1. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
2. The Wes Anderson Collection, Matt Zoller Seitz
3. Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football, John U. Bacon
1. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
2. The Wes Anderson Collection, Matt Zoller Seitz
3. Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football, John U. Bacon
Eh I might actually do this for once. Can't hurt, right?
1. The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
2. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
3. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
4. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
5. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
6. Vicious by V. E. Schwab
7. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (graphic novel)
8. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
9. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
10. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
The Rest:
[]
DNF list:
[]
1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
2. The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
4. The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
6. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
7. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
8. Vicious by V. E. Schwab
9. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (graphic novel)
10. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
The Rest:
[]
...and the milk's in me.
Mara, have you read Marie Lu's Legend, or, for that matter, any teen fiction by Asian American writers that you found especially good? I'm not the biggest fan of the more pedestrian and derivative works of teen dystopia, but I'd be interested in learning about fiction that approaches concepts of race and ethnicity within the wide umbrella if interesting things are being done with it.
Also, John Green's The Fault in Our Stars was lovely. I think I liked Rowell's Eleanor and Park more, but lovely all the same.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
Legend was stinking awful. "Pedestrian and derivative" would describe it perfectly, but you could add "unbelievable and ridiculous." Please don't bother.Quoting dreamdead (view post)
Off the top of my head, I can recommend Malinda Lo. The only book I've read by her is Adaptation, which was good fun, in a global-crisis, X-Files, government-conspiracy kind of way. She doesn't really dwell on race very much in the book (the heroine is white, one of her love interests is Asian) but Lo is homosexual and she delves deeply into sexual identity in the book. Her main character falls for people of both sexes during the course of the novel, and Lo doesn't shy away from examining that pretty minutely.
She might have other books that deal with race more centrally.
Agreed and agreed.
...and the milk's in me.
1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
2. The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
4. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
5. The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
7. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
8. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater & Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
9. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
10. Vicious by V. E. Schwab
The Rest:
[]
...and the milk's in me.
Have you read anything else by Valente?
She's pretty much the reigning queen of Weird Fiction. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Yume No Hon: The Book of Dreams. While the original is OOP and very expensive, it has been collected in an incredible anthology (which I plan to read all of, soon), called Myths of Origin.
Yume No Hon is up there with the Last Dragon as one of the single greatest works of fantastic fiction I know of. Just a tremendous example of expertly written, poetic, surreal, and alluring story telling.
I am eternally grateful for discovering her via Jeff Vandermeer's blog and writing.
1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
2. The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver
3. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
4. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
5. The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
7. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater & Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
8. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
9. Vicious by V. E. Schwab
10. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
The Rest:
[]
I have revised my list based on where the books "settled"-- sliding up or down depending on how I feel weeks (or months) after finishing it. A breakdown of the numbers:
Total books read this year: 64
Very Good: 26%
Good: 51%
Mediocre: 15%
Bad: 8%
That makes sense, as I am less likely to finish a book that ranks as mediocre or bad.
Young Adult Fiction: 67%
Adult Fiction: 24%
Middle-Grade Fiction: 6%
Non-Fiction: 3%
I guess I didn't count anything I read below middle-grade fiction, although I totally read some killer picture books this year with my niece and nephew.
This breakdown also makes sense, as I consider keeping up with young adult fiction part of my job as a writer. Plus I really enjoy some of what is being down in young adult fiction right now, which is being much riskier and attracting more unusual viewpoints than traditional adult publishing currently is.
Books I Didn't Remember Reading Without Thinking About It For Awhile: 4
Book that slid furthest down the scale weeks after having read it: Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I still think it is a good book, but I think I was giving her points for how much I like her, and less how much I liked the book.
Book that jumped up the list at the end-of-the-year review: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. This weird, wonderful book was pretty upsetting to me right after I finished it and I think it affected my placement. It is a humorous young adult novel about a sexually confused and frustrated teenage boy who accidentally ends the world by letting loose an army of murderous, six-foot tall insects. It's very funny. There are graphic scenes of humans being devoured bite by bite. It's... very funny. I'm not averse to dark humor, but this book was pitch black. In retrospect, I kind of loved it.
Most disappointing book I read this year: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. I heard such good things about this middle grade book, and the premise sounded so delightful, that I asked for a physical copy for Christmas last year without reading it first. (I have very much moved away from owning books these days. I'm a library gal.) And it was a freaking mess. Narratively it made no sense, and it was sloppy on characterization, motivation, and drive. I gave it away two days after finishing it.
Worst book I read this year: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
Why did I read this book? Well, I know why. Stephanie Perkins is kind of a big deal in young adult fiction right now, and this is the first book in a series that is passionately loved by some people I respect (critics, editors, other writers, etc.) The cover and title looked like utter nonsense, so I didn't have huge expectations going in, but this book blew me away. BLEW ME AWAY WITH BADNESS.
Why did I finish this book? Well, I actually got it on CD, when I was still car-commuting pretty far with my last job. I was also living with two-roommates-ago, my very dear friend. Anyway, I was hate-reading it (or hate-listening-to-it?) and was so frustrated every day that I would come in and rant to my roommate about how absolutely horrible it was. My roommate thought this was funny and pretty much egged me into telling her the book piece by piece as I went through it. I hated it so passionately that it became its own form of entertainment.
(Side note: completely coincidentally this friend texted me while I was typing this out. I asked if she remembered my response to this book and she wrote "HAHAHAHAHAHA.")
Why did I hate it? I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. I know there are a lot of people in the world (and on MC) that sneer at young adult literature, and I would passionately argue that is wrong for plenty of reasons. Well, if you asked those sneering people what they dislike about young adult literature, I assure you, this is the book that they would describe.
It is completely moronic. It is a book about young girls that somehow seems to really hate young girls. It has some fantasy-level premise (a girl who is somehow really rich and not rich at all is sent off to boarding school in Paris against her will; she bitches about it for ages) and is a love story between the most irritating, selfish, whiny, and least self-aware couple of all time. The hero (named Etienne St. Clair... I repeat, Etienne St. Clair) is a total asshole who refuses to break up with his long-term girlfriend while supposedly falling in love with our heroine, including active seduction techniques like... I don't know, sleeping in her bed for weeks at a time, while just agonizing over how impossible this situation is. To clarify: the hero's entire plot conflict could be resolved by breaking up with his high-school girlfriend. A thirty-second conversation could resolve this plot. Meanwhile, the heroine is in agony because she doesn't know if he liiiiiiikes her or not. All the bed-sleeping and endless conversations and romantic dating were so confuuuuuuuusing to her.
There is also a strong subplot of girls being total jerks to their female friends. As we all know, women are only friends with other women to backstab them and steal their menfolk, right? Right? I HATE YOU, BOOK.
If you finished that rant you get 100 internet dollars.
In conclusion, you should read The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making because it is good.
...and the milk's in me.
As a bonus, here are actual reviews from Goodreads of Anna and the French Kiss, AKA The Worst Book Ever.
372 pages of reading bliss and pure perfectionThis review goes on for about 16 more paragraphs.
In a word, it is... divisive.
...and the milk's in me.
The two best books I read this year:
1. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruko Murakami - a sad and surreal look at life during the 30-somethings. The main character suffers from a lack of identity and a loss of friendship, and experiences some bizarre, weird, mundane, and emotional things while trying to figure his life out. Very good. But if you don't like Murakami, stay away. It's so Murakamiesque it hurts.
2. Revival, by Stephen King - a Lovecraftian tale with a heart, and one of the bleakest endings I've ever read.
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