2004 top ten books

[altariel]

Actually, this is a list of my top fifteen books of the year, because I start with five honourable mentions, and then give a top ten. All in no particular order, except for the last one, which is my book of the year.



Honourable Mentions

The Flambards Trilogy by K.M. Peyton
This was the children’s book series that I enjoyed most after the Green Knowe books - and there was some stiff competition, given that I have also been reading Antonia Forest, Susan Coolidge, and L.M. Montgomery.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
A book that really did deserve the hype.

The World’s Wife by Carol Anne Duffy
I picked this one in part because of the hugely enjoyable reading that I attended earlier in the year (thank you, trixieleitz!).

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth by J.R.R. Tolkien
Some Tolkien I hadn’t read before. That doesn’t happen much these days.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
One problem with books that invent a genre is that when you finally get round to reading them, you’ve read so many of the derivatives that they don’t seem inventive at all (I had this problem with Dracula, for example). I read quite a few dystopian novels this year, and this one has all the trappings, but is somehow wittier and cleverer, and did most of it first.


Top Ten

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
I am in love with Cazaril’s angst, his dark hair and his cerebral-ness.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Smarter people than me have certainly said smarter things about this than I can say, so I’ll just nod wisely and agree that it’s bloody brilliant.

Bellwether by Connie Willis
Sociologists can be heroes too. Delightful.

Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
A collection of very short stories written during the war for The New Yorker which shows just what can be done in 1500 words.

My Friend My Father by Jane Duncan
This stands for the whole set of Jane Duncan books, which have been one of the best reading experiences I’ve had in ages, particularly because they are so strongly connected to my friendship with katlinel.

The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Another book that stands for the whole series. I read a lot of children’s books this year, but I think these were the best written, although they did scare the pants off me in places.

Skellig by David Almond
A very short children’s book which is simply but densely written, and very uplifting without even a hint of sentimentality.

The Separation by Christopher Priest
It stood up to rereading, and it got the thumbs-up from the SF-averse reading group.

Nineteen Seventy-Seven by David Peace
Brutal crime novel set in the North; part of a quartet about the Yorkshire Ripper and 1970s Britain, but this one was the most successful, I thought. Sparse and unremitting prose; very cleverly explores its themes of social and individual decay.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
My book of the year. Amazing. Astonishing. Astounding.



The challenge was to read my height in books this year. I think I may have lost a couple of inches through not remembering to measure all the library books I read, and I didn’t measure any of the work-related books I read, or include any of the fanfiction read online (reams and reams and reams...). Anyway, the final tally was: 60 inches of me and something like 101 inches of books, so I think we can call the challenge met. I suppose next year I could try to read twice the height of me... now where is the large-print section in the library...?

I am well aware of the lack of non-fiction. I don't read a lot of non-fiction in my spare time. There are various reasons why, but mostly I blame it on the boogie.

Comments

[kathyh]

I've always been put off Riddley Walker for some reason but maybe I ought to give it a try!

I read depressingly little last year but The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time was definitely a highlight. I really must read more this year. I like the idea of reading my own height but I'm taller than you (though not 101 inches *g*) so I might have a bit of a problem at the speed I seem to be reading at the moment.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My copy of Riddley Walker was kicking about unread for about five years before I found the energy to make the attempt. It's by no means an easy read, and I took my time over it, and read it using this annotated site, which helped enormously. The effort definitely paid off.

I do want to try to read more beard-strokingly literary stuff this year; I signed up for the Dickens project, which is a start. I have no doubt I'll just read a ton of children's books and SF/fantasy, though.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Nineteen Seventy-Seven sounds like a must-read to me. I've never heard of David Peace but that sounds just my thing. Thanks.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think the whole quartet is exactly your kind of thing: they start with Nineteen Seventy-Four and then go up in three year increments; more here. And there's another one just out in paperback about the Miners' Strike, GB 84 (I've not read that one).

[(Anonymous)]

(katlinel at work)

It has been a absolute delight to share your enjoyment of the Duncan books. Just let me know if there are any that you want to borrow again to re-read.

I think I may have lost a couple of inches through not remembering to measure all the library books I read

I read this as meaning that you yourself had lost two inches in height. Now that would have made the reading task easier, but still, not a desired result I imagine. :-)

Anyway, congratulations on meeting your challenge! Here's to tons of SF and children's fic in the New Year. And some other things too, an it please you, m'lady.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I read this as meaning that you yourself had lost two inches in height. Now that would have made the reading task easier, but still, not a desired result I imagine. :-)

LOL! Like some weird Dorian Grey thing where for every book I read, I shed a millimetre of height...

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree re Riddley Walker. One of my books of the century.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was your being so enthusiastic about this which made me decide to give it a shot.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Agree with you on the Curse of Chalion, also on my top mumbleteen list (whenever I get around to, y'know, posting it). Have you read the next in the series, Paladin of Souls, yet? I liked it just as much - so refreshing to see an adult (i.e. forties) heroine.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have read PoS, but didn't enjoy it nearly as much - but I think that was mostly because I wanted to read more about Cazaril. I'm going to give it another shot. I did like the heroine a great deal, and she had a young and plucky female sidekick, IIRC.

[kerravonsen]

Sociologists can be heroes too.

