Books of the Year 2013 and of Things to Come

Time for my favorite post of the year!  This was a good year for me in terms broadening my reading and, better still, I wasn't merely reading new-to-me stuff for the sake of doing it, rather, I actually like poetry.  A huge thank you to The Parrish Lantern for many a good suggestion in that category.  An unofficial goal for next year will be to continue to seek out new poets that I like, just as I do with fiction.    

I read all of seven books of poetry this year and if I learned nothing else it is that poetry slows me down more than fiction.  Why this is I don't know for certain, but I'd guess it has something to do with my inability to quickly pick up on the obvious important stuff upon first reading.  

I finished eight short story collections which I'm pretty sure is a record for me.  

I finished thirty novels; forty-five total 'books.'  

This is officially not a "Best Books of 2013" list.  I've only read three books from this year.  As such, these are the books that stood out to me--enough to merit some special designation--at the end of my year of reading.

Favorite work by a new to me Author

Poetry.  Thanks to Ted Huges for Crow; Thomas Lux for Half-Promised Land, John Siddique for Full Blood, David Lloyd for Warriors.  I don't yet know what I'm doing in reading poetry nor do I feel confident to talk about what I like and why, but I do know what I like, and I'm hoping to find more of it in the coming year.  

The "Dear God, Why did I put up with Reading this Book" Award

The Ocean at the End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman and Among Others by Jo Walton.  I'm pretty sure nothing happened in either one of these books and I like it when things happen… Both books certainly have their fans and that's fine by me, but I didn't see the attraction to either.

Biggest Surprise

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.  I've no idea why this hit me as hard as it did but I loved every word---at times against my own volition.

Stories that I can't get out of my mind

"Kiss me Hardy!" is a phrase from Code Name Verity that I'll probably never get out of my head.  It was a great story--and a well written one--that I didn't care for.  It just wasn't for me but yeah, I don't think I'll ever forget it.  

Everybody has Everything by Katrina Onstad is a story that so many of us experience everyday: how could it be forgotten?  The End of the Whole Mess by Stephen King from Wastelands is a short story that manages to combine sentiment, wit, and the end of the world all in twenty pages.  I don't think I've ever read a novel of his but wow is he good at short stories.  The Matter of Seggri by Ursula K Le Guin in The Birthday of the World--for me--is quiet literally unforgettable.  It made me think and see things in a new ways until my head hurt, and it was a pleasurable pain at that.  I'm partial to Sara Zarr (okay, honestly: I'm in love with her) so year I remember Story of a Girl very well.    

The Best Book I Read in 2012

Happily, I'm skipping over the 'favorite' category as it gave the judges and viewers such fits last year.  

There are three books in the running: The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin, Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown and Soon I will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman.  I've said enough about each of these books already so follow the links for more: read them all.  They are all great.  

It's been six months and I still get ridiculously excited thinking about Perfect Escape.  I loved it.  I wanted to be in the car on this road trip to yell at people and fix everything.  When it was over all I wanted to do was undergo the anxiety of being with them more and reading it again.    

So what's coming next year?  I won't be surprised if there is a good bit of science fiction, and books in a series.  I've also singled out ten books that I absolutely must read this coming year if only because it seems I've been avoiding them for a long time.  They are all really big and scary looking with lofty reputations.  If I were to make a new year's commitment--which I'm not--it would be to make certain I get through those ten before 2015.

Happy New Year.     

Books of The Year 2012 and Things to Come

I read forty-three books this year; of which three were non-fiction (a record for me); and only one of which was released this year.  All things considered I feel really good about what I read this year and my ever discerning ability to pick out books in new genres and by new authors that I am predisposed to liking.  Like years past there were some high points, some middling 'blah', and some epochal lows.

This year I have to make special mention of my reading saving grace which would unequivocally be young adult fiction.  Everything and everyone from Cassandra Clare, to Lemony Snicket, to Tamora Pierce: you restored my interest in reading tenfold and I'm forever thankful.  I've managed to find a balance in my reading material that has been lost to me ever since I phased out adult fantasy.  The variety keeps me going and the writer's voice that is so wholly different from the high and mighty stuff that I think I've taken a liking too is really refreshing.   

   

And now I'm done babbling…

This is officially not a "Best Books of 2012" list.  As previously noted, I've only read one book from this year.  As such, these are the books that stood out to me--enough to merit some special designation--at the end of my year of reading.  

