Snowflake Challenge, books for 2015, fannish year meme #2
Day 01
In your own space, talk about why you are doing the Fandom Snowflake Challenge? What drew you to it as a participant? What do you hope to accomplish by doing these challenges?
I started in 2014 but got only about halfway, so 2015 was my first year completing the challenge. I started because it's fun to talk about fandom and fannish experiences (as well as to read about this on my flist), and the "do something" challenges do serve as nice prods to, well, do something, because I find that lately my creativity (such as it is) responds best to low-stakes prompts like this (e.g. the trick-or-treating thing, or December ramble meme prompts, apparently).
I do browse responses outside my flist for questions that really interest me, but I haven't been linking back to the post in the community, so I haven't been using the challenge as a way to meet people (which is apparently part of how some people use it?). But maybe that's something new to try this year -- I'll give it a shot, at least with a couple of days.
Day 2
In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts.
I'm really a person of very consistent fannish tastes, so all of this from 2014 is still true, and anything I've mentioned in my fandom_stocking also.
But if I were to go with a top 3 right now, it would be:
1. Dragaera fic or art, in particular Morrolan centric. (No joy this Yuletide either, though there was one Dragaera fic, at least. It continues to be a very "needy" Yuletide fandom, with more requests than offers *sigh*) As you can see, I've lost all shame on this account.
2. Rivers of London art (of anything and anyone!) or fic that goes beyond Peter/Nightingale. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Nightingale and Peter and I like Peter/Nightingale very much! But there's now a decent amount of it in the fandom. I'd love to see stuff like Varvara interacting with Nightingale, e.g. during Foxglove Summer (and, yes, I've read the Varvara-and-Nightingale-centric Yuletide fic -- that was nice to see!), or Peter and Kumar being dorks, or Peter and Lesley working things out some time in the future.
3. Still all the crossovers between my tiny fandoms, Miles Vorkosigan/River Tam, or Astrid Llewellyn and Peter Grant being dorks together, or the Duv Galeni and William Laurence and Hermione Granger high school AU (it came up in a character roulette meme). Or fusions, fusions are great too. Everyone in Hogwarts houses! people and their daemons, their dragons, their wolfbrothers/sisters -- it's all good!
*
2015 book list:
1. Martha Wells, Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura #1)
2. Benedict Jacka, Chosen (Alex Verus #4)
3. Melissa Scott, The Kindly Ones
4. Mellissa Scott, Point of Knives
5. Benedict Jacka, Hidden (Alex Verus #5)
6. Max Gladstone, Three Parts Dead
7. Hugh Howey, Wool
8. Scott Lynch, Red Seas Under Red Skies (Locke Lamora #2)
9. Adam Rex, Smek for President (Smekday #2)
10. Scott Lynch, Republic of Thieves (Locke Lamora #3)
11. Karen Healey, Guardian of the Dead
12. Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia
13. Terry Pratchett, A Blink of the Screen
14. R.J.Palacio, Wonder
15. Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn
16. Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch
17. Lia Silver, Prisoner (Werewolf Marines)
18-19. The Rift, part 2-3, AtLA comics
20. Courtney Milan, The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister #1)
21. Lia Silver, Partner
22. Love Is Hell anthology
23. Lia Silver, Laura's Wolf (Werewolf Marines)
24. Olga Gromyko, Tsvetok Kamalejnika [Russian]
25. Seanan McGuire, Chimes at Midnight (Toby Daye #7)
26. Olga Gromyko, God Krysy: Vidunya [Russian]
27. Seanan McGuire, The Winter Long (Toby Day #8)
28. Jennifer 8 Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
29. Homecoming (Mercy Thompson graphic novel)
30. Blood Work (The Hollows graphic novel)
31. John Green, Looking for Alaska
32. Veronica Roth, Divergent
33. Olga Gromyko, God Krysy: Putnitsa (part 2 of duology)
34. Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples, Saga (volume 3)
35. Brian Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, Pride of Baghdad
36. Mary Roach, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
37. Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
38. Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Languages
39. Sergei Lukyanenko, Shestoj Dozor [Sixth Watch] [Russian]
