What I Read (2000)

Getting caught up on some other stuff, so in the meantime here's what I read in the year 2000.

Jan. 2, 2000 The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch "Tome about angel's manipulation of men to destroy Ten Commandments. First third, about friendship between Max & Onno was very well done, but then angels get heavy-handed (killing characters with meteorites and falling trees) and ending is disappointing."

Jan. 3, 2000 Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison "Sci-Fi collection about master escape & disguise artist turned cop. Action scenes are very good, but need to flesh out characters and world better."

Jan. 4, 2000 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn "Story of Soviet prisoner in labor camp. Very interesting, similar to King Rat."

Jan. 5, 2000 Naked in a Public Place by Elizabeth Grundy "Cheap romance novel. Girl ends up with asshole. Why?"

Jan. 5, 2000 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan "Collection of interrelated short stories about Chinese and Chinese-Americans. Starts slow but really starts to grow. Some short stories are best I've read in a long time."

Jan. 27, 2000 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë "Classic about a woman's relationship with a man who has an insane wife. Gets somewhat preachy near the end, but still very good; especially like use of first person style."

Feb. 6, 2000 A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr "Famous trial of the Woburn toxic contamination. Interesting, scary, and thought-provoking insight into the minds of lawyers. Very well done."

Feb. 13, 2000 Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes by John Milton "Long poem about Lucifer's fall and temptation of man, shorter poem about Jesus, and short one about Samson. Beautiful use of language and imagery."

Feb. 19, 2000 New Essays on Paradise Lost edited by Thomas Kranidas "Over my head and beyond my depth; critical analyses from a literary point of view. Had difficulty grasping most of it."

Feb. 25, 2000 The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells "Classic tale of an island of a doctor and his experiments. Enjoyable, surprising. Not moralistic."

Feb. 27, 2000 Practical Guide to Legal Writing & Legal Method by Dernbach, Singleton, Wharton, Runtenberg "Self-explanatory. Too many long examples."

Mar. 5, 2000 Frankenstein (second time) by Mary Shelley "Famed story of a scientist's success in creating new life and the consequences. Echoes of Paradise Lost, etc. Great story, more gothic and terrible than the schlocky movies."

Mar. 9, 2000 The Stranger (second time) by Albert Camus "Enjoyed it more the second time. The man really cares little about anything. Interesting how the trial focuses on how he treated his mother instead of the crime itself."

Apr. 6, 2000 Emile, Julie & Other Writings by Jean Jacques Rosseau "Heavily abridged collection of Rousseau's writings on education; idea of harming from vice instead of instilling virtue is interesting, theories on education of women are revolting."

Apr. 11, 2000 The Story of My Life by Helen Keller "Keller's autobiography written at age 22. Amazing story and amazing accomplishment."

Apr. 17, 2000 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald "Story of the newly rich Gatsby's attempt to rekindle an old flame. Beautiful imagery, well-written."

Apr. 27, 2000 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson "Very good. Especially like characterization of Long Jong Silver; not a stereotypical villain--morally ambiguous."

May 4, 2000 Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out edited by Loraine Hutchins & Lani Kaghumanu "Collection of over 70 short pieces by bisexuals. Many coming out stories. Very leftist, feminist. Average quality, nothing especially insightful."

May 6, 2000 The Breast by Phillip Roth "Short, occasionally funny story of a man transformed into a female breast."

May 6, 2000 How to Survive a Lawyer by Stephen Baker "Occasionally humorous book about lawyers. Not as funny as I hoped it would be."

May 6, 2000 The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris "Mystery novel starring the famed Hannibal Lector and Clarice Starling. Very good, movie is very faithful."

May 8, 2000 The Warden by Anthony Trollope "Story of a churchman's struggle to decide if he holds his position justly. Clear, thoughtful, full characters."

May 9, 2000 Freud & Jung A Dual Introduction by Anthony Storr & Anthony Stevens "Intro to Freud was very well done. Focused on core beliefs in clear language. Objective & hit highs and lows. Intro to Jung was not as good. Heavily biased in his favor."

May 10, 2000 The Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle "Aristotle's view that the supreme good of life is happiness and happiness comes from living the virtues. Long, unnecessary passages, and boring."

May 11, 2000 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak "Beautiful story of life before, during, and after the Russian Revolution. Really shows how life was during such chaotic times."

[it's always interesting to look at what I wrote about the books and what my actual memory of them is; with Doctor Zhivago, for example, I remember slogging through a confusing book full of hundreds of characters with long names that didn't go anywhere. Perhaps I mixed it up in my mind with War & Peace?]

May 12, 2000 The Ambassador by Henry James "Story of Americans in Europe. Charming, beautiful language that is very evocative. Clever dialogue. Definitely worth reading."

May 13, 2000 The Centaur by John Updike "Tale of a hard-luck teacher and his son. Tough first chapter but once you get used to the style turns out pretty good."

June 6, 2000 Who Am I? An Autobiography of Emotion, Mind, and Spirit by Yi-Fu Tuan "Autobiography of a famous Chinese gay geographer. Well-written, a very lonely man."

June 7, 2000 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou "Beautiful and well-written autobiography. Funny, sad, and touching--should pick up the sequels."

June 26, 2000 Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut "Story of the last colony of humanity. Very funny. Makes you remember how silly we are sometimes."

