(no subject)
The list, for posterity. :) Cross posted from my journal.
This year I only made it to 42 books (not 50, but also a good number!).
Of those, about 14 were straight fiction, four were non-fiction, and the rest were what I call science fiction (and your opinion may vary). Three were re-reads, none were audiobooks.
The average rating out of 5 stars was 3.56. Of the 42 books, 44% passed the Bechdel test (again, according to my rating)--that's actually a surprisingly high proportion for the year; last year it was 48% but usually it's closer to 25-30%.
The best book was Samuel Delany's The Fall of the Towers--I was simply not expecting to be as blown away by the book as I was. It's not so much that it's incredible story telling (though it is inventive and clever and well-written), but something about the themes he was dealing with and how he dealt with them just really rattled me. 5 stars.
The worst book was The Electronic Mind Reader by Harold L. Goodwin--it was a 1950's boy's adventure story and omg it was thin and pathetic. It was a kid's book with no character depth or growth; the kids are who they are, the adults are who they are, and it's basically a Scooby Doo adventure story. I would have loved it back when I was in elementary school. :) 2 stars.
The Road, and Joshua Son of None were also battling it out for last place but they both got 2.5 stars and just missed it. To be honest I think Joshua was better than the Road, though again not by much.
There were quite a few 4 stars and above this year. I've italicized their titles in the list. Wilkie Collins was a lovely addition to the reading list. :) Happy reading in 2014!
Title, author, genre, rating and other comment
King Hereafter | Dorothy Dunnett | F | 4.5 | "gripping, challenging, and completely different view of Macbeth"
The Moonstone | Wilkie Collins | F | 4.4 | excellent!
The Woman in White | Wilkie Collins | F | 4.4 | "Yup | just as good as The Moonstone"
Babyji | Abha Dawesar | F | 4.2 | surprising!
Shadow of the Wind | Carlos Ruis Zafon | F | 4.2 | impactful
A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | F | 4 | little thick and melodramatic but still good
Chowringhee | Sankar | F | 4 | not particularly optimistic or deep but good
The Scarlet Pimpernel | Baroness Orczy | F | 4 | "Way, way more skewering than I remember it being!"
Wickett's Remedy | Myla Goldberg | F | 3.7 | "Very interesting structure, overall"
Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson | F | 3.5 | well done
The Far Euphrates | Aryeh Lev Stollman | F | 3.2 | "Awkward in spots, didn't really land"
Magic: A Fantastic Comedy | G. K. Chesterton | F | 3 | a very short play that's theologically unsubtle
The Island of the Day Before | Umberto Eco | F | 3 | unbelievably uneven; a real disappointment
The Bad Book Affair | Ian Sansom | F | 3 | simple but cute
"Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing" | Sara Nickles and Bob Shacochis | NF | 4 | "some of it is excellent, all of it well done"
Let's Pretend this never happened | Jenny Lawson | NF | 4 | really funny memoir
America's Four Gods | Paul Froese & Christopher Bader | NF | 3.5 | "Quick read and very straighforward, but insightful and helpful!"
Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane | Calamity Jane | NF | 2 | written like she undoubtedly talked; sounded like my grandfather--unbelievably understated
The Fall of the Towers | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 5 | Best book of the year--beautiful what he did there
Under Heaven | Guy Gavriel Kay | SF | 4.4 | Very strong story and as usual very well done
Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | SF | 4.3 | Nicely done; reminiscent of 1001 Nights and Canticle for Leibowiz
Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Ransom Riggs | SF | 4.2 | weird weird weird
Heart of Stone | C.E. Murphy | SF | 4 | Nice mythos-building and interesting view of racism
Empire Star | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 4 | short but still rich
The Yard | Alex Grecian | SF | 4 | a little gory but clever and well-executed
The Reality Dysfunction | Peter F. Hamilton | SF | 4 | Definitely gets points for world building and imagination
The Bridge of Lost Desire | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 3.8 | "not really a lot of story | but beautifully done"
Science Fiction of China | | SF | 3.5 | mostly interesting for the cultural differences
"For Us | the Living" | Robert Heinlein | SF | 3.5 | "not much of a novel, but fascinating from a meta-view"
The Black Company Chronicles (3 books) | Glenn Cook | SF | 3.5 | Better than I actually remembered them being
World War Z | Max Brooks | SF | 3.5 | Not as good as the first time I read it but still clever
Belmarch | Christoper Davis | SF | 3.3 | very hallucinogenic
The Limits | Larry Niven | SF | 3.3 | "collection of short stories, most of them pretty good"
Library of Shadows | Mikkel Birkegaard | SF | 3.2 | "it's bits of Foucault's Pendulum and Club Dumas; overall ok but not great"
The Black Star Passes | John Wood Campbell | SF | 3 | "interesting collection of short stories, mostly for their values"
Ultimate Weapon | John Wood Campbell | SF | 3 | thin on character but good
The Trouble with Fate | Leigh Evans | SF | 3 | Not bad but completely forgettable
The Tree Lord of Imeten | Tom Purdom | SF | 2.8 | Really thin but it could be worse
Legions of Hell | C.J.Cherryh | SF | 2.8 | clever but more a sketch than a story
"Joshua, Son of None" | Nancy Freedman | SF | 2.5 | disappointingly thin
The Road | Cormac McCarthy | SF | 2.5 | Lame and unsatisfying
The Electronic Mind Reader | Harold L. Goodwin | YA | 2 | "1950s boys' adventure story, and it shows"
This year I only made it to 42 books (not 50, but also a good number!).
