Books I Read in 2006
January, 2006
Mastering Instrument Flying, Third Edition Henry Sollman and Sherwood Harris
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Based on years of practical experience. Very fine, complete explanation of what it takes to effectively teach and learn all elements required to fly safely and competently under instrument flight rules.
All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy
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Great story. Superior story telling. Hint of Hemingway.
Bad Dirt, Wyoming Stories 2 Annie Proulx
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The definitive voice of comedy and tragedy among the people of rural Wyoming.
Flying IFR, Fourth Edition Richard L. Collins
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Practical guidance based on study and lots of experience.
The Golden Cage, the Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa Hilde Bruch, M.D.
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Very readable classic (1978) analysis by psychiatrist Bruch based on caring for many seriously ill patients. Includes interesting important remarks from several recovered patients looking back.
February, 2006
The Crossing Cormac McCarthy
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Superior story telling.
May, 2006
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
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Intriguing story. Entertaining read. I bet the movie will be better. (Addendum: Almost impossibly, the movie was worse than the book.)
Instrument Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-15, 2001 FAA
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The definitive text for instrument students and instructors.
July, 2006
Rod Machado's Instrument Pilot's Survival Manual, Second Edition Rod Machado
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Excellent. Entertaining and educational.
August, 2006
Instrument Flying, Fourth Edition Richard L. Taylor
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Practical perspective of an experienced aviation educator.
September, 2006
The Pilot's Manual 3, Instrument Flying, Fourth Edition Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc
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Comprehensive text.
Instrument Procedures Handbook FAA-H-8261-1, 2004
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Excellent review of NAS for instrument pilots. Lots of great illustrations.
Instrument Oral Exam Guide, Sixth Edition Michael D. Hayes
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Good preparatory review.
October, 2006
Under the Red Flag Ha Jin
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Very well-told stories of Red China's culturally reformed Fort Dismount.
Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson
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Powerful, delicious, sensitive, moving masterpiece.
Villages John Updike
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The inimitable, unstoppable Updike continues to deliver good stuff.
Gilead Marilynn Robinson
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Remarkable, inspirational meditation. Updike should read this one.
No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy
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A McCarthy masterpiece. Destined to be a classic. Never a dull anything. Plot, characterizations, narration, organization, thematic concepts/ideas - everything superior. ('R' for violence.)
The Professor of Desire Philip Roth
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Entertaining.
Of Love and Other Demons Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Very fine.
November, 2006
Deception Philip Roth
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Very clever. Exclusively dialog. Explores grey area connecting autobioghraphic fact and literary fiction.
Wild Ducks Flying Backward Tom Robbins
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Eclectic bits of nonfiction.
The Orchard Keeper Cormac McCarthy
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Wonderful first novel. A puzzle of poetic pieces that paint a picture of life and death in the whiskey business of prohibition-era rural Tennessee where one may hear the "rain mendicant-voiced, soft chanting in that dark gramarye that summons the earth to bridehood."
December, 2006
Eat the Document Dana Spiotta
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Very good read.
The Black Book Orhan Pamuk
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Gorgeous translation and informative afterward by Maureen Freely. Istanbul, Turkey, 1980's, missing persons, mystery, identity crises. "You become someone else when you read a story." "Because nothing is as surprising as life. Except for writing."
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