It's been a long time, sorry I left you

I won't begin the new year by apologizing or begging forgiveness but I will try to post more often as we move forward.

You'll also notice a new template for the blog that I think I like well enough to keep. We shall see.

Not long ago, I came across the list that eventually begat this blog. In 1999, I was working at a bookstore and decided to see how many books I read in a calendar year. That list, (see below) lead to making a few notes on titles, then to 'reviews', if you want to call them that, and then, annually, e-mailing the list to some friends.

Some 1999 literary highlights:

• Remnick's Muhammad Ali bio
• the criminally forgotten Eureka Street
• Thom Jones best collection
• my introduction to Brendan O'Carroll
• Melissa Bank
• McDonald's All Souls
• the last time we heard from Lewis Nordan (come home, Buddy. I miss you.)
• Blackhawk Down
• Paco Underhill
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• AND Tony Hawk's 'Round Ireland With A Fridge.

There were a lot of forgettable books, too. Some authors just faded away, authors I wonder what happened to, and a few titles I couldn't tell you a thing about now.

Trends & observations:
Irish fiction was booming; two Elvis Costello bios is silly; books by comedians don't hold up very well; despite Y2K anxieties, I read a ton.

Coolest coincidence? I started the third book of the Henry Smart trilogy by Roddy Doyle just the other night but it began with A Star Called Henry over ten years ago.


The Mother -In-Law Diaries by Carol Dawson
Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell
King by John Berger
King of the World by David Remnick
Yes I Can by Sammy Davis, Jr.
Why Not Me? by Al Franken
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden
UFO’s, JFK, & Elvis by Richard Belzer
Feel This Book by Ben Stiller & Janeane Garofalo
The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine by Thom Jones
It’s The Stupidity, Stupid by Harry Shearer
My Life as a List by Linda Rosenkrantz
The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll
For Kings and Planets by Ethan Canin
Sinatraland by Sam Kashner
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley
Syrup by Maxx Barry
44: Dublin Made Me by Peter Sheridan
Elvis Costello by Tony Clayton-Lea
Tales From the Ballpark by Mike Shannon
Tough Jews by Rich Cohen
Cinderella Story by Bill Murray
Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
A Nixon Man by Michael Cahill
Pigskin Rabbi by Willard Manus
Popcorn by Ben Elton
All Souls: A Story of Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald
Congress of Wonders by Ed McLanahan
Loose Balls, No Strikes by Joe Morgan
Girls Guide to Hunting & Fishing by Melissa Bank
Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland
A Cure For Gravity by Joe Jackson
The Descent by Jeff Long
Hadrian’s Walls by Robert Draper
The Talk of the Town by Ardal O’Hanlon
Out of This World by Graham Swift
Bunker Man by Duncan McLean
The Thumbsucker by Walter Kirn
Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
Boy With Loaded Gun by Lewis Nordan
Molly by Nancy J. Jones
The Chisellers by Brendan O’Carroll
Let Them All Talk: The Music of Elvis Costello by Brian Hinton
Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Back Roads by Tawni O’Dell
Show Me the Magic by Paul Mazursky
G-d Is My Broker by Christopher Buckley
Life Is So Good by George Dawson
Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka