Books I Read in 2009

During the year I was asked several times about my choice of reading.material.  Not all these questioners  were hostile, as in “The hell do you read all day that makes you so goddam misinformed about EVERYthing?” — some were genuinely  curious. . I keep a list of books I’ve read, as well as those I haven’t got to yet, and an “eyeout” list for books and authors I want to check out.   I’m always reading something; at no time in the course of the year could I truthfully answer “Nothing” to the question “What are you reading now?”   I almost always know before I finish the one I’m reading what I’ll pick up next. This year I finished 44 books, which is ‘way down from the 75 – 80 I used to go through before I started working longer hours, and had stronger eyes.  Not to mention all the time wasted on blogging. Most of the books I read this year were quite good, but as always, some were rather a waste of paper and time.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Tucker Max’s semi-pornographic memoir, but it is to deny its status as literature. Besides, any year that I read something from both David Foster Wallace and John Irving is a good one, at least for reading.
January Ray Davies Magnus Mills Garth Stein Jonathan Coe Brock Clarke Pete Dexter	. X-Ray Explorers of the New Century How Evan Broke His Head…. The Winshaw Legacy Arsonist’s Guide … New England Train
February Valerie Martin Doonesbury.com Oakley Hall Martin Amis Chuck Palahniuk	. Italian Fever The War in Quotes Ambrose Bierce …Trey of Pearls The War Against Cliche Rant
March Bruce Duffy Charles Bukowski	. The World as I Found It Pleasures of the Damned
April Thomas Berger Steven Sherrill	. Suspects Visits from the Drowned Girl
Mayl Peter Carey Dave Walter (ed)	. Theft Speaking Ill of the Dead
June David Foster Wallace Steve Lopez Frederick Reus Robert Olen Butler Jonathan Coe	. Consider the Lobster The Soloist The Wasties Severance The Closed Circle
July Jay McInerney Dan Fante James Hamilton-Paterson Jim Lewis Robert Sproat	. The Good Life Kissed by a Fat Waitress Coooking with Fernet Branca Sister Stunning the Punters
August Irvin Yalom Chuck Palahniuk Charles Bukowski Nick Hornby	. The Schopenhauer Cure Snuff Portions…..Wine Stained Notebook Slam
September Chuck Rosenthal Chuck Rosenthal Chuck Rosenthal Tucker Max	. Loop’s Progress Experiments in Life and Deaf Loop‘s End I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
October Oakley Hall Toni Morrison Ben Hamper	. Ambrose Bierce & the Ace of Shoots A Mercy Rivethead
November James Hamilton-Paterson Dan Fante Geoffrey Wolff William Boyd Robert Olen Butler John Irving	. Amazing Disgrace Chump Change The Age of Consent Restless On Distant Ground Last Night in Twisted River
December Elio Vittorini Steven Sherrill Frederick Busch Tom Robbins	. In Sicily The Locktender’s House Closing Arguments Wild Ducks Flying Backwards