Why I Read It: I am such a sucker. I decided to read The Devil of Nanking for two reasons: 1) I have a non-fiction book on my shelf titled The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang and I thought reading a novel about the same events  would get me to read the one on my TBR list sooner and 2) Harlan Coben has a quote on the cover and I love that guy. Okay, not going to lie, it was mostly the Harlan Coben thing.

Note to self: DO NOT FALL FOR THE FAVORITE AUTHOR BLURBS A BOOK trick (unless it is Patrick Califia, in which case it’s totally cool to fall for that because, come on, it’s Patrick Califia).

Also, I just found this out, my favorite magazine Entertainment Weekly gave it an A. So while I didn’t know that before I read the book, it proves that it’s not just Harlan Coben’s fault that I read this book.

What It’s About: Grey is a college-age English woman in the mid 1990s who is obsessed with the brutal Rape of Nanking. She is so obsessed with it, in fact, that somehow it led to her being hospitalized. In a mysterious book she found in her house, she read about a movie made during the massacre and she is now on a quest to watch it and prove that it exists. This leads her to Japan, in order track down Professor Shi Chongming, the man who discussed the video in the book no one believes exists. If this sounds confusing, it’s because it is. There’s more: “Her quest will take her to a reclusive scholar and a wheelchair-bound gangster who clings to life with the aid of a mysterious elixir, and to a handsome American whose interest in Grey may be more sinister than romantic (via Goodreads).”

What I Really Liked: Part of the book is Grey’s journal entries, while the other part is Professor Shi Chongming’s journal entries from the years leading up to the 1937 massacre in Nanking. While the writing itself is impeccable, if very slowly paced, in both sections, Shi Chongming’s entries have a sense of urgency that makes for very engaging reading. If the entire book had focused on him instead of sharing the spotlight with Grey, I would have loved The Devil of Nanking.

What I Didn’t Like: I would classify this book as being a “literary thriller,” which to me means well written, but not at all thrilling. The entire plot hinges on coincidences: Grey meets Jason, the aforementioned “handsome American,” in a park, and through him she gets a job where she meets the “wheelchair-bound gangster.”

There’s also the moralizing. There’s a very obviously underoverlying message here, and that is that ignorance is not the same as evil. It’s repeated about a bajillion times.

Finally, the ultimate disappointment was that I guessed most of the plot twists at the very beginning. I am usually terrible at this, so it was rather frustrating.

Grade: C+

Recommended: If you like literary thrillers and/or you’re really, really bad at guessing plot twists

On the Narration: I’ve enjoying listening to quite a few books read by Simon Vance and he does not disappoint here as the haunted Professor Shi Chongming. Josephine Bailey was also pretty good, but I had to take points away for her absolutely awful voice for Jason. It’s a pretty bad attempt at an American accent.

Narration Grade: B+

This past week the short lists for the Indie Lit Awards were announced! It’s my second year serving as the director of the LGBTQ category, and I’m excited to get started reading and discussing these five books. We had a ton of nominations this year which was a really pleasant surprise.

• Well With My Soul by Gregory Allen (ASD Publishing)
• Swimming to Chicago by David Matthew Barnes (Bold Strokes Books)
• Songs for the New Depression by Kergan Edwards-Stout (Circumspect Press)
• Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger (Beacon Press)
• Huntress by Melinda Lo (little brown books for young readers)

Feminist Classics Project

In other very exciting news, I will be hosting a read-a-long of Julia Serano’s amazing (amazing amazing amazing) book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity for the Feminist Classics challenge. Whipping Girl was a total game changer for me and how I think about gender identity and expression and queer theory, and I am so psyched to be able to discuss it in depth. As someone who reads a tonnnn of queer studies books, Whipping Girl would be (/is always) the one I would recommend as a starting point to anyone who is even vaguely interested in the subject. So, you know, if you wanted to participate that would be cool. No pressure.

There are also a bunch of other great books on the list, not just my special favorite, so please check it out.

