1. Reading about yawning makes you yawn.

2. Books used to be shelved “backwards” with the spine facing the back of the shelf and the fore-edge facing out.

3. Research now indicates that the 4- to 6-year-old age range is the sweet spot for teaching reading. Beyond the age of 6 or 7, teaching a child to read is a game of catch up.

4. On average across the world people spend 6.5 hours a week reading.

5. According to a study from Yale University, three-quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school.

6. Dr. Seuss coined the word “nerd” in his 1950 book “If I Ran the Zoo.”

7. It takes an average of 475 hours to write a novel.

8. Books that were penned or conceived behind bars include Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes), Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan), De Profundis (Oscar Wilde), and the Prince (Machiavelli).

9. Books used to be chained to the bookshelves in libraries.

10. The ratio of customers to bookstores is highest in Nevada, Texas, and Mississippi.

11. On the average, a bookstore browser will spend eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds scanning the back cover.

12. Half of all books sold today are to people over the age of 45.

13. Adults who read literature on a regular basis are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to do volunteer or charity work, and over one-and-a-half times as likely to participate in sporting activities.

14. The largest advance ever paid for a self published book? A whopping $4.125 million. Simon & Schuster paid that for Richard Paul Evans’ The Christmas Box.

15. Women buy 68% of all books sold.

16. The page most readers lose interest at? Page 18!

17. A glimpse into the NASA library reveals astronauts’ preferred reading includes A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne, and London Bridges by James Patterson.

18. The longest reading aloud marathon by a team lasted 224 hours and was completed by Milton Nan, Silvina Carbone, Carlos Antón, Edit Díaz, Yolanda Baptista and Natalie Dantaz (all Uruguay) at Mac Center Shopping,Paysandú, Uruguay between September 13-22, 2007.

19. The Penguin paperback was created to make books as affordable as cigarettes, and the first Penguin paperbacks were distributed from a church crypt.

20. Nancy Pearl, in addition to being the most famous librarian in the world, is also now the only librarian to have an action figure created in her likeness.

21. Studies have shown that American children who learn to read by the third grade are less likely to end up in prison, drop out of school, or take drugs.

22. The 1930’s reading primer series Fun with Dick and Jane by Dr. William S. Gray is rumored to be plagiarized from Sir Fred Schonell’s similar Dick and Dora readers, found in his Happy Venture Playbooks.

23. It is estimated that limited literacy skills cost business and taxpayers $20 billion in lost wages, profits, and productivity annually.

24. A bibliokleptomaniac is someone who steals books. One of the most famous bibliokleptomaniacs is Stephen Blumberg, who stole more than 23,000 rare books from 268 libraries. He had various methods for acquiring his estimated 20 million dollar collection, including climbing through ventilation ducts and elevator shafts.

25. The term “bookworm” derives from tiny insects who feed on the binding of books.

1.Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Okay, this one’s a bit of a ‘gimme’. The whole book’s about food, after all. But still. Yum.

2. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Breaded pork cutlets on rice with egg and broth, milky tea, soupy rice, delicate radish roses, and of course noodles…so many noodles. This lovely story always makes me hungry. It also makes me happy, and is on my top ten novels of all time list.

3.Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Parts of this book are pretty gross. The descriptions of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, the three loathsome farmers, comes to mind. As well, the scene in which a bleeding tail stumped is licked clean is not particularly appetizing. That said, there’s plenty to make one’s belly growl in this childhood classic from the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I thought that one would be too obvious), from storehouses of cured ham and bacon and larder shelvesstocked full of everything you can imagine, to, of course, the fizzy hard cider.

4. The Godfather Mario Puzo

Another fairly obvious choice, it nevertheless had to make the list. Fresh mozzarella, tomato marinara, prosciutto, veal scallopini….the Corleones and friends eat well. I wouldn’t, for the record, leave the cannoli. Ever.