40. Katherine Dunn, Geek Love
41. James Joyce, Ulysses
42. Naomi Novik, Uprooted
43. John Green, Paper Towns
44. John Green, An Abundance of Katherines
45. Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride
46. Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
47. Patrick Rothfuss, The Slow Regard of Silent Things
48. Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown, Stranger
49. Lynn Flewelling, The Oracle's Queen (Tamir Trilogy #3)
50. Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, Hostage (The Change #2)
51. Cassandra Claire, Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices #3)
52. Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys
53. Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves
54. Maggie Stiefvater, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
55. Benedict Jacka, Veiled (Alex Verus #6)
56. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
57. Terry Pratchett, The Shepherd's Crown
58. Alfred Szklarski, Tomek in the Land of Kangaroos [in Russian translation]
59. Steven Brust, Taltos [reread]
60. Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five
61. KJ Charles, The Magpie Lord (A Charm of Magpies #1)
62. Max Gladstone, Two Serpents Rise
63. KJ Charles, A Case of Possession (A Charm of Magpies #2)
64. C.S. Pacat (S.U.Pacat?), Captive Prince
65. C.S. Pacat/S.U.Pacat, Prince's Gambit (Captive Prince, vol.2)
66. Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
67. Lois McMaster Bujold, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
68. Andrzej Sapkowski, Krov' El'fov (Krew elfow / Blood of Elves) [in Russian translation]
69. Ilona Andrews, Magic Shifts
70. Karen Lowachee, Warchild
71. Andy Weir, The Martian
The first book you read in 2015:
Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
The last book you finished in 2015:
The Martian by Andy Weir.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2016:
Either Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer or Burndive. I'm about 30% through both of them, the former in hard cope, the latter on the Kindle. It's probably going to be Magnus, because L wants to bring it back to the friend who borrowed it earlier, then returned it, unfinished, so I could read it on holiday. But once I go back to work, I won't be toting a hardcover with me, so Burndive might still win.
How many books read in 2015?
71
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
I continued reading some non-fiction this year, and not even all for the bingo. Four non-fiction titles: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, Bonk by Mary Roach, In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent, and the Jennifer 8 Lee book about fortune cookies (which was definitely not on the same level as the others). So that's 4 non-fiction / 67 fiction = 5.6% non-fiction, which is even higher than the 5% last year.
Male/Female authors?
I made a point to actually keep a tally this year of various things as I read, so:
Books: 38 books written by females, 28, and 5 books written by mixed-gender teams (counting anthologies and artist/writer collaborations). Male to female "book" ratio, excluding the co-authored ones is 58% F/ 42% M (very slightly more female skewed than last year).
Authors: for this one, I'm counting just individual authors I've read, so that the effect of being swamped by series is factored out somewhat (although it really wasn't a problem this year, as I didn't binge-read any long series). I read 29 female authors, 20 male authors, so the ratio is a balanced 59% F/41% M, or quite similar to the above (and more female skewed than last year).
Also, because it's interesting, I tried to keep track of the gender of *protagonists*, too.
The result is 24 female protagonists, 26 male protagonists (or 48% F / 52% M). (I'm excluding books with multiple protagonists who fall across genders, and not counting non-fiction, obviously). The reason I started tracking this is that it seems even with female-dominated author lists, the protagonists still tended to be mostly male, and the trend holds this year like last year. There are still more female authors on my list writing about male protagonists (e.g. Raven Boys, Melissa Scott books, Lia Silver books) than the other way around, though interestingly a lot more of those than last year (two of the three Craft Sequence books, Smekday sequel, Mistborn, the Auri novella, The Shepherd's Crown).
Breakdown by author:
Male writers:
John Green -- 3
Gladstone -- 3
Jacka -- 3
Scott Lynch -- 2
Pratchett -- 2
KJ Charles -- 2
Adam Rex -- 1
Hugh Howey -- 1
Oliver Sacks -- 1
Sanderson -- 1
Lukyanenko -- 1
James Joyce -- 1
Rothfuss -- 1
Brust -- 1
Szklarski -- 1
Riggs -- 1
Weir -- 1
Sapkowski -- 1
Vaughan -- 1 (0.5 from two different collabs)
Female writers:
Gromyko -- 3
Lia Silver -- 3
Stiefvater -- 3
Melissa Scott -- 2
McGuire -- 2
Pacat -- 2
Rchel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith -- 1 each (two co-authored books)
Karen Healey -- 1
Martha Wells -- 1
Palacio -- 1
Okorafor -- 1
Courtney Milan -- 1
Jennifer Lee -- 1
Kim Harrison -- 1
Veronica Roth -- 1
Mary Roach -- 1
Du Maurier -- 1
Okrent -- 1
Dunne -- 1
Novik -- 1
Dessen -- 1
Clarke -- 1
Flewelling -- 1
Clare -- 1
Gaskell -- 1
Bujold -- 1
Lowachee -- 1
Ilona Andrews (husband/wife team) -- 0.5 each
Most books read by one author this year?
Last year, my top two authors had 10 and 8. This year, nobody got above 3, which is a six-way tie between Benedict Jacka, John Green, Max Gladstone, Maggie Stiefvater, Olga Gromyko, and Lia Silver (although if multiple pen names were to be added up, Silver would actually be ahead of everyone). This was a rather odd reading year for me... That sort of breakdown is definitely not usual for me.
Favorite books read?
Uprooted, The Martian, In the Land of Invented Languages, Guardian of the Dead, Prisoner. All really fun books!
Best books you read in 2014?
Different list than the one above. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was really good, and the Craft Sequence books, especially Full Fathom Five. Also, I guess I'll take everybody's word for Ulysses; I have no idea how to judge itsmerits, but it was certainly... impressive, whatever the hell that was.
Least favorite?
I liked all the fiction books I read, I think. I guess my least favorites, looking down the list, the ones that annoyed me more than they entertained me, were the fortune cookies book (it had all this interesting stuff in it, but I wish it had had a better writer!) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which, again, had an idea that could've been done well, and I didn't think it was... I certainly didn't hate or even actively DISlike these books, but they were the only ones that elicited more negative than positive feelings out of the lot I read.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
Neither of the books above were books I'd been looking forward to, so I did not feel disappointed by them. There were definitely a couple of books where I had enjoyed a lot of the book only to find the ending, or some other element, spoiling my enjoyment: Wonder was a bit like that, and both of the Locke Lamora books (#2 and #3). I'd expected more out of Paper Towns, so I guess that was a bit of a disappointment. But that's the nearest I can come to answering that question.
Best series you discovered in 2014?
The Craft Sequence books, objectively speaking, and the Werewolf Marines in terms of my enjoyment. I also discovered the Raven Cycle this year, and the Captive Prince books, and tried the Mistborn books finally, and Warchild, and some Courtney Milan, but Craft is definitely the best and Werewolf Marines the most uniformly fun for me. I also really liked my tiny taste of Saga, but I don't feel that having read one volume out of the middle qualifies as having discovered a series.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
I think Gladstone is the BEST author I've discovered this year, but I don't think he's the favorite. Either Lia Silver or Maggie Stiefvater, I guess, although I also really liked Karen Healey -- but judging by the fact that I didn't track down her other books, it probably wouldn't be fair to call her my favorite.
Lots of new authors this year for me in general, both classic (Gaskell, du Maurier) and just plain new (Weir, Lowachee, Riggs, Sapkowski, KJ Charles, Pacat, Mary Roach, even John Green).
Oldest book read?
North and South (1855)
Newest?
Oh, right, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, which I read in ARC and which technically isn't out yet.
Longest book title?
Non-fiction sweeps this category easily. It's "In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers who Tried to Build a Perfect Language" this year. But among the fiction books, there are some fairly long titles, too: The Slow Regard of Silent Things and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (6 words and ), Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen and Red Seas Under Red Skies (5 words). As you can see, Miss Peregrine's wins overall for fiction, though.
Shortest title?
Wool by Hugh Howey, continuing the four-letter shortness spree.
How many re-reads?
Just one: Taltos. Oh, wait, no, two actually: Taltos and the Tomek book, though I first read that one, what, 25 years ago...
Any in translation?
The answer is almost always no, but it's actually yes this year. I read two books in translation -- both translated from Polish to Russian: the first Tomek book and the first Witcher book.