Most Forgettable Reads

I'm conflicted already.  Can I give this to a book I didn't finish?  Maria once told me that bad books make for great reviews and to that end I've noticed that what I think is my best commentary comes from books I didn't enjoy.  For that very reason I tried--actively tried--to get through Eight White Nights by Andre Aciman if only so I could tell people in detail why I thought it was so awful.  This will have to do…  So let's say I have to give this dubious mention to a book I actually finished as there is a chance against all chances that Eight White Nights redeems itself.  I'd have to go with Breakable You by Brian Morton I liked the story better than Fire by Kristen Cashore but the former was more of a mess.  Actually just stay away from both.  

Biggest Surprise

Young adult fiction as a genre has to get mentioned here for reasons I've already given.  Another surprise in this year's reading is how much I laughed.  BADASS is hysterical.  My Cross to Bear is equally funny for completely different reasons.  Nicole Krauss, Michael Chabon, John Green and of all people C.S. Lewis with The Screwtape Letters all got me laughing; not to mention a vast host of short story writers.  The book that surprised me the most was probably Fire by Kristen Cashore in terms of how much I didn't care for it after loving her first book so much.  

Best New Author Discovery

John Green.  

This couldn't have been easier.  Paper Towns doesn't seem to be anything special in Green's oeuvre kinda like Beethoven's second or eight symphony.  And just like Beethoven if Paper Towns isn't special I can't wait to get to the really good stuff.  He's an insanely popular author, number one bestseller on every list ever who doesn't need me to do any cheer leading for him.  All that said, from about twenty pages into Paper Towns Green's fans were officially Legion plus one.  

And now I'm going to invent a category… 

My Favorite book of 2012

Ones favorite and the perceived or proven best of anything rarely coincide.  My favorite college basketball team didn't win the NCAA championship last year (I'll uphold the belief we were the best until made to contend with insurmountable injuries).  UNC will always be my favorite college basketball team but with books it changes year-to-year and therefor I don't state a case for my favorite book and what I thought was the best.  I don't know why I don't, but there it is.  This year, I don't care… 

No one can tell you how badass Katsa is, you have to read Graceling for yourself and find out.  She is so all-around amazing I want her featured in the next installment of Ben Thompson's BADASS.  Graceling has everything.  If you don't like this book we can't be friends.  

The Best Book I Read in 2012

Anyone remember when the Pulitzer prize committee didn't pick a winner for the fiction category in 2012?  While I wasn't outraged like many in publishing (as if I have anything invested in the matter) I thought it was bullshit.  Now I'm kinda changing my tune.  I read a lot of really good stuff this year.  I can't stress that last sentence enough.  Great stuff like Daniel Martin, The Windup Girl, The History of Love, Hate List, The Glass Room, and The New York Trilogy, but I didn't read anything that absolutely knocked the air out of my lungs.  And I don't want this meager honor to come across as apathetic: all the above books were great, and perhaps that is what I'm struggling with.  The fact that I can't say, "The best book I read this year are the seven books I just mentioned."  It's a good problem to have.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr did manage to stand out among all else I read this year.  The tone of voice, pacing, characterization, sensitivity, and sense of reality were all amazing.  It's a sad story but hard to describe as anything but beautiful.  Zarr is without doubt an author I'll be visiting again.      

I didn't read anything from the national book of the year award list for the first time in three years and the oversight was completely accidental.  In 2013 I plan to get through the three books that caught my interest This is How you Lose Her by Junot Diaz, Goblin Secrets by William Alexander and Out of Reach by Carrie Arcos.  Reading three books from those nominated is two more than I usually do but all three of those got me curious. 

As to other books I'm planning on reading in 2013 Andrzej Sapkowski's works are getting further translation and so I hope to look in on Blood of Elves now that it doesn't seem to stand alone.  I have high hopes for this book considering it's acclaim and how much I like The Last Wish, a short story collection by the same author.  Holly Black is a short story writer whose works I've always liked when I've come across them but I've never sought out her fiction.  I plan to do so with Doll Bones, just because it all sounds so bizarre.  Catherynne M. Valente is responsible for the what is easily one of the most original and intriguing series I've ever read with her Dirge for Prester John.  I'm hoping the third and final installment will be out sometime in the coming year.  That's it for what I know of that I'm looking forward but as always this list will grow exponentially as the year goes on.

Lastly, I'm still considering recruiting a few others for the short story blog I mentioned in my previous post and more regular reading of young adult fiction. 

Hoping everyone had an amazing 2012 and that your fridge is overflowing with Bollinger in 2013. 

Books of the Year 2011 and of Things to Come

2011 has been the year of book buying.  With Borders going under and clearance sales all around me I bought more than twice as much as I read this year.  Finding a few more used book stores to spend time in didn't help either.  This trend will most certainly stop going into the new year and I'm okay with that.  

