2014 Books

Dedications

To the writer who influenced me the most and the man with whom for many years I shared a large love of the written word 

Jackie circa 1990

Sam in 1989

Preface

Dreams: THB has a thing about authors using “dreams” to somehow convey or move the story along. THB does not find it realistic, more a gimmick (who remembers his/her dreams, let alone in such detail). THB thus skips sections when an author goes off into dreamland.

Top picks (8, Old Filth Trilogy = 1 top pick and 3 books in the overall totals): THB liked these books a lot, listed in order of appeal to THB (top most favored)

In order: #1 through 8

Being Mortal, Atul Gawande: In the last year, THB and DB had surgeries and both our parents suffered. This book has been extremely helpful in understanding what to do when it looks like you or someone you know is dealing with mortality.

The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History, Elizabeth Kolbert: This book explains why THB has become a collapsarian. The world as we have known it for the last 200 years is heading off the cliff. Scary, and totally predicted (i.e., not a surprise to scientists) for over 70 years after the detection of burning of fossil fuels was changing the atmosphere at ever increasing speeds.

Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charles LeDuff: A home-town reporter returns to cover two recent years in the corpse of Detroit, a city beyond the pale. In conjunction, watch Low Winter Sun to see a part of the story in 10 gritty episodes (THB does not think the book and series are connected other than being set in Detroit, which is enough).

Mumbai New York Scranton: A Memoir, Tamara Shopsin: An illustrator describes her immediate before and after illness. Crisp, funny, and a life made easily recognizable. Also, Shopsin makes a guest appearance in Your Voice In My Head (see below)!

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra (novel): Most of the action takes places during the recent wars in Chechnya; the intersection of three (or is it two) families caught in the conflict. Much of the book reads like good poetry (THB actually reads some poetry every week, so must be an expert…true!). And, Marra lives in Oak-town!

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, David Mitchell (historical novel): THB tried to read Cloud Atlas and failed, miserably. Thousand Autumns, published 7 years later, is a look back at the Dutch trading settlement in Japan around 1800, and transcendent in the portrayals of the xenophobic Japanese and the range of Dutch adventurers stuck on an island in Nagasaki harbor, trying to make their fortunes in an alien and forbidding culture.

Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home, Nina Stibbe. Hilarious, so funny THB is pretty sure it couldn’t really be the actual letters sent by Nina (who is a goofball) to her sister over a period of 5 years when Nina was 20-25 years old, and yet there are real (some very famous) people she interacted with on a regular basis, so a lot of has to be true, right?

Old Filth Trilogy (Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, Last Friends), Jane Gardam (novels). The life of a couple and a competitor that spanned the demise of the British Empire and invented the phrase Failed in London Try Hong Kong (though most of the book is told in flashbacks and almost none takes place in Hong Kong, mostly in England). Beautifully written, a tragicomedy with the first book published in 2004 when the author was 76.

Recommended (36): Enjoyed, listed in no particular order (well, actually the order read)

How to Be Black, Bartunde Thurston: An LB reco. It’s hard to describe; the guy is black and yet it is hip/ironic/snarky like a white guy wrote it. Is it post-racist? Thurston sez that ain’t happened yet. Would/can THB know hip white from hip black? Not a chance. Though, THB does know W. Kamau Bell (one of the “panel” members quoted often in the book). Maybe THB is hip! The Macinator: How to Be Black

Your Voice in My Head: A Memoir, Emma Forrest: An author and screenwriter reveals her struggles with being bipolar. And, lots of namedropping, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan references, and a visit to the Shopsin NY eatery (see Mumbai New York Scranton above). Another reco from the Macinator

Walking Home: A Poet’s Journey, Simon Armitage: A contrived journey along the Pennine Way in England (through the Yorkshire Dales to the Scottish border), with poetry readings every night (and new poems mixed in). Lots of self-awareness and self-deprecation and atrocious weather (it’s England in summer time!).

Telex From Cuba, Rachel Kushner (novel): the 1950s in pre-revolution Cuba as told from American POV – the adults and children “stationed” there to run the sugar and nickel mills.

