Top Books of 2011

It's been a rough year again as far as reading goes. I've been too tired to read much of the time.

It took me close to two months to read "Buckaroo Banzai"--and only part of that is because the book drags somewhat.

I made it through 22 books this year; last year it was 36. Compare that to somewhere just under 100 in 2009.

Twenty-two books is a lot of down-time--a lot of sleeping, actually. Once I'm done here, I'm headed for bed again.

I don't really have enough for a Top 10, though, so here's the Top 5 for 2011:

5. Jaws. Actually, I'm still in the middle of this book, but it could be several more weeks before I'm done, at this rate.

4. Zahn's Thrawn Star Wars trilogy. They're still as good as the first time I read them in the early '90s. I wish the other SW books were as good. Too many of them suck.

3. Getting Great Guitar Sounds, because of a simple phrase near the end: "If you make a mistake, make it like you mean it." I took this to apply to all playing--Play it like you mean it. It helped me to stop worrying so much about sounding like the recording I'm playing along with and just have fun.

2. Maximum Bob. The title alone makes it worth reading.

1. Dresden #13: Ghost Story. Dammit, Jim, now I have to wait till mid-2012 for the next one!