I felt like I had a pretty good reading year in ’08, even though I actually completed two fewer books than in 2007 (only 22 versus 24 last year). I blame the discrepancy on the length of a couple of them, more than anything; I never have a moment when I’m not in the middle of something. Anyhow, the book lists are below the fold.
We’ll start with what my fifth-grade teacher used to call the “true” stuff:
Books Completed in 2008 (non-fiction)
- The Happiest Days of Our Lives by Wil Wheaton
- Boom!: Voices of the Sixties — Personal Reflections on the ’60s and Today by Tom Brokaw
- The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany, 1944-45 by Stephen Ambrose
- Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography by Arthur C. Clarke
- Rick Steves’ Postcards from Europe: 25 Years of Travel Tales from America’s Favorite Guidebook Writer by Rick Steves
- Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve by Christopher Anderson
The only title on this list I would not recommend is Astounding Days, which was a huge disappointment. It’s a book I bought years ago but only recently got around to reading; possibly it would’ve worked better for me if I’d read it sooner, back when my interests were somewhat different and I still counted Arthur C. Clarke among my favorite authors. (I’m not recanting my admiration for his work or anything, it’s just been a very long time since I read any of it, and, if I’m being honest with myself, I realize I don’t have much desire these days to revisit it. I’ve apparently moved on to other things. Ergo, no longer a favorite.) Astounding Days is a memoir of Clarke’s youthful obsession with the old Astounding Stories pulp magazine, the evolution of the early science fiction fan scene, and Clarke’s own development into an important writer in that genre, all topics that should’ve been right up my alley. Unfortunately, Clarke himself comes across rather badly in this volume, in my opinion. His voice in this book is that of precisely the sort of SF nerd that I no longer enjoy associating with: irritatingly smug about his own (admittedly impressive) intellect, condescending to those who don’t share his esoteric interests, utterly oblivious to the fact that he’s so damn insufferable, and, when it comes right down to it, really pretty boring. (Yes, I realize I’ve just described half the blogosphere, including myself. Smart-alecks.) Sometimes it’s a bad thing to learn too much about the people you think you admire. Although I hasten to point out that this is merely how he comes across in Astounding Days; I like to think I would have had a different impression entirely if I’d known him personally. Certainly many other people did.
I should also make a special mention of the Chris and Dana Reeve bio, if for no other reason than the odd circumstances that led to my reading it. Basically, I was contacted out of the blue by someone looking for bloggers who’d written about Christopher Reeve (which I, of course, have done repeatedly. She offered me a free review copy of the book (which was then a few weeks out from its release date, as I recall) with no strings attached, asking only that if I wrote about it on my blog, I send her a link to use in the book’s promotion. I was excited by this opportunity to get involved in something bigger than my own ramblings and maybe elevate my visibility a little. I read the book and, for what it’s worth at this point, I did like it. I had good intentions of writing a smart, crackling review, too… but, as so often seems to happen to me anymore, things came up that distracted me, then I procrastinated, then the never-ending churn of bloggable material just kept churning, and, well… obviously and to my shame, I never got around to it. But I did like the book.
For the record, however, my favorite non-fiction book of 2008 was The Wild Blue. I have a fascination for World War II in general, and for WW II aviation in particular. As many of you know, I’ve had some personal experience with a B-24 bomber, so naturally I was drawn to this book. I knew going in that Stephen Ambrose’s professional reputation has suffered in recent years because of charges of plagiarism, and that this was one of the tainted books. While I don’t condone or excuse his failure to credit another man’s work, I know of no other history volume that focuses exclusively on the role the B-24s played in the war (most of the popular histories focus on the B-24’s more glamorous cousins, the B-17s), and whatever failings he may have had, Ambrose was a hell of a storyteller. I thoroughly enjoyed The Wild Blue cover to cover.
And moving right along…
[Ed. note: I originally planned for this to be a single entry, but I started running really long in discussing the fiction I read last year, so I’ve decided to break it up. Watch for Part Two shortly…]
Predictably, I suppose, the book that would mostly pique my interest on this list is Rick Steves’ one. I never particularly liked his guides, though. I suppose you liked it well enough?
Oh, man – the blog equivalent of “Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion of….”
Quite the powerful childhood memory you just invoked!
Can’t wait for the fiction. Always looking for new stuff to read.
Ilya: I did like the Steves book, for a number of reasons — among other things, it provides some insight into how his business actually works, i.e., how he makes local contacts and chooses what to put in his guide books — but I hesitate to recommend it to you if you don’t care for his guide books. It’s very much a companion to the guide books, you see; he writes in the same voice and many of the anecdotes he relates here have been told (in somewhat different form) in both his guide books and television series.
Brian: Sorry to leave you hanging! It was late, though, and I realized I was running long… although I suppose I should say that I did this on purpose, to make sure you come back for the next thrilling episode!
Kisintin: Hopefully something on my list will strike your fancy…