What I read in 2012

Hello readers, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Jen, Winston and I had a lovely season – one about which I will share more in another post. As it’s now 2013, and the official time for best of/looking back posts, I thought I’d share what I read in 2012, as I have in the past (with varying success). As I mentioned last year, I started tracking my reading with Goodreads, to my delight in writing this post! Here's a photo:



And you can click the photo for more details about what I read this year. In brief, I read 38 books last year, which is far less than I would like to have read, but it was three books a month. I read 12,725 pages overall, and this is not counting our periodicals. The longest book I read was The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now edited by Harold Holzer. So, without further ado, here are the 38 books I read in 2012. Check back next week for my top 5 books from last year!

1. Rembrandt's Eyes
   Schama, Simon
   Jan 26, 2012



2. Makers of Modern Architecture: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry
   Filler, Martin
   Feb 02, 2012



3. Louis Kahn: Essential Texts
   Kahn, Louis I.
   Feb 11, 2012



4. Thomas Eakins: Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia
   Werbel, Amy
   Feb 26, 2012



5. Logotopia: The Library in Architecture, Art and the Imagination
   Klant, Diane
   Mar 2012



6. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
   Gleick, James
   Mar 14, 2012



7. The American Future: A History
   Schama, Simon
   Mar 31, 2012



8. Pure Drivel
   Martin, Steve
   Mar 31, 2012



9. The Night Bookmobile
   Niffenegger, Audrey
   Mar 31, 2012



10. Books: A Living History
    Lyons, Martyn
    Apr 2012



11. The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now
    Holzer, Harold
    Apr 14, 2012



12. Light in Architecture and Art : The Work of Dan Flavin
    Bell, Tiffany
    Apr 15, 2012



13. The Art of Raising a Puppy
    Skete, Monks of New
    May 25, 2012



14. How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend: The Classic Manual for Dog Owners
    Skete, Monks of New
    May 28, 2012



15. The Passage of Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #4)
    Caro, Robert A.
    Jun 14, 2012



16. Hark! A Vagrant
    Beaton, Kate
    Jun 15, 2012



17. Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter
    Albers, Patricia
    Jun 16, 2012



18. Never Learn Anything From History
    Beaton, Kate
    Jun 19, 2012



19. Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
    Garfield, Simon
    Jul 04, 2012



20. Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean
    Wolk, Douglas
    Jul 18, 2012



21. The Well-Made Book: Lectures by Daniel Berkeley Updike
    Updike, Daniel Berkeley
    Jul 19, 2012



22. Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer
    Gorey, Edward
    Jul 21, 2012



23. Horoscopes for the Dead
    Collins, Billy
    Jul 24, 2012



24. Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1)
    Carré, John le
    Aug 03, 2012
    



25. A Murder of Quality (George Smiley, #2)
    Carré, John le
    Aug 06, 2012



26. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley #3)
    Carré, John le
    Aug 09, 2012



27. The Looking Glass War (George Smiley, #4)
    Carré, John le
    Aug 20, 2012



28. London: A Social History
    Porter, Roy
    Aug 20, 2012



29. Mellon: An American Life
    Cannadine, David
    Sep 19, 2012
    



30. A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
    Morris, Errol
    Sep 24, 2012



31. Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York
    Gopnik, Adam
    Sep 26, 2012



32. Thomas Eakins
    Goodrich, Lloyd
    Oct 28, 2012



33. Casino Royale (James Bond, #1)
    Fleming, Ian
    Nov 09, 2012



34. Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2)
    Fleming, Ian
    Nov 20, 2012



35. Moonraker (James Bond, #3)
    Fleming, Ian
    Nov 23, 2012



36. Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall, #1)
    Mantel, Hilary
    Dec 06, 2012



37. Zeitoun
    Eggers, Dave
    Dec 09, 2012



38. The American Leonardo: A Tale of Obsession, Art and Money
    Brewer, John
    Dec 20, 2012

We Bought Nooks!?

You all probably have an impression that I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to reading. I don’t think this would be an unfair or inaccurate assessment, but perhaps it’s not entirely true anymore. For our anniversary, Jen and I got Nooks.

Reading in our Home

One of the joys of our new home is reading. I’ve read two lengthy nonfiction books since we moved in - and that is with the work we have done to get everything in the house usable and accessible. Just about the time we were moving in, I heard a piece on Fresh Air on NPR about habits and how we form them. According to the author, the times when we can form new habits are times of major change - birth of a child, or moving. With this in mind, I have been making a special effort to create a reading habit in our new home.

