{"id":15012,"date":"2015-12-29T06:37:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T12:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=15012"},"modified":"2015-12-29T06:37:50","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T12:37:50","slug":"2015-the-years-reading-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/2015-the-years-reading-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"2015: The Year&#8217;s Reading in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This year, I read 104 books, and I&#8217;m proud to say they weren&#8217;t all genre fiction.  As a matter of fact, I&#8217;m quite proud of some of the smarter titles I&#8217;ve polished off this year, including <em>Existentialism and Thomism<\/em>; <em>The Gallic and Civil Wars<\/em>; <em>Discourses<\/em>, the collection of Aesop, The Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Anderson that I read to my children over the course of years; <em>The Screwtape Letters<\/em>; <em>The Death of Ivan Ilyich<\/em>; <em>Travels with Charley<\/em>; and <em>Ivanhoe<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Looking over the annual list, I&#8217;m struck again (as I am annually) with that it means in the passage of the year.  I can remember where I read many of the books, whether on a trip or sitting on a bench during the Sunday School hour at church.  I&#8217;m also surprised sometimes that my reading of a book was just this year.  On the other hand, when I look back at book reports from years passed, I think, &#8220;Wow, has it been eight years since I read&#8230;.?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At any rate, here&#8217;s the list:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Up in the Air<\/em> Walter Kirn<\/li>\n<li><em>Monday&#8217;s Mob<\/em> Don Pendleton<\/li>\n<li><em>Terrible Tuesday<\/em> Don Pendleton<\/li>\n<li><em>Wednesday&#8217;s Wrath<\/em> Don Pendleton<\/li>\n<li><em>Flowers of Evil<\/em> Charles Baudelaire<\/li>\n<li><em>Thermal Thursday<\/em> Don Pendleton<\/li>\n<li><em>Existentialism and Thomism<\/em> Joseph C. Michalich<\/li>\n<li><em>The New War<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>The Violent Streets<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>The Bible\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Thomas Jefferson&#8217;s Monticello\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>The Iranian Hit<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Asimov&#8217;s Guide to the Bible<\/em> Isaac Asimov<\/li>\n<li><em>The Pocket Book of Old Masters<\/em> edited by Herman J. Wechsler<\/li>\n<li><em>Return to Vietnam<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>The Civil War as They Knew It<\/em> edited by Pierce Fredericks<\/li>\n<li><em>Folk Lore and Fable: Aesop, Grimm, Andersen<\/em> Harvard Classics<\/li>\n<li><em>Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon<\/em> Howard Lee<\/li>\n<li><em>The Gallic and Civil Wars<\/em> Julius Caesar<\/li>\n<li><em>Red Water<\/em> &#8220;Tabor Evans&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Silent Night<\/em> Robert B. Parker with Helen Brann<\/li>\n<li><em>Terrorist Summit<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Paramilitary Plot<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>The Curse of the Gypsy Woman<\/em> Lin G. Hill<\/li>\n<li><em>Downton Abbey Rules for Household Staff\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>The Town Council Meeting<\/em> J.R. Roberts<\/li>\n<li><em>Calvin and Hobbes: The Sunday Pages 1985-1995<\/em> Bill Watterson<\/li>\n<li><em>Romance<\/em> Ed McBain<\/li>\n<li><em>Holiday Memory<\/em> Dylan Thomas<\/li>\n<li><em>Kung Fu: Chains<\/em> Howard Lee<\/li>\n<li><em>F-15E Strike Eagle<\/em> Hans Halberstadt<\/li>\n<li><em>The Currents of Space<\/em> Isaac Asimov<\/li>\n<li><em>25 Books That Changed America<\/em> Robert B. Downs<\/li>\n<li><em>The Oedipus Cycle<\/em> Sophocles<\/li>\n<li><em>Bloodsport<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>A City in the North<\/em> Marta Randall<\/li>\n<li><em>Under the Dome<\/em> Stephen King<\/li>\n<li><em>This Was Cicero<\/em> H.J. Haskell<\/li>\n<li><em>Avengers #2: The Laugh Was On Lazarus<\/em> John Garforth<\/li>\n<li><em>Renegade Agent<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Poor Richard&#8217;s Almanack: Benjamin Franklin&#8217;s Best Sayings<\/em> Edited by Dean Walley<\/li>\n<li><em>End of the Tiger<\/em> John D. MacDonald<\/li>\n<li><em>The House on the Rock\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Old Trails and Duck Tails\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Mad About Town\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Wilderness Trek<\/em> Zane Grey<\/li>\n<li><em>The Screwtape Letters<\/em> C.S. Lewis<\/li>\n<li><em>A Tan and