Grasping for the Wind

Spring Reading Thing 2007 Wrap-Up

Well, I certainly enjoyed this year's Spring Reading Thing. While I chose not to pick out books before hand, but rather just record all the books I read over the period, I still think it was a rather successful venture.

In total I read 31 fiction books and 9 non-fiction books. I wrote 15 reviews with at least one more on the way.

Now on to the questions Callapidder Days asked.

What was the best book you read this spring?
I've never been really good at doing this, but if I had to pick one, I would pick The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It won a Pulitzer prize for fiction, so I'm not alone in believing in its value. At any rate, it really made me think outside the box. It was so haunting and dreary and yet so hopeful all at once that I had to finish it in one day, at all costs.

The Prestige came in a close second. It was another fiction book that really took its genre to new heights as well as being appealing to a general audience.

What book could you have done without?
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (what is it about me and Scottish writers?) My review says it all as to why I thought it a waster of time. It really boils down to its banality, uselessness and self-absorption. Can a memoir be called self-absorbed? Perhaps better to call it self-obsessed. It just felt like I wasted the few hours it took to read.

Did you try out a new author this spring? If so, which one, and will you be reading that author again?
Several. I will probably revisit most of them at some point. However I will avoid Frank McCourt. I plan to read more Elie Weisel, Ishmael Beah, Christopher Priest and Robert Asprin.

If there were books you didn't finish, tell us why. Did you run out of time? Realize those books weren't worth it?
Only one did I fail to finish. I picked up Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint thinking it would be good since it was a world fantasy award winner. However the graphic descriptions of gay sex made it impossible to get beyond the second chapter. I can usually gloss over that stuff (I have read George R. R. Martin and Mercedes Lackey folks.) but the descriptions were so graphic I thought I was reading a romance paperback. I didn't even put it on my list as I returned it to Borders the next day and picked up the John Moore books.

Did you come across a book or two on other participants' lists that you're planning to add to your own to-be-read pile? Which ones?
I rarely visited other's lists. Most of the books I had already read, or were unlikely ever to read. A few might make it to my book pile, in part because I remember it from seeing it at Spring Reading Thing 2007.

What did you learn -- about anything -- through this challenge?
I learned that I can read non-fiction almost as quickly as fiction, assuming the writing is good or the facts worth knowing (at least to me). I also learned that stepping outside of one's preferred genre can be fun, but having a genre to come back to afterward can have a soothing effect, especially in times of turmoil.

What was the best part of the Spring Reading Thing?
Writing reviews. I really enjoy it and it helps me think more deeply about even the more lighthearted fiction like Terry Pratchett or John Moore as well as the deeply philosophical fiction or factual non-fiction.

Would you be interested in participating in another reading challenge this fall?
Yup. No question.

Posted by John on June 22, 2007 09:25 AM | Posted to Literature and Language
Share: