books read 2013
Brace yourselves for a WHOLE LOTTA SHAKESPEARE (given my project to read his Complete Works this year), some forays into poetry, and fewer Booker Prize winners than in previous years; my read-through has been chugging along a lot more slowly.
Like last year I divided my favourites into 'most impressed with' and 'most enjoyed reading'.
* denotes a reread
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Rivers of London
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Moon Over Soho
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Whispers Underground
Ackroyd, Peter -- London: the Biography
Ackroyd, Peter -- Shakespeare: the Biography
Alexie, Sherman -- Ten Little Indians
Atwood, Margaret -- Bodily Harm
Atwood, Margaret -- Oryx and Crake
Austen, Jane -- Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane -- Persuasion*
Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice
Barker, Pat -- Regeneration*
Barker, Pat -- The Eye in the Door*
Barker, Pat -- The Ghost Road*
Barnes, Julian -- The Sense of an Ending
Bradbury, Ray -- The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray -- The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray -- Now & Forever
Burgess, Anthony -- Nothing Like the Sun
Byatt, A.S. -- The Children's Book
Child, Julia -- My Life in France
Conan Doyle, Arthur -- The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Conan Doyle, Arthur -- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Eliot, T.S. -- Collected Poems 1909-1962
Faudiman, Anne -- The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down
Fforde, Jasper -- Shades of Grey
Fielding, Helen -- Bridget Jones's Diary*
Fielding, Helen -- Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason*
Flaubert, Gustave -- Madame Bovary
Fox, Kate -- Watching the English
Fry, Christopher -- Curtmantle
Fry, Christopher -- A Sleep of Prisoners
Fry, Christopher -- The Dark is Light Enough
Gilbert, Daniel -- Stumbling on Happiness
Grant, Mira -- Blackout
Harris, Thomas -- The Silence of the Lambs*
Harris, Thomas -- Hannibal*
Herr, Michael -- Dispatches
Hong Kingston, Maxine -- China Men
Keneally, Thomas -- Schindler's Ark
Kleinman, Arthur -- The Illness Narratives
Kyd, Thomas -- The Spanish Tragedy
Mahy, Margaret -- The Changeover
Mantel, Hilary -- Giving Up the Ghost
Mendelsohn, Daniel -- The Lost
McGuire, Seanan -- Discount Armageddon
McKinley, Robin -- Spindle's End
Modjeska, Drusilla & Lohring, Amanda & Dessaix, Robert -- Secrets
Moran, Caitlin -- How To Be a Woman
Moran, Caitlin -- Moranthology
Murdoch, Iris -- The Sea, The Sea
O Briain, Dara -- Tickling the English
Perex-Reverte, Arthur -- The Seville Communion
Poe, Edgar Allen -- The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Pratchett, Terry -- Lords and Ladies*
Pratchett, Terry -- Making Money*
Pratchett, Terry -- Nation
Pratchett, Terry -- Only You Can Save Mankind*
Pratchett, Terry -- Snuff
Pratchett, Terry -- The Truth*
Pratchett, Terry -- Unseen Academicals*
Pratchett, Terry -- Witches Abroad*
Quinn, Julia -- The Duke & I
Rong, Jiang -- Wolf Totem
Sassoon, Siegfied -- War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
Sellar, W.C. & Yentman, R.J. -- 1066 And All That
Shakespeare, William -- All's Well That Ends Well
Shakespeare, William -- Antony and Cleopatra*
Shakespeare, William -- As You Like It*
Shakespeare, William -- The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare, William -- Coriolanus
Shakespeare, William -- Cymbeline
Shakespeare, William -- Hamlet*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 1*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 2
Shakespeare, William -- Henry V*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 1
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 2
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 3
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VIII
Shakespeare, William -- Julius Caesar*
Shakespeare, William -- King John*
Shakespeare, William -- King Lear*
Shakespeare, William -- Love's Labour's Lost*
Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth*
Shakespeare, William -- Measure for Measure