5. The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton

I didn’t read too much Enid Blyton as a child (and holy cow she’s written a lot of books), but these ones I remember. It was about a bunch of girls at a boarding school, who got into adventures like leaving school to go to the circus, sneaking a dog into school, and more. and I remember they were always putting together tremendous midnight feasts…cheese and crackers, chocolate, tins of sweets, and all sorts of exotic-sounding British things like cream crackers and fried kippers and spotted dick. The added adventure of sneaking about in the middle of the night made the feasts sound even better.

6.The Mrs. Pollifax Books by Dorothy Gilman

One of the good things about being an international spy is that in between kidnappings and murder attempts and espionage, you get to try some prety great cuisine. Whether Mrs. Pollifax is cooking eggs with garlic and parsley for Cyrus or eating spicy noodles with prawns and peanuts in Chiang Mai, these books always make me hungry. It could be the nonstop action that whets the appetite, too, mind.
The Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman

7. The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

How could they NOT make anyone hungry? They were educational, like learning how to make maple candy by pouring boiling maple syrup on fresh snow, or colour butter yellow by using grated carrot, and occasionally savage, like boiling and scraping a pig’s skull, and batting the poor porcine bladder around like a balloon afterwards. Still, from the striped candy Pa brought home in a snowstorm to the puffed vanity cakes with icing sugar that Ma made, everything sounded more delicious in a dugout, or a little log cabin, or while Laura sleeps on the trundle bed and baby Carrie is set upon by a plague of locusts.

8. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

I gave my parents this book as a gift for Christmas 2007, and man, all three of us absolutely devoured it. It’s nonfiction, all about local eating, organic eating, cruelty-free eating, farming, canning, and not eating anything out of season. In short, sustainable eating habits. Now that we’re through with the serious part, it’s also delicious, and sprinkled throughout with tips and recipes from Kingsolver, her husband and her daughter Camille. From farm fresh eggs raised by her younger daughter Lily, to fresh pasta sauce, to harvesting asparagus, this book will not only teach you to be more aware of what you eat, it’ll make you excited about it. I definitely had to pause for snacking more than once during my reading.

1. Signed Photo of Pablo Picasso. I love Picasso. I love his art, and having seen/read much about him, he seemed like a vibrant, loving, creative, hot-tempered, exciting man to be around. A film about the life of Picasso inspired my first (quite successful) attempt at Dada poetry when I was in University for Creative Writing. Sadly for you folks, I can’t remember the poem off the top of my head (disappointed groans all ’round). $18,000.00

2. Truman Capote’s Birth Certificate. I love Truman Capote. I love his witty, neurotic, New York reputation. I love Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Holly Golightly wildly. I love that he was Harper Lee’s best friend. I love that I’ve not yet read In Cold Blood, but am dying to. And I love that Philip Seymour Hoffman played him, because I love Philip Seymour Hoffman. And we have Truman Capote’s birth certificate! How cool. Crossing fingers for lottery winnings.$35,000.00

3. Virginia Woolf’s Day Planners for Eight Years. Okay, I admit these would probably be fairly mundane and straightforward. “Lunch with Brent”, “Call dentist – have lost crown”, “send Roger for flea-dip” and the like. But I can’t help the hope of glimpses into her life, like she’d have absently scrawled on one Thursday “note to self: Write ‘A Room of One’s Own’. Also, buy pork chops.” $112,480.25

4. Two Life Size Green Eggs – Original Artwork by Dr. Seuss Who wouldn’t want this?! Dr. Seuss was such an integral part of my upbringing. The first taste of environmentalism I recall came in the form of the Lorax. The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, and of course Green Eggs and Ham were all staples in my househould. I still have a stuffed Cat in the Hat doll somewhere, and we still watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year.$5,624.01

5. Land Sale Transaction Receipt from 1349 – the Year of the Black Death. Ok. I can be a little morbid. Speaking of the Black Death, have you read The Doomsday Book? If not, and you like science fiction, time travel, or just really good fiction, I recommend it. It’s a book I loved. Anyway, back to the document – imagine completing tedious paperwork while people have ghastly buboes and fevers and are falling down dead all around you. What a conversation piece! $1500.00

