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My Books for 2022
This is what I got to this year. I probably didn’t read as many old books as C. S. Lewis would advise. But I did read an older book by the woman that would become his wife. What did you read this year?
Nonfiction:
Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic by Ben Westhoff
- I work with a population that is greatly suffering from this plague. I know a number of men lost to this drug over the last year. Not a concern of the current Administration.
Young Frankenstein: The Making of the Film by Mel Brooks
Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey
- Yancey is one of my favorite contemporary Christian writers, writing important works on pain and suffering. This is his memoir.
The Force: The Legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII’s Mission Impossible by Saul David
- If you’ve ever seen the film, The Devil’s Brigade … This is the true story.
The Black Joke: The True Story of One Ship’s Battle Against the Slave Trade by A.E. Rooks (2022)
- I learned about this interesting piece of history from @Seawriter.
Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments by Joy Davidman
On Animals by Susan Orlean (2022)
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman
- How did we get to the place where a man can call himself a woman and nobody laughs?
Not Forsaken: A Story of Life After Abuse by Jennifer Michelle Greenberg
- I highly recommend this story of a woman’s struggle with abuse in the Christian community.
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund
- Who does Jesus love?
The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham by Ron Shelton (2022)
Reading the Bible with the Damned by Bob Ekblad
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk (2022)
Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Demure Defendant
The Case of the Deadly Toy
The Case of the Icy-Cold Hand
The Case of the Beautiful Beggar
The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
The Case of the Waylaid Wolf
The Case of the Amorous Aunt
The Case of the Singing Skirt
The Case of the Daring Decoy
Other Fiction:
Preach No More by Richard Lockridge
Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta (2022)
- I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this sequel to Election.
Fish or Cut Bait by A.A. Fair (aka Erle Stanley Gardner)
The Quick and the Dead by Louis L’Amour
Murder in Christmas River by Meg Muldoon
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
- One of those classics you finally get to and regret putting off for so many years.
The Island by Adrian McKinty (2022)
Sparring Partners by John Grisham (2022)
Published in General
I was surprised to see he wrote Invasion of the Body Snatchers and many other novels or screen plays. How nice to have a letter from him.
As usual the stuff that C.S. Lewis writes is pretty good. Question for him though; how old is an age? This past month I read through the Chronicles of Narnia; Lewis’s series is over half a century old now. Is that old enough to qualify? I’ll agree that I don’t read enough old things. Been trying to amend that, and not just with stuff that’s merely half a century gone.
I’m also somewhat enjoying that this thread is mostly egging Drew on to read the Discworld series in a better order.
Drew, you can get The Light Fantastic from the River Falls public library. Once you’re done with that I think I’ve got the next two (Equal Rites and Mort) in my “export” box. I’ll see about passing them along. After that #5 (Sourcery) can be got from the Altoona public library and #6 (Wyrd Sisters) and #7 (Pyramids) can both be found in River Falls. Of the local library chain they seem to do better than most at having complete series in stock.
Heh.™
I can augment that “in a better order” advice with “You should usually read stories in the order in which the author wrote them, not the order in which the action takes place”: Stories written later may answer questions raised by earlier stories. For instance, an earlier story may only hint at or make passing reference to important things or events, and a later story may be written to flesh out or explain those things. Ditto for personalities and relationships. Thus, if you read those stories in the order of events rather than the order of writing, you will get the explanation before the question/hint/mystery. This advice is not always applicable, but it is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind.
I’ve got the first four or five on my Kindle, so . . . no problems there! The Light Fantastic is up next as soon as I’m done with this Very Long Book I’m reading. (Actually, I already started The Light Fantastic . . . just a bit.)
This is exactly right.
Which is why those who put The Magician’s Nephew first in the Chronicles of Narnia (the current publishers, to name one group of sinners) are to be cast into the outer darkness where there’s nobody but a bunch of cranky dwarves.
This isn’t always the case. For example the Vorkosogan books are best read in the chronological order with the exception of Falling Free which is in the universe but not in thr story.
My books for this year. I read mostly fiction. My work has me reading enough reality driven words a day to need a complete break when I’m not there. And, most biographies or books about whatever war is the favorite du jure mostly bore me. A few of these were re-reads:
Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn Vonda McIntyre
The Map & The Territory Michelle Houellebecq
The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides
The Grifters Jim Thompson
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century Barbara Tuchman
The Hunters of Dune Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood Sam Wasson
The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler
The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie
Gates of Fire Steven Pressfield
A Man at Arms Steven Pressfield
Devolution Max Brooks
Aurora David Koepp
Between Two Fires Christopher Buehlman
Double Feature Donald Westlake
Boneshaker Cherie Priest
One Second After William Forstchen
The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemmingway
The Passage Justin Cronin
Less Than Zero Brett Easton Ellis
I enjoyed Days of Rage. I lived through the time but was too young to understand what was going on at the time. Still angry at Bill Ayers, et Alia, for ‘getting away with it.’
Shoot. Going to have to figure out another way to get rid of those two books now.
Days of Rage was fascinating. We talk about political violence now, but there is one state from the book that highlights the sheer number of bombings that occurred in the US in the late 60 and early 70s. It was staggering, more than 1 a day. Few people were killed or injured so I guess that is why people just ignored it.
Yeah. They mostly managed to kill their own. Unfortunately many lived to infest academia and our society. Not that I’m bitter.
Moderate, thoughtful, freedom-loving, tyranny-hating liberals allowed them to infest academia. /sarcasm
Fiction –
“A Stange Habit of Mind” – Andrew Klavan – 2nd in Klavan’s Cameron Winter series. Very good – hits with current events around tech and the permanent bureaucracy
Non-Fiction
“A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland” – Troy Senik – Learned a lot about a president who is the last of his breed, a fiscally conservative, limited government democrat.