Shakespeare, William -- The Merchant of Venice*
Shakespeare, William -- The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare, William -- A Midsummer Night's Dream*
Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing*
Shakespeare, William -- Othello*
Shakespeare, William -- Pericles
Shakespeare, William -- Richard II
Shakespeare, William -- Richard III*
Shakespeare, William -- Romeo and Juliet*
Shakespeare, William -- The Taming of the Shrew*
Shakespeare, William -- The Tempest*
Shakespeare, William -- Timon of Athens
Shakespeare, William -- Titus Andronicus*
Shakespeare, William -- Troilus and Cressida
Shakespeare, William -- Twelfth Night*
Shakespeare, William -- Two Gentlemen of Verona
Shakespeare, William -- The Winter's Tale*
Simmons, Dan -- Hyperion
Smith, Stevie -- Novel on Yellow Paper
Snowdon, Melissa -- The Breaking of M
Stallworthy, John (ed.) -- The Oxford Book of War Poetry
Stephenson, Neal -- REAMDE
Stephenson, Neal -- Some Remarks
Streatfeild, Noel -- A Vicarage Family
St Vincent Millay, Edna -- Selected Poems
Swofford, Anthony -- Jarhead
Thomas, Dylan -- Collected Poems 1934-1952
Trask, R.L. & Maybin, Bill -- Introducing Linguistics: a graphic guide
Varley, John -- The Golden Globe*
Wells, H.G. -- The Time Machine
Whalen Turner, Megan -- The King of Attolia*
Woolf, Virginia -- A Room of One's Own & Three Guineas
Woolf, Virginia -- A Writer's Diary
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Homeward Bounders
Wynne Jones, Diana -- Howl's Moving Castle*
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Pinhoe Egg
Wynne Jones, Diana -- Power of Three
~
Top seven (most impressive)
Ackroyd, Peter -- London: the Biography
My favourite thing about this was the way it was structured: loosely chronological, but mostly following a series of themed chapters on things like gambling/pubs/prostitution/theatres/civil unrest that made it a lot more entertaining than a straightforward history, but still highlighted the mind-boggling amount of research Ackroyd managed to do and to pull into a cohesive whole.
Bradbury, Ray -- The Illustrated Man
My exploration of Bradbury has continued this year, and I'm excited that there's still a lot of his stuff for me to discover. This short story collection was the standout of what I read this year: it's got some deliciously well-executed quiet horror in it.
Byatt, A.S. -- The Children's Book
Normally I'm not all that into family sagas as a genre, but trust Byatt to capture my interest in spite of this. This is a clever, intricate book about a family in Edwardian England and all the people whose lives are connected to this family; it's got a lot in it about art and creativity, and the obligations we owe, and unwise love and growing into your interests. It's less obviously erudite and self-absorbed than Possession, but also more focused on narrative than language.
Fforde, Jasper -- Shades of Grey
I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this, but it's got some of the best worldbuilding I've ever read, combined with Fforde's sharp humour turned up to maximum sharpness and a cast of characters that read as Dickensian in the best sense. It's about a society where colour is a commodity and social class is determined by the Ishihara test; the more colours you can see, the higher status you are. It's really, really well done speculative fiction that's a lot darker than the Thursday Next books, and I can't wait for the sequel.
Herr, Michael -- Dispatches
I've gotten into war journalism and war narratives lately, and picked this up as a seminal piece of Vietnam War reporting. The writing style combines with the subject matter in a manner that's nearly perfect. It's hard to read in parts, but extremely good and surprisingly personal.
Mendelsohn, Daniel -- The Lost
Another non-fiction book that's also a personal memoir: this is the story of Daniel Mendelsohn's travels and research to discover what happened to his relatives during the Holocaust. As you might imagine, it can get bleak and painful, but it's also beautifully written and intimate and compassionate and full of wonderful little details about his family and the people he encounters.
