What I Read in 2009, Part 2: My Studious Valentine

Sorry for that title, ugh. Anyway.

February

15. "On the Shortness of Life"- Seneca. Jesus, I had such an unbearable little stoic phase after this. Sorry to everyone who had to deal with it, probably. Anyway, lent this to an ex-girlfriend who was going through a rough spot and never got it back, after saying I'd lend it to another ex-girlfriend who was going through a rough spot and forgetting too. I guess what I learned from Seneca is that I'm a pretty wretched person. This was the darling little Penguin Great Ideas version, incidentally, which came in a small red box and was the object of much aesthetic attention around the apartment for a few days. 

16. "Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together"-Bryan Lee O'Malley. Much more sombre than the rest of O'Malley's stuff. Surprisingly so. 

17. "Netherland"- Joseph O'Neill. Not as into this as much of the book blogosphere was, but still deeply moved and impressed. This was kind of my turning point, sadly, for realizing that barely anyone at Ursinus read the school paper and even fewer read the book column. Kind of disheartening but after that realization I started cursing in it more. The small victories.

18. "How Fiction Works." -James Wood. For better or worse, I really like James Wood. That being said, I found at least two or three things I vehemently disagreed with on pretty much every page of this thing. Still, what's important is that I disagreed with gusto and a big excited grin. Wood is firm in his points in the kind of way that invites rebuttal, so I had a great time finding fault with this little firecracker (lame last sentence).

19. "She's Not There" -Jennifer Finney Boylan. In late January I was invited by the head of Ursinus' creative writing department to a dinner with Jennifer Finney Boylan in between a small Q&A and a school reading. This was exciting, except I hadn't read any of hers at any point ever. When this book came in the mail I tore through it in an evening sitting on the outside stairs of my apartment, with my fingers numb by around page 150 from the cold. Even as I write this I feel like it's a contradiction to say something is both "page-turning" and deeply thoughtful, but here I am writing it. I have my bones of contention with modern memoir, but this book is essential for anyone who wants to understand anything about the medium of memoir, or about storytelling in general, or god dammit even about being a good human being.

20. "Three Men in a Boat"- Jerome K. Jerome. Had always heard this touted as one of the funniest novels of all time, honestly I suppose I must be missing something because it was a huge letdown. Funniest bit came at the beginning with the hypochondriac catalogue, but otherwise it was everything dated about early 20th century British humor that Wodehouse and Waugh managed to transcend (or apotheosize, I don't know) with some truly embarrassing lapses into Housman-style dapply pastoral saccharine.

21. "The Gold Cell"- Sharon Olds. Sharon Olds is a marvel.

22. "A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes" -Witold Gombrowicz. I love Gombrowicz, and I'd like to think I know enough about philosophy to say I like it, but I'm still a little puzzled about the point of this. Its so fragmentary that occasionally it feels like another post-humous cash-in (spoiler: didn't read "The Original of Laura") but here and there everything great about Gombrowicz will burst out in a perfect fragment or snatch of words. 

23. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe"-Bryan Lee O'Malley. You know what, everything I wrote about O'Malley above might actually apply to this one instead. Honestly I don't know, and I totally forgot that I read two of these things last year.

24. "The Book of Dead Philosophers"- Simon Critchley. Amazing book, part primer, part meditation, part satire, part history, part guhguhreh just so good. Plus, almost certainly the best conclusion of any book actually written in 2009.

25. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"- Robert Louise Stevenson. Another one for senior seminar. I guess this was one of those stories so ingrained in the popular imagination that I didn't realize I'd never read it until I actually got around to reading it. 

26. "Kepler"- John Banville. Read for the redoubtable Dr. Roger Florka's course on early Scientific Methodology (I guess? I forget the actual name of the course). Banville's novels in contemporary settings never really grabbed me, but Kepler really resonated in some way. Banville brings his usual muted poetry to the book, but creates a much more complex protagonist than I'd expected based on his other stuff.