(grin) Yes, I can see why that would have particular appeal.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

I still haven't read that.

But then again, I still haven't read "Paladin of Souls", "Das Boot", "Otherland", "Lud-In-The-Mist", "Black Sun Rising", "The Game of Kings", "A Door Into Ocean" or any of the other books actually sitting on my to-be-read shelves, so I'm not really likely to read it any time soon, since I don't actually have it in my posession.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I don't want to think about the teetering piles that are my 'to-be-read' books... This is the year that I make some headway on them, I swear (which I say every year).

[temeres.livejournal.com]

I have set myself the ambitious target of reading a book a month this year. And to keep the non-fiction:fiction ratio down to 2:1. No, I don't do much reading.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Well, I hardly ever go outside, so that's a big difference between us. A friend of mine used to finish one Iain (M.) Banks novel just in time for when the new one came out.

[avon7.livejournal.com]

Reading your own height - that's an interesting idea. I think I'd do that easily (if rereads counted) given I read a book every day or so. (Hmmm... over 20 cm for this year so far.) If re-reads don't count then I'd be in trouble, I think.

Peter's Room - yep, I do like it, though nowhere near as much as some of the others. I have major problems with the moral (well, I would, wouldn't I - given I spend much of my life in various fantasy worlds.) and there's too much Patrick. I prefer, on the whole, the earlier books before Antonia fell so heavily for Nicola and Patrick.

Flambards - oh yich no! They were in the library and they had horses in them so of course I read them but KM Peyton and I just aren't compatible.

Reading - I actually read a Dickens this year - partly because it was cheap and partly because I do think I should make an effort to read something that isn't a kid's book. It was Great Expectations and while I enjoyed it more than Hard Times, which I did at school, I don't feel any need to reread it or anything.

C&C

[avon7.livejournal.com]

Have just realised thet previous comment was half in reply to previous post and half in reply to this one. Oops.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

over 20 cm for this year so far

Wow!

I prefer, on the whole, the earlier books before Antonia fell so heavily for Nicola and Patrick.

I don't like Patrick much as a character, but I do enjoy his unrepentant traditional Catholicism very entertaining.

KM Peyton and I just aren't compatible.

What don't you like?

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

pasting this into my to-read list....

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think as and when they reach the 'read' pile!

[sugoll.livejournal.com]

Bellwether by Connie Willis
Sociologists can be heroes too. Delightful.

Has she ever written anything that's not? And she was fascinating to listen to at the Eastercon in Manchester in (I think) '98. She's one of the reasons K and I went back to Eastercons.

I love Doomsday Book, too. Although I think it's interesting how it has lots of networked computers, and completely misses mobile phones, that would have completely altered the B-story.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I still have to read Doomsday Book. And K's copy of Passages, and assorted CW short stories, in a pile by my bed!

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Eeep! I've only read one of these. My New Year's resolution is to read more books.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Mine should probably be to leave the house more.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I'm still chewing through Ray Bradbury's 'October Country', which i've been dipping into since, you guessed it, October. I love short stories, and this is as good a collection as any. maybe that's why i'm taking my time with it.

I still haven't finished 'Faraway' by Lucy Irving either. i wanted to finish it whilst sitting in the garden - that's the way to finish a really good read - not on the bus or in a grotty little cubby-hole at work. it's just a bit cold at the moment...

A fiend of mine keeps feeding me Tolkien books which i'll probably manage in twenty years' time. So i doubt that i could read five feet six inches (imperial) of books unles i head towards the large print section!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have a favourite spot for reading too: there's a sofa in the kitchen, and it gets all the best sunlight. I used to like reading on the bus when I commuted.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Is is appropriate for me to add you to my friends list just because you love both Riddley Walker AND Bellwether?

Riddley seems like the kind of novel feared by lighter readers and literary snobs alike. I first read it the year it was published (1980), and when I tried to interest my incredibly snobbish and uppity lit professor in it, he said, "I really don't want to learn another version of English just to read a novel." I think I saw the whites of his eyes, like a startled horse.

As to Bellwether, though I read it only once several years ago, it still comes to mind as I watch pop-culture trends crest and pass. I don't think I'll ever again just dismiss imprinted sweatshirts and mugs as meaningless!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Is is appropriate for me to add you to my friends list just because you love both Riddley Walker AND Bellwether?

By all means! Although usually I just post quizzes and fanfic.


when I tried to interest my incredibly snobbish and uppity lit professor in it, he said, "I really don't want to learn another version of English just to read a novel."

Good lord. Was he consistent? Did he dislike A Clockwork Orange and The Canterbury Tales?

[avon7.livejournal.com]

You're probably going to find this a bit odd, but I just wanted to let you know that you inspired me. After reading this post I decided I should make use of my perfectly good reading skills and stop just rereading the same books over and over again and start trying to read more, despite my general dislike for adult/modern books. I borrowed your height challenge, but being too lazy to measure each book I decided on an average of 2cm for each one. Well, I'm 160 cms or so (5'3") so I reached my target on 24/6/05 when I finished my 80th book 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. So, thanks - it's been an interesting year.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad the idea inspired you! :-) I like your estimation strategy - I stack all my books up in a pile by my bed but it tends to get a bit shaky by the middle of the year.

You're much more stringent about not counting rereads than I am.