6. Charles Bukowski button with art by R. Crumb R. Crumb and Charles Bukowski. What a couple of dirty, lecherous, skirtchasing old boozehounds. God Bless ‘Em. $95.00

7. Edward Gorey’s Dracula Jigsaw Puzzle. A 15×21 inch 500 piece jigsaw puzzle in black, white and red depicting the poster for the Edward Gorey production of DRACULA in New York City. Edward Gorey is fantastic. If you’re not familiar with him, check him out – he tells twisted tales of ennui and torture and oddities and eerieness, accompanied by dark, ghoulish and demented illustrations. He was very prolific and is now very collectible – there’s a lot there to love. $475.00

8. Einstein’s Notes on Unified Field Theory. A page of a bunch of calculations, notes, theories, all part of Einstein’s second serious attempt to unify gravity and electromagnetism within a single field. Really though, so what? Everybody doodles. Look, I drew a kitty, just now. Didn’t trace it or anything. Nope. That’s allllll freehand. $38,500.00

9. Funny Letter By Mark Twain to a Friend in which he amusedly recounts that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated; apparently a Mark twain impersonator had been traipsing about enjoying Twain’s fame, when he died, and was buried, as Mark Twain. $15,000.00

10. Original Screenplay for the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. What’s not to love?! It’s cheery, it’s got Dick Van Dyke, it was written by Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame), it has an incredibly nefarious and fearsome villain called the Child Catcher, and now, a new reason to love it – the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl! No wonder it’s so wonderful. $500.00

Beth’s Best Books of 2008 (and Worst Books of 2008).

(Please note: these are just books I read in 2008, not necessarily books published in 2008).

Vernon God Little – DBC Pierre. – Oh Lord, I love this book. The voice took some adjusting to, and then I couldn’t put it down. The story of a young student suspected in connection with a high school shooting of sixteen other kids, and his struggle to clear his name and find the truth. Given the subject matter, this book had a lot more humour than I expected, even while it was heartbreaking. 8.5/10

Midnight Choir - Gene Kerrigan. – Mysterious, dark and bleak, this novel tells the story of Harry Synnott, a police detective in Galway, Ireland, and some of the crimes – both typical and baffling – that he comes up against. There’s also a lot of focus on distrust and interactions within the system. Despite its suspense and realistic, flawed characters, I found the book difficult to get into. This is one of the books that just didn’t grab me. That said, if you’re a big crime buff, this might be right up your alley. 6.5/10

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin -Louis de Bernieres. - I admit, I avoided this book foolishly, based on the fact that I’d seen the film with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz advertised, and thought it looked like tripe. Illogical, I know – many an excellent book has been transformed into on-screen crap. And I’ve not even seen the movie. Perverse. Anyway, when I relented on the advice of a friend and read the book, I was delighted. I fell in love with the characters, the vivid scenic descriptions, and the subtle intertwining of plotlines. Set at the beginning of WWII, the novel follows several Greek main characters on their individual journeys through a time when their worlds are all beginning to change significantly. I highly recommend this one. 9/10

Kitchen -Banana Yoshimoto. (again) This is a bit of a cheat. I’ve read this book before, no fewer than five times. I love it. When the world seems too full of suicide bombings and global warming and people kicking puppies, I pull the covers over my head and read this book. Mikage is a young Japanese woman, who has jus
t lost her grandmother, and with her, the last of her blood relations. Adrift, shell-shocked and lonely, she finds warmth and refuge in an unlikely place – the apartment of Yuichi, the boy who worked at her grandmother’s favourite florist, and his mother Eriko. Strange and unusual people in strange and unusual circumstances, their arrangement nevertheless works, and comforts all of them, and redefines family. A beautiful book. 9/10

