Your Humble Blogger was not altogether surprised to discover that the total book count for 2004 was over a hundred; that’s only two a week, after all. I was surprised, however, that of that hundred (actually 119) only 44 were re-reads. I think that the ratio is due to keeping this public log of my reading. The observer changes what’s observed, particularly when it comes to this sort of thing.\n
Anyway, I was also a bit surprised by the breakdown within those 75 new books. The top category was speculative fiction, of course, with 20 entries (plus another 6 Young Adult specfics), but the second was essays. Well, and we could get into a lovely conversation about genre here: of the eleven books I’ve called essays, only The Best American Essays 2003<\/I> and Critical Essays on Charles Dickens's Bleak House<\/I> are clearly books of essays, although Apostrophes & Apocalypses<\/I> and The Meaning of Swarthmore<\/I> couldn’t really be anything else. I’ve also counted two book-length essays, Bleak House: A Novel of Connections<\/I> and Eats, Shoots & Leaves<\/I>, rather than create a separate category for monographs. I’ve also put the two Studs Terkel books (Hope Dies Last<\/I> and Coming of Age<\/I>) as well as the Studs-esque Voices from the Federal Theatre<\/I> into essays, although I could make a good argument for putting them into memoirs (which consists of A Kentish Lad<\/I>, West with the Night<\/I> and, for lack of a better category, The Thurber Letters<\/I>). The other toughie on that score was Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor, and Himself<\/I>, but it is mostly essays, or ‘casuals’, which are more like essays than anything else. I also threw in From Narnia to A Space Odyssey<\/I>, which certainly isn’t a memoir and, despite containing specfic short stories, is mostly a non-fiction book. On the other hand, I put Dating Your Mom<\/I> into the humor category (which it shares with Holy Tango of Literature<\/I>) rather than in essays. I also put Pitching My Tent<\/I> and The Screwtape Letters<\/I> into religion rather than essays, as they are for the most part essays on religion, and they seemed more comfortable with Does God Have a Big Toe?<\/I> and Nothing Sacred<\/I> than with the essays.\n
I would have expected to find in second place mystery novels, but even tossing in thrillers brings that only up to nine. That’s only just ahead of non-genre novels at seven. Not that those don’t have genres, but on first glance they would all (According to Queenie<\/I>, Bandbox<\/I>, Moo<\/I>, The Charioteer<\/I>, The Cider House Rules<\/I>, The Magic Christian<\/I>, and The Tidewater Tales<\/I>) be shelved as ‘fiction’. Or so I surmise; I hardly ever go to those shelves in bookstores.\n
I also read six graphic novels (or whatever they are) over the year, which is likely higher than in most recent years, although I didn’t think it was that high this year. Since I’ve never kept track before, I have no idea how many I’ve read and forgotten. Only two of this year’s stuck in my mind, and one of those was written by an old buddy.\n
The rest were a scattering of non-fiction on policy, history, and home improvement, and one chapter book, or whatever it’s called when it’s beyond ‘easy reader’ but not ‘young adult’. Altogether, it breaks down to two fiction books for each non-fiction book. I would have expected the non-fiction to be even smaller; I suspect the eyes of my Gentle Readers have something to do with that as well. For which many thanks, as I’ve enjoyed them.\n
Anyway, if any Gentle Reader has made it past the numbers and categories, I’ll put in as a reward my Favorite Books of 2004. Remember, this is books I read during 2004, not books that came out. I’m also ignoring re-reads, which for the most part I know I like, as it isn’t fair to the new crop. OK, here are ten Books Your Humble Blogger Enjoyed:\n
Well, and that’s ten, I think. Not the most stellar list, when I look at it. Still, that was the year that was.\n
Thank you,
-Vardibidian.\n<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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