Books to read in 2009

Dear Readers,

I have compiled my booklist of books to read in 2009. But, I’ve gone about it a different way this year. I’ve re-vamped my list. I’m not going to read for research. That story about the Irish-American lesbian in New York City I was starting to write will have to wait.

Why create a booklist anyway if I’m not trying to guide research for a story? Why not read whatever I want when I want? Well, dear readers, I am a Virgo and I love lists. That’s one thing. The other is that I am easily distracted by the next new book. I want a path. I can go off it and have little adventures with books not on the list. But, I want to concentrate this year on video and video editing. So, I asked meself: What books do you really want to read this year? And I looked around the house and compiled a list.

Then, I looked at how many I’ve read in the past couple of years and took that number and added a few more. And limited the books on my list to that number. I also limited the amount of nonfiction. Who was I kidding putting all those nonfiction books on my lists in years past?

I feel pretty darn good about the list. It’s not overwhelming. Feels just about right. And I like the focus on video.


Books to read in 2009


Fiction

Double Identity - Margaret Peterson Maddox (Young Adult)

Vive la Paris - Esme Raji Codell (Young Adult)

Resurrection Row - Anne Perry

Field of Blood - Denise Mina

The Dead Hour - Denise Mina

Shame - Salman Rushdie

The Enchantress of Florence - Salman Rushdie

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

The Deptford Trilogy - Robertson Davies (re-read)
comprising these novels:
Fifth Business
The Manticore
World of Wonders

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

The Complete Stories of Truman Capote

A Thread of Grace - Mary Doria Russell

Noli Me Tangere - José Rizal

Our Town -Thornton Wilder

Jazz - Toni Morrison

A Mercy - Toni Morrison

Underworld - Don Delillo

Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels

The Kalahari Typing School for Men - Alexander McCall Smith

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies - Alexander McCall Smith

The Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith

Song for Anninho - Gayl Jones


Nonfiction

Undiscovered - Debra Winger

In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing - Walter Murch

Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video - Gael Chandler

Lighting for Digital Video and Television - John Jackman

Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching

Paris to the Moon - Adam Gopnik

Dark Age Ahead - Jane Jacobs

Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 - Salman Rushdie

Two Gardners: A Friendship in Letters - Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence

Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession - Studs Terkel

Toolbox for Sustainable City Living - Scott Kellogg and

All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913 - 1930 - Andrea Barnet

Ellis Island Interviews: Immigrants and Their Stories In Their Own Words - Peter Morton Goan

Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City - Jennifer Toth


Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them - Francine Prose

Letters from Black America - edited by Pamela Newkirk

Stella Adler - The Art of Acting: preface by Marlon Brando compiled and edited by Howard Kissel (Applause Acting Series) (Hardcover)
by Howard Kissel, Stella Adler