When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris. I can’t lie. I love David Sedaris. I’ve bought everything by him on which I can put my grubby little paws, and when I ran out of him, I started buying up his sister’s stuff, too. I love David Sedaris, and if I could mainline his neurotic little self, I probably would. That said – this one? Not so much. Not his best. The parts about his stay in Japan were interesting, and among my favourite parts of the book, but they didn’t belong in this book. I think they should have been a novella on their own, or published as “Japan Journal” or something. They weren’t in keeping with the rest. I liked that he goes more into his personal life here – his relationship with Hugh, their love for and irritation with each other – and doesn’t just rely on surface humour, but overall, something is missing from the book. I liked it, sure, but I didn’t love it, and it’ll be a while before I read it again. Points, however, for the best cover. I loved this cover. 6.5/10

Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Yes, yes, I read it because the Watchmenmovie is coming out. But it’s funny – I wonder whether the film’s release has anything to do with the recent turn toward real darkness and despair in comic/graphic novel culture? Anyone who has seen Batman: The Dark Knight has to admit – that was no kid’s movie. And same with Watchmen. I was surprised, reading it, at how twisted and demented it was, particularly the character of Rorschach. And not in the old way comics were twisted, the over-the-top antics of the villains who then laughed maniacally and trapped Batman and Robin in a giant spiderweb – this is bitter, misanthropic hatred. The villains seem more ill, more dangerous, more world-weary, like men who have snapped. Like Michael Douglas from Falling Down took it one step further, put on a costume, and decided to mete out his own brand of vigilante justice as a way of life. I was surprised at how text-heavy Watchmen was, too, and am ashamed at how long it took me to read it. But it was worth the time – it was a pretty excellent graphic novel, and one you shouldn’t miss if you’re a fan of the genre. 8/10

Black Hole – Charles Burns. oh MAN I loved this book. How entirely creepy and surreal and hug-yourself-warm-again freaky. There’s a new sexually transmitted disease in town, only rather than your garden-variety itching/burning/critters, this one manifests itself differently in everybody who contracts it – from mild to macabre, everybody gets their own special mutation. Some get gills, some get tentacles, some get a second little talking mouth, whispering its own sick musings, square on their neck. Driven out by society, some of these mutants go to live in the woods. The warped, spine-chilling twists and turns of events in their struggle to survive is enough to make anyone want to leave the lights on. I’m a big fan of this book, and of Charles Burns in general. Burns also recently had a vignette in the monochromatic, animated anthology film Fears of the Dark (Peurs du Noir), which if you haven’t seen it, is definitely worth a watch. 9/10

The Pilot’s Wife – Anita Shreve. If you like long walks on the beach, a warm cup of International House coffee, the feeling of a cool summer breeze in your hair, and crap writing that can’t decide whether it’s a bad mystery novel, a bad romance novel or a bad thriller, this book is for you. It was not, however, for me. What a cloyingly predictable, steaming pile of written manure. I shan’t waste anymore time on it. Poo. Only points are for the fact that I did keep reading to the end. I’m such a masochist.3/10

Perfume - Patrick Suskind. This book was so horrible. Not in that it’s a bad book by any means – quite the opposite, in fact. No, this book is horrible because its main character is loathsome, vile and grotesque. Grenouille (French for ‘frog’) is off-putting from the very first; as a baby, he is abandoned by his mother to a kindly monk, then rejected by the revolted monk to a convent, where he falls under the detached care of an emotionless woman with no sense of smell. Grenouille himself has such a keen, heightened sense of smell that it virutally consumes him. Every minute of every day, hsi nostrils quiver, seeking, finding, tasting, inhaling new scents. In his adult life he becomes an unparalleled perfumer, learning to distill things (roses, lavender, vanilla beans) in alcohol to capture their aromatic essence. It isn’t long, however, before Grenouille’s voracious nose scents out a unique, inimitable odour – that of a beautiful young woman. What a hateful man. What a skin-crawling narrative. What an excellent book. 8.5/10