Simmons, Dan -- Hyperion
I ummed and ahhed about adding this to the list, but despite being lukewarm on it for the first couple of sections, I was very impressed with it by the end. It's a science fiction retelling of the Canturbury Tales and apparently has some sequels, though I don't think I'll be seeking them out because I thought the ending of this book worked well despite its ambiguity. It has a lot of strong, uncomfortable things to say about religion and self-allegiance and responsibility, and one of the Tales in particular -- a noir homage about a woman private eye who does an investigation on behalf of an artificial human created to be a perfect copy of John Keats -- is flawlessly done and very entertaining. Actually, Keats and his poems are a persistent thread running through the whole of the book, which was a nice balance to the more hard-sci-fi aspects.
Top seven (most enjoyable)
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Rivers of London
I'm going to cheat a bit here and use RoL to represent all three books that so far exist in the Peter Grant series, but it's also the one that I enjoyed the most, so that fits. These books are HEAPS OF FUN: Peter Grant is a biracial London cop who believes firmly in the scientific method and who gets recruited to the almost-defunct wizarding branch of the police after accidentally interviewing a ghost as a murder witness. As well as the mystery plots and magical adventures there's a lot of clever and fascinating urban-fantasy worldbuilding that feels like a nice blend of Pratchett and Mieville, and all of the supporting characters are great. The series also doesn't pull punches when it comes to things like bureaucracy, logical consequences to actions, and racial/gender politics.
Child, Julia -- My Life in France
This is a super charming memoir, you guys, chatty and honest and full of lovely details around the great loves of Child's life: food, cooking, France, and her husband. It's the kind of book that makes you feel like you know a lot about the writer as a person and would like to be their friend.
Fox, Kate -- Watching the English
So I read this. And then I made my mother read it. And then she made my father read it. As someone who is half-English by blood and by passport status, this made me realise to what extent I am culturally not English, having grown up in Australia, and to what extent I've internalised certain Englishisms passed on from my mother's side of the family. It's an anthropological look at modern English society and it's very funny, very sharp, and very illuminating.
McKinley, Robin -- Spindle's End
For some reason I am yet to fathom, Robin McKinley's books are impossible to find in Australia. I picked this one up in New York. It's a loose -- loose! -- retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story and it's full of glorious and varied women, wonderful relationships, interesting everyday magic, and a plot that is paced sort of like Pamela Dean's Tam Lin: lots of enjoyable slow faffing around and Life, followed by a brief burst of WHOA ACTION PLOT TIME.
Moran, Caitlin -- How To Be a Woman
Lots of memoirs on the list this year, huh. This book made me laugh harder than anything I've ever read; it's Moran's English working-class upbringing and subsequent journalism career described through a hilarious feminist lens, with diversions to discuss things like waxing, Lady Gaga, porn, the experience of getting an abortion, and why everyone should own a pair of yellow shoes.
Stephenson, Neal -- REAMDE
This is a lot less stuffed full of erudition than many of Stephenson's previous books, though it still has a lot of good things to say about online communities and gaming and the way the Internet is changing economics. However, most of it is 900-something words of PLOT PLOT PLOT, spies and assassins and mercenaries and gamers and trips across half the world, featuring a flawed and badass cast of characters that includes Olivia Halifax-Lin, the British-Chinese MI-6 agent of my heart.
Woolf, Virginia -- A Writer's Diary
This is a selection from her extensive diaries that covers all of her discussion of her own books: the writing process, critical review anxiety, thoughts on other writers, writing exercises, etc. It's endlessly inspiring and made me wish I could meet her and have a conversation, though no doubt my mind would not be flexible enough to meet with her approval.
Disappointments
Barnes, Julian -- The Sense of an Ending
SIGH. Another self-absorbed middle-aged white man whining about things. Being able to use words nicely is no excuse for such uninspired themes. WHY MUST THESE BOOKS KEEP WINNING THE BOOKER. Luckily it was short.
Rong, Jiang -- Wolf Totem
This is a semi-autobiographical novel by a Chinese academic who was sent out, while a young man, to live with the nomadic herders of the Mongolian grasslands. As an introduction to another culture it works very well, but as a novel I found the prose very obvious and tedious (this could be a translation issue, but I don't think that would explain all of it) and the story itself about twice as long as it really needed to be to make its point.
Questions about any of the other books? Suggestions for what I should read this year? COMMENT. LET'S TALK BOOKS.