• February – Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks (Amy)
• March – The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan (Jean)
• April – Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano (Cass)
• May – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë read alongside Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Iris)
• June – Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (Emily)
• July – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Nancy)
  

  Cover via Amazon

• August – The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Lauren)
• September – Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua (Melissa)
• October – The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (Jodie)
• November – Beyond the Veil by Fatema Mernissi (Ana)
• December – Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis (Emily Jane)
• January – Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practising Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Eva)

Total Books Read in 2011

Print: 101 — 27,436 pages
Audio: 93 — 1,169.25 hours; 49 days (THIS IS SO MANY DAYS)
Ebooks: 11

My goal in 2011 was to read 20 ebooks…oops. Maybe in 2012!

Fiction: 106
Non-fiction: 99

I’m incredibly pleased that I managed to read an almost equal amount of fiction and non-fiction in 2011, although it definitely explains why I read about fifty less books overall. Non-fiction is dreamy.

LGBTQ books: 45

Most books read by the same author: 14, Harlan Coben

Author whose books I read for the first time in 2011 that I now want to read all of his books: Stephen King. I read seven of his books in 2011! Considering he has published like 50000000 books, I’ve still got a ways to go.

Oldest book read: The Tuesday Club Murders (A Miss Marple Mystery) by Agatha Christie, originally published 1932

Number of books read that were published in 2011: 59–I’m really happy about this incredibly high number. Thanks, awesome library!

Longest audio book listened to: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of FDR by H. W. Brands (37.25 hours)

Most likely response from people when I tell them about the books I’ve been reading lately: “Oh, my Dad would really like that.”

Book I was most pleasantly surprised was incredibly delightful: Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan

Least favorite book: The Ridge by Michael Koryta–it was just so incredibly boring.

Most successful book recommendation to my boss: The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Medicine, Madness, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard– +20 points for me

Favorite president of 2011: Richard Milhous Nixon (also “best way to lead to conversations that lead to the ‘most likely response from people when I tell them about the books I’ve been reading lately’)

READING GOALS FOR 2012

• Read at least 20 ebooks
• Read 10 books from my bookshelf
• And some other stuff I haven’t decided yet…

1. This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War by James M. McPherson (audio)
2. The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (audio)
3. Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (audio)
4. Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (audio)
5. What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes (audio)
6. A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi (audio)
7. Land’s End: A Walk In Provincetown by Michael Cunningham (audio)
8. City of the Sun (Frank Behr #1) by David Levien (audio)
9. Undone (Georgia #1) by Karin Slaughter (audio)
10. A Queer and Pleasant Danger by Kate Bornstein

November

1. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Patton Oswalt
2. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (audio)
3. Ed King by David Guterson (audio)
4. Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
5. The Times of Our Lives: A Conversation About America by Tom Brokaw (audio)
6. The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora’s Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance by Michael Perino (audio)
7. Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar #7) by Harlan Coben (audio)
8. Needful Things by Stephen King (audio)
9. The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee by Sarah Silverman (audio)
10. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (audio)
11. Money Culture by Michael Lewis (audio)
12. Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman (audio)
13. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling (audio)

October

1. The Griff by Christopher Moore and Ian Corson
2. The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker (audio)
3. Indignation by Philip Roth (audio)
4. Dancing In the Moonlight by RaeAnne Thayne (ebook)
5. How to Be Alone: Essays by Jonathan Franzen
6. Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
7. Just One Look by Harlan Coben
8. Horns by Joe Hill (audio)
9. The Final Detail (Myron Bolitar #6) by Harlan Coben (audio)
10. Geek Girls Unite: How Fangirls, Bookworms, Indie Chicks, and Other Misfits Are Taking Over the World by Leslie Simon
11. Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie (ebook)
12. Housekeeps v. The Dirt by Nick Hornby
13. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
14. Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) by Jasper Fforde (ebook)
15. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone”) by Road Serling and Mark Kneece
16. The Big Tall Wish (Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone”) by Road Serling and Mark Kneece
17. Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica edited by Tristan Taormino
18. Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies by bell hooks

