2010 books
35) Richard Matheson, The Shrinking Man, 1956
If ISFDb is correct this SF Masterworks edition in 2002 (the first title to be listed after a year's haitus), was only the third UK edition for The Shrinking Man. Scott Carey encounters a mysterious radioactive cloud while out at sea, and his journey down to microscopic size is unstoppable. No doubt this was a tough read: Richard Matheson gave us one impossible thing to believe here and stuck with it all the way. You are put inside Scott Carey's head, and whether you like it or not his disposition just gets angrier the smaller he becomes. Matheson is cataloging the relentless dismantling of a man who's been subjected to random injustice after injustice, documenting his battles with himself, those he loves, the trials of adapting to his ever-diminishing size and the seven-legged black widow spider that wants him for lunch. It's hard going all the way, hence this was not an especially enjoyable book although it's certainly memorable, and while the finale of the last half dozen pages do make the uncomfortable journey a bit more uplifting I'd only recommend this if a reader wants something grim that challenges on several levels at once. But of one thing there's no doubt: way back in the ’50s, and with this coming just a couple of years after I Am Legend, Matheson was a master.