Long Form and the Tablet

By my count, it has been a bit over a month since posting here at The Dean Files, and it's nice to be back. My hiatus was prompted by Jen and I buying and moving into our first home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I know Jen will want to tell you all about that, but here's a photo from a couple of weeks ago of our new living room:



On my commute into work today, I was listening to a story about The New Republic on Morning Edition. Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook purchased that nearly century-old magazine, and hopes to use it to re inspire reading long-form writing and journalism. A couple of things piqued my interest that he mentioned. Hughes seems to think that there is a real lack of that kind of reporting out there, and that The New Republic will be one of a few in a vastly under served market. Also, that tablet computers are the best new way to consume long-form writing.

His implication that his newly purchased magazine will fill a void of long-form, insightful writing and journalism just does not hold water. I subscribe to two paragons of this genre - The New Yorker, and The New York Review of Books. It's all I can do to keep up with these two, but I am tempted by the wiles of Mother Jones, The Atlantic, and Harper's about every three months. Those are five magazines that regularly publish long-form works that I can name off the top of my head, and I am sure there are many more out there. I am curious to see how TNR will establish itself in a niche that is already fairly full.

However, what bothered me more than Hughes' assertion that TNR will be the only publication in this niche was his statement that the tablet is uniquely well-suited to reading long-form periodical writing. It makes little difference to me what people choose to read from - a book, a Nook, an iPad, or a Kindle, but making this statement with Hughes' reasoning bothered me. This was his reasoning:

And he sees a growing ability to connect long-form journalism to digital users, thanks to tablets that allow users to "pause, linger, read and process very important ideas."

As someone who has used a tablet to read long-form journalism, I take strong objection to this argument. Indeed, in an article published this week in The New York Times, some cogent and insightful thoughts were shared on just this very topic - reading on a tablet/ereader. To quote from that article:

Can you concentrate on Flaubert when Facebook is only a swipe away, or give your true devotion to Mr. Darcy while Twitter beckons?

People who read e-books on tablets like the iPad are realizing that while a book in print or on a black-and-white Kindle is straightforward and immersive, a tablet offers a menu of distractions that can fragment the reading experience, or stop it in its tracks.

As someone who has used both - I really still prefer the print version of a magazine for long-form journalism and writing. I read the Times on my iPhone in the mornings, but for anything longer than that, I think that the print version just cannot be beat. I think my coworkers ask for my read copies of The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books for that same reason - to read in print that which (for the most part) can be accessed online or in tablet format.

2011 Books in Brief

Remember last year when I posted all about what books I read, when, and what I thought of them? That was really great, wasn’t it? I started 2011 fully intending on doing another series like that, but, well, it didn’t happen. As you know too well by now, Jen and I moved to Arkansas, and we both started new jobs. That said, we certainly did not stop reading. I think overall our reading pace slowed some, but overall, things were about the same. Except for keeping track of the books!

Well, instead of a series of posts about what I read this year, (and lacking a list) allow me to point out some highlights from my reading this year.



And here they are, in reverse order:

• James Turrell: The Wolfsburg Project I love Turrell and the piece he did in Wolfsburg. And, it came with a cool bookmark!



• Baseball : a literary anthology Of course, this was mixed - some pieces were great, and others were not as great. Still, one of the best books I read this year!



• The Island of the Colorblind Jen and I both love the writing of Oliver Sacks. This is one of his older titles, but it’s still great!



• Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865 I finally finished Lincoln’s collected writings, and true to form, this second volume of later writings was much better than his first. It was interesting to see his development as a writer, and how great stress and responsibility improved his writing.



• Print the Legend: Photography and the American West I will freely admit that this is a surprising best book choice for 2011. It ties together almost all of my interests and passions, though - American history, photography, books, and printing. Sandweiss’ writing style is quite readable, but it is certainly a serious study of photography and its impact on our perceptions of what the West is, and the native and non-native cultures within it.

So, there you have it. I apologize for not keeping good track of the books I have read this year, and I have a plan in place to rectify this. Namely, my Goodreads profile.

I have started tracking what I have read, and what is in my reading queue now, and I will give it my best effort to keep it current and updated. If you are on Goodreads, please add me as a friend (as this makes it much more fun for everyone) and if you are not, consider signing up and add me as a friend.

