Ramesh Speaks

Here is a list of every book I read (that was not for school) in 2005, in the order I finished them.

1. Isaac Newton, by James Gleick (6/10) (NF-B/H/S)
2. The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind (7.5/10) (NF-P)
3. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones (5.5/10) (F-Co)
4. Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward (8.5/10) (NF-P/FA)
5. Who Runs This Place?, by Anthony Sampson (7.5/10) (NF-P [UK])
6. The New Chinese Empire, by Ross Terrill (8/10) (NF-FA, H)
7. The Rule of Four, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason (8/10) (F-M)
8. Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson (8/10) (NF-T/Hu)
9. Franklin and Winston, by Jon Meacham (7.5/10) (NF-H/B)
10. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (5/10) (F-Cl)
11. Surprise, Security, and the American Experience, by John Lewis Gaddis (9/10) (NF-FA/H/P)
12. Free World, by Timothy Garton Ash (8/10) (NF-FA/P)
13. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman (8.5/10) (NF-HI)
14. Before the Storm, by Rick Perlstein (9/10) (NF-H/P)
15. How to be Good, by Nick Hornby (8.5/10) (F-Co)
16. The Adventure of English, by Melvyn Bragg (8/10) (NF-L/H)
17. Flu, by Gina Kolata (7/10) (NF-S/H)
18. Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth (8.5/10) (F-Cl)
19. Why Globalization Works, by Martin Wolf (8.5/10) (NF-P, FA, E)
20. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell (8/10) (NF-HI, E)
21. Six Armies in Normandy, by John Keegan (6.5/10) (NF-H)
22. Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers (6.5/10) (F-M)
23. The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki (7.5/10) (NF-HI, E)
24. The Paradox of American Power, by Joseph Nye, Jr. (8/10) (NF-FA/P)
25. How the West Grew Rich, by Nathan Rosenberg and L.E. Birdzell, Jr. (8/10) (NF-H/E)
26. Saturday, by Ian McEwan (8.5/10) (F-Co)
27. The Language Instinct, by Stephen Pinker (7.5/10) (NF-S/L)
28. Freakonomics, by Stephen Lewitt and Stephen Dubner (7.5/10) (NF-HI, E)
29. Will in the World, by Stephen Greenblatt (6.5/10) (NF-B, LC)
30. In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson (8/10) (NF-T, Hu)
31. The 9/11 Commission Report (8.5/10) (NF-P, FA)
32. Isaiah Berlin, by Michael Ignatieff (8/10) (NF-B, Ph)
33. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling (8/10) (F-Co)
34. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling (8/10) (F-Co)
35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (8.5/10) (F-Co)
36. Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell (8/10) (NF-H, HI)
37. Mutants, by Armand Marie Leroi (7/10) (NF-S, HI)
38. Neither Here nor There, by Bill Bryson (7.5/10) (NF-T, Hu)
39. A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson (8/10) (NF-T, Hu)
40. Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan (7.5/10) (F-Co)
41. Snow, by Oran Pamuk (8/10) (F-Co, T)
42. Return to Greatness, by Alan Wolfe (6.5/10) (NF-P, H)
43. The Child in Time, by Ian McEwan (7.5/10) (F-Co)
44. The Accidental Theorist, by Paul Krugman (7.5/10) (NF-E, P)
45. Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan (8/10) (F-Co)
46. The Meaning of Everything, by Simon Winchester (6/10) (NF-H, L)
47. Stasiland, by Anna Funder (7.5/10) (NF-FA, H, HI)
48. A Problem from Hell, by Samantha Power (9/10) (NF-P, FA, H)
49. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (7/10) (F-Co)
50. Fewer, by Ben Wattenberg (6/10) (NF-P, FA, D)
51. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (8/10) (NF-Co)
52. Warrior Politics, by Robert Kaplan (6.5/10) (NF-P, FA, H, Ph)
53. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles (7.5/10) (F-Cl)
54. Bismarck, by A.J.P. Taylor (6.5/10) (NF-B, H, FA)
55. Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll (9/10) (NF-FA, P, H)

Key- NF-Non-fiction: S-Science, P-Politics, FA-Foreign Affairs, T-Travel, Hu-Humor, H-History, B-Biography, HI-Human Interest, L-Language and Linguistics, E-Economics, LC-Literary Criticism, D-Demographics, Ph-Philosophy

F-Fiction: Co-Contemporary, Cl-Classic, M-Mystery, T-Translated

So, I'm a little late, but here are my books of the year, 2005 edition. I read 55 books in 2005, not counting those I read for my thesis or other schoolwork. Thirty-seven were non-fiction and 18 were fiction, which, I would guess, is one of the more skewed ratios toward non-fiction for me in several years.

