Writer, not

I finished 37 books this year, falling short of my goal of 45. Better luck, and perhaps more realistic goals, for 2012.

Here is my selection of favorite fiction reads from 2011. Note that these are my picks for best 2011 reads, not the best of 2011′s books. Most of these were published in prior years.

My choices for fiction, in no particular order (and yes, the links give me credit on my Amazon account).

	The Typist (Michael Knight) A typist soldier in the post war occupation of Japan, with the occasional babysitting job with MacArthur’s eight-year-old son. Lovely, crisp writing and dialogue.
	In Cold Blood (Truman Capote) Yes, I finally read it. So should you. See how it all began.
	Shutter Island (Dennis Lehane) Lehane’s taut psychological thriller of a man chasing a lost soul through an off-shore insane asylum. It kept me guessing, and intrigued.
	The Spies of Warsaw (Alan Furst) I’m a huge fan of Alan Furst, and I think this is one of his best. Espionage in the early days of WWII. Excellent characters and storytelling, as usual from Furst.
	Stettin Station (David Downing) A winner from another growing favorite of mine, David Downing. British/American expat John Russell navigates his escape from pre-war Germany, but is forced to leave his love and young son behind.

I had the good fortune recently to enjoy a three-week stay in Europe, traveling through Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France.  Of the hundreds of pictures I took during that trip—some of them actually in focus—I choose to begin with these.

In central Berlin, along the Unter den Linden, there is a public square named Bebelplatz.  Located adjacent to what was then the state opera house, the site was previously named Opernplatz.  On May 10, 1933, Opernplatz was the site of an enormous book burning, orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels.  Some 20,000 books, deemed to be decadent, or of un-German spirit, were burned that night.  Included were works by Albert Einstein, Erich Maria Remarque, Thomas Mann, and many others.

The photo below shows the memorial commemorating the book burning. Beneath a transparent plate set into the cobblestones, there is a brightly lit chamber containing empty bookshelves. Utterly brilliant, in my opinion.

Accompanying the memorial is a plaque set into the stones, quoting German author Heinrich Heine (1820).  It reads (roughly):

“It was only a prelude, where they burn books, they also burn people at the end.”

NPR recently posted a listing of top 100 science fiction and fantasy books, as determined by a readers’ poll. I usually fare poorly on these types of things (e.g, I score about a 5 or 6 on the ubiquitous lists of 100 things you should have read to prove you have a brain and appreciation for literature), but I’ve actually read fourteen on the NPR list, including:

Ok, so maybe fourteen is nothing to brag about, but I’ll take it anyway. How many have you read?

This happens to me about once a week.  I couldn’t embed it, so click to see the video.

The American Library Association, among many other groups, is sponsoring Banned Books Week again this year, September 24 through October 1.  Did you know that many books now consider among the classics of western literature have been challenged, if not outright banned, by various groups, communities, and governments?

Ulysses.  1984.  To Kill a Mockingbird.  Catcher in the Rye.  The Great Gatsby.  The Grapes of Wrath.  Animal Farm.  Fahrenheit 451 (umm, irony, anyone?).

Here is just a small collection of banned book lists:

A list of classics frequently banned or challenged (ALA).

A list of authors and works banned by the Catholic Church (wikipedia).

The ten most challenged books of 2010 (ALA).  The Hunger Games?  Really?

A list of books banned by various governments (wikipedia).

A list of books commonly challenged or banned in the US (wikipedia).

And here is my own experience with banned books, which I posted last year.  I also have a Six Sentence version of that experience, here.

You know what to do.  Go read.

Also:  The ALA has a dedicated channel on YouTube where readers discuss their experiences with “subversive” books.  Pretty cool.

Nothing but heaven, if you happen to be a mass-transit geek, like me. Or a fan of Boardwalk Empire, like me.

No need to elaborate.  But I will.  Because these are strange times.

And while you’re at it, follow @AtYourLibrary on Twitter.  It’s good for you, and will help prevent (brain) cavities!

Another rejection from McSweeney’s Lists.

Things I’d Hit Other Than That
 Those.
 Them.
 These.
 The other thing.
 Thou.
 This.
 Brooklyn Decker.

Rejected. And to think of the time I spent on that one.

So I was in New York a couple of weekends ago, and achieved a long-held ambition:  walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.  I lived there many years ago—in Brooklyn, no less—and yet never took the opportunity to walk the bridge.

I’d like to say I was in New York to visit with my agent or to make the rounds of publishers, but I do not have such luck.  Yet.

I saw the concluding movie of the Harry Potter series this weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so much better that the nearly-unnecessary Deathly Hallows Part I. And though I’ve not read the books, I must give credit to J.K. Rowling for having created one of the more delicious characters in fiction, Severus Snape.

I have only one objection to how the story closed, [warning, a not-really-a-spoiler alert] and that was through the use of the Pensieve.  It seemed to me to be too much of a trick to use the Pensieve to unveil the entire story arc to Harry (and to us), and it cheapened the story for me, much like having an unnamed character show up in the final scene to explain the hidden details to the audience.

But no matter.  It was still great fun.  Do go see it.