Black Swan Green – David Mitchell. Life is hard as a 13 year old boy. Jason has a stutter that plagues him, and he has to go to a speech therapist for it, which makes him feel like even more like a sore thumb than usual. He lives in a small English town, and horror of horrors, writes poetry. He is sure he’s a freak, and spends an inordinate amount of time ensuring his interactions with others come off with a practiced coolness. By turns funny and sympathetic, Black Swan Green is a simple book that despite its simplicity evokes a lot of emotion and is difficult to get out of your head when you’re finished it. I liked it a lot. 7.5/10

Elle – Douglas Glover. Canadian author Douglas Glover published Elle in 2007. It’s a strange tale that changes startlingly at two different points in the narrative. A young French woman in the 16th century, in punishment for repeated offenses (carnal and other) is kicked off the exploration ship on which she travels, and marooned on a desolate island with her nurse/maid and a would-be hero, both of whom die off fairly quickly, leaving her to fend for herself with little to no survival skills. The book, simply put, is weird. The writing is strong, descriptive and at times graphic, pulling no punches and very honest. The tale itself is what’s weird; fever dreams, hallucinations, mythical sagas and reality all tend to blur together in the second half of the novel. The protagonist changes drastically, both inside and out, as a result of her journey. I liked it, didn’t love it, but I think it’s mostly personal preference – the writing was very strong, but the story didn’t fascinate me all that much. 6.5/10

Choke – Chuck Palahniuk One would think a book about a sex addict might be, well, sexy. Please note: not so. Never have I felt less aroused than while reading this book, which often describes sex as if it were a chore, an unfortunate yet desperate need, something more necessity than pleasure, and regrettable, yet entirely without choice. In all his usual gritty, visceral glory, Palahniuk made my stomach churn a little bit on a couple of occasions. It isn’t exactly a stretch for Palahniuk, and it’s a bit formulaic – the main character has unresolved issues with his mother (surprise). However, the main character’s struggles – as a poor excuse for an actor, as a sex addict, as a man, as a son – are written sincerely, and he feels genuine. The text is also somewhat redemptive toward the end, which felt satisfying to read. 7/10

Vox - Nicholson Baker. There’s no plot to this novel, no reason for it, other than I think Baker had the conversation in his head and wanted to write it down. Fortunately, it’s pretty good. It’s erotic fiction, and the entire thing is a marathon telephone conversation between a man and a woman, both of whom called one of those 1-900 “party” lines you find in the back of certain magazines. Each of them were bored, with low expectations, and end up finding they have a lot to talk about. It’s by no means an important book, but it’s funny in bits, and very sexy in bits, and does go a fair ways to some creative fantasizine, and it’s a really engaging read. For the genre, it’s one of the better I’ve read. It’s no Anais Nin, but I’ll take it. 7.5/10

Vacation – Deb Olin Unferth. One of the books-of-the-month from McSweeney’s, whose tastes I trust almost without exception, I expected to love this book. And I wasn’t disappointed. Frankly, Vacation is crushing. In some cases, literally – one of the main characters falls/jumps out a window as a child, and spends the rest of his life with a misshapen, crushed skull – unbeknownst to him. It’s easy, in the context of the novel, to suspend one’s disbelief and accept that, somehow. The novel, told flat-out, could be the banal goings-on of some fairly unhappy people: couples that no longer love each other and wonder where the love went; angry people who can’t forgive or forget the past; unsatisfied people wondering what became of their youth, and seeking to blame others for the miserable passage of time. But it carries with it a sense of mystery, and the unknown. The behaviour of the players is fascinating, unpredictable, yet makes sense when explained. It’s a wistful book, and I felt quite unhappy when finishing it – both because of the power of the words, and because I was sad to see it end. 8.5/10

Portnoy’s Complaint -Philip Roth. I didn’t love it, but I ended up liking it better than I initially thought I would. 6.5/10

