favorite books of 2006

I read 142 books in 2006. 100 of them, or over 70 percent, were by women (including two co-written with a male author) . So shame on all those best-of lists that are white-male-centric! There were plenty of amazing books written by women this year.

Anyway, it's the last day of the year, I'm not getting anymore reading done, and it's time to post my eleven favorites of 2006! Alphabetically by author:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie--Half of a Yellow Sun
Gillian Flynn--Sharp Objects
Nell Freudenberger--The Dissident
David Grossman--Someone to Run With
Sara Gruen--Water for Elephants
Maile Meloy--Family Daughter and Liars and Saints*
James Morrow--The Last Witchfinder
Marisha Pessl--Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Scott Simon--Pretty Birds
Scarlett Thomas--The End of Mr. Y
Markus Zusak--The Book Thief

Some of my favorite authors--David Mitchell, A.B. Yehoshua, and Haruki Murakami--all published wonderful and readable books this year, but none quite made the list. The ones I recommended most frequently were Pretty Birds, Water for Elephants, and The End of Mr. Y.

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*Both books are excellent on their own, but as counterparts they're pretty brilliant.

favorite graphic novels of 2006

Bryan Lee O'Malley--Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness
Alison Bechdel--Fun Home
Linda Medley--The Collected Castle Waiting
Hope Larson--Gray Horses
Gabrielle Bell--Lucky
Phillippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian--Get a Life

And of course I'm continuing to read (and love) the following titles: Y the Last Man, Fables, Powers, and everything Love and Rockets.

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Originally uploaded by wordnerdy.

Since my Holga seems not to have any light leaks, the multiple exposures thing is clearly the way to get weird photos.

favorite cds of 2006

Here were the CDs I loved in 2006, put on mix CDs, sang along to in my car--in alphabetical order!

Audubon Park--Teenage Horses
Eric Bachmann--To the Races
all the Eccentric Soul Comps
Erie Choir--Slighter Awake
Essex Green--Cannibal Sea
Girl Talk--Night Ripper
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass--Whipped Cream and Other Delights Rewhipped
Hot Chip--The Warning
Hotel Lights--Goodnightgoodmorning
Portastatic--Be Still Please
White Whale--WWI

Yeah, that's eleven--so what? TV on the Radio probably should be on there too, but I got that pretty recently so it hasn't had as much of a chance to seep into my consciousness.

let the lists commence! crappy books of 2006

The Favorites of 2006 will be coming soon, but in the meantime, here are the critically acclaimed, beloved-by-bloggers books I read in 2006 that I really didn't like!

Ali Smith--The Accidental
Mary Gaitskill--Veronica
Daniel Handler--Adverbs
Hilary Mantel--Beyond Black
Kathryn Davis--The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf
Shelley Jackson--Half-Life
Peter Carey--Theft: A Love Story
Maria Arana--Cellophane
Richard Powers--The Echo Maker
Heidi Julavits--The Uses of Enchantment
Emily Barton--Brookland

Those are in the order I read them. Man, it feels good to publicize that!

2006 book 142

Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects
This book is an excellent example of why I wait until the year actually ends before posting my list of favorite books of the year--this could very easily make the list and the year is almost over! Anyway, Flynn is also a writer for Entertainment Weekly, so I think I was expecting something light and pop-culture-laden (at least until I saw the cover, stark black with a razorblade). Instead, I was sucked into a story about a troubled woman who returns to her small hometown as a reporter, assigned to investigate the murders of two little girls. The whodunnit part of things isn't the main part--it's more about the protagonist's own psyche and she struggles to come to terms with her traumatic childhood--but it does a great job of really upping the intensity of the story. Seriously, I just read it in one sitting. A.

what jews do on christmas

Or this one, at any rate.

I actually planned to drive to various places in town with my Holga, but it's been pouring for the last day or so and so I'm going to stay inside instead. Lukcily VH-1 is playing all sorts of non-holiday programming, and I also have Pete and Pete season 2, which I have been saving for just this occasion. Later I will reheat some of the channa masala I made for dinner the other night, b/c eating leftovers on Christmas is a family tradition. I will also probably knit. And read.

Loads of fun!

cupcakes

TWO cupcake bakeries are opening up in Pittsburgh this weekend! Wow!

I'm surprised the Triangle doesn't have even one yet . . . and not at all surprised that there isn't one here in north Florida. Maybe if I ever win the lottery I'll start a cupcake bakery. You know, with all my spare time. :)

how to fix a flat tire

I could have used this awesome advice on Monday, but then I was in party clothes and wouldn't have wanted to crawl around on the ground anyway.

