32. 1/30/10 The Onion Our Dumb World Atlas of the Planet Earth (240 pages)

I don't think this was meant to be read straight through, more like a hilarious reference book. That being said, I couldn't help myself- didn't want to miss anything, and some of the funniest bits are in the fine print on the maps or captions. It was worth all the time it took to get through, but I do feel a little but like a horrible person for laughing at some of those jokes. But "France: One Nation, Above God."? HILARIOUS. "Wales: Land of Consonant Sorrow." And they just keep coming, right up to "this is where Santa Claus would have died of exposure, if he was real." at the North Pole.

31. 1/25/10 Ex Machina- The First Hundred Days vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughn (100-ish pages)

I loved Y: The Last Man, so when Chris got this graphic novel by the same writer, I jumped on the chance to check it out. It didn't seem like much happened, in an action sense, but it also felt a lot like buildup. Presumably if I kept up with issues as they came out there would have been more action by now. I found the fusing of city politics with superhero antics to be very interesting. And it was nice to see the superhero chosing the civic duty route, while others pressured him to use his powers in a more direct manner. There's not too much to be said about it at this point, but if Chris buys them I would be very interested to keep up with the story...

30. 1/24/10 The Alienist by Caleb Carr (498 pages)

Well written and tense, but not emotionally engaging for me. It was written like a modern psychological thriller, but still respectful of all of the historical details. I think the alienist himself invented criminal profiling in this book- tv needs to thank him. What would we be watching if he hadn't come up with the idea of recreating the killer's mind and personality? The actual killer-tracking story didn't do too much for me, although it felt suitably urgent when I was reading it, but I really like how the narrator was the reprobate rather than the quiet, sober one. Usually the rowdy character is the friend that seems glamorous, but who's life is less satisfying than it seems, and the narrator is the dull one who thinks things through. This time the other main characters were smarter, duller and more diligent. This also made me like Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the things I've heard about him make him seem irritating: he was good at everything, and annoyingly chipper. Carr makes his enthusiasm seem endearing. Yay Teddy! Oh, and I thought that Sara Howard the lady detective was a nice, feminist touch. I do, however, wish that I hadn't read the afterward- it didn't make me like the author any, and I would much rather his presence stayed invisible.

29. 1/17/10 The Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh (339 pages)

Yeah. This is a romance novel. So? The last 1o or so books I've read have been really serious, and between that and work I decided I needed some fluff quite badly. So I found a romance ARC on my shelf that I had never read, and although it took barely any time at all to read, it was delightful and satisfying. It wasn't the best I've read, not even the best Mary Balogh, but it go the job done. I liked that there was no manufactured argument to hinder the romance, but the sex was kind of lame. Still, nothing like a historical romance to take your mind off reality.

28. 1/14/10 Towing Jehovah by James Morrow (371 pages)

Chris told me about this book a long time ago, and I finally got around to it. God dies, and a tanker captain and a priest are tasked with finding where his body landed and towing it to the arctic so that it won't putrefy. Gross, right? And awesome. That aside, however, the entire book is unsettling. Religious persons are thrown into despair, atheists are stymied and frustrated, and the major female character is outraged as a feminist and wants to destroy god's body. A lot of questions are raised, and most of them are not answered (although they might be if I read the entire trilogy) but it certainly makes one think. Does the categorical imperative exist? Does it matter if God is up there? Is it the idea or the being thats important? It wasn't a lighthearted story, but it was definitely worth reading.

27. 1/10/10 The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett (274 pages)

I read this book in a few hours, which was really satisfying, given how slow I've been lately. It was interesting- books with a certificate of authenticity are apparently nearly always fake, Lewis Carroll invented the dust jacket, and rare book collectors frequently don't even read their books. I did not, however, find any of the persons involved, or even the author, particularly sympathetic. It struck me as kind of a thin story, and it really seemed like the author was struggling to put herself into the story and to draw conclusions. I could have done without both. Still, I really liked the book.

26, 1/4/10 The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway (576 pages)

Although this book didn't actually blow my mind, I did like it a lot.
In this case, I really don't want to give away the plot points of the story, but I will say that I did see one of the major revelations waaaay ahead of time. It may sound like crowing, but honestly I find it disappointing when I figure it out in advance. It seemed like it was meant to be a post-apocalyptic story, but it felt more like a war story to me, which might explain why my male book recommenders liked it even more than I did. Stereotype? Perhaps. But I've only met one guy who liked Jane Austen (who wasn't an English teacher anyway), and most of them seem to like Catch-22. Just saying. What I really liked was the part of the story that dealt with bureacracy, responsibility, compartmentalization and how they can lead to atrocities. As a post-apocalyptic society it was a little too fanciful for me, but there were a lot of thought provoking moments and really great writing. Plus, it was funny. One last note: the narrator doesn't have a name, and you all know how I love that in a novel.