2008 Highlights

I am often asked what were the highlights or favorites for any given year. It is a difficult question because I try to read books I am going to like! I would have an easier time making a list of books I thought were a waste of time. I will share these selections and a little bit about why they were memorable.

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness - William Styron
This is a stark, small book about a man with depression. He writes about his experience which nearly ended his life. He does not try to put a positive spin on it nor does he project a "poor me" ethos. This is a book I want to read again and again throughout my life and I think is very important for anyone who has friends or family members with depression.

Sleepaway School: Stories from a Boy's Life - Lee Stringer
I like Lee Stringer's writing. This is a story about his life as a young boy growing up with a lot of hard knocks. He tells the story well. He resists revision, reinterpretation and justification. His writing was so compelling I read his other book, which I enjoyed as much, called Grand Central Winter.

On Call in Hell: A Doctors Iraq Story - Richard Jadick
Very interesting non-fiction book about this doctor's experience treating the injured in Iraq. He worked with his senior officers to create a new methodology for where the MASH (they call them something different now) units are located and how they are organized to minimize death to the practitioners but also put them closer to the injured men and women who need their services.

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
I simply cannot ignore the impact of this author on my reading this year. Her series of four books was written for a young adult audience and is about a vampire and human who fall in love (I read the series twice this year but did not count the second read in my final tally). There is nothing I can point to specifically that explains why I enjoyed her books so much. There is something compelling in the way she writes, I mean I literally could not put them down. I would read into the wee hours of the morning with only hours before my ride picked me up for work! I also read her first adult science fiction book, The Host, and loved that as well. Her books make me think about what it means to be human and what love really means between two people.

Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth - John Hubner
This is a book about kids who end up in the criminal justice system and an experimental program in Texas that seems to work. The subject matter is very interesting, but the way the story is told draws you into the social responsibility for these kids. It really challenged me to think about what it means for humans to change and rise above our own upbringing. What is redemption and can a child growing into a person move beyond the horrible things life has handed them? If so, how? What is our responsibility as a society?

Merle's Door: Lessons From a Freethinking Dog - Ted Kerasote
An amazing story of a relationship between a man and his dog and the extraordinary life they live together. The author is an extreme snow sports writer and lives in the middle of the mountains. Daily, they go skiing and hunting together, living more like our forefathers did than most of us city folk are used to. Very fascinating story with a lot of science woven throughout about humans and one of our oldest companions. Excellent, exciting and inspiring read!

Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain - Martha Sherrill
This is simply the true story of a Japanese man who saved the Akita breed from extinction after WWII. After WWII life in Japan was extremely difficult, there was scarcity of every kind. Despite this squalor, a single man and his family took on the challenge of breeding Akita's, a Japanese breed out of favor post-US military influence where the German Shepherd became the dog of choice. A beautiful, inspiring story of how one person with passion, determination and hard work can change the world.

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior - Ori and Rom Brafman
This book is about human behavior written by two brothers - one an economist and the other a psychologist. They look at the reality that we all act irrational, consistently. They name the primary irrational modes and give a host of fascinating examples of these throughout history as well as from each of their respective practices. I was so enthusiastic about this book I wanted to buy you all a copy! If we could master these subtle delusions we all fall into we would be more stable, happy human beings.

Loss aversion: The more meaningful something is (a potential loss) the more loss averse we become. "For no apparent logical reason, we overeact to perceived losses. We experience the pain associated with loss much more vividly than we do the joy of a gain." (pg 18 -19) If you add committment to the equation, heels dig in much deeper. "As difficult as it can be to admit defeat, however, staying the course simply because of a past committment hurts us in the long run." (pg 30)

Value attribution: "Once we attribute a certain value to something, it is very dificult to view it in a different light. The value that we attribut to something fundamentally changes how we perceive it." (pg 56)

Diagnosis bias: "Our propensity to label people, ideas, or things based on our initial opinions of them and our inability to reconsider those judgements once we've made them." (pg 70) "When we brand or label people, they take on the characteristics of the diagnosis." (pg 100)

The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars - Andrew X. Phan
This novel covers three generations of the characters family, taking the reader through the history of the French occupation of Indochina, the Japanese invasion during WWII, and the Vietnam War through the story of this family. Excellent book.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
This is a young adult science fiction book about a society being misdirected toward a single annual event which results in young kids from each district fighting to the death in The Hunger Game. This was a recommended book on Stephanie Meyers website. The book was an excellent read and a unique story. I look forward to reading the sequel's when they come out!

Child of God - Cormac McCarthy
I have been away from fiction for awhile and away from McCarthy for a very long time. This dark, rhythmic, eloquent book burns with stark human conditions told in language that sears. His writing is charged, yet simple, stark and unafraid. I loved this book.

"He moves in the dry chaff among the dust and slats of sunlight with a constrained truculence. Saxon and Celtic bloods. A child of God much like yourself perhaps." (pg 4)