September

1. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein (audio)
2. The Running Man by Stephen King (audio)
3. All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (ebook)
4. Deal Breaker (Myron Bolitar #1) by Harlan Coben (audio)
5. The Bad Always Die Twice by Cheryl Crane (audio)
6. Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain by John McCain (ebook)
7. Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar #2) by Harlan Coben (audio)
8. Fade Away (Myron Bolitar #3) by Harlan Coben (audio)
9. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (audio)
10. Back Spin (Myron Bolitar #4) by Harlan Coben (audio)
11. Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham (audio)
12. Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
13. One False Move (Myron Bolitar #5) by Harlan Coben (audio)
14. The Magicians by Lev Grossman (audio)
15. Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert (audio)

August

1. It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller (audio)
2. The Ridge by Michael Koryta (audio)
3. Danse Macabre by Stephen King (audio)
4. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (audio)
5. Eromenos by Melanie McDonald
6. Carrie by Stephen King (ebook)
7. Celebrity Chekhov by Ben Greenman
8. The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jani Mayer (audio)
9. The Long Walk by Stephen King (audio)
10. Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld (audio)
11. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris Perry
12. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (audio)
13. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)
14. Mile 81 by Stephen King (ebook)
15. The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie

July

1. Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of FDRby H. W. Brands
   
2. Gay People of Color: Facing Prejudices, Forging Identities (Gallup’s Guide to Modern Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Lifestyle) by Jaime A. Seba
3. Coming Out: Telling Family and Friends (The Gallup’s Guide to Modern Gay, Lesbian, & Transgender Lifestyle) by Jaime A. Seba
4. Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman
5. Tell No One by Harlan Coben (ebook)
6. The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun (Rod Serling’s the Twilight Zone) by Rod Serling, Mark Kneece, and Anthony Spay
7. Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
8. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller
9. Firestorm by Radclyffe (ebook)
10. Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu
11. Trust Me On This by Jennifer Crusie (ebook)
12. A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (audio)
13. Batman: Battle for the Cowl by Tony S. Daniel
14. Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love by Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus
15. Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novelsby Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan
16. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam (audio)
17. The Queer Art of Failure by J. Halberstam (ebook)
18. Hysteria by Eva Gale (ebook)
19. Where She Went by Gayle Forman (audio)
20. Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman (audio)
    
21. Women of the Mean Streets: Lesbian Noir edited by J.M. Redmann & Greg Herren (ebook)
22. Caricature by Daniel Clowes
23. The Borrower  by Rebecca Makkai
24. Complaints & Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English
25. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

June

1.  A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner
2. The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer (audio)
3. Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides (audio)
4. Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan
5. Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large by Kim Brittingham
6. The Funny Thing Is… by Ellen Degeneres (audio)
7. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell (audio)
8. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
9. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable (audio)
10. Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (ebook)
11. Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer (audio)
12. The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture by Joshua Kendall (audio)
13. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (audio)
14. How to Suppress Women’s Writing… by Joanna Russ
15. Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True! by Richard Roeper
16. Hitman: The Untold Story of Johnny Martorano: Whitey Bulger’s Enforcer and the Most Feared Gangster in the Underworld by Howie Carr (audio)
17. The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins (audio)
18. Room by Emma Donnoghue
19. Who is Ana Mendieta? by Christine Redfern and Caro Caron
20. Jack of Fables: Jack of Hearts (Jack #2) by Bill Willingham
21. Big Sex, Little Death by Susie Bright
22. Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez
23. We Are the Animals by Justin Torres
24. Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen (audio)
25. Lost In Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff (audio)

May

1. A Visit from the Goon Squad byJennifer Egan
2. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin (audio)
3. Live Wire (Myron Bolitar #10) by Harlan Coben (audio)
4. Bossypants by Tina Fey (audio)
5. My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
6. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
7. The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (audio)
8. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (audio)
9. Shelter (Mickey Bolitar #1) by Harlan Coben

April

1. The Best American Crime Reporting 2010 edited by Stephen Dubner
2. Townie by Andre Dubus III (audio)
3. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
4. Stories: All-New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio
5. The Terrible Axe-man of New Orleans by Rick Geary
6. I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas by Lewis Black (audio)
7. Rape New York by Jana Leo
8. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
9. Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela S. Choi
10. The Other Eighties: A Secret History of America In the Age of Reagan by Bradford Martin
11. Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi (audio)
12. Delusions of Gender by Cornelia Fine
13. Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford with Det. Sgt. Joe Matthews (audio)
14. Holding Still For As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall
15. First Family: Abigail & John Adams by Joesph J. Ellis (audio)
16. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly
17. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
18. The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi
19. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (audio)
20. hidden by Tomas Mournian
    

