Books I read in 2010, liked a whole lot, and forgot to post about
Finishing up my 2010 posts over the next week or so.
I really liked all these and would have said a lot more about them had I remembered to post about them.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz) - Really a quite remarkable book. Highly recommended. Unfortunately as I read this in half-delirious-sleep-deprivation mode I have forgotten anything I would normally have ranted about. I do remember that Abigail Nussbaum has a a very insightful and brilliant review, even by the rather high standards I expect from her.
In this House of Brede (Rumer Godden) - An odd book I liked quite a lot. Follows a nunnery over the course of several years. If you think reading about nuns, what they feel about their vocation with God, and so on, sounds very interesting, you will probably like this book. (It reminds me a little of L'Engle's adult novels.) If you think reading about nuns sounds like slow torture, you will probably dislike this book quite a bit. I fall in the former category. I got to this from Jo Walton's post at Tor. I've read the other book she talks about and will post about it in another post, since it is 2011 reading.
For the Win (Doctorow) - I'd read short stories by Doctorow and was not particularly impressed. This is my first try at a novel by him, and I quite liked it. Also, it's about gold farming in MMO's -- I mean, seriously, how could you not want to read about that! And he's not afraid to explain things like "what is inflation," which is awesome for a YA novel. It's a little one-note on "The solution is... to unionize!" but for the problem he postulates that is indeed the solution, and I didn't get the sense that he was advocating it strongly for problems for which it's not really the solution.
Also, it is available free, because Doctorow is just so cool that way. I do not understand his business model, however.
The Cardturner (Sachar) - This book is about bridge. I really think Sachar just wanted to write a book where he explained bridge to a YA audience. I loved it, but actually I'm not quite sure whether I should recommend it -- I am not at all the right person to ask, as I rather love bridge myself (though I haven't played in years... it brings back memories of staying up till 3 am in grad school...)
The Dispossessed (LeGuin) - Reread. I actually do have a lot to say about this, and will perhaps make it into its own post. Anyway, I read this in high school, but was blown away by it on this reread. Really very good.
I really liked all these and would have said a lot more about them had I remembered to post about them.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz) - Really a quite remarkable book. Highly recommended. Unfortunately as I read this in half-delirious-sleep-deprivation mode I have forgotten anything I would normally have ranted about. I do remember that Abigail Nussbaum has a a very insightful and brilliant review, even by the rather high standards I expect from her.
In this House of Brede (Rumer Godden) - An odd book I liked quite a lot. Follows a nunnery over the course of several years. If you think reading about nuns, what they feel about their vocation with God, and so on, sounds very interesting, you will probably like this book. (It reminds me a little of L'Engle's adult novels.) If you think reading about nuns sounds like slow torture, you will probably dislike this book quite a bit. I fall in the former category. I got to this from Jo Walton's post at Tor. I've read the other book she talks about and will post about it in another post, since it is 2011 reading.
For the Win (Doctorow) - I'd read short stories by Doctorow and was not particularly impressed. This is my first try at a novel by him, and I quite liked it. Also, it's about gold farming in MMO's -- I mean, seriously, how could you not want to read about that! And he's not afraid to explain things like "what is inflation," which is awesome for a YA novel. It's a little one-note on "The solution is... to unionize!" but for the problem he postulates that is indeed the solution, and I didn't get the sense that he was advocating it strongly for problems for which it's not really the solution.
Also, it is available free, because Doctorow is just so cool that way. I do not understand his business model, however.
The Cardturner (Sachar) - This book is about bridge. I really think Sachar just wanted to write a book where he explained bridge to a YA audience. I loved it, but actually I'm not quite sure whether I should recommend it -- I am not at all the right person to ask, as I rather love bridge myself (though I haven't played in years... it brings back memories of staying up till 3 am in grad school...)
The Dispossessed (LeGuin) - Reread. I actually do have a lot to say about this, and will perhaps make it into its own post. Anyway, I read this in high school, but was blown away by it on this reread. Really very good.