The Oath, A Surgeon Under Fire, Khassan Baiev: A memoir by the person that the one of the lead characters of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is based on. On its own, recommended as a extremely disturbing story of life in Chechnya during the two wars, moves to Highly Recommended in conjunction with the novel (THB read the novel first). Also an interesting view into how different the Chechen culture is from our own: historic relations with Russia (not good!), bride stealing, what they think of as a mild form of Islam, big families, country life, and always being thought of by others as terrorists think: Boston Marathon bombers).

The Last Man in Russia: The Struggle to Save a Dying Nation, Oliver Bullough. Using a priest whose life spanned pretty much the length of the Soviet Union, the author illustrates the fate awaiting those who cannot liberate themselves from totalitarian governments: the obvious issue being shorter life spans and lower birth rates (quite a topic for THB while in the hospital)

The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code, Margalit Fox: Not for everyone, this is the story of how a set of tablets was deciphered, focusing on the guy who found the tablets (hoarding them from other scholars), an American female professor who did a ton of the analytics, and the unusual Brit who did the final cracking. THB likes these types of exploratories, learning something and enjoying the chase.

Communion Town: A City in Ten Chapters, Sam Thompson (novel): A dystopian view of London (name changed to protect the scary and intimidating neighborhoods) in some odd time (in the past?). A few of the chapters are tremendous, some a bit overwrought. 

In the Body of the World, A Memoir of Cancer and Connection, Eve Ensler: a firecracker of a person and playwright (Vagina Monologues) survives cancer and continues on her journey to save women (current focus: Congo). Fast paced, scary, and clearly a woman who collects very loyal friends (and has a well-known adopted son only 7 years younger than her).

Lark and Termite, Jayne Anne Phillips (novel): set in 1951 and 1959, the story of two sisters and their shared men and children (of the title), as told mostly by four of the main characters in the few days where most of the action takes place. 

A Tale For the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki (novel, paperback): A package from Japan floats up onto an island of BC with a diary, letters (in French) and a watch. The blocked novelist that finds the “history” tries to unravel the mystery. Philosophical, modern and WWII Japan, current technology, bullying, and small-island life all captured as the mystery unfolds.

The Faraway Nearby, Rebecca Solnit: What an odd book! Interwove myths, personal stories, mythic stories as told by others, stories from/of the animal world, personal illness, a parent with Alzheimer’s, and a motto to live by: Never turn down an adventure without a really good reason, and a bit about Iceland (on THB’s list this year, too).

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan (audio, read by author): Jesus the: bastard, Nazarene, bandit, Jew, King of the Jews, messiah, magician and/or miracle worker, exorcist, Son of Man, Son of God, creation of Saul/Paul, Christ (Greek for messiah), enemy of the established Jewish religious order supported by Rome, misrepresented by all but his brother James.

To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care, Cris Beam: Between descriptive and prescriptive. The author teaches creative writing at Columbia, is a foster parent, and involved with organizations promoting foster care for transgender kids. Seems to strike the right cord between following specific foster children and parents with the history of foster care, the current state, and what might be done to improve the process. Overall, very scary how many foster youth end up on the streets homeless.

Nostalgia, Dennis McFarland (novel): Set in 1864, a star of the new sport, base ball, volunteers for the Union side, sees 3 days of action in the Battle of the Wilderness, survives, and suffers PSTD. The battle and recovery narrative is very moving, and the restorative powers of paying attention to the devastation of war (here with Walt Whitman realized as a fictional caregiver) can also be very powerful.

Still Life With Bread Crumbs, Anna Quindlen (novel): Chic-lit complete with a 60 year old woman meeting up with a sensitive younger (is 15 years or so younger too young?) man, recovered wealth, self-realization that the simple country life is more rewarding than the impersonal city life, a stray friendly dog, and a father that tolerated an unloving mother; even a son that shows the right amount of humor and empathy. Well-written, simple sentence structure, recommended if you like this kind of book.

The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France, Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle: THB is a big Tour fan, so this may be more neutral to you non-bikers (and you better know who you are). Here’s the message: all athletes (including horses) have been doping for a long, long time, especially from about 1995 to 2010, and Olympic athletes for a lot longer (see E. Germany, 100%). And, Lance is a BULLY.