The four best books I read this year were all non-fiction. In the order I read them, they are:

Surprise, Security, and the American Experience, by John Lewis Gaddis: American responses to outside shocks, and how the response to 9/11 fits within American history.

Before the Storm, by Rick Perlstein: How Barry Goldwater and other conservatives once out of the mainstream began the journey that brought them to the White House in 1980 (and 2000).

A Problem from Hell, by Samantha Power: Why the American political system is incapable of stopping genocide.

and Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll: Fascinating look at Afghanistan, the rise of bin Laden, and America's (lack of) responses before 9/11.

Other Notable Non-fiction

1. Why Globalization Works, by Martin Wolf: Methodically demolishes the arguments of those who would deny the benefits of free trade to the people who need it most, the world's poor.

2. The 9/11 Commission Report

3. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman: The book one should read when getting a bit triumphalist about Western medicine and that sort of thing.

4. Everything by Bill Bryson I hadn't already read: Almost all of it is very good. My favorites books have been about the English language, travels around Britain, and life in America, but that's mostly because of my personal interests.

5. Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward

6. How the West Grew Rich, by Nathan Rosenberg and L.E. Birdzell, Jr

7. Free World, by Timothy Garton Ash

8. The New Chinese Empire, by Ross Terril: A bit alarmist, but good on the connections between the Chinese dynasties and today's autocratic state.

9. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, and The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki: These quasi-business books by New Yorker authors are entertaining and enlightening, though sometimes too reductionist.

10. The Accidental Theorist, by Paul Krugman: He was a better and more interesting writer and thinker before he fell victim to Bushophobia.

11. Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell

12. Isaiah Berlin, by Michael Ignatieff

13. The Paradox of American Power, by Joseph Nye, Jr.

14. The Language Instinct, by Stephen Pinker

15. Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dunbar

Notable Fiction

1. Portnoy's Compliant, by Philip Roth: A brilliant, vulgar meditation on sex and assimilation.

2. Saturday, by Ian McEwan: More evidence, as if anyone needed it, that McEwan is one of the best living writers. I also read McEwan's Enduring Love, The Child in Time, and Amsterdam this year, which I would recommend in that order.

3. The Harry Potter Series, by J.K. Rowling: I got addicted this year, reading books 2-5. I think #4, the Goblet of Fire, is the best so far.

4. Snow, by Orhan Pamuk

5. How to be Good, by Nick Hornby

6. The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles

For all the right-wing claims that the left is anti-Semitic (which is admittedly partly true among the European far left), it's the GOP that consistently dabbles in those sorts of stereotypes for political gain.

Were Jews responsible for the postwar flourishing of liberalism, meritocracy, psychoanalysis and musical theater? I'm not sure, but Alan Wolfe never ceases to be provocative.

Good for Condi, talking some sense in Egypt. But words in public aren't enough--you've got to fund the programs and be as tough in private.

Ben "tagged" me with a blog-version of chain letters. I put it off until my thesis was due (yesterday). At least it's on a good topic.

How many books do I own?
Too many. I had 300ish before I went to Princeton. Now, I might have two or three times that. I especially have too many here in Oxford--I won't be able to bring them all back on the plane, so I'll have to ship several boxes home.

Last book I bought:
I imposed a book-buying embargo a while back because of the issues I'm going to have bringing them all home. I've largely stuck that, which is good, because the 3-for-2 deals at local bookstores had been killing me. Anyway, I think it was Nick Hornby's novel, How to Be Good.

Last book I read:
Well, not counting academic books, either that Hornby book, Gina Kolata's Flu (on the 1918 flu epidemic), or Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, which I haven't finished yet because of the thesis.

Five books that mean a lot to me:
Very hard to say. If I had to pick, I'd probably say...

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee--Perhaps my favorite book. Haven't read it in years. May be time to go back to it.

Hardy Boys (various), "by" Franklin W. Dixon--Read all of these I could get my hands on in elementary school.

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Paul Kennedy--Read this some time in late middle school, I think, and it, as much as any other book, explains my interests today.

This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I read this at the right time (summer before going to Princeton) and age (18).

Some candidates for the fifth book: Modris Ekstein's Rites of Spring, Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Jared Diamond's Third Chimpanzee, David Remnick's Resurrection, Dostoevsky's Brothers K, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (which I loved for a few days in 10th grade, and have hated ever since.)

from Winston Churchill: "There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them."

It's nice to see the press recovering from the initial shock of the Newsweek story and defending its freedom in the face of White House threats.

Also, Anne Applebaum rightly points out that if it weren't for the documented abuses of the military in the War on Terror, including "interrogation techniques designed to be offensive to Muslims," this incident wouldn't have made such an impact.

I was incredulous myself when I first came to Britain and heard so much about alleged abuses in Guantanamo Bay--unfortunately, I can no longer be so trusting of our government.