Also, three books by Gromyko and one by Lukyanenko that were Russian to begin with (for a total of five books in Russian).
How many of this year's books were from the library?
I actually kept track of this stuff this year too! :D (I kept a spreadsheet and everything, which I started doing last year, and it really helped)
- 17 were from the library (which is super, super low for me... I don't think it's EVER been this low). And only 3 of them were in ebook this time -- I guess I go in cycles here, as the library's ebook selection catches up with me.
- 17 were bought by me (although 1 of those was bought for L and two others bought with the idea that the rodents would read them, too). 9 of these, or just over half, wer ein e format.
- 17 ...originated online (and I kind of feel bad about this, because this is more than double what it was last year, and I wanted to keep a handle on this). In my defense, though, a couple were for out-of-print titles or Russian books it would be impractical for me to procure any other way. And I bought copies of some of the others once I'd read them, or pre-ordered the next book in the series.
- 7 were gifts (including one ebook), including from ikel89 and aome, as well as some RL people. (One was actually a gift for L that I read, but I'm still counting).
- 6 were legitimate freebies -- either Project Gutenberg books or books theauthors made available for free
- 6 were books that other people had lent me (lodessa, lunasariel, my father's coworker (for The Martian), and O's teacher (for Wonder) -- who lent it to O, but I read it too)
- 1 was a reread of a book I already owned (Taltos)
All in all, btw, that's 36 books in ebook format, more again than last year, and once again (like last year) more than 50% of the books I read.
Book that most changed my perspective:
You know what, I guess the Cordelia book. The revelations about [spoiler] Aral/Jole and Cordelia/Aral/Jole, and what a long-standing thing it was, and how it started were all quite perspective-changing. As well as the [other spoiler] idea that Cordelia would want the next phase of her life to be raising six daughters...
Also, The Winter Long (Toby Daye #8) made me like Simon Torquille. I had definitely not seen that one coming... O.o
Favorite character:
Let's see, some new-to-me favorites this year: DJ Torres (and to a lesser extent Roy) from the Werewolf Marines books, Agnieszka and Sarkan from Uprooted, Ronan Lynch from the Ronan Raven Cycle, and let's say Mark Whatney from The Martian. Oh, also Mr Thornton from North and South. And Stone from Cloud Roads and The Colonel (Chip) from Looking for Alaska, though not as prominent as the protagonist-level guys. I'm developing a soft spot for Cairo Azarcon, too, but am not far enough into the Warchild books to count him as a favorite or not.
Most memorable character:
In addition to DJ and Ronan above, Mr Norrell from JSMN (bless his miserably people-avoidant heart) and Prince Marek from Uprooted. I definitely wouldn't call Marek a favorite, but he is such a FASCINATING character! Also, Laurent from the Captive Prince books.
I'm also intriguied by Felicite from the Change books. And the Craft Sequence folks aren't the kind of characters I get emotionally invested in, but they're an interesting bunch; I think Kai from Full Fathom Five, Temoc and Teo from Two Serpents Rise, and Tara and Ms Kevarian from Three Parts Dead all belong on the list.
Favorite scene:
I'm not sure "favorite" is right, but two very memorable scenes from Uprooted: Agnieszka purging the Wood from Kasia, and Marek facing the Queen at the end:
"He [Marek] blazed with determination, with longing. His armor was washed with blood and smoke, his face smeared with one bright red streak, but he looked for a moment like a child, or maybe a saint, pure with want. And the queen looked at him, and put her hand on his chest, and killed him. [...] If there was anything left of Queen Hanna, any thin scraping of will, maybe she spent it then, on one small mercy: he died without knowing he'd failed. His face didn't change. [...] He fell to the floor on his back, his armor ringing on the flagstones, still clear-eyed and certain, certain he would be heard, certain he would be victorious. He looked like a king. || He'd caught us all in his own certainty. For a moment we were all shocked into stillness."
Oh, but favorite is probably the scene where Mr Norrell attempts to lend Jonathan Strange a book
"I have his book here." Mr Norrell stood up and fetched it from the shelves. But he did not give it to Strange straightaway.