Reflecting back on books this year and last year I'm struck by how much food plays into my memory of memorable novels.  Bare with me...  I'll never forget--and hope to soon revisit--a most depraved Christmas Day dinner, comprised of more liquor than subsistence in Jerusalem Poker with Joe O'Sullivan Beare and Cairo Munk; two of Jerusalem's most powerful and wealthy sharing a paupers feast in the ghetto on a freezing cold night.  It was made special by way of circumstance and all they said and didn't say.  Equally powerful in my mind is a meal shared by The Deathless Man and Natalia Stephanovic infuriatingly unnamed grandfather in The Tiger's Wife.  The two of them and their waiter share a decadent dinner on a patio while the city they are in is currently being bombed out of existence.  I don't know why these things stick out in my mind as strongly as they do, but there you have it.  So, recommend me something with good grub and phenomenal imagery that takes me far away and chances are high I'll like it.

I read forty-three books this year which was off my repeat goal of last year's fifty; last year I was able to hit fifty-three.  Last year I said I wouldn't make this goal.  I was right in that the five-hundred plus page doorstoppers I've been trying to get through slowed down my progress.  Oh well; it's not as if I minded reading any of those books.  I did read nine books that were actually published in 2011 which is a big deal for me.  If I keep this up I may become one of the cool kids.  This was also a big year for what I didn't read.

There were three books I couldn't bring myself to finish.  I've said before I've no scruples in putting a book down, but I thought I'd gotten better about identifying my interest before picking a book up than to start and not finish three.  Slaughter House Five by Kurt Voungout, The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Dancing Girls by Maragret Atwood were decidedly not for me.  I can't see myself ever giving any of these a second chance.  I think I have a "Books I didn't finish" label but don't really care to link to those entries.    

Now on to the good stuff.

This is officially not a "Best Books of 2011" list.  As previously noted, I've only read nine books from this year.  As such, these are the books that stood out to me--enough to merit some special designation--at the end of my year of reading.  

Most Forgettable Reads

I should have put down The Hammer by K J Parker, and I never thought I'd say that about one of her books as everything else of hers I've read has been amazing.  In many ways the fact that I didn't enjoy it and finished this book is also they biggest surprise of the year.  

I also have to mention Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, Dark Mondays by Kage Baker, Summerland by Michael Chabon, Trader by Charles de Lint and The Mammoth book of Merlin edited by Mike Ashely.  All but the last of these books are by authors I love.  As a proviso I'll say, none of these were 'bad.'  Some were merely not special; others not for me.  (And in Chabon's defense, when you're Michael Chabon the bar is ridiculously high.)   

Biggest Surprise

Firebirds Soaring edited by Sharyn November not only has the most badass cover art of anything I read this year but is also the most, 'out of the blue, how-did-I-come-across-this-book?' piece of awesome that ended up in my hands.  I don't care if it's young adult, or adult fiction, science fiction or contemporary literary fiction: it was awesome and containted two of my absolute favorite short stories.  Ever.  I'm not sure if this anthology is being continued or not, but I am certainly tracking down previous installments in the coming year.  Yeah; I singled this one out...

I didn't know what to expect going into Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card so saying "Wow," feels appropriate.  I didn't know Arturo Pérez-Reverte could write a book like The Painter of Battles and considering how well he did it; I'm amazed we haven't seen more from him in this vein. The Dala Horse by Michael Swanwick (this link goes to the short story; not my commentary) isn't necessarily his best piece of writing, but it may be the most concise and powerful piece that embodies all of his awesomeness.  It's a beautiful fairy tale and it's diet science fiction all at once.  (Swanwick made a comment on his blog that the story was straight up Sci-Fi, but then said as soon as it's publish the matter is out of his hands and readers have the final word.)  It's whimsical and profound.  It feels real and lingers on the mind.  I always expect the amazing from Swanwick, but this story is really good.  

Best New Author Discovery

This is the hardest category yet considering the amount of repeat authors from last year I've read.  I going with André Aciman and Nicole Krauss (said as quickly as I can manage as to not dwell on the other names I left out.)

The Best Book I read in 2011

I said back in August that this category's winner would come from that month's reading.  E L Docotorw's Ragtime, Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chaing (which I should invent it's own category for), Of Love and Other Demons and Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The French Luitenetn's Woman by John Fowles and Catherynne Valente all came out swinging, but the final choice still comes down to Krauss' Great House and Aciman's Call Me by Your Name.  I'm glad I had half a year to mull on this answer before stating my claim; I needed that much time.

Nicole Krauss is simply the most badass and subtly powerful writer I've come across.  Damn near everything else I've read pales in comparision.  I can't wait to check out her back catalouge.  

