25 Books in 2011

Didn't think I was going to hit 25 books in 2011, but to my delight I did. Hooray!  Here's the shortlist in smarmy categories:.

Few Redeeming Qualities

Sunny Sunday in Newport by Matt Love

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Interesting But Not Getting a Reread

Green Shadows, White Whale by Ray Bradbury

Americana by Don DeLillo

A Wild Ride (In a Good Way)

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

John Dies At the End by David Wong

The Godfather by Mario Puzo 

Sigh, Such Pretty Writing

All Over Coffee by Paul Madonna

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

The Summer He Didn't Die by Jim Harrison

Must You Go by Antonia Frasier

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston

Highly Amusing

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Kinda Pretentious, But Still Likeable

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Lush Life by Richard Price

Would Rather Have Listened To It On This American Life

Naked by David Sedaris

Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

It Felt Like Homework - I LOVED IT

Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha

Richard III by William Shakespeare

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Aborted Reads

Recollections of My Life as a Woman by Diane DiPrima

Book 25 - Less Than Zero

Book 24 of 25 in 2011 - Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston

Book #22 of a very hopeful 25 in 2011.  At this point, I'm worried about hitting the goal. Anyone else struggling to get there?

It's November and there are only weeks until deadline. Will I cram in 25 books before it's 2012?  I sincerely doubt it, but I will keep plugging along. Here's the list thus far:

The Summer He Didn't Die by Jim Harrison

Sunny Sunday in Newport by Matt Love

Green Shadows, White Whale by Ray Bradbury

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

John Dies At the End by David Wong

Naked by David Sedaris

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

Recollections of my Life as a Woman by Diane DiPrima replaced with Bossypants by Tina Fey

The Godfather by Mario Puzo 

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Cromwell by Antonia Frasier

Americana by Don DeLillo

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Must You Go by Antonia Frasier

Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Lush Life by Richard Price

Richard III by William Shakespeare

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

All Over Coffee by Paul Madonna

For Tom of TomBooks.

Gritty, urban cop dramas aren't my thing. I have never seen an episode of CSI, Law & Order or any of those kinds of procedural shows so it was surprising that I took to this book. Granted, the first two chapters were a crash course in cop-talk but I kept plugging away at it. Next thing you know, I've got a grip on the narrative and I'm along for the ride. The story was well crafted. By that I mean to say, it didn't feel pedantic or staged like some of the more "literary" novels that I lean toward. This felt at ease with the loose ends and discomfort of the characters. The writer has a reputation for writing killer dialogue (something that I can't do to save my life) and Lush Life delivers. Ranging from a slammed restaurant staff to the posturing of street of hoodlums Richard Price wrote clipped conversations that covered precisely the right terrain. The man can hustle a fucking story. 

Fresh Air interview for the Synch Read book, Super Sad True Love Story.

Book 18 of 25 in 2011 - Lush Life by Richard Price.

An excerpt from the above titled chapter in Sex At Dawn:

"So while our closest ape cousins may have us beat in the testicles department they lose to the human penis on size, duration, and cool design features. Furthermore,the average seminal volume in a human ejaculate is about four times that of chimpanzees, bringing the total number of sperm cells per ejaculate within range of the chimp's. 

Returning to the question of whether the human scrotum is half-empty or half-full, the very existence of the external human scrotum suggests sperm competition in human evolution. Gorillas and gibbons, like most other mammals that don't engage in sperm competition, generally aren't equipped for it.