First of the Year!

It's officially 2011! Another decade gone. Time moves way too fast!

I just finished reading How to Disappear Completely by David Bowick. I don't remember how I even heard of it, let alone why I have it on my Nook. It is about 150 pages long and apparently is out of print. This is Mr. Bowick's only published work as far as I know.

How to Disappear Completely is a strange little novel. I enjoyed it and am happy to have read something by this lesser known author. The story is basically a 20 something hipster guy going through a break up with his long-term girlfriend. It was refreshing as far as simplicity goes and parts of it were pretty funny. That being said, I didn't like a couple bits. One of them being how every other page the characters are drinking. That is pretty much all they do. Just casually drinking. They are also always going on Myspace and stuff. Maybe this book is a more honest look at modern life than most, but it makes for a semi-drab read. I read for entertainment. Not to hear about people checking Myspace. This novel can easily be finished in a day or two. It's pretty fluffy and easy to read, so if you are looking for something like that... here you go :)

Rating: 6/10

One of my goals this year, as I said in my previous entry, is to expand what I read. By that, I mean which authors and genres I choose from. Maybe a couple more nonfiction books and a few more novels written by 'classic' authors. Here is a little list of books I want to read this year that are out of the norm for me:

• Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King- For some reason I have always steered clear or short story collections.
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch- Just usually not my thing. Tiny inspirational books.
• The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant- Nonfiction.
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling- A classic and also on my top 100 list.
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens- I think I should read something by Dickens. This is a random selection. If you think I should read something else by him first, let me know.

Up next I am reading About a Boy by Nick Hornby. I have a bunch of novels picked out that I wanted to for sure read this year, and something by Hornby was one of them. So here goes. I have never read any of his stuff and hopefully it's good. I know movies based on his work get mixed reactions.