That said, I would love to hear about any books you really enjoyed this year. Have a great 2012!!

Dickson Street Bookshop

It’s a little hard to believe that Jen and I have lived in northwest Arkansas for just under a year. It has been quite a year indeed for us, but more about that in another post. For now, let me share with you one of the places in Fayetteville that we loved, and still love going to: the Dickson Street Bookshop.

In the Shadow of Lincoln

I’ve always had things that I read or discover in passing that pique my interest and push me into reading extensively about a subject. Among my more recent interests in this vein has been Abraham Lincoln. My interest first came when I read the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin shortly after it was released. It was a fascinating book - one that changed my view of this incredible man and his presidency. I subsequently read both of the books by William Lee Miller about Lincoln (Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography, and President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman) and these in turn prompted me to read the two-volume set of Lincoln’s collected writings. I really wanted to “watch” the man develop as both a thinker and a writer. Part of me hoped (and still does) that some of his writing style will rub off on me, as I find his style very eloquent and succinct - something rare in any day and age, especially ours. His legacies as a president, a man, and a writer cast very long shadows over Americans in almost any walk of life.

Preservation and Access

Despite what you might think, or learn in library school, librarianship is a profession of paradoxes and challenges. Many times librarians and other individuals outside the profession talk at length about new technologies and trends that present librarians with challenges externally. However, there are challenges inherent in the job we do as librarians, and one in particular is balancing the mutually exclusive demands of preservation and access.

Authors, Recent and Favorite

Every night, Jen and I usually retire to the bedroom about 8:30 or 9. Now, before you make inappropriate jokes about this little phrase, we go get in bed, prop our pillows up, and tuck into whatever book we are reading at the time. This has grown to be not only something we look forward to, but part of our nightly routine. It has reminded me of why I “fell in love” with reading in the first place - and it has also given me a new opportunity to think about what I like and who my favorite authors are. So, rather than giving some exhaustive list of what I like reading, I would like to focus on authors, something Jen and I discussed as we were walking into the Fayetteville Public Library on Saturday. So here they are, in no particular order:

Reading...

I miss reading, friends. I just haven't been reading as much as I would like to recently. As a matter of fact, I have two New Yorkers piled up on my bedside table waiting to be read. Why have my reading habits changed so much? I've been thinking about this for a while, and what follows is my best answer to that question.

My Top Five Books of 2010: Best Book of 2010

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and I hope you all have those that you love with you already, or coming soon. I love this time of year - it has been hectic, but wonderful! For a very small Christmas Eve present for you, I want to share with you what I thought was the best book I read in 2010:

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 2

Reader,

I hope you know the drill by now - I am listing my top five books that I read in 2010. It's pretty fun, and I hope you all are enjoying it. Ok, enough of me yammering, let's get on to book number two, shall we?

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 3

Continuing in the theme of this week, I would like to share with you what I thought was the third best book of 2010... (drumroll)

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 4

As promised here we are again with the top books of 2010 series. Today's book comes in as no. 4 on the list, and here it is:

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 5

On Saturday, I said I would share with you my top five books of 2010, starting with book 5, and ending with what was the best book I read in 2010. Well, without further ado, here it is:

What I read in 2010

It's the week of Christmas, and so as my gift to you, I would like to share with you the list of the 51 books I read this year. First, here's a photo of all the books I read, in chronological order from top to bottom:

Thoughts on the Codex

I was looking at my clippings in Evernote last night, and read an article about the bookstores in San Francisco. Early in our relationship, Jen and I went to San Francisco for a furiously quick and intense trip - and ever since, I have longed to return there. While reading the article, this quote caught my eye and gave me pause:

An eBook Epiphany...

I felt as though I had an epiphany yesterday about eBooks. Someone else has probably had this thought before - I just haven't seen it. Anyhow - here it is:

Visual Explanations and Classification

Remember my previous post about Edward R. Tufte and Classification? Well, my presentation was well-received, and I would like to share it with you.

Family History

I am currently reading Studs Terkel's oral history of World War II, titled The Good War. The book has been a great read, thus far - but I don't want to make this a book review post. It's really more about the importance of proactively learning about and recording your family history. I think this is something either done piecemeal by family members, or done after the passing of key familial figures.