Slow Getting up: A Story of NFL Survival From the Bottom of the Pile, Nate Jackson: A bit later than Tyler in getting to drug usage, some of which is a no-go in cycling and in pro football perfectly legal (and recommended by medical staff).

Bury This, Andrea Portes (novel): soooo slight, soooo fast a read, an excellent sit-by-the-pool mystery read, you’ll forget about it with a day or two.

Clever Girl, Tess Hadley (novel): The highlights of a British woman's life, full of lots of unwed mothers whose childre seemingly come out all right. Starts in the mid-1950s and ends 45 years later. Three of the chapters appeared in the NY'er as short stories; the only one THB remembers is the one with sex in it (of course!).

Prayers for the Stolen, Jennifer Clement (novel(): Set in modern day Mexico, a depressing poetic view of how immigration, the drug business (big money, corruption, guns) and lack of law have altered and even the smallest villages, as told through the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl. A very fast read, even for THB.

Amsterdam, Russell Shorto: An American that relo’d to Amsterdam about 7 years ago and has written a tilted history of the city, through the prism of liberalism as a form of tolerance. Very well done, and an especially good read if you’re coming to town. 

Man With a Blue Scarf, or Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud, Martin Gayford: Chronological diary  from 2003-05 of periodic sittings and many dinners and a few lunches with one of the 20^th century’s great artists.

Little Failure, a Memoir, Gary Shteygart: A Russian immigrant (age 7 or 8) to US, a single child (of a single child, his father), asthmatic, parents who didn’t get along until he moved on to college, Jewish, druggie and drunk, and a non-stop writer from age 5. A father figure and psychoanalysis and his own determination to be a writer move him to succeed as a writer, and maybe as a person.

Inside a Pearl, My Years in Paris, Edmund White. Frank Langella wrote  a book on “famous men  and women” he knew, which THB liked a lot. This is similar, though with a lot of famous gay and French people that White knew; THB did not know pretty much all the French folks yet the style and gossipy nature was very appealing. Set mostly in the 80s, in the midst of the AIDS crisis, by a guy who slept with thousands and thousands of men and wrote about it a lot, this might be his third memoir and there’s at least one biography.

The Leftovers, Tom Perrotta (novel): the basis for the new TV show. Well conceived, and a decent story driving the reader through the 4th year after 2% of the world population suddenly disappears. While not a comedy (as some reviewers claim), the book is still not quite as melancholy and depressing as the TV series.

Life Is a Wheel: Love, Death, etc., and a Bike Ride Across America, Bruce Weber. One of the obit writers for the NYT decides to ride from Portland to NYC in 2011, blogging the trip as he goes. Many meditations about his life and the changes from a similar trip in 1993 as well as snippets of other bike rides he’s taken, eulogies he’s delivered, etc. A bit melancholy, slightly philosophical,  the new love of his life (not his bike), (THB is a bit jealous, the riding through America is a bit like visiting a lot of national parks)

Redeployment, Phil Klay (short stories): For you astute THB followers, you’ve already realized THB pretty much never reads a full book of short stories. THB thinks he somehow missed that this was a collection when reading the review. Good thing; this is an excellent book, stories that ring true (like THB would know) of the individuals caught in the impact of for the most part in combat in Iraq and a bit of Afghanistan.

Partick Leigh Fermor, An Adventure, Artemis Cooper: Begun in Hawaii, contued in E-ville, finsihed in Heathrow. A biography of a British travel writer, famous (?) for a series of books about Greece and two volumes of memoir from a walk through Europe in the mid 1930s when the author was just 18. Fermor was a savant: he spoke many different languages, memorized many songs and poems in many different languages, traveled widely (rarely staying in any one place for long), didn’t attend university, and was fully capable of drinking and carousing all night long. Also capable of extremely insensitive acts and kindness to the underdogs. A war hero for the successful kidnapping of a German general on Crete that had no bearing on the outcome of the war (the Allies were well on their way to victory).