This entry was originally posted at http://fahye.dreamwidth.org/767222.html (
comments). Comment wherever you wish!
Like last year I divided my favourites into 'most impressed with' and 'most enjoyed reading'.
* denotes a reread
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Rivers of London
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Moon Over Soho
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Whispers Underground
Ackroyd, Peter -- London: the Biography
Ackroyd, Peter -- Shakespeare: the Biography
Alexie, Sherman -- Ten Little Indians
Atwood, Margaret -- Bodily Harm
Atwood, Margaret -- Oryx and Crake
Austen, Jane -- Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane -- Persuasion*
Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice
Barker, Pat -- Regeneration*
Barker, Pat -- The Eye in the Door*
Barker, Pat -- The Ghost Road*
Barnes, Julian -- The Sense of an Ending
Bradbury, Ray -- The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray -- The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray -- Now & Forever
Burgess, Anthony -- Nothing Like the Sun
Byatt, A.S. -- The Children's Book
Child, Julia -- My Life in France
Conan Doyle, Arthur -- The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Conan Doyle, Arthur -- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Eliot, T.S. -- Collected Poems 1909-1962
Faudiman, Anne -- The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down
Fforde, Jasper -- Shades of Grey
Fielding, Helen -- Bridget Jones's Diary*
Fielding, Helen -- Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason*
Flaubert, Gustave -- Madame Bovary
Fox, Kate -- Watching the English
Fry, Christopher -- Curtmantle
Fry, Christopher -- A Sleep of Prisoners
Fry, Christopher -- The Dark is Light Enough
Gilbert, Daniel -- Stumbling on Happiness
Grant, Mira -- Blackout
Harris, Thomas -- The Silence of the Lambs*
Harris, Thomas -- Hannibal*
Herr, Michael -- Dispatches
Hong Kingston, Maxine -- China Men
Keneally, Thomas -- Schindler's Ark
Kleinman, Arthur -- The Illness Narratives
Kyd, Thomas -- The Spanish Tragedy
Mahy, Margaret -- The Changeover
Mantel, Hilary -- Giving Up the Ghost
Mendelsohn, Daniel -- The Lost
McGuire, Seanan -- Discount Armageddon
McKinley, Robin -- Spindle's End
Modjeska, Drusilla & Lohring, Amanda & Dessaix, Robert -- Secrets
Moran, Caitlin -- How To Be a Woman
Moran, Caitlin -- Moranthology
Murdoch, Iris -- The Sea, The Sea
O Briain, Dara -- Tickling the English
Perex-Reverte, Arthur -- The Seville Communion
Poe, Edgar Allen -- The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Pratchett, Terry -- Lords and Ladies*
Pratchett, Terry -- Making Money*
Pratchett, Terry -- Nation
Pratchett, Terry -- Only You Can Save Mankind*
Pratchett, Terry -- Snuff
Pratchett, Terry -- The Truth*
Pratchett, Terry -- Unseen Academicals*
Pratchett, Terry -- Witches Abroad*
Quinn, Julia -- The Duke & I
Rong, Jiang -- Wolf Totem
Sassoon, Siegfied -- War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
Sellar, W.C. & Yentman, R.J. -- 1066 And All That
Shakespeare, William -- All's Well That Ends Well
Shakespeare, William -- Antony and Cleopatra*
Shakespeare, William -- As You Like It*
Shakespeare, William -- The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare, William -- Coriolanus
Shakespeare, William -- Cymbeline
Shakespeare, William -- Hamlet*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 1*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 2
Shakespeare, William -- Henry V*
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 1
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 2
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 3
Shakespeare, William -- Henry VIII
Shakespeare, William -- Julius Caesar*
Shakespeare, William -- King John*
Shakespeare, William -- King Lear*
Shakespeare, William -- Love's Labour's Lost*
Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth*
Shakespeare, William -- Measure for Measure
Shakespeare, William -- The Merchant of Venice*
Shakespeare, William -- The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare, William -- A Midsummer Night's Dream*
Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing*
Shakespeare, William -- Othello*
Shakespeare, William -- Pericles
Shakespeare, William -- Richard II
Shakespeare, William -- Richard III*
Shakespeare, William -- Romeo and Juliet*
Shakespeare, William -- The Taming of the Shrew*
Shakespeare, William -- The Tempest*
Shakespeare, William -- Timon of Athens
