Friday, December 31, 2010

My 2010 Reading List

I do not remember why I started keeping track of my reading list at the beginning of 2010. I think it must have been because I was trying to revive my blog, and it was something trifling, but possibly mildly interesting, that I could add to the sidebar to take up space. At the time, I was also reading voraciously, so I assumed there would be plenty of occasions to update the list. I was right ... for a while. But then spring came, and I found that reading time had to be curtailed to make room for gardening time. The gardening-related lull lasted pretty much all through spring, summer, and fall. At year’s end, I have only read 24 books, a little less than one every two weeks.

So, here is the list:

  1. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  2. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  3. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  4. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  5. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  6. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  7. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  8. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  9. Wish You Well by David Baldacci
  10. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
  11. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
  12. The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherrill
  13. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
  14. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  15. To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield
  16. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
  17. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
  18. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
  19. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
  20. The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
  21. A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
  22. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
  23. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
  24. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The Stats

Books Read24
Rate1 book every 15.21 days
Type96% fiction / 4% memoir
Nationality71% American / 25% British / 4% French
Re-reads10 (42%); mostly due to the Little House series
Most Read AuthorLaura Ingalls Wilder
Also Saw the Movie4

The Superlatives

Longest
The Count of Monte Cristo
Also my first iBook! And as an iBook, it was a little difficult to grasp its length; you cannot pick up the book and see its thickness or feel its weight. The “number of pages” varies depending on the font face and size, and also the page orientation (portrait or landscape). As I read it, it was 3278 pages.

Most Surprising
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Of course I had seen the movie before I read the book, so I already knew the basic story. Somehow, though, the book was just not what I was expecting. It was ... really good. To top things off, I found out that Lew Wallace was a Union general during the Civil War. Surprising, indeed. Who would have expected a Civil War general would write such an intriguing book set in the time of Christ? Apparently literary critics find fault with the book, but who cares what they say? I would definitely recommend it, and other readers seem to agree; since its first publication, Ben-Hur has never been out of print.

Funniest
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
This book was laugh-out-loud funny. I know that does not mean much coming from me, considering I laugh out loud at seemingly nothing. Nonetheless, I am quite sure that others could also appreciate the humor. In particular, other Mennonites are likely to identify with the little tidbits of Mennonite culture throughout the book. And we Mennonites are very good at laughing at ourselves, are we not? We must be, or else the storyline (woman’s husband leaves her for a man; woman returns home to Mennonite family) would not make for a very good comedy.

Most Random
The Sherwood Ring
Yes, I am guilty of judging a book by its cover. How else are you supposed to pick something to buy out of the loads of cheap books at the Green Valley Book Fair? So, this book was chosen at random, where random equals “I like the way it looks.” (Interestingly enough, that is the same way I select bottles of wine.) It was not the best book I have ever read, but it was enjoyable. (Funny ... that’s usually how I feel about random bottles of wine too.)

Most Similar Plots
The Count of Monte Cristo and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Here’s the plot summary for both books:

Man is happy and prosperous.
Man is falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned.
Man escapes.
Man acquires great wealth.
Man exacts revenge on those who wronged him.
Man is reunited with loved ones.
I noticed the similarity of these two books before I read on Wikipedia that Lew Wallace had been inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo. (Aren’t I clever?) Anyway, what’s not to love about a good-versus-evil plot with a happy ending?

Best-represented in Movie
North and South
Actually, in this case, it was a miniseries from the BBC, released in 2004, and starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage. I’m not saying that it was the best movie, but that the movie was the most like the book. The other movies/miniseries that I watched all had substantial points of variation. Ben-Hur (1959 version starring Charlton Heston) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002 version starring James Caviezel) both left out major characters and significant parts of the story. To Serve Them All My Days, another miniseries from the BBC (1980, starring John Duttine), was pretty faithful to the book, with very few major deviations. North and South wins this category simply because it had few variations, and they were all minor.

Side Note: I feel somewhat guilty because I watched the North and South miniseries before I read the book. Why? I blame Richard Armitage. If he was not so devilishly handsome, I might have found something else to watch on Netflix. In any case, you should do as I say, and not as I do. Read the book before watching the movie.

Most Tear-jerking
Wish You Well
This was a tough category because there were so many contenders. Either I happen to read lots of happy/sad (yes, I will cry either way) books, or I’m just a waterworks. I decided on Wish You Well because it has such a touching story. Yes, the plot is a teensy bit predictable, but ... Oh, cheeseball! I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.

Most Favoritest
Are you kidding? Picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream. It just cannot be done. Even from a list with so few choices!

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Snowy Sidewalks of Harrisonburg

After work last night, I walked to Red Front and then home. The sidewalks were atrocious! I was willing to condone their condition considering it had been snowing nearly all day. Perhaps folks had not yet had time to clear the sidewalks. (Kudos to Waterman Elementary, at least; there was someone working on snow removal as I walked by.)

When I was walking to work this morning, it had been at least 17 hours since the snow had stopped coming down. With that much time to remove approximately four inches of snow, I expected sidewalk conditions to be much better than they were last night.

I was disappointed. Snow removal on sidewalks in Harrisonburg really is quite pathetic. Below are my completely unscientific grades for sidewalk conditions for various downtown locations at 9:00 this morning.

Auto Zone: D
Blue Ridge Florist: A
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church: B+
Colonnade Apartments: F
Court House (53 Court Square): A-
Court House (Old Post Office): A-
Court Square: B+
Fire Station on Rock Street: B-
Jail: A-
Kline's/Post Office/Dollar General Area: C
One Court Square: F
WHSV: A

Other downtown locations that deserve bad grades are not on that list because I did not walk on their sidewalks. I picked the path where sidewalks were clearest. The only two places in the list above where I did not walk are Blue Ridge Florist and One Court Square; they made the list because, from a distance, they stood out as particularly good and bad respectively.

As a frequent walker of the sidewalks of Harrisonburg, I say ... bah!

Post-Work Addendum
The sidewalks have greatly improved since this morning. Below are the revised grades as of 4:00 this afternoon.

Auto Zone: B
Blue Ridge Florist: A
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church: A
Colonnade Apartments: B
Court House (53 Court Square): A
Court House (Old Post Office): A
Court Square: A
Fire Station on Rock Street: A
Jail: A
Kline's/Post Office/Dollar General Area: A-
One Court Square: C
WHSV: A