Books I read in 2005

And now, partly inspired by the fact that Martin Scorsese keeps lists entitled ‘Films I have seen this year’, I present the list of books I read in 2005:

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
  (this book has been a huge influence on me, and I’ve read it three times now.)
  
• Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene
  
• The Third Man – Graham Greene
  
• The Basement Room (filmed as The Fallen Idol) – Graham Greene
  
• Hell’s Angels – Hunter S Thompson
  (If I was forced to pick, HST is probably my favourite writer.)
  
• All the President’s Men – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
  
• The Gambler – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  (I read this in a hostel in Toronto.)
  

• The Last Season – Phil Jackson
  (…and this on the plane on the way home. This is about the LA Lakers 2003-4 season, detailing the many feuds between the team's two talented stars, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. It’s written by their coach.)
  
• Introducing Environmental Politics – Stephen Croall & William Rankin
  
• Saints & Spinners – David McWilliams
  (This is a kind of forerunner to The Pope’s Children – it’s different to the more well-known version – this one was written for marketers rather than for a general readership. It wasn’t what I expected but it’s very interesting. There’s a lot of pretty cynical stuff in there. It discusses Ireland’s future demographics, predicts how consumer tastes will change, and offers ways for marketers to get a piece of the action. I really like McWilliams’ analysis of Irish society and his honesty, but I don’t share his benign view of the market. I would have a more critical view of consumerism and put more emphasis on its inadequacies and its damaging effects. This book really shows the extent to which men in suits will put a huge amount of work into pigeonholing the general citizen as a very specific target market.)
  

David McWilliams

• Chronicles, volume 1 – Bob Dylan
  
• An Giall – Brendan Behan
  (Delighted with myself to have read this in the original Irish from cover to cover. Behan was not a native Irish speaker, but while in jail, he learned Irish from his cellmate. This prisoner was from Ballyferriter in the Dingle peninsula. It was in Ballyferriter that I did a week-long civil service Irish course to resurrect the Irish language within me (in 2003, I think it was).)
  
• The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  

Me at the entrance to Dostoevsky's gaff in St. Petersburg

• Collected Short Stories – Anton Chekhov
  (I love the Russians)
  
• Buddha: His Life and Thought – Karen Armstrong
  (This writer has serious credibility when it comes to religion. She spent seven years as a Catholic nun, has received a Muslim Media Award, and has taught in some school for the study of Judaism. I’ve seen her speak, and she has a great take on religion and how it interacts with politics and society.)
  
• Wilt – Tom Sharpe
  
• Cape Clear Island: Its People and Landscape – Eamon Lankford
  (This is about an Irish language-speaking island in Cork that I have often visited, and is one of my favourite places in the world. I think it’s the most southerly inhabited point in Ireland – the most southerly point of all is the nearby Fastnet lighthouse, which casts its light over the island at regular intervals.)
  
• The Hard Life – Flann O’Brien
  
• The Sandman Companion – Hy Bender
  
• The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran
  

Lebanese writer Kahlil Gibran

• Smoke and Mirrors – Neil Gaiman
  
• Vision and Transformation – Sangharakshita
  (A book about the Buddhist eightfold path.)
  
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S Thompson
  (200 pages of drug fuelled insanity – very un-Buddhist.)
  
• The Comedians – Graham Greene
  
• Twelve Bar Blues – Patrick Neate
  
• Justice Seeker: An Anthology in Tribute to Malcolm X – James B Gwynne (ed.)
  
• Pork Pie Hat – Peter Straub
  (an audio book.)
  
• Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell
  (one of my favourite books.)
  
• Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
  
• The Crucible – Arthur Miller

The great Arthur Miller

So that comes to an average of around two books a month. Obviously, now that I'm a student, reading has become pretty essential. But I’ve always been a big reader. I used to eat books when I was a child, and I never really take any length of a train or bus journey without a book to read. I fell out of the habit a couple of years ago, but got back into it with the help of a book group and have never looked back.

Much better than TV...