March

1. Chronic City by Jonahan Lethem (audio)
2. When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
3. For the Win by Cory Doctorow (audio)
4. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield
5. Long Lost by Harlan Coben
6. FUBAR: America’s Right-Wing Nightmare by Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill (audio)
7. Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself by Rachel Lloyd
8. Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros
9. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (audio)
10. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Libertyby Dorothy Roberts
11. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
12. Songbook by Nick Hornby
13. More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman (audio)

February

1. Shocking True Story: The Rise and Fall of Confidential, “America’s Most Scandalous Scandal Magazine” by Henry E. Scott
2. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
3. Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
4. In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam
5. The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
6. I Am J by Cris Beam
7. Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein
8. Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan (audio)
9. My Father at 100 by Ron Reagan (audio)
10. The Godfather by Mario Puzo (audio)
11. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
12. Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring (audio)
13. Gone for Good by Harlan Coben (audio)
14. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
15. Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma Donoghue
16. Darling Jim by Christian Moerk (audio)
17. Sick City by Tony O’Neil
18. The Sherlockian by Graham Moore (audio)
19. Murder Is Murder Is Murder by Samuel M. Steward

January

1. The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood In the Fifties by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair
2. How I Made It to Eighteen: A Mostly True Story by Tracy White
3. Bob the Book by David Pratt
4. The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and the Rose (Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde) by Oscar Wilde and P. Craig Russell
5. The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr
6. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
7. Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob by Matt Birkbeck (audio)
8. Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto
9. 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter (audio)
10. Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr by David Bret
11. The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman
12. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
13. The Slow Fix by Ivan Coyote
14. Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV by Jennifer L. Pozner
15. Boston Noir edited by Dennis Lehane
16. High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto (audio)
17. The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
18. Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent by Anthony Rapp (audio)
19. Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
20. So Cold the River by Michael Koryta (audio)
21. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
22. Play Dead by Harlan Coben (audio)

Image via Wikipedia-- it was this kind of reading month

Total Books Read: 10
Audio: 9
Print: 1
Ebook: 0

Fiction — 2

1. City of the Sun (Frank Behr #1) by David Levien (audio): It’s not really a secret that I have a rather, um, oversized love for Myron Bolitar, the sports-agent-turned-frequent-detective star of Harlan Coben’s mystery series. I’ve read all the Bolitar novels (maybe I’ve even read them twice), and I am on a mission for a new mystery series to love. City of the Sun was my first attempt to fill the Bolitar-sized gap in my reading list, and I’m sad to report it didn’t quite cut it. Frank Behr, ex-cop turned private detective, is as big as a (you guessed it) bear. His largeness seems to be his best quality; sadly, it wasn’t enough for me and I think one Frank Behr novel is enough for me.
2. Undone (Georgia #1) by Karin Slaughter (audio): I was a bit more impressed with Undone, the first in a series that brings Slaughter’s two heroes, Will Trent from the, uh, Will Trent story and Dr. Sara Linton from the Grant County series together. The only problem is that there are six books in the Grant County series and two books in the Will Trent series, all of which take place long before the events in Undone. So I’ll be reading those series in the near future, or at least before  (Hi, my name is Cass and I have a medium to severe addiction to mystery series.)