Lost and Found in Johannesburg, a Memoir, Mark Gevisser: THB must be subconsciously drawn to memorable memoirs about digging into family history as written by gay Jewish middle-aged guys. Hmmmmm….these guys must also be balding! This one is very timely as it covers the last 40 years in S Africa and gives THB a lot of insights for the trip. Gevisser, a journalist and Joburg native, was also a victim of a house invasion in 2012 and gives the details of what happened and the aftermath.

Open City, Teju Cole (novel): A melancholic early 30s American of Nigerian descent, in the final steps of becoming a psychotherapist, roams the streets of New York and Brussels mulling over his past while walking long distances (and having come a long distance) and the differences we all experience. To THB, the biggest difference is the one the narrator cannot seem to understand: between his actions and his emotions. Makes a handsome companion to Lost and Found in Johannesburg, where Gevisser (who quotes from Open City) is also measuing differences and distances (literally and figuratively).

The Forgiven, Lawrence Osborne (novel). Very well written, a jetset week-end long party in an outer village of Morroco. On the way to the party, a Brtitish couple is involved in a car accident where a local (fuck-up) is killed and the husband (an alcoholic doctor and twat) has to go with the grieving father, who has come to pick up his only son, to an even more remote village for the burial.

In the Light of What We Know, Zia Haider Rahman (novel): A story of two friends, one of whom is a lawyer and investment banker (like the author), one Pakistani-Brit and one Bangladeshi-Brit, with the Banga-Brit relating to the Paki-Brit what has been happening to him over the course of his life. Brilliant (in the Brit-brilliant sense) flow of words (and not all that much action until near the end of a long story and long book. 

On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, Alice Goffman: A dissertation turned into a book, and it shows. Given that, it is an in-depth view of life in the Black inner-city, one that most of cannot understand or know like Goffman does, as she imbedded herself for years in a part of Philadelphia rife with crime.

Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped him Save Lives in WWII, Vicki Crake: The man who loved elephants, in Burma from the 1920s until after WWII. Especially good if you’re planning or have been on a trip to Africa and Asia to see elephants.

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Jeff Hobbs (audio): Can a brilliant, intuitive kid with huge potential escape the hood? Written by Rob’s Yale roommate, Rob at times sounds too good to be true and at the same time clearly was not able to see that risk-taking was not in his best interest either.

Neutral (29): Something of value, not enough to actively encourage reading (or listening)

The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald (novel): maybe a Neutral Plus/Recommended Minus. Small, intimate story about how a man can destroy all around him by being a careless and politically adept shit. As told by the two woman who he partnered with, who were dramatically impacted after swallowing his lines of devotion.

Thirty Girls, Susan Minot (novel): Another Neutral Plus/Recommended Minus. A  fictionalized story as told through two characters: a 37 year old female journalist and one of the schoolgirls abducted by the forces of Joseph Kony, a Uganda renegade leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army with some pretty crazy ideas (though he himself is a minor character). The young Buddha character is killed off near the end, which seems a very unnecessary plot device to THB. A few days after THB finished this book, 253 girls were abducted from a state school in Nigeria by an Islamist group. Life imitates art?

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton (novel): LONGGG, by about 300 pages too long, first 500 not bad

A Small Corner of Hell, Dispatches from Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya (paperback): Moves to recommended if you read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (see highly recommended list). Hard to imagine what goes on in Chechnya unless you believe, as THB keeps promoting, that Putin is the ultimate thug and lives of others matter not at all. Not surprising, on October 7, 2006, Politkovskaya was shot and killed in the elevator of her apartment building, an unsolved murder.

The Apartment, Greg Baxter (novel): very melancholic, all 195 pages

I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place, Howard Norman: memoir of a few major events/time periods, well told and most involving a love of birds. THB also read a novel 20 years ago by Norman called the Bird Artist (and with faint recall thinks it was pretty good as well).

Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City, Geert Mak: Recommended if you’re in Amsterdam. And, translated, something THB usually (almost always) avoids

The Last Days of California, Mary Miller (novel): unfortunately, the narrator doesn’t make it to California.

