Space Station Mir

4. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald Fitzgerald returns to a more personal novel in Tender is the Night. While This Side of Paradise is undoubtedly based on his college days and young single manhood, this novel combines elements of his nomadic life with Zelda and his Hollywood days, though more of the former. The two main characters, Dick and Nicole, seem more real than any of the characters in his other books. Daisy, for example, is sort of an idea that might have been similar to Nicole had she been more fleshed out. But Gatsby was deliberately a novel of ideals, and works in that context. What I love most about Fitzgerald, is that the ending isn't what matters, especially in Tender is the Night. There of course, is an ending, a plot turning of sorts, but it doesn't give the full message about the novel. If you knew the entire plot of a Fitzgerald novel, without reading it, you would never be able to explain the significance of it. The interplay of the relationship be...

Tonight I'm going to see Azar Nafisi talk about and read from her new memoir Things I've Been Silent About.

3. The Crack Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald (a collection of his essays, notebooks, and letters), edited by Edmund Wilson I picked up this old paperback in a used book store. It's inspired in me an even deeper connection to "Fitz." Even though, at times, he had an even more bitter, apathetic outlook than I would have imagined, he's still so...pure. He stays faithful to his boyhood dreams and writing scruples till the end. He writes continuously about how he missed out on dreams of football and battlefield glory, and the profound effect it had on his life and writing. His notebooks, though admirably organized, were admittedly a bit of a bore. The editor, an old friend of Fitzgerald's, claims they are best read with Tender Is the Night and The Last Tycoon , the first of which I have just started for the first time. This was really my first exposure to Fitzgerald's older work, so far I've only read TSOP, Beautiful and Damned , and Gatsby . There were plenty of g...

1. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke 2. The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak Also I realized I have a Word document listing 100-some books I intend to read in my lifetime. But then I keep going to bookstores and buying anything that catches my eye. Starting work in Cambridge hasn't helped.

I accomplished and surpassed my goal for 2008! I enjoyed the 50 book challenge so much that I want to continue it this year. However, I've added some alterations to make it more interesting. For 2009, I want to read 52 books, one for every week in the year. I've also decided to add quotas for certain categories of books. Requirements can overlap. At least: 1. 5 nonfiction 2. 10 books published in 2009 3. 5 science fiction 4. 1 book of poetry 5. 5 books translated from a language other than English It may seem modest, but it's a start toward diversity. The reason for reading so many books published this year is so I can have a better perspective on annual writing awards. For the best of what I read in 2008, I decided it's a toss up between Beggars in Spain and House of the Spirits.