After a short silence Strange said, "You advise me to read this book?"
"Yes, indeed. I think you should read it," said Mr Norrell.
Strange waited, but Norrell continued to gaze at the book in his hand as though he were entirely at a loss as to how to proceed. "Then you must give it to me, sir," said Strange gently.
"Yes, indeed," said Mr Norrell. He approached Strange cautiously and held the book out for several moments, before suddenly tipping it up and off into Strange's hand with an odd gesture, as though it was not a book at all, but a small bird which clung to him and would on no account go to any one else, so that he was obliged to trick it into leaving his hand.
And the confrontation between them when Strange takes his leave, and their reunion, of sorts, in the end, but that one above is my favorite for the book.
And Cordelia telling Miles she and Oliver are dating was also a pretty great scene:
"Actually, Oliver and I are dating."
Miles stared. The silence stretched just a little too long, though Ekaterin raised her eyebrows, looked back and forth between Cordelia and Jole, and ventured, "Congratulations!" Miles closed his mouth.
In another moment, he opened it again. "Er... what exactly do you mean by dating? In this context."
"Screwing, dear," Cordelia replied, in her flattest Betan tones.
"...Ah." He added after a moment, "Thank you for the clarification."
Oh, and even better was the scene of Jole visiting Kareenburg University, but too long to quote in full.
Favorite quote:
I usually answer this question by going through all of my write-ups and excerpting the quotes I'd marked down that still ping me. So here are a few:
From Three Parts Dead:
"She [Ms Kevarian] excused herself from the conversation with a nod. The assassination attempt she thwarted according to club regulations, which politely but firmly requested memebers not damage the premises in their business dealings. [...] And she accepted the bridge date form the tentacled horror, with the proviso that her schedule would be inflexible for the next weveral weeks."
From "The Sea and Little Fishes", the Granny short story in A Blink of the Screen:
"People speak highly of her [Mrs Earwig]"
Granny sniffed. "Do they speak highly of me?" she said.
"No, they speak quietly of you, Esme."
"Good."
From The Raven Cycle:
"The Gray Man hated his current rental car. He got the distinct impression it hadn't been handled enough by humans when it was young, and now would never be pleasant to be around."
Adam: "Want and need were words that got eaten smaller and smaller: freedom, autonomy, a perennial bank balance, a stainless-steel condo in a dustless city, a silky black car, to make out iwth Blue, eight hours of sleep, a cell phone, a bed, to kiss Blue just once, a blister-less heel, bacon for breakfast, to hold Blue's hand, one hour of sleep, toilet paper, deodorant, a soda, a minute to close his eyes."
"'Don't fucking swear,; Ronan said [to Matthew]."
"He [Ronan] watched Kavinsky change gears as he snaked along the back roads. Every time he shifted into the fourth gear, he missed the sweet spot. Couldn't he feel the car hanging when he did?
'My eyes are up here, sweetheart,' Kavinsky said."
From the Captive Prince:
About Laurent riding behind Damen:
D: "We could try some other arrangement."
L: "You're right: it should be me in front and you carrying the horse."
From Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen:
"Well, time would tell, though as usual it could benefit from a dose of fast-penta."
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
The Martian was the one I most wanted to "fix" (in a good way), and Uprooted and the Craft books were the ones that made me miss my worldbuilding the most. But I guess the question could also be read as, book that inspired me to actually produce fanworks, and that would be The Raven Cycle (specifically, Dream Thieves) -- although, really, that's all ikel89's fault.
How many you'd actually read again?
I typically don't re-read, but I could see myself wanting to revisit Uprooted, wanting to reared the Craft Books because each book reveals some interesting facets of the other books, maaaybe wanting to reskim The Raven Cycle to see if it's all actually building up to something coherent, and ditto the Captive Prince books once it's revealed whether Laurent knows or not -- but probably just the relevant sections.
A book that you never want to read again:
Of the books that I actually enjoyed, definitely Geek Love. That was... a lot darker than I really wanted to go even once. I also don't see Warchild becoming comfort reading any time soon, for similar reasons -- too grim.
Book you recommended most to others in 2015?
Uprooted, definitely. I continued to rec The Goblin Emperor to people, too, but that wasn't a book I read this year.