The Kept, James Scott (novel): a mother than steals babies and her remaining “child” go on a hunt to find the killers of the rest of her “family”

The Dogs of Winter, Kem Nunn (novel): Surfers tangled up with N. California Indians, chasing the big waves (no, not Mavericks), lots of bodies and sanity checks.

The Cancer Chronicles, Unlocking Medicine’s Deepest Mystery, George Johnson: Nothing quite unlocked yet; chapters 7 and 10 only ones worth reading. Don’t smoke or gain too much weight, don’t worry about environmental causes.

An Unnecessary Woman, Rabih Alameddine (novel): One long chapter as told by a Lebanese woman looking back at her long life absorbed in books, family dynamics of Lebanese society, and the trevails of ongoing war as it affected Beirut.

Year Zero: A History of 1945, Ian Buruma: Decent overview, nothing remarkable; highly recommend Wages of Guilt, Memories of War in Japan and Germany.

The Faithful Scribe: A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family and War, Shahan  Mufti: Not enough on Pakistan and War, too much on family.

Dust, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (novel): From Brits in Kenya to locals today, trying to understand two deaths years apart. Very poetic style, a bit too farfetched in the resolution.

Son of a Gun: A Memoir, Justin St Germain: Ten years later, a son tries to make sense of the murder of his mother by his (3^rd or 4^th ?) step-father. Not particularly well written, it does strike a chord of anguish in not resolving long held emotions of detachment.

Holding on Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore, Linda Leavell: The poet had quite the revival in the 50s and early 60s after a long career of almost no recognition outside the poet world. And, a very odd life, mostly spent living with her mother and the two of them wishing her brother was also there.

Cambridge, Susanna Kaysen (audio): by the author of Girl, Interrupted (a memoir published in 1993), is this one memoir or fiction? Mild, even tempered review set in the author/narrator’s years 9 to 12, mostly when “Susanna’s” family is living overseas.

Priscilla, The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France, Nicolas Shakespeare. A young beauty, one great female friend, an impotent first husband, an absent father (another crazy story in itself), a narcissistic mother (ditto), an overly jealous second husband, and an inability to see how to help herself except through the men in her life. Much of the action takes place mostly before and during WWII, where halfway through the book the author (Priscilla’s nephew) reveals how while she was living in Paris she was sleeping with, among others, fairly senior non-military Axis sympathizers/robbers.

The Long and the Short of it: The Science of Life Span and Aging, Jonathan Silvertown: A meta-magazine article fluffed up with a bunch of literary references and silly metaphors. Still, enough information to consider reading instead of keeping up with the periodicals.

Silence Once Begun, Jesse Ball (novel): the author, in the guise of a journalist, tells a fable within a fable, set in Japan. The story of a man who manipulates others into a series of actions in order to make fools of society. The actions take place in th 1970s, the story is being told much later.

All Our Names, Dinaw Mengestu (novel): Morose, two intertwined stores as told by what THB would call mild depressants. THB loved a prior book by Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, read that one instead of this one

A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain, Adrianne Harun: Set in a small Canadian town with both Native Americans and loggers, oil guys and some very bad people, with the main characters 5 17 year olds trying to be good. Best part is when a dying uncle tells stories, worst part is the ending (not unusual).

The French Intifada, Andrew Hussey: More the history of France and North Africa and how the colonizers end up paying the long view price for colonialism. Extrapolated, this is not going to end well for France of  the countries of N Africa.

Off Course, Michelle Huneven (novel): How a woman is consumed by an affair with a married man. THB liked Blame better, an earlier novel by Huneven.

The Divorce Papers, Susan Rieger (novel, audio): THB should’ve done a bit more research before buying this audio book because it is a series of memos, e-mails, court related documents, and letters read by the characters that wrote them (or attached them), making it an odd audio book: many readers! Story line: young female criminal attorney is assigned a divorce case and interwoven in her case is the impact of her parents’ divorce 15 years ago. Hollywood ending, of course.

Be Safe, I Love You, Cara Hoffman (novel): Iraqi  war 2 vet returns to her home populated with disabled vets of other wars, and is a danger to those around her. Her younger bro comes to the rescue in a Hollywood ending. 