Of those, about 14 were straight fiction, four were non-fiction, and the rest were what I call science fiction (and your opinion may vary). Three were re-reads, none were audiobooks.
The average rating out of 5 stars was 3.56. Of the 42 books, 44% passed the Bechdel test (again, according to my rating)--that's actually a surprisingly high proportion for the year; last year it was 48% but usually it's closer to 25-30%.
The best book was Samuel Delany's The Fall of the Towers--I was simply not expecting to be as blown away by the book as I was. It's not so much that it's incredible story telling (though it is inventive and clever and well-written), but something about the themes he was dealing with and how he dealt with them just really rattled me. 5 stars.
The worst book was The Electronic Mind Reader by Harold L. Goodwin--it was a 1950's boy's adventure story and omg it was thin and pathetic. It was a kid's book with no character depth or growth; the kids are who they are, the adults are who they are, and it's basically a Scooby Doo adventure story. I would have loved it back when I was in elementary school. :) 2 stars.
The Road, and Joshua Son of None were also battling it out for last place but they both got 2.5 stars and just missed it. To be honest I think Joshua was better than the Road, though again not by much.
There were quite a few 4 stars and above this year. I've italicized their titles in the list. Wilkie Collins was a lovely addition to the reading list. :) Happy reading in 2014!
Title, author, genre, rating and other comment
King Hereafter | Dorothy Dunnett | F | 4.5 | "gripping, challenging, and completely different view of Macbeth"
The Moonstone | Wilkie Collins | F | 4.4 | excellent!
The Woman in White | Wilkie Collins | F | 4.4 | "Yup | just as good as The Moonstone"
Babyji | Abha Dawesar | F | 4.2 | surprising!
Shadow of the Wind | Carlos Ruis Zafon | F | 4.2 | impactful
A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | F | 4 | little thick and melodramatic but still good
Chowringhee | Sankar | F | 4 | not particularly optimistic or deep but good
The Scarlet Pimpernel | Baroness Orczy | F | 4 | "Way, way more skewering than I remember it being!"
Wickett's Remedy | Myla Goldberg | F | 3.7 | "Very interesting structure, overall"
Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson | F | 3.5 | well done
The Far Euphrates | Aryeh Lev Stollman | F | 3.2 | "Awkward in spots, didn't really land"
Magic: A Fantastic Comedy | G. K. Chesterton | F | 3 | a very short play that's theologically unsubtle
The Island of the Day Before | Umberto Eco | F | 3 | unbelievably uneven; a real disappointment
The Bad Book Affair | Ian Sansom | F | 3 | simple but cute
"Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing" | Sara Nickles and Bob Shacochis | NF | 4 | "some of it is excellent, all of it well done"
Let's Pretend this never happened | Jenny Lawson | NF | 4 | really funny memoir
America's Four Gods | Paul Froese & Christopher Bader | NF | 3.5 | "Quick read and very straighforward, but insightful and helpful!"
Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane | Calamity Jane | NF | 2 | written like she undoubtedly talked; sounded like my grandfather--unbelievably understated
The Fall of the Towers | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 5 | Best book of the year--beautiful what he did there
Under Heaven | Guy Gavriel Kay | SF | 4.4 | Very strong story and as usual very well done
Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | SF | 4.3 | Nicely done; reminiscent of 1001 Nights and Canticle for Leibowiz
Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Ransom Riggs | SF | 4.2 | weird weird weird
Heart of Stone | C.E. Murphy | SF | 4 | Nice mythos-building and interesting view of racism
Empire Star | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 4 | short but still rich
The Yard | Alex Grecian | SF | 4 | a little gory but clever and well-executed
The Reality Dysfunction | Peter F. Hamilton | SF | 4 | Definitely gets points for world building and imagination
The Bridge of Lost Desire | Samuel R. Delany | SF | 3.8 | "not really a lot of story | but beautifully done"
Science Fiction of China | | SF | 3.5 | mostly interesting for the cultural differences
"For Us | the Living" | Robert Heinlein | SF | 3.5 | "not much of a novel, but fascinating from a meta-view"
The Black Company Chronicles (3 books) | Glenn Cook | SF | 3.5 | Better than I actually remembered them being
World War Z | Max Brooks | SF | 3.5 | Not as good as the first time I read it but still clever
Belmarch | Christoper Davis | SF | 3.3 | very hallucinogenic
The Limits | Larry Niven | SF | 3.3 | "collection of short stories, most of them pretty good"
Library of Shadows | Mikkel Birkegaard | SF | 3.2 | "it's bits of Foucault's Pendulum and Club Dumas; overall ok but not great"
The Black Star Passes | John Wood Campbell | SF | 3 | "interesting collection of short stories, mostly for their values"
Ultimate Weapon | John Wood Campbell | SF | 3 | thin on character but good
The Trouble with Fate | Leigh Evans | SF | 3 | Not bad but completely forgettable
The Tree Lord of Imeten | Tom Purdom | SF | 2.8 | Really thin but it could be worse
Legions of Hell | C.J.Cherryh | SF | 2.8 | clever but more a sketch than a story
"Joshua, Son of None" | Nancy Freedman | SF | 2.5 | disappointingly thin
The Road | Cormac McCarthy | SF | 2.5 | Lame and unsatisfying
The Electronic Mind Reader | Harold L. Goodwin | YA | 2 | "1950s boys' adventure story, and it shows"