Here's a list of my ten favorite things I read last year. It took awhile to compile this list and to remember my initial thoughts on some of these books nearly a year after reading them. I'll try to do this more often and split it into two "best of" book lists a year. But, let's see how this one goes. In no particular order...
THE HOT KID
Elmore Leonard
This was my introduction to Elmore Leonard, and I'm glad I started here. It's an awesome story set in the world of 1930s gangsters and gun molls, following a young kid, Carl Webster, who grows up wanting to become a U.S. Marshall and catch bad guys because a gangster stole his ice cream cone. Sounds like kind of a goofy premise, but it totally works. What follows is a cool story filled with twists and turns as Carl's foil, spoiled rich kid Jack Belmont, sets out to become America's roughest, toughest criminal. Naturally, the parallel narratives of the protagonist and antagonist lead to a climax that's as brutal as it is funny. This is a great read.
TISHOMINGO BLUES
Elmore Leonard
My second foray into the realm of Elmore Leonard turned out to be a different, more comedic journey than the first. Tishomingo Blues follows famous high-diver Dennis Lenahan as he holes up in a small Mississippi town and hooks up with a local hotel owner in an effort to establish his high-dive act as a main attraction. Of course, it all looks too perfect until Dennis witnesses a murder that puts him on the run from the Dixie Mafia, a crew of rednecks who get their kicks staging (in great detail) Civil War reenactments. The entire book is solid, but as soon as we discover the main Civil War reenactment is really a scheme to 'off' Dennis once and for all, I couldn't put it down. May favorite Elmore Leonard book so far.
TO THE WHITE SEA
James Dickey
In the early 2000's, the Coen Brothers were supposed to adapt this book into a silent film starring Brad Pitt. I was super excited at the notion of a Coen-directed lyrical drama set during WW2, but then of course the project collapsed and it all went to hell. I finally picked up the book last year and gave it a read. And I'm glad I did - it's a fantastic, harsh story filled with some of the most fluid prose I've ever read. There is maybe three lines of dialogue in the entire book, and the rest of the time you're fused inside the head of the main character, Muldrow, a U.S. bomber pilot whose plane is shot over Tokyo during a raid. That's act one. The rest of the story follows Muldrow's journey as he makes his way across the dangerous, enemy-filled land of Tokyo and into the 'safehavens' of the North. Forced to do anything to survive, Muldrow kills and murders while descending into madness along the way. It's violent as hell, but a beautiful read. I could easily see what drew the Coen Brothers to this material. Imagine a cross between 'Fargo' and 'No Country for Old Men' and you're on the right track.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Steig Larsson
My mom recommended this trilogy to me. I'll admit, I'm one of 'those' readers who'll flip to the last page of a book before starting it to peak at the page count. This bastard's about 700 pages with teeny tiny fine print and features some of the most detailed description I've ever read. All that might sound like a bad thing, except for the fact that the book is easily one of the best whodunit crime mysteries I've ever read. Equal parts engaging character study and suspense thriller, the two main characters' narratives start out like two loose ends of string, until they're wound and wound, eventually intertwining and become one. The fall of Mikael Blomkvist in the first several chapters began to get a bit dull for me, but once he's hired by enigmatic tycoon Henrik Vanger to solve the decades-old mystery of his niece's disappearance, I was instantly hooked. There's something so eerie about the manner in which Harriett Vanger vanished, and once Blomkvist moves to Vanger's town and begins to spend time getting acquainted with each of the disturbed family members, I couldn't put the book down. The story takes some weird and freakish turns, but it never failed to keep my eyes glued to the page. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the second book, 'The Girl Who Played With Fire,', which is supposed to be just as good as this one. Can't wait.
THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION
Michael Chabon
I found this book to be much more accessible than 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.' Chabon telling a noirish detective story set in small-town Alaska is what got my attention, but he really works overtime trying to bathe the reader in countless chapters of Jewish folklore, which I appreciate to an extent. Sometimes it gets a bit tedious, but Meyer Landsman's character is so engaging and self-destructive that I couldn't help but stay tuned for everything that comes next. I didn't ultimately feel that the pay-off of the climax lived up to what the main story was driving toward, but the characters and rich, cultural lore kept my interest. Recommended if you're a fan of Chabon's other work.
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS
Frank Miller
I can't believe I didn't read this when I was a kid. I probably would've grown up thinking Batman was a hell of a lot cooler that Superman! That said, this is probably the best Batman story I have ever read. They need to hire Frank Miller to adapt this into a screenplay and hire a great director to shoot it as soon as Nolan & co are finished with their Christian Bale trilogy. Not only is the artwork here simple yet bold, Miller can throw at you three full pages of solid illustration without any words and you completely understand what's happening, and to often great effect. But come on...you really want to read this because you get to see a 60-year-old Batman come out of retirement and kick the shit out of criminal punks less than half his age.
CARRIE
Stephen King
A shower of stones indeed. I've never seen the film version of 'Carrie', and I'm glad I hadn't prior to reading Stephen King's novel. The mom in this book gave me nightmares for a week. The shower scene at the beginning might be enough to turn plenty of readers away, but when Carrie is finally pushed over the edge during her prom and goes on a rampage throughout her town setting anything and everything on fire? Holy shit. It's intense. Stephen King is pretty alright. I really dug this one.
BLOOD MERIDIAN
Cormac McCarthy
In terms of intensity, Cormac McCarthy's sweeping Texas/Mexico novel 'Blood Meridian' makes 'Carrie' look like 'Clifford.' Not only does McCarthy not name any of his main characters, there's not a single redemptive quality about any one of them throughout the entire story. They murder. They abuse. They rape. They pillage. They scalp people. They murder some more. It's utterly graphic. And it's hard as hell to read. The prose is written in kind of a biblical, Old Testament-y tongue, and I found myself constantly having to re-read passages just to understand what McCarthy was trying to say - because you know he's not just telling you the story, he's also making a larger commentary on the world and everything in it that's so complex someone had to write a companion book called 'A Reader's Guide to Blood Meridian.' The character of The Judge is possibly one of the scariest, most sadistic characters I've come across. And if you can accurately explain and genuinely understand what happens in the final scene, I'll give you one thousand dollars. What can you expect from a book whose subtitle is "The Evening Redness in the West"?
BATMAN: YEAR ONE
Frank Miller
A solid companion piece to 'The Dark Knight Returns.' Instead of telling the tale of Batman as an old man, Miller here tells the story of Batman as a young man. As a somewhat idealistic youth who sets out to avenge the death of his parents by...oh what the hell, you've all seen 'Batman Begins' so you know the drill by this point. To me, the coolest part about this graphic novel is the parallel story of Jim Gordon's first few weeks in Gotham City working with a precinct of corrupt cops who are out to sabotage him. A really cool yarn.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Ernest Hemingway
I never read Hemingway in high school or college, and I'm glad for that in a way. Sometimes literature classes can dissect and analyze and over-analyze stories to the point where you no longer get the pure enjoyment of the thing that matters most - story. So I'm glad I didn't read the book and have to constantly think about whether the old man was supposed to symbolize the sea, the fish was supposed to symbolize the old man, or the fish the sea, or whateverthehell. That's all pretty obvious anyway. I am glad that I could finally enjoy the story of how an old, washed up fisherman gets one last shot at redemption by setting out to catch the biggest goddamn Marlin he and the world have ever seen. That's a story I'd want to read. And I'm glad I did.
