE STRANGER by Albert Camus - 12/31/07

Books of 2008
01. ASSASSINATION VACATION by Sarah Vowell - 1/11/08
02. THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE by Rick Warren - 2/2/08
03. YOU REMIND ME OF ME by Dan Chaon - 2/18/08
04. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 3/1/08
05. FRESH FAITH by Jim Cymbala - 3/7/08

06. JOE COLLEGE by Tom Perrotta - 3/23/08

07. A RAISIN ON THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry - 4/7/08

08. HEAT by Bill Buford - 4/24/08

09. RANT by Chuck Palahniuk -6/7/08

10. I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER by Larry Doyle - 6/11/08

11. DEAR MR. MACKINS by Richard J. Mackins - 6/15/08

12. CHASING GHOSTS by Paul Rieckhoff - 6/24/08

13. THE CONTORTIONIST'S HANDBOOK by Craig Clevenger - 6/26/08

14. JESUS' SON by Denis Johnson - 7/13/08

15. MONEYBALL by Michael Lewis - 7/18/08

16. ONE MISSISSIPPI by Mark Childress - 7/29/08

17. REMAINER by Tom McCarthy - 8/11/08
18. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson - 8/18/08

19. THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy - 8/19/08

20. I KILLED  by Ritch Shydner & Mark Schiff - 8/22/08

21. HEART SICK by Chelsea Cain - 9/6/08

22. THE SHACK by William P. Young - 9/25/08

23. COMPANY by Max Barry - 10/23/08

24. ADVENTURES OF THE ARTIFICIAL WOMAN by Thomas Berger - 10/28/08

25. GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA by Douglas Coupland - 11/12/08

26. BAND OF BROTHERS by Stephen E. Ambrose - 11/30/08

27. THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch - 12/4/08

28. CHILDREN OF MEN by P.D. James - 12/20/08

29. DISRUPTING CLASS by Clayton Christensen - 12/26/08

30. MULTIPLE BLES8INGS by Kate Gosselin - 12/28/08

Books of 2009

01. WATCHMEN by Alan Moore - 1/1/09

02. THE REAL ALL AMERICANS by Sally Jenkins - 1/13/09

03. THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER by Tom Perrotta - 1/19/09
04. THE CHOSEN by Chaim Potok - 1/31/09
05. CLOWN GIRL by Monica Drake - 2/9/09
06. WONDER WHEN YOU'LL MISS ME by Amanda Davis - 2/17/09

07. WHERE'S MY JETPACK? by Daniel H. Wilson - 2/19/09
08. RICKLES' BOOK by Don Rickles - 2/21/09
09. SLAM by Nick Hornby - 3/1/09

10. SWEETHEART by Chelsea Cain - 3/8/09
11. THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson - 3/29/09
12. LULLABY by Chuck Palahniuk - 4/14/09
13. RATS SAW GOD by Rob Thomas - 5/10/09

14. ANGELS AND DEMONS by Dan Brown - 6/2/09

15. NARRATIVE of the LIFE of FREDERICK DOUGLASS by Frederick Douglass - 6/10/09

16. FOUND by Davy Rothbary - 7/3/09

17. AMONG THE THUGS by Bill Buford - 7/28/09

18. RABBIT, RUN by John Updike - 8/16/09

19. WHEN THE FINCH RISES by Jack Riggs - 9/12/09

20. LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT by Eugene O'Neill - 10/5/09

21. OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell - 10/12/09

22. TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer - 10/26/09

23. COLUMBINE by David Cullen - 11/5/09

24. THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 11/24/09

25. STORKY by D.L. Garfinkle - 12/13/09

Storky

Storky is about a year in the life of a high school boy told through his journal entries.  I could relate to this story for many reasons, one being that from the spring of my sophomore year until the middle of my first year of college I sporadically kept a journal.  Reading Storky motivated me to dig out the journal, which has since been ripped out of its original notebook.

(Please note that the excerpts in red are transcribed just as I originally wrote them, in all their ungrammatical glory.)

I often wrote in my journal late at night just before bed, so I was usually half asleep as I jotted down the day's events.  That is the only reasonable explanation for why I would write things like, Dec 30, 1998: ...I went over and found Tony and a bunch of other people and we went to see Patch Adams, one of the best movies I have ever seen... and 6/30/96: ... The past week I have been following Kerri Strug reading every about her.  It weird, I know I will probably never meet her but because of her I exercise for at least 45 minutes each night...

The late night writing could also be why I often wrote the most incredibly undetailed entries: Dec 27, 1997 – Went to Megan's house. There was a bunch of people from where I used to work and just watched T.V. and July 3, 1998 – Today I went hiking with Kate, Lauren, Matt, Nick, Katie, and Laura and went swimming to a lake.

Other times I perfectly illustrated the traits of a teenager that doesn't know what true hardships in life really are: 5/14/95 - Today I think I had to make the most important decision in my life so far... This decision was to give a girl a note telling her I liked her and in case you're wondering how it went the next entry starts: This was the most tension (I think I meant stressful) day of my life...

But by far the most painful aspect of the journal is the occasional poem:

Untitled

Do you wonder what I called myself

When I'm walking all alone

It is different from what you call me on the phone

The name I have now was given to me as a child

It was good then but has become to mild

This name I will keep me till the day I die

You're never get it from me so don't even try to pry.

I have no idea what any of that means.

One of the great things about the journal is being reintroduced to all the people and moments in my life I had long since forgotten.  I only wish I would have been more detailed in my entries, capturing all I could, because for covering 3 years of my life the journal is only about 30-40 pages.  This means that so many things went unrecorded.  Take for example my entire entry from the day of my high school graduation: June 4, 1998 - Today I graduated. Basically all day I reflexed (I meant to say I reflected).  The only time I all most lost it (meaning was emotional) was before leaving when we were taking pictures.  It really didn't hit me yet.  Afterwards Dylan had a party which a lot of people went to.


Why I only spent 3 lines on what, at that point, was one of the biggest days of my life is very disappointing to me now.  Especially since I remember so many memorable moments from that day, like driving over to the ceremony with just me and my grandfather in the car and him talking about my future, taking pictures with friends outside the auditorium in our robes, the realization that this would be the last time I'd see most of my teachers & classmates, and the party I mentioned was a lot of fun, but none of it made the cut. 


It's hard to fully cherish the moments in life as we are busy living them.  That's why people keep journals or in this day and age have blogs, to help with recording those events; I just didn't put as much effort into it as I wish I would have.

And so I'll leave you with a few words of advice from my 16 year old self: "Listen when people talk because they sometimes tell you things about themselves unexplicitly."