Continuing
my annual tradition that is of no interest to anyone but myself, here is the chronological list of every book I finished in 2009. Finished means I finished reading the entire thing front to back, but not necessarily that I started reading it in 2009 (likewise books I started this year yet didn't finish are absent).
My goal was at least 50 books. I completed the 50th late in the afternoon on December 31st.
1. The Tormented Mirror – Russell Edson
2. The True History of the Kelly Gang – Peter Carey
3. The Men Who Stare at Goats – Jon Ronson
4. Flying to America – Donald Barthelme
5. How to Sell – Clancy Martin
6. Retreat Retreat Chapbook – Wells Tower
7. The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven – Rick Moody
8. Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee – James Tate
9. Farewell Navigator – Leni Zumas
10. Like You’d Understand Anyway – Jim Shepard
11. Funny Misshapen Body – Jeffery Brown
12. NOON 2009
13. Days Between Stations – Steve Erickson
14. Autobiography of Red – Anne Carson
15. Hey Jack! – Barry Hannah
16. Personal Days – Ed Park
17. Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World – Donald Antrim
18. Varieties of Disturbance – Lydia Davis
19. Trout Fishing in America – Richard Brautigan
20. Last Days – Brian Evenson
21. The Pill Versus the Springhill... – Richard Brautigan
22. Roads – Larry McMurtry
23. The King – Donald Barthelme
24. High Lonesome – Barry Hannah
25. Platform – Michel Houellebecq
26. The Stories of Breece D’J Pancake – Breece D’J Pancake
27. I Love and Understand You and Would Be... - James Yeh
28. The Spectacle of the Body – Noy Holland
29. The Collected Works of Tony Millionare's Sock Monkey*
30. The Writer's Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House
31. Fugue State – Brian Evenson
32. Prison Pit Vol. 1 – Johnny Ryan
33. Skin Deep – Charles Burns
34. The Squirrel Machine – Hans Rickheit
35. Tours of the Black Clock – Steve Erickson
36. Child of God – Cormac McCarthy
37. Light Boxes – Shane Jones
38. Che: A Graphic Biography – Sid Jacobson
39. The Ask – Sam Lipsyte
40. The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
41. In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
42. Born Standing Up – Steve Martin
43. Twilight of the Superheroes – Deborah Eisenberg
44. The Book of Evidence – John Banville
45. The Anthologist – Nicholson Baker
46. New York Tyrant V. III Issue I
47. All-Star Superman Volume 1 – Morrison and Quitely
48. All-Star Superman Volume 2 – Morrison and Quitely
49. Log of the S.S. The Mrs. Unguentine – Stanley Crawford
50. Numbers in the Dark – Italo Calvino
* indicates books I'd read before previously...although this year that was only one book.
20.5 novels/novellas
15 story collections/lit mags
8 comics/graphic novels
5 books of non-fiction (one of which was also a graphic novel)
2.5 poetry collections
This year I was working full time and also finishing up my fiction thesis for Columbia University, which I think cut down on my reading time substantially (14 fewer than 2008). I'm a little ashamed of the gender imbalance in the above list, something to fix in 2k10. The amount of poetry I read fell dramatically and I'm not sure what explains that. Non-fiction is always low since I read a lot of magazines for that (primarily The Believer, New Yorker, Harper's and The Oxford American).
I read two books each by Steve Erickson, Barry Hannah, Grant Morrison and Donald Barthelme. Three books each by Brian Evenson (all 2009 releases no less) and Richard Brautigan.
Top 10 favorites (no order):
Days Between Stations – Steve Erickson
Autobiography of Red – Anne Carson
The True History of the Kelly Gang – Peter Carey
The Ask – Sam Lipsyte
Child of God – Cormac McCarthy
Last Days – Brian Evenson
Like You’d Understand Anyway – Jim Shepard
NOON 2009
Personal Days – Ed Park
In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
6 honorable mentions:
The Anthologist – Nicholson Baker
How to Sell – Clancy Martin
All-Star Superman Volume 1 – Morrison and Quitely
Hey Jack! – Barry Hannah
Trout Fishing in America – Richard Brautigan
Fugue State – Brian Evenson
NOON's annual reading and party at The Center for Fiction (formerly The Mercantile Library) is happening on April 22nd this year. As I noted two posts ago, I have a piece in the new NOON and I'll be reading it at the NOON party alongside some great writers. So, you should come! Info below: 
My essay on Reality Hunger by David Shields has been getting a lot of responses on The Rumpus if you want to check out the comments. It also got a nice mention in the New Yorker Book Bench in their review round-up alongside the reviews by Laura Miller, James Wood, and others: "Lincoln Michel provides a thoughtful and evenhanded response, aptly named 'Reality Boredom: Why David Shields is Completely Right and Totally Wrong,' in The Rumpus." Cool. I was also glad to see that James Wood, in his New Yorker review, had a similar take as me on the contradictory nature of Reality Hunger's argument.
The Rumpus, I have a fairly long response essay to David Shields's intriguing (but frustrating) new book Reality Hunger. It is titled Reality Boredom: Why David Shields is Completely Right and Totally Wrong
Believe it or not, the second issue of Gigantic magazine is completed. It is a long time coming, but the result was worth it. The magazine looks completely fantastic (thanks to Erin West!) and contains work or interviews with the likes of Sam Lipsyte, Robert Coover, Clancy Martin, Lydia Millet, Stephen O'Connor, Deb Olin Unferth, Adrian Tomine and many other awesome artists and writers. 
