Last year was unusual in the reading department. I read fewer fiction books in paper form and a lot more non-fiction than I typically do; well, easy since they were mostly cookbooks ;). Moreover, I listened to a lot more podcast fiction — a habit I began in 2009 (or 2008?), but really got into last year, as a good way to pass the time during usually tedious aerobic exercise.
Which podcasts do I listen to?
I also started reading e-books last year, thanks to iBooks (iTunes link) on the iPad, which has enough screen real estate for comfort, and the iPhone 4’s Retina Display, which has enough resolution for that can even read without script correction. And both have backlighting, something that really allows me to read on an electric device.
Note: I haven’t provided comments for every item I read or listened to, as just the list of short stories would take too long to write up! But if there’s a particular book or story for which you want to know more, let me know — I might get around (not to be snarky; more due to time constraints!) to summarizing my thoughts. Once again, the 💡 denotes my recommendations.
Comics
Clamp. Legal Drug, volumes 1 through 3 (a.k.a., Legal Drugstore).
Kim, Dong Hwa. Color of Heaven.
💡 Rivkah. Steady Beat. Ooops, I nearly forgot that I had read this back in 2008! Well, the first two volumes, that is. ABC. The final volume 3 remains in limbo due to Tokyopop’s publication snafu’s, afaict, but here’s a link from Rivkah’s blog with some excerpts and information.
Yang, Gene & Derek Kirk Kim. The Eternal Smile.
Fiction
Abu-Jaber, Diana. Cresent.
💡 Adams, C.T. “Olga.”
💡 Buckell, Tobias. Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose. I read this series because Buckell’s short stories via Escape Pod were so much fun to listen to.
Desai, Kiran. Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard.
💡 DiTerlizzi, Tony. The Search for WondLa. I think I’ve found an excellent young adult (YA) series to follow (even exceed) Harry Potter.
💡 Kowal, Mary Robinette. “First Flight.”
Malki!, David (editor). Machine of Death.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book.
💡 Gibson, William. Zero History.
💡 Lafferty, Mur. Playing for Keeps (audiobook).
Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I found the first part of the book where character histories were being built up more intriguing than the rest of the book. Not bad, but somewhat exceeded my boundaries for horrific violence.
Lee, Yun Ha.
Murakami, Haruki. After the Quake.
Resnick, Mike.
💡 Stross, Charles. “Overtime.”
Swanwick, Michael.
Taylor, Margaret. Grizelda (audiobook).
Wada, Carolyn. “Roci and the Skycat.”
Non-fiction
Bayless, Rick et al. Mexico: One Plate at a Time and Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico. The ideas behind the recipes sound good, but I really dislike the utter gushiness in Bayless’s writing style (for that matter, his TV presentation as well). Time to look at Diana Kennedy books…
💡 Ben-Barak, Idan. The Invisible Kingdom.
Berley, Peter and Singer, Zoë. The Flexitarian Table.
Chung, Taekyung and Samuels, Debra. The Korean Table: From Barbecue to Bibimbap, 100 Easy-to-Prepare Recipes.
Delamare & Guineau. Colors: The Story of Dyes and Pigments.
💡 Ehrenreich, Barbara. Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.
💡 Graedon, Joe and Teresa. Best Choices from the People’s Pharmacy: What You Need to Know Before Your Next Visit to the Doctor or Drugstore.
Greenspan, Dorie. Around My French Table: More than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. This cookbook would’ve been a lot helpful for me if it didn’t cop out and provide only the American, volume-oriented measurements. Moreover, the name-dropping (“my friend [insert celebrity’s name]…”) became unnerving. What a disappointment — perhaps to due to a publisher’s fear of scaring the audience. Hunh, not if you provide both kinds of recipe formats.
Greenspan, Dorie. Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops. However, this one provided the more helpful weight-oriented measurements. My guess is that this book had a smaller audience and a more reasonable publisher to allow such recipe presentation.
Herbst, Sharon and Ron. The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion.
💡 Jaffrey, Madhur. Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India.
Kean, Sean. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements.
Kennedy, Diana. The Cuisines of Mexico (1st edition). Fascinating enough that I want to read the later edition and her other books!
Keith, Jeremy. HTML5 for Web Designers.
Lee, Cecilia Hae-Jin. Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home and Quick and Easy Korean Cooking: More than 70 Everyday Recipes.
Mesfin, D.J. Exotic Ethiopian Cooking: Society, Culture, Hospitality & Traditions, revised edition: 178 tested recipes with food composition tables.
Narayan, Shoba. Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes.
Nicey & Wifey. A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down.
💡 Page, Karen and Dornenburg, Andrew. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs.
Park, Allisa (editor). Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles.
Rathbun, A.J. and Holt, Jeremy. Double Take: One Fabulous Recipe, Two Finished Dishes, Feeding Vegetarians and Omnivores Together.
💡 Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.
💡 Schnetz, Thomas and ABC. Doña Tomás: Discovering Authentic Mexican Cooking.
Theroux, Paul. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.
Walden, Hilaire. Korean Cooking: Explore One of the Orient’s Greatest Culiary Secrets.
Not finished
Bacigalupi, Paolo. Windup Girl.
Spinrad, Norman. Child of Fortune. Rather than feeling immersed in the protagonist’s culture, with her patois of French, German and Japanese mixed with English, I ended up feeling this was just too pretentious to continue reading.
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