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Jan. 2, 2002 Dubliners by James Joyce "Straightforward narratives of poverty and sadness in Dublin lives. Some damn good short stories."
Jan. 5, 2002 Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand "Entertaining play about legendary swashbuckler. Becomes tragic in final scene."
Jan. 22, 2002 Theodicy by G.W. Leibniz "Leibniz' answer to theodicy by stating that this is the Best of All Possible Worlds."
Jan. 26, 2002 Great Short Stories by American Women edited by Candace Ward "Nice collection from late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Jan. 31, 2002 Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche "Discussion of slave vs. ruler morality. Not as interesting or groundbreaking as I remember."
Feb. 17, 2002 A Room With a View by E.M. Forster "Surprisingly good novel about lovers who meet in Italy and rekindle romance in England."
Mar. 20, 2002 The Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster "Star Wars novel, prequel to Attack of the Clones. Same plot as fifty Star Trek novels (make peace among competing groups on planet) but still pretty good."
Mar. 23, 2002 Empire Building by Garry Jenkins "Story of making of Star Wars. Very interesting."
Mar. 31, 2002 Bag of Bones by Stephen King "Horror novel about haunted house and man's attempt to find out why his wife died. Not that good."
Apr. 24, 2002 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut "Story mixing bombing of Dresden with UFOs from Tralfamadore. Pretty good & quick read."
Apr. 30, 2002 The Norton Reader (10th edition) by Various "Great collection of wide variety of literary forms."
May 11, 2002 The Patchwork Girl by Larry Niven "Story of Gil 'The ARM' Hamilton and solving of a 'locked-universe' mystery. Not too shabby."
May 15, 2002 Slightly Chipped by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone "Rambling anecdotes about book collecting. Surprisingly interesting."
June 1, 2002 On Liberty by John Stuart Mill "Norton Critical. Still believe in harm principle after reading."
June 2, 2002 A Ready Defense by Josh McDowell "Christian apologetic. Not as persuasive as I thought, though some good work on historical Biblicism."
June 3, 2002 Critiques of God edited by Peter Angeles "Anthology of classic and modern atheism. Best essay I've ever seen on theodicy."
June 3, 2002 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain "A lot more humor and much more fun than Huck Finn."
June 11, 2002 Prime Evil by Diana C. Gallagher "Buffy novel about destroying reincarnated witch. Okay."
[DIGRESSION: This was the first Buffy book I ever read, shortly after I became obsessed with the series.]
June 11, 2002 The Assurance of Immortality by Harry E. Fosdick "Argument for immortality. Well written, but not very convincing."
June 14, 2002 Nausea; The Wall & Other Stories by Sartre "Existential thought. Some good, like 'Childhood of a Leader', others boring."
June 29, 2002 Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad "Story of Jim who faces universal shame after jumping from non-sinking boat and flees to native village. Interesting psychological exploration of mankind, presenting a somewhat dismal picture."
June 30, 2002 The Harvest by Richie Cusick "Novelization of Buffy premiere. Very faithful to episode, but fun."
July 2, 2002 The Fox by D.H. Lawrence "Story of same-sex couple and man who kills one of them to murder the other. I had a very difficult time understanding her (seduced) characterization, and the story seemed hurried."
July 7, 2002 Bridge to Tarabithia "Children's story about a boy befriending the new girl and setting up the magical kingdom of Tarabithia. First story to make me tear up in a long, long time."
July 8, 2002 The Rise of Silas Lapham by William D. Howells "Novel about Silas losing his fortune in painting, a young man choosing surprising daughter for marriage."
July 11, 2002 Halloween Rain by Golden & Holder "Buffy novel about an animated scarecrow. Well-written, especially on the dialogue."
July 23, 2002 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy "Wonderful, progressive knowledge on the meaning of marriage and social convention."
[DIGRESSION: I've never felt more well-read than after I made a clever reference to this book while in the company of two literature professors. It was also probably the only time I've ever made a clever reference to a book.]
July 28, 2002 Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling "Collection of children's stories supposing how a leopard got its spots and so forth. Not terribly entertaining."
Aug. 10, 2002 Child of the Hunt by Golden & Holder "Buffy novel about the Erl King & Great Hunt. Okay."
Aug. 14, 2002 The War Between the Pitiful Teachers & the Splendid Kids (second time) by Stanley Kiesel "Young adult novel about fantastic plans kids come up with to suck all teachers into the sewers. Amusing, but not great."