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2015:
It's a tie between Alex Verus, The Craft Sequence, Werewolf Marines, and The Raven Cycle, with 3 each. I would definitely have finished out The Raven Cycle if the fourth book was out already, and would've read an additional number of Werewolf Marines books, I think.
The genre you read the most in 2015:
This was another category that was much more scattered than usual.
Fantasy overall: 40 (still the majority, but not as dominant as last year)
- Second-world (back in the lead after the urban fantasy fest last year): 19 [Lynch x2, Mistborn, JSMN, Flewelling, Rothfuss, Brust, Cloud Roads, Point of Knives, Craft x3, Gromyko x3]
- Urban fantasy: 17 [Werewold Marines x3, Alex Verus x3, Raven Cycle x3, Toby Daye x2, The Change books x2, Karen Healey, Lukyanenko, Okorafor, Kate Daniels]
- Paranormal romance: 3 [Magpie Lord books x2, Love is Hell]
- Steampunk: 1 [Clockwork Princess]
Sci-fi: 7 [Vorkosigan, Wool, Warchild, Divergent, Kindly Ones, The Martian, Smekday]
Graphic novel: 6 (which I'm counting as a genre, but really all of them were fantasy except Saga, which is sci-fi)
Non-fantasy YA: 4 [John Green x3 + Sarah Dessen]
Nonfiction: 4
Non-paranormal romance: 3 [x2 m/m (Captive Prince), 1 m/f Regency]
Literature: 2 [Ulysses, North & South]
Kidlit: 2 [Wonder, Tomek]
Gothic: 1 [Rebecca]
Horror: 1 [Geek Love]
Comic/graphic novel:
I also decided to count adult vs YA vs kidlit, applying judgement, of course:
Adult: 50
YA: 17
Kidlit: 4
Similar breakdown like last year, actually.
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2015:
I only read two things that I think would qualify as classics: Ulysses and North and South. I liked them both, but I think I enjoyed reading North and South more on the whole.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of the year?
North and South, I think. I was expecting, like, tepid Austen-esque romance and was reading it just for the antonyms in the title, but I actually really enjoyed it, and was impressed by the nuance of social commentary.
The hardest book you read in 2015 (topic or writing style):
Oh, this one is very easy! Ulysses. It wasn't AS hard as I was expecting it to be (though I'm sure a whole lot of it went over my head), but it definitely wasn't easy, and I was glad I was reading it in short chunks, as part of a pact and with a cheering section.
The funniest book you read in 2015:
I didn't read any humour books specifically, but Okrent's book on conglangs (yes, really), the Werewolf Marine books, and Locke Lamora, and bits of A Blink of the Screen made me laugh a lot.
The saddest book you read in 2015:
The Shepherd's Crown. Books usually don't make me cry *that* much, although some of it was also because it was the last Discworld book *sniff*. The Pride of Baghdad was also really sad.
The shortest book you read in 2015:
The Rift comic books. Or, if full-on comic books are to be excluded, probably Wonder, which was 320 pages.
The longest book that you read in 2015:
Mistborn was 672 pages. Red Seas Under Red Skies was 760 pages (a little longer than book 3). Some editions of Ulysses are 800+ pages, but I think that must be with annotations, which was not the version I had. So I guess Ulysses or Red Seas?
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
I read quite a bit outside of what I consider my comfort zone: I read a horror novel (Geek Love), a gothic (Rebecca), straight romance (Duchess War), m/m (with paranormal trappings, but it was more m/m than urban fantasy) (the Charm of Magpies books). I also read Ulysses, which I think is sort of outside of everyone's comfort zone by definition. I think the book I enjoyed the most, though, was Captive Prince, which is outside my comfort zone for reasons of being slavefic, which is not my thing. But I think I enjoyed it because it's really not that committed to being slavefic, heh.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2015?
The Martian was a hell of a ride, so it's probably that.
Most beautifully written book in 2015?
Ulysses was most MEMORABLY written, for sure. Most beautifully... IDK, but I marked a lot of passages of Uprooted just for the prose, so maybe that?
Book you most anticipated in 2015?