A surprising trend that has persisted the past two years: my 'best book of the year' have been written by a women.  A disturbing trend that has persisted is I haven't let comments for either of those books.  I don't know what that means, but in case of Krauss, everyone that has left comments for it makes mention of needing a second reading so I don't feel bad.  As I said last year in the case of Gershow, I enjoyed it too much, read it too fast, and didn't take any notes.  I will re-read both and leave comments for both at some point in time, that said Great House is not merely 'about a desk,' no matter what you read saying to that effect.  

Next year will be kinda lame; I'm gonna shoot for the same goals: fifty books read, a door stopper a month, and at least two commentaries a month.  Wish me luck.  Happy New Year.  

It's now time for champagne .     

Books of the Year 2010 and of Things to Come

I read, cover-to-cover, fifty-three books this year; of which only one was a 2010 release.  As usual, I seem to be consistent in staying away from the pulp blockbusters in a given year to seek out what is perhaps more substantial and enduring (though probably unheralded) beyond the immediate commercial push.  I only put down one book after starting it this year, and that more than anything else is something I'm very proud to say.  I don't mind putting a book down for any reason, but I've apparently developed a keen eye for what I like and avoided much that I didn't.   

There were a good deal of books in a series read this year, which, naturally, leads to a lot of repeat author experiences; although not all the repeat authors reads were works in a series.  Here's the break down:  

Neil Gaiman 2

Gene Wolfe 2

Gabriel Garcia-Marquez 2

Michael Swanwick 2

Guy Gavriel Kay 4

Greg Keyes 4

Arturo Perez-Reverte 5

Edward Whittemore 5

C.S. Lewis 5

There remaining books read were all from different, unique authors.  

This is officially not a "Best Books of 2010" list.  As previously noted, I've only read one book from this year.  As such, these are the books that stood out to me--enough to merit some special designation--at the end of my year of reading.  

Best New Author Discovery (And coincidentally, the shortlist for my favorite reads of 2010)

I can't give this to Miriam Gershow as I've come across her short stories (which are fabulous) in years past.  In the same breath I have to say, Whittemore, Joe Hill, John Fowles, Perez-Reverte, Akira Yoshimura, Garcia-Marquez, K.J. Parker, and Ivan Turgenev.  How's that for wussing out on a single answer (not to mention diversity)?  

I've offered a host of comments on Perez-Reverte, of which most of my reading has been confined to his Captain Alatriste series, and of Whittemore I've commented on every one of his books.  I've only read one book each from Yoshimura, Hill, and Parker and each was fabulous while Turgenev, Fowles, and Garcia Marquez are authors of 'classics' and near cheating to mention.

Most forgettable Reads

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, The Last Song of Orpheus by Robert Silverberg , and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Silverburg was as un-engaging as it was inoffensive, Kostova was a let down of 'blah' proportions, and after the initial power of Barnes the middle and end of the novel were a complete snore-fest.  Of Ms. Bronte (pick one...), I'd just rather not speak…

Biggest Surprise 

The Dragon's of Babel by Michael Swanwick and The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Swanwick should come as no surprise but, I'll have to read it again to fully absorb the depths of awesome he gave readers.  He may be the most original mind in fiction today.  It's as though he lives for turning cliches into something fresh.  Furthermore, The Dragon's of Babel has stuck with me more than any other book read this year.  It's not a piece of fiction you fly through, nor is it so difficult as to be tedious.  It's a book that can be read and enjoyed on many different levels.  It's very mature and one I feel will endure for a long time to come.   

Grossman's book was an absolute gem; I can't wait for the next.  It was contemporary, visceral, and a success on every level.  

The Best Book I Read in 2010

The Local News by Miriam Gershow.  I tried multiple times to leave comments on this outstanding book, but was unsuccessful in writing anything that wasn't a litany of praise.  If I could physically force readers to pick up anyone book before all others, it would be The Local News.  It's better than great, and to find out why and just how good it is, you have to read it yourself or wait until I do so a second time and can commit my thoughts to paper.  

None of the above categories would really fit for Whittemore's Jerusalem Quartet and yet, I feel it an error to not mention what are easily the most profound, bizarre and wholly original books I came across this year.  Scour your used books stores, hunt for them at library sales, buy them online when you have to.  English language readers should be ashamed of 'out-of-print' status of these wonders, but if you look, you will find them.

Next years reading strikes me a bit odd: my shelves are weighted down with names like Chabon, Eco, Franzen, and Zafon; it seems my taste in fiction are on the move.  But I'm sure I'll find time for comfort food and not to mention slimmer volumes.  

2011 is looking like, "The Year of the Doorstopper" for me.  Five-hundred plus page giants are breeding on my shelves.  I'll set the same reading goal as I did last year: fifty books read, but I wouldn't be surprised to fall short of that number and triple the page count of this year's reading.  

Happy New Year.