Read 50 books in 2007

Okay, I failed miserably. But I’m trying again.

21. “Why Kinky Friedman isn’t the new governor of Texas”http://www.kinkyfriedmanstore.com/product.php?productid=16278&cat=0&page=1&featured

Well, ‘cause he’s a little too sensible, a little too apolitical, and probably a bit too much of a shitkicker. I suspect the last of these least. This was fun, and a quick read—but if you’ve followed his articles in Texas Monthly, there’s a lot of repetition. (On the other hand, who hear did that?)

20. “Come On Down”: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061350115/Come_On_Down/index.aspx

Stan Blits, a producer and “music director” of The Price Is Right wrote this goofy and sort-of fact-filled book about the show he’s been working on since Moses was a little boy. I’m sure Stan would be delightful to have coffee with, but this book is too much a mixed bag: far more information than the non-fan would ever care about, but very little that isn’t already known by the true game-geek. It’s been a while since I felt the need to own every home game and GS-trivia-related object that came down the pike, but this certainly wouldn’t have made the retail cut. It went down quick as a small bag of potato chips; it goes back to the library today.

The newest Spenser novel.

As ever, a very, very quick read. When you come right down to it, this is what it is: snarky dialogue, food porn, a bit of shrinkery, and a little crime-mystery thrown in on top. More fun than an episode of “Law and Order,” and no ads.

But I like that sort of thing.

18. Morgan Spurlock’s Don’t Eat This Book

I haven’t seen Super Size Me, the film to which this book is a companion, but I’m not sure I need to now. It’s a quick read. I’m not entirely willing to accept that McDonald’s is the Antichrist, but anybody who had the slightest suspicion that their menu was healthful will be disabused of that notion in intense detail—and without footage of Spurlock puking up a Big Mac, which the film apparently contains.

Full disclosure: I had lunch at McDonald’s yesterday. No, I didn’t order an allegedly-healthy salad. But I didn’t have my burger and fries supersized, either. Would I rather there’d been time to go home and have organic split-pea soup for lunch? Yes. But sometimes life doesn’t work that way. So long as it’s the exception rather than the rule, I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

...but I’ll go down swinging.

18. The Bishop at the Lake

The latest Blackie Ryan joint is more of the same: a locked-room mystery, the occasional quick homily, and a love story. But what is it with these unnecessary epilogues? Note to authors: You want me to know what happened two years later in the story? Write another book.

By the by, I had the locked-room suspect called long before the title character did—but I didn’t believe it was that easy.

Still, he’s the best homilist I’m gonna have access to any time soon. Sad, but true.

17. Circles, by James Burke.

Presenting these more-or-less free associative trips through technology and history is a fascinating idea, but the net result is just frustrating to me. I learn so little about any one thing that I fail to care. Herself loves this book, so I guess it’s my failing that I don’t get it.

(And, sadly, I have put it down unfinished.)

What’s sort of sad about this is it’s hard to tell if it’s satire or documentary. Barris is in his typically just-over-the-top mode, and the many threads of the characters make it somewhat difficult to tell who to care most about—but I guess that’s not all that different from a “real” reality TV show.

Robert B. Parker’s latest Sunny Randall story would make a fine 2-hour tv movie, if Helen Hunt can ever get the studio’s act together. And if Parker or the screenwriter includes one-third less subplot.

15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I get Lissa’s argument for keeping the epilogue, but, frankly, I could have done without it.

I particularly enjoyed it because—in the midst of the tsuris caused by cleaning out the house I’ve recently inherited, it felt like one thing in my life was finished.