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, Ben Macintyre: A oft-told story well told.

The Burning Room, Michael Connelly (novel): The last Bosch book? Should be, nothing left in the tank

In the Something Else category (2 + a special request!):  

Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in popular beliefs in the sixteenth and seventeenth century England, Keith Thomas. Way more than you’ll ever want to know about 16^th and 17^th century England and what misled the natives into thinking they knew the answers. Long, very long, really long.

Serial: Podcast in 12 episodes (not all the same length), with Sarah Koenig as host, producer, and lead journalist. The unraveling of a high school murder from 1999, with the convicted ex-boyfriend involved via phone from prison. Highly recommended, great for storing up and binge listening on long drives.

The author of all the books in the photos is now E-available (including a few in French for you cross-culture types)…Help out a poor blogger by contributing a few pennies in royalties to the author’s account?

Not Recommended (and high likely not finished – 18):  

Want Not, Jonathan Miles (novel): Lecture not (at least not for one chapter in three)

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (novel): THB now 0-2 with Tartt. Good news: she’s only published one other book

Cuba and the Night, Pico Iyer (novel): Pico’s first novel, not his finest showing

Americanah, Chimamanda Adichie (novel): Nigerians in America and the struggle between cultures; THB made it 50% of the way and then a whole new slew of characters showed up. Is the lack of knowledge of a culture illuminated by stereotypes or are they real types and THB is just ignorant.

The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner (novel): too much interior thoughts of a dull character and one of those time-shifting-by-chapter books. Too bad, THB loved Telex from Cuba.

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, Robert Kolker: sex workers get killed and then…and then…nothing but more and more about they got killed and how dysfunctional their families were/are.

How Should a Person Be?, Sheila Heti (novel): Not this narcissistic, self-centered, self-absorbed, and incapable of completing much of anything. THB actually finished this book, to his shame and regret.

The Death of Bees, Lisa O’Donnell (novel): well, really a Scottish farce

Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment, Paul Conroy: A photographer documenting the last two (interwoven) assignments with Marie Colvin, journalist. Somehow turns a writer into a person that never uses a polysyllabic word.

Year Zero, Rob Reid (novel): A double THB mistake, bought this book by same name instead of one by Ian Buruma, and it was awful (aliens from space trying to buy license to music???)

The Splendid Things We Planned, Blake Bailey (audio): memoir, unrelenting story of two unlikeable and very drug-and-drink-addled brothers. Unusual in that the reader can often make a book sound better than it reads. Not here!

The Queen of the Tambourine, Jane Gardam (novel): Unfinished. Silly. Not near as good as the Old Filth trilogy (though there are incredulous moments in Old Filth, they have some character basis). Letters from the same demented woman about her neighbors.

The Reef, a Passionate History of the Great Barrier Reef, Iain McCalman. THB must have badly misread the review, this book is not about the reef, it is a series of trite rehashings of castaways and overblown stories of explorers (and not of the reef, about the explorers). THB tried skipping, even that didn’t work, he didn’t get past the 1800s and that was 2/3s of the way along.

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube, Patrick Leigh Fermor: Alert readers of this list will recognize that THB read a bio of Paddy Fermor. How could a guy that overwrote a travelogue like this earn a bio? His life sooooooooo much better than the output of his life.

No Book But the World, Leah Hager Cohen (novel): too self-referential and the story within the story isn’t enough to drive the plot along

Frog Music, Emma Donoghue (novel): cartoon characters

Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled…Beth Macy: THB should know better, when the subtitle goes on forever the book needs serious editing
A Replacement Life, Boris Fishman: too much recent immigrant shtick, way too much

Total Books: 95 (Trilogy = 3)

THB (of course) sorted the books:

-        8 Top Picks: 4 fiction, 4 non-fiction  (Trilogy = 1)

-        36 Recommended: 14 fiction, 22 non-fiction

-        29 Neutral: 16 fiction, 12 non-fiction

-        2 Something Else: 2 non-fiction

-        18 Not Recommended: 11 fiction, 6 non-fiction