OK, here’s a partial list of the books I read (or tried to read) this year:
 
The Daily Show Presents: America (the Book)
Funny, funny book. Great to have around to just leaf through. You know, when you need a laugh. Like after watching the news.
 
Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars & Gods of Mars
Finished both. *Again*. Don't know why I keep coming back to these stories. Honor, friendship, courage, love. Yeah, can't see why I would want to read about that, again. 

Lou DuBose, Jan Reid, & Carl M Cannon: Boy Genius
Been trying to finish this for a month, now. Really can’t stand reading about this bastard, having his voice in my head. Maybe I should move it back into the bathroom and just get’r done. 

Anthony Bourdain: Kitchen Confidential
I love this guy. Typical Yankee. He’s rude, he’s opinionated, he’s passionate about his opinions and he’s loud (I’ve seen his shows on FoodTV). After working in a restaurant for over five years, this book comes alive for me. I know these people. Bourdain a man that loves to cook. NO. Wrong. He lives to cook (cooking, here, means crafting something with your hands). If you have never worked in a restaurant and want to know what its like (or maybe, the way it *was* like), read this book. This is about a life spent working in the kitchen. And it’s a life well spent.
 
Gerald Posner: Case Closed
Finished. So, now I guess I’ve finally read all the “important” (LOL) books regarding the JFK assassination (well, not the Warren Commission Report. Not the *whole thing*). This is the first one I’ve read that lays the blame squarely on LHO (LOL). Pretty conclusive. I mean, one would need to do a little fact checking to completely write off Lee. WHAT? I know. Over the years I’ve gotten very attached to the idea that he was working for the FBI and was actually trying to save the President. Must be the romantic in me. Anyway, I don’t like Mr. Posner. Why? As an example, he seems to focus on alleged homosexuality while not demonstrating why he’s focusing on it. He also takes the word of people from the intelligence community a little too easily. NOW, WAIT! I'm not knocking them. He does. Throughout the entire book. He constantly shows how they lied and covered up their TREMENDOUS mistakes (lack of cross-functional communication?). But, oh, when he needs their opinions to back up his theory...<breathe>. At the end of the day, its the ballistics that count. That, and LHO was not a patsy. He was an asshole. A wife beating SOB. He deserved getting shot in the gut for what he did to his wife.
 
Gore Vidal: Dreaming War
Finished.  I wish I had his clarity, his command of the language and breadth of understanding history.

Mark Waid & Alex Ross: Kingdom Come
Finished. Again. How can you refuse Wonder Woman when she is dressed like that? How can you not love Superman with a mullet? You can’t.

Patrick O'Brian: Master and Commander
Finished. Good GOD! You know, if I wanted to learn how to actually sail a 19th century ship, I would go down to Galveston and volunteer on the Elissa. Still, I couldn’t put this down.

Isaac Asimov: Robot Dreams & Robot Visions
Finished. I had to stop reading Isaac for a while. Had to walk away. Don’t know if it was me, if I was in some weird place when I was reading these books, but it seemed to me that every single story had one message. Well, besides the whole “hey, stupid, they call that thing a brain so you might use it instead of your fists and your dick” obvious message. The other message is “we are all going to die. No heaven, no hell. Turn out the lights. Buh, bye!” Great. I’m outta work for a year and this is the crap I’m reading. Pass the Tequila, please.  

Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep
Finally finished the book, the other night. Really enjoy the crispness of his writing. I also love reading about how people were back then. Porn, gays, violence, multiple marriages, guns, blackmail, crooked cops, and racism. Yeah, the good old days. They were so very different. But that's another rant.  

Dashiell Hammet: The Maltese Falcon
Finished. See above. 

Paul Thompson: The Terror Timeline
I tried reading this book, but it is too much like a dictionary or a school book. That is not to say that it isn’t compelling or well written. It is. Maybe I would rather not know. Maybe I stopped reading it because I’ve got enough reasons why I think GWBush is a lousy President. I don’t have the energy to loathe him any more than I do already.  

John W Dean: Worse Than Watergate
See above.

There are others (mainly of the Elmore Leonard variety), but I am bored with this task. Some of these will stay on my nightstand. At least until I’ve read them. Bastards. I hate Karl Rove. Its all his fault!