Shakespeare, William -- Titus Andronicus*
Shakespeare, William -- Troilus and Cressida
Shakespeare, William -- Twelfth Night*
Shakespeare, William -- Two Gentlemen of Verona
Shakespeare, William -- The Winter's Tale*
Simmons, Dan -- Hyperion
Smith, Stevie -- Novel on Yellow Paper
Snowdon, Melissa -- The Breaking of M
Stallworthy, John (ed.) -- The Oxford Book of War Poetry
Stephenson, Neal -- REAMDE
Stephenson, Neal -- Some Remarks
Streatfeild, Noel -- A Vicarage Family
St Vincent Millay, Edna -- Selected Poems
Swofford, Anthony -- Jarhead
Thomas, Dylan -- Collected Poems 1934-1952
Trask, R.L. & Maybin, Bill -- Introducing Linguistics: a graphic guide
Varley, John -- The Golden Globe*
Wells, H.G. -- The Time Machine
Whalen Turner, Megan -- The King of Attolia*
Woolf, Virginia -- A Room of One's Own & Three Guineas
Woolf, Virginia -- A Writer's Diary
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Homeward Bounders
Wynne Jones, Diana -- Howl's Moving Castle*
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Pinhoe Egg
Wynne Jones, Diana -- Power of Three
~
Top seven (most impressive)
Ackroyd, Peter -- London: the Biography
My favourite thing about this was the way it was structured: loosely chronological, but mostly following a series of themed chapters on things like gambling/pubs/prostitution/theatres/civil unrest that made it a lot more entertaining than a straightforward history, but still highlighted the mind-boggling amount of research Ackroyd managed to do and to pull into a cohesive whole.
Bradbury, Ray -- The Illustrated Man
My exploration of Bradbury has continued this year, and I'm excited that there's still a lot of his stuff for me to discover. This short story collection was the standout of what I read this year: it's got some deliciously well-executed quiet horror in it.
Byatt, A.S. -- The Children's Book
Normally I'm not all that into family sagas as a genre, but trust Byatt to capture my interest in spite of this. This is a clever, intricate book about a family in Edwardian England and all the people whose lives are connected to this family; it's got a lot in it about art and creativity, and the obligations we owe, and unwise love and growing into your interests. It's less obviously erudite and self-absorbed than Possession, but also more focused on narrative than language.
Fforde, Jasper -- Shades of Grey
I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this, but it's got some of the best worldbuilding I've ever read, combined with Fforde's sharp humour turned up to maximum sharpness and a cast of characters that read as Dickensian in the best sense. It's about a society where colour is a commodity and social class is determined by the Ishihara test; the more colours you can see, the higher status you are. It's really, really well done speculative fiction that's a lot darker than the Thursday Next books, and I can't wait for the sequel.
Herr, Michael -- Dispatches
I've gotten into war journalism and war narratives lately, and picked this up as a seminal piece of Vietnam War reporting. The writing style combines with the subject matter in a manner that's nearly perfect. It's hard to read in parts, but extremely good and surprisingly personal.
Mendelsohn, Daniel -- The Lost
Another non-fiction book that's also a personal memoir: this is the story of Daniel Mendelsohn's travels and research to discover what happened to his relatives during the Holocaust. As you might imagine, it can get bleak and painful, but it's also beautifully written and intimate and compassionate and full of wonderful little details about his family and the people he encounters.
Simmons, Dan -- Hyperion
I ummed and ahhed about adding this to the list, but despite being lukewarm on it for the first couple of sections, I was very impressed with it by the end. It's a science fiction retelling of the Canturbury Tales and apparently has some sequels, though I don't think I'll be seeking them out because I thought the ending of this book worked well despite its ambiguity. It has a lot of strong, uncomfortable things to say about religion and self-allegiance and responsibility, and one of the Tales in particular -- a noir homage about a woman private eye who does an investigation on behalf of an artificial human created to be a perfect copy of John Keats -- is flawlessly done and very entertaining. Actually, Keats and his poems are a persistent thread running through the whole of the book, which was a nice balance to the more hard-sci-fi aspects.
