Home safely from our trip to South Carolina, delayed two hours due to weather in the Midwest. All in all, not bad considering we flew through O’Hare. A lovely trip overall though. Pictures likely to follow.

To my extreme annoyance, my copy of Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing has pages out of order—it skips from 201 to 210 and then goes back and forth for about 30 pages. I can exchange it, but I’ve already made notes in the margins, underlined stuff. (sigh) The good news is that it’s terrific and I can’t wait to read the second half. The bad news is that I don’t think I’ll be able to polish it off before Tuesday, bringing my list of books read in 2007 to a screeching halt at 64.

I’d be willing to bet that 64 marks the most books I’ve ever read in a year. That number includes tomes like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Ulysses and all but one of China Miéville’s brick-thick novels, as well as pamphlet-length books like Walking the Nez Road and Tortilla Flat. Of course, a lot of these books were on audio, but I count them as being “read.” Maybe you think that’s cheating. Maybe I don’t care.

I don’t put a lot of stock in sheer numbers. I have read thrillers by John Grisham and Dan Brown in a couple days, but I wouldn’t want to plow through 200 of them just to inflate the numbers. I will remember 2007 as the year I was introduced to China Miéville, Philip K. Dick, and Cormac McCarthy—all writers whom I greatly admire. I also polished off a lot of Hemingway that was new to me and that I enjoyed. Overall, it was a very good year for reading, especially for science fiction.

I’m betting 2008 will feature a lot more mainstream American literature. I recently received the reading list for my contemporary Native American novel course and I’m really excited for it. I also want to spend some time reading more McCarthy (I hope to finish the Border Trilogy before heading back to school mid-January) and whip up a self-made reading list of Latin American literature and magic realism—which are two separate things, you know.

I don’t feel any need to match or top 64 books next year but if I can read as much great stuff as I did in 2007, I’ll be a happy boy.

However, I did get an Xbox 360 for Christmas and have been playing Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance which came with the bundle. I didn’t think at first I would like it since it seemed like a sexier version of Gauntlet. Then I figured out how to use the characters special superpowers, how to switch between characters, and otherwise read the instructions. For a guy who read a lot of Marvel comics growing up, this game borders on pornography.

Once I buy a couple more games—like FIFA 08, Halo 3, and The Orange Box—I expect to flush school, reading, and writing down the toilet.

Speaking of school, I ended up getting an A in my poetry class. All that fretting for nothing.

Current Mood: Happy |