The Haunting - Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery is on my top five short stories of all time list, so I thought I’d give this a go when I had some time to kill in a little used bookstore in Port Angeles, WA. I feel my review will be unfair, because I unfortunately saw the film adaptation of this a few years back, and when I bought the book I didn’t realize it was the book from which that movie – that terrible, craptastic, ridicule-wortht movie – came. Still, even after I realized, I tried to read it separately (this is why I never, knowingly, see the movie before I read the book). One thing I will say – Shirley Jackson does spine-tingling suspense expertly. There’s a passage in the book that’s particularly terrifying, and I had difficulty going to sleep that night. It was very effective. One of the main characters, the character whose head the reader lives in, goes mad, and this is where the real genius of the book lies – the characters thought processes slowly and almost impercetibly become less logical, more paranoid, more sludgy with demented nonsense, to the point where the reader is questioning everything right along with her. I wish I had read this book before seeing the movie (or not seeing it at all), but the book was still very good. 7.5/10

Unless – Carol Shields. I loved it. So much. It was perfect. There really isn’t enough good I can say about this book. It broke my heart and made me laugh and made me want to read it again, immediately, upon putting it down. I’m only getting to know Carol Shields the last couple of years, and I’m so sad she’s passed away, as she won’t be writing any more, and that is a huge loss. I’m excited that I have so many books of hers left to read, but I’m going to read them slowly. Read my whole review. 10/10

The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson. I liked this a lot, too. What an engaging read. It’s casually written without sounding slangy or annoying, and fantastical enough that while one has to suspend their disbelief, one does – at least in my case – with an immediate shrug of surrender. The main character is a pornstar and drug addict, who, while drunk one night, has a hallucination of arrows from the forest, and as a result crashes his car and sets fire to his own crotch. He’s burned to within an inch of his life. He starts off self-pitying, boring and kind of gross, but becomes fascinating as his character heals along with his body, with the help of a woman, with whom he of course falls in love, who claims to have known him for over 700 years. Damn fine, entertaining read. 8/10

Memoirs of a Survivor – Doris Lessing. This is my first Doris Lessing. I’m embarrassed to admit I found her writing very inaccessible. To begin with, it’s written in the first person, but also is so entirely internal that we never manage to feel any understanding for the other characters outside of those feelings of the woman we embody as the reader. She’s a private, quiet, very introspective character, and her dialogue is extremely minimal, so the entire book is within her head. I felt this more strongly than with any other book I’ve read. The novel, almost more of a novella in its length, is dystopian. It details the breakdown of society, and a return to more rudimentary struggles, for water, for food, for safety, for energy. The savagery of some of the wanderers brought Cormac McCarthy’s The Road very strongly to mind, though this is a far cry from the horrors of that book. Part magical realism, part cautionary tale and part moral narrative, I finished Memoirs of a Survivor and had the immediately unsatisfying feeling of “That was a good book. But I don’t think I ‘get it’.” Unscored, because I don’t think I should rate something I didn’t particularly grasp.

Women – Charles Bukowski. What a filthy, unapologetic old miscreant. I want to hate “Henry Chinaski” (the alcoholic, German-American poem-writing anti-hero who consumes women like cheetos and throws up almost every morning. But the thing is, it’s hard to. You actually end up laughing a lot, and feeling kind of sorry for the guy. I don’t usually find self-loathing appealing, but when it’s tinged with this much humour, it works. Chinaski sees humour in everything, takes almost nothing personally, and lives one day to the next as best he can, taking pleasure where he can find it, and trying not to do too much damage. He’s impossible to admire at best, revolting and despicable at worst, but he makes for a really great read. 8/10

What about you? Leave a comment – what was your favourite, and your least favourite, book you read this year?

Stephen King shares his top 10 picks for 2008 on EW.com. (Note: King does take liberties with choosing only 10 books.)  In descending order his choices include:

10. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

9.  Old Flames by Jack Ketchum

8.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

7.  Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh

6.  Heartsick/Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

5.  Nixonland by Rick Perlstein

4.  The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

3.  When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

2.  The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III

1.  The novels of Robert Goddard