Aug. 15, 2002 I'm Free: The Complete Are You Being Served? by Richard Webber "Television book."
[DIGRESSION: When I first moved to Toronto in the summer of 2002, every weeknight before going to bed I would eat a bowl of cornflakes and watch an episode of Are You Being Served?]
Aug. 21, 2002 Magic, Science and Religion by Bronislaw Malinowski "Essays by anthropologist on distinctions between magic and religion and on myth in 'primitive' societies."
Sep. 1, 2002 The Great American Novel by Philip Roth "Fictional account of the great Patriot League and its most inept team, the Ruppert Mundys. Very good blend of history and makes you wonder just how insane the 'author' really is."
[DIGRESSION: I honestly have no recollection of this book whatsoever, or what the last sentence is supposed to mean.]
Sep. 5, 2002 Why Not Me? by Al Franken "Very, very funny story of author's rise to the presidency. Recommended for sure."
Sep. 8, 2002 Complete & Utter Failure by Neil Steinberg "Great book on failure in different areas: product design, mountain climbing, spelling-bees. Engrossing narrative and philosophy."
Sep. 10, 2002 Alilolani Hale: A Sentinel in Time by Victoria Kneubuhl "History of famed Hawaiian courthouse. Interesting."
Sep. 14, 2002 Angel Chronicles Volume 2 by Richie Tankersley "Novelization of 3 episodes. Follows scripts word for word, but funny."
Sep. 17, 2002 Queen of Spaces & Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin "Short stories. Queen of Spades about man who thinks he discovers secret to winning gambling. None are terribly interesting."
Sep. 21, 2002 The Zap Gun by Philip K. Dick "Sci-fi. Story about weapons designer whose creations are immediately 'plowshared' into consumer goods. Very good, interesting social critique."
Sep. 25, 2002 Night Shift by Stephen King "Collection of short stories from 70s. Some predictable, but a few really good like 'Quitters, Inc.' and 'The Last Rung on the Ladder.'"
Sep. 27, 2002 The Gambler by Dostoyevsky "Shorter novel about Russian tutor's love and gambling. Interesting psychologically but otherwise unremarkable."
Sep. 30, 2002 On Writing by Stephen King "Autobiographical parts are hilarious & fascinating--I read the entire book at Indigo. Encouraging."
Oct. 7, 2002 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams "Funny farce about the destruction of the Earth and 42, the answer to the ultimate question of Lie, the Universe, and Everything."
Oct. 7, 2002 Watcher's Guide Volume 1 by Golden & Holder "Buffy background stuff for first two seasons. Pretty interesting."
Oct. 27, 2002 Insider's Guide to Getting an Agent by Lori Perkins "Some good advice."
Oct. 31, 2002 It by Stephen King "Great long horror novel about adults returning to place of greatest terror as kids."
Nov. 9, 2002 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman "Story of young Lyra and her daemon, Pandaimon, as they try to stop the Gobbers from severing children. Very well done, fast paced, very original."
Nov. 11, 2002 The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman "A good sequel, though Lyra's character is far too submissive and uninteresting."
Nov. 15, 2002 Coraline by Neil Gaiman "Widely-lauded children's book about girl who finds door into world like her own but not. I wasn't terribly impressed by either the language or the story."
Nov. 20, 2002 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman "Last of an amazing trilogy. One of the best endings of any book I've ever read. Bittersweet, philosophical, inspirational. Something to think about."
[DIGRESSION: Once again, my independent recollection of this book varies dramatically from what I wrote. I remember it being okay but probably over-hyped.]
Dec. 12, 2002 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy "Story of Anna's adulterous affair with Vronsky & Levin's marriage to Kitty. Very realistic scenes. Anna kills herself but it's not clear to me why. The story is not didactic or moralistic, although Levin's conversion at the end is annoying."
Dec. 16, 2002 Coyote Moon by John Vornholt "Buffy novel about a pack of carnival were-coyotes. Somewhat cheesy plot and not much humor, but not terrible either."
Dec. 30, 2002 Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky "Story of three brothers, one a rationalist, one a sensualist, and one a Jesus figure. Murder of father connected to atheism, a la Crime and Punishment."
Dec. 31, 2002 How I Survived My Summer Vacation by Various "Collection of Buffy stories set in between first and second seasons. First couple are very good, others mediocre."
[DIGRESSION: Often when I see books in my collection, I'm able to recall the time or setting in which I read them. For this one, it was in a Washington, D.C. hotel room the day I saw Penn & Teller do a special New Year's Eve show]
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