Sandy Silence and Two Other Great Mysteries<\/em> John D. MacDonald<\/li>\n<li><em>Kickback<\/em> Ace Atkins<\/li>\n<li><em>The Death of Ivan Ilyich<\/em> Leo Tolstoy<\/li>\n<li><em>Shaman King #17<\/em> Hiroyuki Takei<\/li>\n<li><em>Awesome Projects from Unexpected Places<\/em> Edited by Noah Weinstein<\/li>\n<li><em>Dragonslayer<\/em> Waylend Drew<\/li>\n<li><em>Oleanna<\/em> David Mamet<\/li>\n<li><em>The Nitpicker&#8217;s Guide to Classic Trekkers<\/em> Phil Farrand<\/li>\n<li><em>Warriors: The Rise of Scourge\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Sunset Woodworking Projects\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Easy to Make Tables and Chairs<\/em> \t<\/li>\n<li><em>Travels with Charlie<\/em> John Steinbeck<\/li>\n<li><em>The Undiscovered Self<\/em> C.G. Jung<\/li>\n<li><em>Frankenstein<\/em> Mary Shelley<\/li>\n<li><em>The Book of Useless Information<\/em> Noel Botham &#038; The Useless Information Society<\/li>\n<li><em>Discourses<\/em> Epictetus<\/li>\n<li><em>At the Hemingways<\/em> Marcelline Hemingway Sanford<\/li>\n<li><em>The Plague<\/em> Albert Camus<\/li>\n<li><em>The Go-Getter<\/em> Peter B. Kyne<\/li>\n<li><em>Rogue Warrior: Option Delta<\/em> Richard Marcinko and John Weisman<\/li>\n<li><em>Photographic Views of Sherman&#8217;s Campaign<\/em> George N. Barnard<\/li>\n<li><em>The Saltville Massacre<\/em> Thomas D. Mays<\/li>\n<li><em>The Spirit of America<\/em> Calvin Miller<\/li>\n<li><em>Christina&#8217;s World<\/em> Betsy James Wyeth<\/li>\n<li><em>Instant Replay<\/em> Jerry Kramer with Dick Schapp<\/li>\n<li><em>Magnificent Hearst Castle\t<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Schticks and Stones<\/em> edited by Miriam Levenson<\/li>\n<li><em>Farewell to Football<\/em> Jerry Kramer with Dick Schapp<\/li>\n<li><em>Don&#8217;t You Dare Throw It Out!<\/em> Jerry Baker<\/li>\n<li><em>The Shakers<\/em> L. Edward Purcell<\/li>\n<li><em>Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel<\/em> Anthony Horowitz<\/li>\n<li><em>Distant Replay<\/em> Jerry Kramer with Dick Schapp<\/li>\n<li><em>Whispers of Love<\/em> edited by Deborah Gaylord<\/li>\n<li><em>The Toilet Zone<\/em> Dan Reynolds<\/li>\n<li><em>Peacemaking: On Dusting the Wind<\/em> David P. Young<\/li>\n<li><em>Ivanhoe<\/em> Sir Walter Scott<\/li>\n<li><em>The Art of the Impressionists<\/em> Janice Anderson<\/li>\n<li><em>Wisdom in Rhyme<\/em> Nora O. Scott<\/li>\n<li><em>George Washington Carver<\/em> Sam Wellman<\/li>\n<li><em>How to Speak Southern<\/em> Steve Mitchell<\/li>\n<li><em>The Medium is the Massage<\/em> Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore<\/li>\n<li><em>The Story of Silent Night<\/em> Paul Gallico<\/li>\n<li><em>Ernest Hemingway: A Critical Essay<\/em> Nathan A. Scott, Jr.<\/li>\n<li><em>The Libyan Connection<\/em> &#8220;Don Pendleton&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Worlds&#8217; Finest: Hunt and Be Hunted<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>How To Talk Pure Ozark<\/em> Dale Freeman<\/li>\n<li><em>Boogar Hollow&#8217;s Scraps of Wisdom<\/em> Nick n Willan Powers<\/li>\n<li><em>The Art of Manet<\/em> Nathaniel Harris<\/li>\n<li><em>Southern Words and Sayings<\/em> Fabia Rue Smith and Charles Rayford Smith<\/li>\n<li><em>The Complete Jack Kirby: June-August 1947<\/em> Greg Theakston<\/li>\n<li><em>Melk Abbey<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>Quarterback Power<\/em> Tim Polzer<\/li>\n<li><em>Missouri: Faces and Places<\/em> Wes Lyle and John Hall<\/li>\n<li><em>The Great Wall: China Against The World<\/em> Julia Lovell<\/li>\n<li><em>Sunny Thoughts<\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>All Is Bright<\/em> Katherine Spencer<\/li>\n<li><em>Blog<\/em> Hugh Hewitt<\/li>\n<li><em>The Circuit-Riding Combat Chaplain<\/em> Frank Griepp<\/li>\n<li><em>White Night<\/em> Jim Butcher<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A motley collection of pulp fiction, literary masterpieces, history, biography, philosophy, humor, poetry, drama, art, and sports books.<\/p>\n<p>As I mentioned, or meant to mention, I can remember what most of the books were about, but the most interchangeable and forgetable are the pulp fiction I have so much of.  Perhaps I should let this inform my reading for 2016.  Or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, I read 104 books, and I&#8217;m proud to say they weren&#8217;t all genre fiction. As a matter of fact, I&#8217;m quite proud of some of the smarter titles I&#8217;ve polished off this year, including Existentialism and Thomism; The Gallic and Civil Wars; Discourses, the collection of Aesop, The Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15014,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15012\/revisions\/15014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}