A Year of Reading

Since I began working at Borders I've kept a log of all the books I've read. Mind you, this log is only from November 19th 2007-- I've read probably triple if not more books in the course of my life-- so it’s rather short. Hopefully I'll keep this log up to date for the rest of my life, then when I'm 40 I'll be able to be like whoa! It'll also help with the nasty problem of not knowing if I've read a book or not. I've found this extremely irritating of late, I'll pick up a book, think it looks pretty good, buy it, only to get like a chapter in and realize I've read it. It’s not a huge hassle but when I'm the reading zone its shitty to go back and find another book. Anyway here it is, I figured posting it a year from when I started would be kinda neat.

• A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
• Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
• Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
• Next by Michael Crichton
• Monster by Frank Peretti
• Empire by Orson Scott Card
• Paranoia by Joseph Finder
• Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Heor
• Stiff by Mary Roach
• Anthem by Ayn Rand
• Brimstone by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dance of Death by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
• Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
• God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
• Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
• Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• Robota by Orson Scott Card
• Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
• Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
• Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
• Lamb by Christopher Moore
• Awakened Mage by Karen Miller
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
• Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
• Feed by M.T. Anderson
• Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
• Click by Bill Tancer
• Final Theory by Mark Alpert
• The J-Curve by Ian Bremmer
• The Sword by Deborah Chester
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Ring by Deborah Chester
• The Chalice by Deborah Chester
• Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
• The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
• Sway by Rom Brafman
• Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
• Shadows Edge by Brent Weeks
• Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
• Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist
• Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

Total: 55

Note: The books in bold I own, the non-bolded books I read at work or borrowed from a friend. In my personal list I have each of the books rated from 1 to 10 but I decided to hold off on that simply because I'm probably pretty biased. Plus how can you rate a Fantasy against a Mystery or a Fiction?

Here in America reading has become one of those things that everyone wants to do but is "too busy" to do. Back in 2007 the Associated Press did a poll concerning just that, what they found is honestly saddening to me. "One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday [August 21, 2007]" This quote was taken from a Washington Post article that was written on the day the Ipsos poll was released. I don't know the details of the poll exactly but even if its somewhat true this country is in trouble. I did a little snooping around recently after I found the aforementioned article and found a somewhat 'better' set of figures. These numbers came from the Harris Poll:

TABLE 1

BOOKS READ PER YEAR

"How many books do you typically read in the average year?"

Base: All adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Political Party
		Echo Boomers (18-31)	Gen X (32-43)	Baby Boomers (44-62)	Matures (63+)	Men	Women	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
None	9	6	7	9	12	11	7	10	8	7
1-3	23	28	24	23	15	27	18	23	24	18
4-6	19	18	22	20	15	22	17	22	17	20
7-10	13	12	11	14	11	11	14	13	15	11
More than 10	37	36	36	33	47	29	44	33	35	44

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

As you can see roughly 1/3 of Americans read more than 10 books a year, which is good. It’s hard to say which of the two polls is more accurate and indeed from what I found both seem fairly legit. In any case, I'd say that we should be reading more. Granted my opinion is a bit biased seeing as I've read 55 books this year but even still. 10 books aren’t really that many if you think of the amount of time Americans sit in front of the tv or even the computer. Sure some people really don't enjoy reading at all and sure many find a movie or a reality tv show more entertaining than their imagination.. still.. the human mind is a great thing. When I read it feels like I'm watching a movie with actors that put real people to shame, with views and imagery that an HD tv can only dream of making. If you think about it television and movies are just dumbed down books, and if ANYONE thinks there's a movie based on a book that’s better than said book they have a poor imagination indeed. Why would you settle for someone else's imagination? What you can do with your mind is so wonderful that it’s sad to think some people go their lives without reading. Authors not only give you all the tools to create a world in your head but they can also give you meaning. What are you gonna learn about the world by watching American Idol? Pick up 1984, A Red Sky at Morning, Dante's Inferno, East of Eden, or any other number of classics out there and you'll discover not only a fantastic story but symbolism, satire, and a touch of politics. All of which with such intensity that there's no way a tv show or even a 2 hour movie could put it all in. Hell, if you're not into the "dry" classic stuff they forced you to read in high school pick up Alastair Reynolds or Neal Stevenson and you'll learn something.

Well I suppose I'll stop preaching now, I hope this possibly interested some of you into reading or at least picking up one of the books I've mentioned. If not, well, all the power to you it’s your life after all. If there are any questions about the books above or any sort of recommendations I can make, feel free to hit me up.