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Originally uploaded by wordnerdy.

Here's a cute kitten picture you send you into the holidays.

new column at nextbook

David Rakoff (of This American Life, various books, etc) will be watching all 28 Woody Allen movies. Godspeed, Mr. Rakoff.

let the harry potter rumor mills commence!

No idea if this is true or not--I'm attemping to access the game as I type this--but apparently you can get the title of the final Harry Potter book on J.K. Rowling's site by playing hangman! (I can't get the key.)

ETA: The title has been confirmed! Screw playing hangman.

ETA again: On today's date in 2004, they announced the release date for Half-Blood Prince. I wonder if book 7 won't be out this summer! I don't want to wait!!

2006 book 141

J.M. Ledgard's Giraffe
This was seriously depressing, not least of all because it's based on the true story of the largest giraffe herd in captivity being massacred in Czechoslovakia in 1975. It probably would be more depressing if the several narrators--a mysterious scientist, a young girl who sleepwalks, and a sharpshooter--were given more depth of character (I actually liked the girl a lot, but the others were barely more than sketches). Also, one of the giraffes narrates part of the action, but when I expected her voice to come through, it didn't. Whatever, if you want to read a novel about wacky Communists ordering the death of 47 giraffes, then check this out. I like giraffes and this novel didn't quite do them justice. B-.

best of 2006

No, these still aren't my lists! (I may post something later tonight though.)

Here's Epicurious' best cookbooks of '06 and here's NPR's. I am sure you can guess that I was thrilled at the link to a pimento cheese recipe in the Epicurious story. I'm sure you can also guess which cookbooks I covet. :)

By the way, check it out! I'm on the new version of blogger, complete with nifty new categories. Maybe over break I'll add labels to old posts! Hahaha, yeah right.

partially read

Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
I decided at page 150 to stop reading this book. It's not that I didn't like it, although the lack of a plot did occasionally bother me. It's composed of a series of (fictional, duh) interviews, each a few pages long, with various survivors of a zombie plague. I was a little tired of this format when I stopped--though it did do an excellent job of ramping up the tension--but actually decided that I did not want to read anymore about zombies. I scare easily, you know, and don't feel like being up all night clutching my field hockey stick just in case some zombies try to break in. (You can imagine my relief that, in this book, Israel is the only country to really save itself--and allows all the other Jews and the Palestinians into its borders before douing so.) But for those who enjoy zombies, definitely give this a try. The writing is excellent, despite my general preference for a meaty plot and characters. A quick glance does indicate that some of the many characters recur--do I smell an ensemble piece?? Speaking of movies, Brooks is the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, so there's that too.

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Originally uploaded by wordnerdy.

Here's a picture from the first roll taken with my Holga! I'm still experimenting but a few of these came out dark (despite being taken during very sunny days) and most did not exhibit any light leaks. I'm starting to play with the color gels so we'll see how that goes.

These pine trees have been up on campus for the past couple of weeks. Apparently they have something to do with not drinking and driving.

2006 book 140

Elizabeth Strout's Abide with Me
Strout's latest novel centers on a minister in a small town in Maine in 1959; after the death of his wife, he struggles to find his way while dealing with his traumatized daughter. He's a little too obsessed w/ Bonhoeffer for my taste, but is still a very likable and sympathetic character. His daughter, too, is a heart-breaking little figure. As the two of them try to get over their family tragedy and find their place, small-town gossis and church politics threaten to destroy the little they have left. Meanwhile, the spectre of nuclear war hangs over a culture on the brink of change. B+.

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Originally uploaded by wordnerdy.

Happy Hanukkah!

I tried to put my new electric menorah in the window, but the sills are all too narrow. Boo. Also, saying prayers over an electric menorah feels pretty silly. I miss the smell of lit matches that signifies Hanukkah to me.

I have been enjoying my Hanukkah present Holga though!! I'm almost done with my first roll of film.

baby panda

I hate clicking onto my blog only to see my own face staring out at me, so here is a link to a story about the panda cub in Atlanta. It has a name!

Yet another reason to visit Atlanta . . . friends, rock shows, and pandas!

And here is a link to a latke recipe, since Hanukkah starts tonight. I'm sure I'll take a picture of my new electric menorah for posting purposes.

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Originally uploaded by wordnerdy.

My holga came!! Too bad it's raining out and I can't go play.

Also, look how long my hair is getting!