Many diaries back, on request, I shared my reading list. That list ended in late September, so I'd like to bring it up to the end of the year. Before we get to the titles, though, here's some official, final-report 2005 stats:
    BPY: 92
    Number of Presidential Biographies Completed: 8
    Number of Fictional Titles that End with the Death of the Main Character: 8
    Number of Fictional Titles that End with the Happy Marriage of the Main Character: 4
    Number of Titles Featuring a Talking Cat: 1

    Without further ado, here are the titles of books read since September:
1.    Victor Hugo, "Ninety-Three." Written in exile along with his "The Laughing Man" and "Toilers of the Sea," this semi-trilogy represents the second greatest reason to morn the fate of Hugo in the English speaking world. Why is it so hard to find Hugo's works in good English translation?
2.    S.E. Hinton, "The Outsiders." New edition contains short Q and A with the reclusive Hinton.
3.    Ryan Gattis, "Kung-Fu High School" – this is a manga-on-meth version of "The Outsiders." Contains some the most lavish and graphic descriptions of bodily harm I've read in ages. Grotesque comedy – think John Woo and John Waters team up to do a flick about the Columbine shooting. Recommended only for those with demented senses of humor and high graphic-gore tolerance thresholds.
4.    Gary B. Nash, "The Unknown American Revolution." While the information in this book could be found in more specific sources that focused on singular aspects of the American Revolution, this collects the latest thought and scholarship in one place for the non-expert. Revisionism in the best sense of the term.
5.    James Hynes, "Kings of Infinite Space." Favorite fiction title of the year.
6.    Michel Houellebecq, "H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life." If you like Lovecraft, this little mash note will vindicate your questionable literary tastes. If you hate Lovecraft, then this book (though it is unlikely you'd read it) will convince you that he is more than just a bad author, he's one of the creepiest men to ever take up the pen.
7.    Kevin Phillips, "William McKinley."
8.    Natsume Soseki, "Botchan." Often called the "Huckleberry Finn" of Japan – if this is an apt label than the differences are striking. First, the hero is an adult teacher instead of a young runaway. Second, the main character is a bit of an ass as opposed to the wise innocent. Interesting, but not a must read.
9.    Charles Duff, "A Handbook on Hanging." Satire of capital punishment – hanging considered as an English tradition and fine art.
10.    Howard Fast, "April Morning." Another one of these folks once loved by the masses, then dropped into the dust bin of history. Fast's "Ben Hur" and "Spartacus" are now better remembered as movies. This one is a minor work by a competent, if not brilliant, storyteller.
11.    Paolo Coletta, "The Presidency of William Howard Taft."
12.    Victor Hugo, "Selected Poems." The main reason to morn the fate of Hugo in the English speaking world.
13.    Charles Dickens, "American Notes for General Circulation." It is hard to find fault with Dickens, who is almost always a pleasure. But, as with so many Europeans who came to visit the US, he spent all his time in hospitals, prisons, and schools. The boat trip to America gets more chapters than Boston. Instead of meeting Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, or any other notable contemporary, he spends most of his time in insane asylums and then decides America, as a nation, is mad. Victorians Brits made great prose and lousy travel plans.
14.    Forrest Church, "The American Creed."
15.    Anzia Yezierska, "The Bread Givers."
16.    H. W. Brands, "Woodrow Wilson."
17.    Theodore Roszak, "Flicker." Film theory as suspense horror story. This bizarre book is getting the film treatment by the script writer of "Fight Club" and the director of "Pi." I'm curious to see how they make this talky, quirky book into a film.
18.    Jerry Stahl, "I, Fatty." Too lazy to research a bio of Fatty Arbuckle, Stahl wrote this poorly researched novel. Among the many howlers, writing the illiterate Buster Keaton as well-read philosopher. Skip it.
19.    Karl Johnson, "The Magician and the Cardsharp." In the Depression, the world's finest card trick magician tracked down the inventor of the card cheat's holy grail: a trick to deal a card from any position in the deck. This book tells that odd story.
20.    Robert Pinsky, "The Life of David." The famed poet's take on the Old Testament king.
21.    Neal Stephenson, "The System of the World." The best of the over-lengthy trilogy.
22.    Bruce Jay Friedman, "Violencia!" Ex-Desk clerk for the NYPD gets hired to help make a musical out of "The Homocider," the office newsletter he once edited for the Homocide Bureau. Dead pan showbiz comedy from an unjustly neglected writer.
23.    Mary Gaitskill, "Veronica."
24.    Jim Fusilli, "Closing Time." Earlier in the list, he appeared for a non-fiction work about the Beach Boy's "Pet Sounds" album. This is his first in a series of novels about private investigator Terry Orr.
25.    John W. Dean, "Warren G. Harding."
26.    Michael Simon, "Dirty Sally."
27.    Bob Andelman, "Will Eisner: A Spirited Life." Originally intended to be the autobiography of Eisner, the co-author (a business writer with seemingly little interest in comics) went on to create an authorized bio after Eisner's death. Poorly organized, thinly researched; the only interesting info it adds is greater detail about Eisner's time as a civilian educator for the army (often considered a blank period between his Spirit days and his graphic novel period). The good news is, if you were thinking of writing the definitive book on Eisner, the market still needs one.
28.    Walter Kirn, "Mission to America." Quick moving, bitter satire of two members of an isolated New-Agey religious cult in Montana who travel to America in search of brides. Features a fictional currency: "Virtue Coupons."