Top seven (most enjoyable)
Aaronovitch, Ben -- Rivers of London
I'm going to cheat a bit here and use RoL to represent all three books that so far exist in the Peter Grant series, but it's also the one that I enjoyed the most, so that fits. These books are HEAPS OF FUN: Peter Grant is a biracial London cop who believes firmly in the scientific method and who gets recruited to the almost-defunct wizarding branch of the police after accidentally interviewing a ghost as a murder witness. As well as the mystery plots and magical adventures there's a lot of clever and fascinating urban-fantasy worldbuilding that feels like a nice blend of Pratchett and Mieville, and all of the supporting characters are great. The series also doesn't pull punches when it comes to things like bureaucracy, logical consequences to actions, and racial/gender politics.
Child, Julia -- My Life in France
This is a super charming memoir, you guys, chatty and honest and full of lovely details around the great loves of Child's life: food, cooking, France, and her husband. It's the kind of book that makes you feel like you know a lot about the writer as a person and would like to be their friend.
Fox, Kate -- Watching the English
So I read this. And then I made my mother read it. And then she made my father read it. As someone who is half-English by blood and by passport status, this made me realise to what extent I am culturally not English, having grown up in Australia, and to what extent I've internalised certain Englishisms passed on from my mother's side of the family. It's an anthropological look at modern English society and it's very funny, very sharp, and very illuminating.
McKinley, Robin -- Spindle's End
For some reason I am yet to fathom, Robin McKinley's books are impossible to find in Australia. I picked this one up in New York. It's a loose -- loose! -- retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story and it's full of glorious and varied women, wonderful relationships, interesting everyday magic, and a plot that is paced sort of like Pamela Dean's Tam Lin: lots of enjoyable slow faffing around and Life, followed by a brief burst of WHOA ACTION PLOT TIME.
Moran, Caitlin -- How To Be a Woman
Lots of memoirs on the list this year, huh. This book made me laugh harder than anything I've ever read; it's Moran's English working-class upbringing and subsequent journalism career described through a hilarious feminist lens, with diversions to discuss things like waxing, Lady Gaga, porn, the experience of getting an abortion, and why everyone should own a pair of yellow shoes.
Stephenson, Neal -- REAMDE
This is a lot less stuffed full of erudition than many of Stephenson's previous books, though it still has a lot of good things to say about online communities and gaming and the way the Internet is changing economics. However, most of it is 900-something words of PLOT PLOT PLOT, spies and assassins and mercenaries and gamers and trips across half the world, featuring a flawed and badass cast of characters that includes Olivia Halifax-Lin, the British-Chinese MI-6 agent of my heart.
Woolf, Virginia -- A Writer's Diary
This is a selection from her extensive diaries that covers all of her discussion of her own books: the writing process, critical review anxiety, thoughts on other writers, writing exercises, etc. It's endlessly inspiring and made me wish I could meet her and have a conversation, though no doubt my mind would not be flexible enough to meet with her approval.
Disappointments
Barnes, Julian -- The Sense of an Ending
SIGH. Another self-absorbed middle-aged white man whining about things. Being able to use words nicely is no excuse for such uninspired themes. WHY MUST THESE BOOKS KEEP WINNING THE BOOKER. Luckily it was short.
Rong, Jiang -- Wolf Totem
This is a semi-autobiographical novel by a Chinese academic who was sent out, while a young man, to live with the nomadic herders of the Mongolian grasslands. As an introduction to another culture it works very well, but as a novel I found the prose very obvious and tedious (this could be a translation issue, but I don't think that would explain all of it) and the story itself about twice as long as it really needed to be to make its point.
Questions about any of the other books? Suggestions for what I should read this year? COMMENT. LET'S TALK BOOKS.
This entry was originally posted at http://fahye.dreamwidth.org/767222.html (
comments). Comment wherever you wish!