I hadn't known to anticipate the Cordelia book, and nothing else on the list is anything I waited particularly long for. Smek for President, maybe?
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?
It's harder and harder for me to answer cover questions as I read a lot of the books in ebook form -- Kindle skips over them, and even when I do see the covers, they're not in color, and thus not very interesting. But of the ones I actually remember seeing:
I really liked the cover of Bonk, because ladybugs! And it's nice and understated while also quite explicit, for a book about sex:
I'm generally not a fan of covers with people on them, but I like the imagery of Dream Thieves:
And I like the abstract but memorable cover of Wool:
And, not a cover, but I also like the way The Shepherd's Crown looks underneath the jacket cover, with the little embossed bees.
Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?
Maybe The Shepherd's Crown? It's just... an ending, and a very particular kind of ending. I have a shamble to show for it, at least.
Also, considering the closet cosplay as Ronan and the fact that I wrote a fucking sestina for The Raven Cycle, I have a sneaking suspicion I should also mention The Dream Thieves. I... did not sign up for this. Like, at all. *looks pointedly at ikel89*
Book you can't believe you waited till 2015 to finally read?
Ulysses, I suppose -- I've been meaning to read it since college. But also Oracle's Queen, because that book has been in my possession for god knows how long (sorry, lunasariel!)
Book that had a scene that left you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?
Not so much specific scenes, but a couple of books had threads that I really wanted to discuss with people. Like:
- the twist at the end of Wool part 1 (although the later parts of the book were much less impactful)
- the event in Looking for Alaska: [Spoiler!]I spent a long time discussing with L whether we thought Alaska had committed suicide or not. I still don't really know what I think.
- the ending of God Krysy. What the hell was that? What am I supposed to take away from it? WHY?
- is something going on with [name that could be a spoiler?]Marcia in Toby Daye #7-8?
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2016?
I don't really think in those terms... I mean, I intend to finish Magnus Chase and Burndive at the first opportunity. I have an ASOIAF novella (aome's present) waiting for me. I want to try Indexing, which I also have, thanks to ms_geekette. But there isn't any sort of queue.
New book you are most anticipating for 2016?
- The Hanging Tree (RoL #6) -- in June...
- Ronan Boys #4 (April) and Captive Prince #3 (Feb), because this year is all ikel89's fault
- Peace Talks (does that have a release date yet?)
- Vallista? Please?
- The last Temeraire book (which has no release date still, I think?)
- Doors of Stone (Kvothe #3) if it ends up being released in 2016 (which it won't...)
- and ditto for Winds of Winter (and hopefully I will still care by the time it comes along)
**
And a quick meme to wrap up the fannish year-end memes:
Favorite main character of 2015: The book ones are a bit repetitious from above: DJ Torres (Werewolf Marines), Agnieszka (Uprooted; although I will never learn to spell her name right), Mark Whatney (The Martian). But since I can roll in some non-book ones for this one, honorable mention goes to Scott Lang from Ant-Man.
Favorite villain of 2015: Uprooted had the CREEPIEST villain in the Wood. I liked Voske in Hostage a lot, too. And Guardian of the Dead had some nice antagonists, too, although the intermediate antagonists, not the ones that Ellie ended up opposing ultimately. Oh, and some kind of honorable mention goes to the Raven Cycle antagonists, who are too hilarious to qualify as villains, but are very entertaining to read about. Also, Roland in Magic Shifts, who is... I don't even know at this point.
In non-book villains, I like the Wolfram & Hart gang from Angel. Also, B5's Shadows are still suuuuper creepy, as is Morden, and I still ADORE Emepror Cartagia, Decadent Phoenix that he is. But none of the movie villains apparently made any impact on me, except as in "LOL Darth Wannabe".
Favorite M/F couples of 2015: Going with canonical ships, Jean/Ezri was SO NICE in Red Seas Under Red Skies (*looks pointedly at Scott Lynch*), Agnieszka/Sarkan charmed me immensely and did not trigger any student/teacher squick whatsoever, and An Abundance of Katherines and Going for a Ride both surprised me by being YA with relationships I was actually rooting for (Colin/Lindsey and Auden/Eli). Also, Moon/Jade was pretty adorable in Cloud roads. And they haven't become a favorite ship or anything, but it turns out I like Kate/Curran so much better now that they've separated themselves from the Pack; that was nice, too!