July 6, 2000 The Kid by Dan Savage "Sweet, funny, and honest account of a gay couple adopting a kid."

July 7, 2000 The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman "Collection of short stories. Very well written, including famous title piece. Good insight into relations between men and women."

July 8, 2000 Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen "Exquisite! Very informative and useful look at how wrong our American history textbooks are. I learned lots!"

Ttoday I could not tell you a single thing I remember learning from the book]

July 8, 2000 Mud Pies: A Saga of Jurisprudence by James Magorian "A very funny and witty story of fables in the legal world. Very nice."

July 20, 2000 The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. "Witty & insightful, pro-Christian propaganda of letters from a senior devil to a junior tempter."

Aug. 1, 2000 The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks "From the author of Awakenings, this book tells about an island in Micronesia where true color-blindness exists at much higher proportion than elsewhere. Interesting look at how natives deal with it."

Aug. 6, 2000 Hegel in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern "Short look at Hegel's life and work. Funny how obscure and metaphysical it was."

Aug. 6, 2000 The Elusive Embrace by Daniel Mendelsohn "Largely autobiographical book by an urban gay man about queer identity; main thesis is that queers fall in between opposites on most indicia of identity."

Aug. 8, 2000 Gorgias by Plato "Plato's dialogue on rhetoric, arguing that advocates who do what their clients want instead of what will be good for the client are mere panderers."

Aug. 23, 2000 Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do by Peter McWilliams "Classic manifesto calling for the abolition of consensual 'crimes.' Funny, extensive, even if lacking in depth. Lots of great quotes."

Aug. 23, 2000 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote "True story of the slaying of a Kansas family in the 50s. Very well-done, and interesting look at how rural communities were like."

Sep. 15, 2000 It's Not Mean if It's True by Michael Thomas Ford "Collection of essays by queer humorist. Not uproariously funny, but cute."

Sep. 29, 2000 David Copperfield by Charles Dickens "Very long fictional autobiographical tale of a boy raised by his mother and step-father and events subsequent. Probably my favorite Dickens; especially loved character of Micawber."

[I have no recollection of the plot of this book whatsoever, or why I apparently liked it so much. For years I've been saying my favorite Dickens was A Tale of Two Cities, and I read that before reading David Copperfield. Book log Jeremy apparently has different tastes than real-life Jeremy.]

Oct. 4, 2000 In Defense of Women by H.L. Mencken "Funny in a few places, but not really all that good. Full of annoying generalizations and flaws in logic."

Oct. 4, 2000 Social Science in Law: Cases & Materials by John Monahan & Laurens Walker "Textbook of cases & article excerpts. A good introduction with lots of great info."

Oct. 6, 2000 Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie "Anthology of queer youth writings. Not really very good, but selections from Margot Kelley Rodriguez were nice."

Oct. 12, 2000 Full of Secrets edited by David Cavey "Anthology of Twin Peaks essays. A couple are good, but otherwise postmodernist psychobabble."

Oct. 15, 2000 Closed Chambers by Edward Lazarus "A fascinating portrayal of life within the Supreme Court by a former clerk. Great history of struggle and intrigue over abortion and death penalty."

Oct. 17, 2000 Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal "First-person narrative of a caustic and somewhat insane transgender. Very good, though didn't like the ending so much."

Oct. 20, 2000 Nietzsche in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern "Very brief look at his life and thought."

Nov. 15, 2000 Reason Within the Limits of Reason Alone by Kant "Good look at Kant's views on religion. Definitely more readable than many of his other works."

Nov. 16, 2000 The Ballad of Reading Gaol & Other Poems by Oscar Wilde "Not real great."

Nov. 30, 2000 Maurice by E.M. Forster "One of the earliest English novels with a positive portrayal of homosexuality. Definitely readable and should try his others now."

Dec. 12, 2000 Lanark by Alasdair Gray "An epic story about a man in Glasgow. Shifting through time; great example of postmodern writing. Definitely recommend."

Dec. 13, 2000 The Question of Pornography by Donnerstein, Linz, Penrod "Good (but now dated) summary of research. Concludes that only violent pornography may be harmful."

Dec. 14, 2000 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain "Classic story of Huck and a runaway slave Jim. Really good and surprisingly funny."

Dec. 15, 2000 Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin "Argues that intercourse objectifies and demeans women. Long on rhetoric but no specific solutions."

Dec. 17, 2000 The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan "Book 8 in the Wheel of Time. Consistently excellent."

Dec. 21, 2000 Vice Versa by Marjorie Garber "Look at bisexuality through historical, literary, and cinematic scope. Very thorough, great research, but difficult to tell what the conclusion is."

Dec. 22, 2000 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift "A great book that works on many levels: adventure, political satire, critique of humanity. Surprisingly ribald."

Dec. 25, 2000 A History of God by Karen Armstrong "Very nice overview."

Dec. 25, 2000 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path "Brilliant and beautiful portrayal of a famous poet's descent into madness."

[What an odd book to have chosen to read on Christmas Day.]

Dec. 29, 2000 Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather "Portrayal of a missionary priest's life in Santa Fe. Beautiful imagery."

Dec. 29, 2000 The Birds by Aristophanes "Mildly amusing satiric play."