Summing Up: The Ten Best Books I Read in 2004

I wanted to reflect on the ten best books I read this year, and I was disappointed in not having ten books that I could rave about. Then I realized that to have read ten GOOD books would mean that I read at least one book a month, and all but 2 were really good reads. Sadly, many of my reading choices this year were less than memorable, and it seems I can come up with eight good books, and two honorable mentions.

So herewith, I present the best books I read in 2004:

1. River of Shadows: Edweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit. {see review September 26}
2. Shadow Divers: The True Adventures of Two Americans Who Risked Everything To Solve One of the Last Mysteries of WWII by Robert Kurson. This is superficially a book about deep sea diving and World War II submarines, two topics that hold little interest for me. However, my friend of good and discriminating taste, Jaimie, raved about this book, and told me that she was very angry that it ended, because she was enjoying reading it so much. I reluctantly took her copy home, and started reading. Before finishing the first paragraph, I was hooked. It is an absorbing, amazing tale that delights and informs and also is filled with suspense, danger and mystery. And I was very angry that the book ended. I am forever indebted to you, Jaimie.
3. Continental Drift by Russell Banks. A masterfully written novel.
4. Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo by Gregory Curtis. This is another book that I initially thought would be a complete bore. Incredibly, the history of the Venus sculpture is quite rich and intriguing. A little book, but filled to the brim with interesting facts.
5. The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. My Friend Jason and the aforementioned Jaimie and I formed a book group at work. It did not last long once we had all been promoted and had even less time to get together. This was my choice for the group to read, and it really is a magnificent book. If you could memorize one line from every page, you would indeed be the wittiest, most erudite person in the room. Oscar Wilde - what a genius. (I was so moved after reading this that I rented the movie version with Angela Lansbury. They really butcher the novel – don't bother, except to remark upon how sweet and beautiful the young Angela was.
6. Voyage of the Narwhal by Angela Barrett. Following my passion in reading tales of early exploration and discovery( last year I was all fixated on Captain Cook), I found this novel about an arctic expedition and was engrossed. If only it was true...
7. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes. I actually re-read this book this year, to see if it was really as good as I had remembered it to be. Happily, I enjoyed reading this just as much as I had many years ago.
8. The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. This was a very good novel with a very good premise.
9. American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This novel had so much press, and many friends recommended it, so I gave it a try. It is in the vein of Stephen King's The Stand, which is one of my favorite epics, but it is odder and weirder (if you can imagine that). It was still pretty fun to read though.
10. Kings of Infinite Space by James Hynes. This book was so very weird. Not weird enough to make me annoyed but strange nonetheless. Many pages of good storytelling, character development and setting description and some sense of a developing plot would pass and then...all of a sudden some strange Rod Serling moment would happen. Disconcerting, odd, weird...yet strangely readable.