And the miniseries made me ship Jonathan/Arabella in the way the book never particularly did, though I liked it well enough there, too.
Favorite F/F couples of 2015: I did read a couple of books with canonical F/F couples in them (the Change series, the Craft Sequence, Toby Daye books, possibly some others I'm forgetting), but the couples weren't really doing much for me... unless you count the very bakcground couple of rat trainers in the Change books -- I liked those, for predictable reasons, though I think they have, like, five lines of dialogue between them. I would have an easier time being invested in Agnieszka/Kasia (Uprooted), Teo/Kai (Full Fathom Five), or even Arabella/Emma Pole (JSMN miniseries), even though I'm fine/even better with the canonical relationships between these women.
Favorite M/M couples of 2015: Lots of canonical m/m couples in my reading this year, what with the Astreiant and Captive Prince fellows, the Charm of Magpies books, and Adam/Ronan heading towards canon. I do like Damen/Laurent a lot, and what little I've seen of Rathe/Eslingen, but definitely prefer Ronan/Kavinsky (in all its fucked-uppedness) for TRC. And non-canonically, I've got to put in a word for DJ/Roy (Werewolf Marines). And apparently we're shipping Cairo Azarcon/Nico now? Oh, also, Jonathan Strange/Wellington, wherein Wellington calls him "Merlin"; whatever, I like Wellington, so sue me.
Favorite Crossover couples of 2015: Miles/River forever. Also, it is only natural to want to crossover my new magical Napoleonic Wars fandom (JSMN) with my existing Napoleonic Wars with dragons fandom (Temeraire). I don't have any romantic ships in mind here, but I would just find it hilarious to see what Mr Norrell would be like confronted with a dragon, even a very bookish dragon, like Temeraire or Perscitia. Jonathan would take to it like a duck to water, though, I bet.
Favorite Polyships of 2015: Interestingly enough, this year's reading brought some canonical polyships: Jenny/Ross/Mia in the Change books, and Aral/Cordelia/Oliver in the Vorkosiverse. The latter is working a lot better for me than the former, thought I do appreciately poly rather than another stupid love triangle showing up in YA, 'cos it's about time. Also, I haven't been able to figure out if Jade/Moon/Chime (as a V) is canonical or not, but I'm down for it in any case. And I still want to read some Csevet/Maia/Csethiro, which seems to not exist despite two dozen more The Goblin Emperor fics... And Mark/everyone on Hermes, apparently... XP
Favorite Crossover Polyships of 2015: Not a crossover polyship, but I was reading the Goblin Emperor fics that Yuletide produced and attempting to isolate what works and doesn't work for me in this fandom. As mentioned above, I'd love to see Csevet/Maia/Csethiro, and apparently the thing I'm looking for there is something not unlike Jole/Aral/Cordelia the way it worked in my head when I first heard it was going to be canon but before I read the actual book: i.e. a bi Maia who loves his formidable wife very much but also enjoys, with her full knowledge and blessing, a fulfilling relationship with his very competent secretary, with some interesting but well-balanced power dynamics (not that I'm equating Aral and Maia here, because, NO, and the balance of power between Csevet and Maia and Aral and Oliver is very different in several ways that are sort of pulling against each other, but that's apparently the dynamic I'm missing).
NOTPs of 2015: I'm interpreting this as canonical pairings that didn't work for me, and boy do I have one. Locke/Sabetha. Just STOP, please. Make it go away. Also, Toby/Tybalt is still not doing anything for me, news at 11.
Fandom that you never expected to get into: Captive Prince. It's all... well, you know the rest. Also, the Charm of Magpies books, and I'm still not sure it was the right decision, though I read two of them and will probably read more.
Fandom that made an unexpected comeback: Vorkosigan Saga! In the sense that I thought there would be no more books in the universe, and then there was. Which, yay!
Last fandom of 2015: Meaning, the last fandom that I got into? The Martian, I guess, seeing as how it was the last book I read for the year and I've already read through almost the entire Yuletide crop of stories.