Okay. So, we can all agree 2016 was a cascade of free-flowing nonsense. And 2017 was… better?
No, I can’t imagine any reasonable person could define 2017 as objectively better than anything other than, perhaps, invasive surgery covering an intimate part of the anatomy. Even certain people who ascended to certain jobs don’t seem to be much happier than they were a year ago.
But enough about that. I may take a slightly different position about the year quickly fading in our rearview mirror.
It would seem that if only it weren’t for events completely beyond my control, the year 2017 might have been quite a bit better than its recent predecessors. No, I haven’t been reading the news in the last couple of days. Why do you ask?
I got a lot done. Between The Fourth Wall and other projects, my true career appears to continue its agreeable progress. I feel pretty good about the year, all things considered.
So here I offer my 2017 reading list along with some commentary, when appropriate (or I feel like it).
Audio books are indicated by “(A).” There are a lot of them. I count unabridged audiobooks because for me it takes the same amount of time. Your mileage may vary. Also, abridged audiobooks are hot garbage.
1 Amazing Fantastic Incredible by Stan Lee (A)
2 The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (A)*
3 Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (A)
4 Space and Beyond by R.A. Montgomery**
5 Journey Under The Sea by R.A. Montgomery**
6 The Lost Jewels of Nabooti by R.A. Montgomery**
7 The Abominable Snowman by R.A. Montgomery**
8 Distress Call by William Rostler**
9 The Daily Show: An Oral History
10 Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (A)***
11 Book of Blasphemous Words, edited by CJ Miles IV
12 Adickted - Book 1 by Gio Lassater****
13 Adickted - Book 2 by Gio Lassater****
14 On Directing by John Badham (A)
15 Kiss Me Like A Stranger by Gene Wilder (A)
16 Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
17 Adickted - Book 3 by Gio Lassater****
18 Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (A)
19 If at Birth You Don't Succeed by Zach Anner (A)
20 The Android's Dream by John Scalzi (A)
21 John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger (A)
22 Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (A)
23 The Girl In the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz (A)
24 The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
25 Hannibal by Thomas Harris (A)
26 The Five Doctors by by Terrance Dicks
27 Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
28 The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (A)*****
29 Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin (A)******
30 Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt (A)
31 The Two Doctors by Robert Holmes
32 The Godfather by Mario Puzo (A)
33 You Might Remember Me by Mike Thomas (A)
34 Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno (A) *******
35 Food: A Love Story Jim Gaffigan
36 Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (A)
37 Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
38 Ayoade on Ayoade by Richard Ayoade ********
39 The Serial Killer Files by Harold Schechter (A)
40 Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation by Wess Roberts *********
41 The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell (A) **********
42 So anyway… by John Cleese (A)
43 It by Stephen King (A) ***********
44 Star Trek DSC: Desperate Hours by David Mack (A)
45 Have Time, Will Travel by Mac Boyle ************
46 The Misbehaving Dead, edited by Jack Burgos
47 The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer (A)
48 Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks (A)
49 This Gray Spirit by Heather Jarman
50 Pale Shadows by Shannon Iwanski
51 The Force Doth Awaken by Ian Doescher
52 43* by Jeff Greenfield
53 A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston (A)
54 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (A) *************
55 Vacationland by John Hodgman (A)
56 Star Trek NF: House of Cards by Peter David
57 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (A) **************
58 The West Wing Script Book - Volume One by Aaron Sorkin
59 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
60 The West Wing Script Book - Volume Two by Aaron Sorkin.
*Weren’t we all aching to hear from the princess after last year?
**Short, choose-your-own-adventure books, all. But I was on to something, I assure you.
***Weren’t we?
****My instinct is to explain these, but I don’t really have one that isn’t odd.
*****Dense. Way less about Star Wars than you might originally think.
******How else do you think I got to these high numbers without celebrity memoirs on Audible?
*******Dense. Also less about Star Wars than you might think.
********My favorite book from the year? Pretty perfect fusion of voice and subject matter to fit the wrinkles of my brain.
*********A lot of people could use this book right about now.
**********With Sestero doing a pretty good impression of Wiseau, audio may be the only appropriate way to take in this book.
***********Imagine the books that I could have read if I hadn’t gone through this one again. I kid, I kid. The book holds up, aside from the really weird stuff you already knew about.
************Available now! (and you’re damn right I read the thing)
*************Nick Offerman reads it on Audible. What was I supposed to do? Not listen to it?
**************A quick book, and very popular right now. My assessment, it was like a four hour conversation with someone at a party who has been everywhere, done everything, and is absolutely the worst. How’s that for not giving a fuck? Bring it on, 2018.