Total Books Read: 13
Audio: 11
Print: 2
Ebooks: 0

Fiction — 6

1. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan: I’ve had really bad luck with books that tell me they are going to be a cross between BOOK I REALLY LIKE and OTHER BOOK/THEME THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING. I may be alone on this in the book blogger world though.
2. Damned by Chuck Palahniuk (print): Shorter Palahniuk: I need money! I should write a book really quick! Shorter Publisher: Oh, thanks buddy! Lets market this as being like an 80s movie everyone loves, even though the book is really not like the movie at all! (Note: I don’t think this was the actual convo. But close.)
3. Ed King by David Guterson: The exception to my previous rule regarding my dislike of adaptations of popular books/stories/movies. I quite liked Ed King, even though none of the characters are likeable at all. It’s kind of the charm of it, I think.
4. Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar #7) by Harlan Coben: Oh Myron. I feel like I read this ages ago, I don’t remember it at all.
5. Needful Things by Stephen King: This audio book is narrated by King, and his perfect use of a Maine accent for some of the characters was basically worth listening to the entire book. A joy, really.
6. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King: The narrator for this one, on the other hand, did a Maine accent like a Boston townie who has been drinking for a couple days straight.

Non-Fiction – 7

1. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Patton Oswalt (print): I am not saying anything about this book as I imagine internet trolls will suddenly appear and leave terrifying comments.
2. The Times of Our Lives: A Conversation About America by Tom Brokaw: Listening to books written and narrated by news anchors/broadcast journalists is one of my very favorite things.
3. The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora’s Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance by Michael Perino: Two words: so good.
4. The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee by Sarah Silverman: Quite a bit more serious than I expected.
5. Money Culture by Michael Lewis: A collection of essays about Wall Street/the financial sector written in the 80s-90s. My first experience reading Lewis’s writing; I really need to read more of his books.
6. Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion  by Janet Reitman: This book doesn’t really go into what Scientologists believe, but other than that it’s a really good work of journalism.
7. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling: If you have a best friend, you need to read the essay in here about best friends because it’s perfect. I want to frame it and give it to my bestie, but I think that might be a little odd. DEAL WITH IT, JENNIFER.

Other Notes, re: mid-December fun

I would like to thank my mysterious Book Blogger Holiday Swap secret Santa for sending me these two books from my wishlist, The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman and Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, two books I’m super excited to read. Getting a copy of Half-Blood Blues was particularly pleasing since it isn’t out here in the US yet. Thank you, mysterious BBHS Santa! If you’re reading this, please let me know who you are by leaving a comment!

(A special thanks to Nicole for letting me participate in the swap despite my waiting until the very last minute to sign up.)

Also, you may have noticed on my dear pal Amy‘s blog that somehow I was able to be her BBHS Secret Santa. This is the first Secret Santa I’ve ever done with bloggers where I actually knew OF the blogger, let alone traveled all of NYC with her and had her as a guest in my house. (Side note: talk about high pressure shopping!) I’m happy to see that she was excited about her gifts, especially since I kind of had to give away my Secret Santa-ness by begging her to stay home on Monday for “mysterious reasons” (or to sign for the FedEx package, you know) and acting like a general creep. (My first IM to her on Monday morning was “ARE YOU AT HOME?” Totally creepy. She was like “ARE YOU COMING TO MY HOUSE?”)

This was my first year participating in the Broke and Bookish Secret Santa, and okay I have to squeal about this, bear with me, OMG YOU GUYS MY SECRET SANTA WORKS FOR BEACON PRESS, ONE OF MY FAVORITE PUBLISHERS! Broche, who blogs at Wildly Read, kiiind of nailed it, you guys. If you can’t quite see the titles in the picture, they are:

• Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg
• Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue by Leslie Feinberg
• Queer Quotes edited by Teresa Theophano
• Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life edited by Christian McEwan
• A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

Broche also included that lovely (homemade!) card with really amusing details about how she chose the books and mentioned that Beacon will be publishing a book by J. Halberstam next year–news (very exciting news!) to me. Thank you so much!

Last night I went to my first ever Boston Bloggers event (local bloggers, not book bloggers, which was DIFFERENT). Everyone I spoke with was really nice, the food was quite tasty, and I got some lip gloss advice, so all in all I’d say it was a successful evening.

I want to read all of these books through osmosis.

[via]

And all I could think was, hmmm, that reminds me of this OTHER book:

What do you think? Am I over thinking this?

– which brand of computer should I buy? This is a BIG DEAL decision.
– when will I ever be inspired to write an actual post for this here blog?
– why doesn’t laundry take care of itself?
– if I tried to bake a duck, would it be edible? Duck seems like an easy thing to mess up.
– why am I so tired all the time?