1. What was your favourite book of 2009? If this question seems too hard, feel free to list your three favourite books, or your five favourite, or ten
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1. What was your favourite book of 2009? In a random order: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Seagull by Chehkov, The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Elisabeth by Brigitte Hamann, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Siddharta by Hermann Hesse, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll… I read a lot of really good books.
2. Same as above, but your least favourite. Julia by Rhijnvis Feith was the only book I really hated. I also quite disliked Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland en Een Lied voor Lore by Hedwig van de Velde.
3. Was there a book that disappointed you, or that didn't live up to your expectations? Een Lied voor Lore sounded like it had a whole lot of potential. It didn’t make any of it come true. I was also disappointed by Fahrenheit 451 - it was okay, but I can’t see at all why people love it so much.
4. Funniest book that you read in 2009? [You can expand any of these questions to include more than one.] I haven’t read
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I'm so impressed that you can read in so many diverse languages! I can only read in English and in French if it's fairly easy - there would be no hope of reading Sartre or Camus but I could probably manage Paris Match!
Well, I am raised Dutch, so I can read that. Than I am fairly good at English, so I can read that as well and the same goes for German. It ends there though! I cannot read Russian (which, literaturewise, would be amaaazing) and I can only read French when I am very, very patient. So I can only read one language more than you! (or one-and-a-half)
1. What was your favourite book of 2009? If this question seems too hard, feel free to list your three favourite books, or your five favourite, or ten
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I’ve cut the questions I couldn’t think of a decent answer to, to save space.
1. What was your favourite book of 2009?
The Alexander McCall Smith books in the Ladies No.1 Detective Agency series, although I started the series in ’08. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Philosophical crime fiction with a Western feel. Revenge by Stephen Fry (which I’d previously read under its original title The Star’s Tennis Balls). A reworking and updating of the Count of Monte Cristo, well worth reading again. Regeneration by Pat Barker… first in a trilogy; this and the sequels, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road were my favourite reads of this year, hands down. Incredible writing. Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor… historical fiction, absolutely stunning book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer - wartime historical fiction, epistolary telling; warm, interesting and delightful. The Road by Cormac McCarthy, post-apocalyptic (and/or speculative) fiction. Bleak and gripping. Oryx and Crake by Margaret
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The Glass Castle was an astonishing book. I still remember the shock of reading that first page; it's one of the most attention-grabbing openings I've ever read. That was a book that brought home the saying "truth is stranger than fiction".
I thought that No Country for Old Men was brilliant, but I also really liked Atonement and a couple of other books by McEwan. The Road is in my TBR pile but I've been too depressed to try it, although I think I could manage it now. Is it as compelling as No Country for Old Men?
I read The Road one afternoon sitting in a cafe in a Waterstones bookstore, and then finishing it when I got home. I found it mesmerising, but it was my first taste of McCarthy's writing style.
Atonement was just too depressing and pointless for my taste. The writing was excellent, but this was one of those rare cases when excellent writing didn't make the story worth reading.
1. What was your favourite book of 2009? If this question seems too hard, feel free to list your three favourite books, or your five favourite, or ten
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1. What was your favourite book of 2009? I've got three: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil (Inga Muscio), Lost Japan (Alex Kerr), Word War Z (Max Brooks). 2. Same as above, but your least favourite. In Memoriam (Tennyson). I know it's a poem, but it's book-length. 3. Was there a book that disappointed you, or that didn't live up to your expectations? Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman). I love Gaiman, but it was just okay. 4. Funniest book that you read in 2009? Beyond Heaving Bosoms (The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels) (Sarah Wendell, Candy Tan). 5. Scariest book that you read this year? World War Z (Max Brooks). 6. Most difficult book that you read and completed this year. I'm not sure, so I'm going to pass. 7. Any books on your list this year that you feel somewhat embarassed about admitting you've read? Maybe the fact that I read all of Amy Tan's novels in succession back in July? 8. Longest book you read this year. The Faded Sun Trilogy (C.J. Cherryh). It's an omnibus that I read as one book - 784 pages
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Comments 37
1. What was your favourite book of 2009?
In a random order:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Seagull by Chehkov, The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Elisabeth by Brigitte Hamann, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Siddharta by Hermann Hesse, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll… I read a lot of really good books.
2. Same as above, but your least favourite.
Julia by Rhijnvis Feith was the only book I really hated. I also quite disliked Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland en Een Lied voor Lore by Hedwig van de Velde.
3. Was there a book that disappointed you, or that didn't live up to your expectations?
Een Lied voor Lore sounded like it had a whole lot of potential. It didn’t make any of it come true. I was also disappointed by Fahrenheit 451 - it was okay, but I can’t see at all why people love it so much.
4. Funniest book that you read in 2009? [You can expand any of these questions to include more than one.] I haven’t read ( ... )
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AS you say, the important thing is the book, not the genre, but publishers don't seem to get that.
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1. What was your favourite book of 2009?
The Alexander McCall Smith books in the Ladies No.1 Detective Agency series, although I started the series in ’08.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Philosophical crime fiction with a Western feel.
Revenge by Stephen Fry (which I’d previously read under its original title The Star’s Tennis Balls). A reworking and updating of the Count of Monte Cristo, well worth reading again.
Regeneration by Pat Barker… first in a trilogy; this and the sequels, The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road were my favourite reads of this year, hands down. Incredible writing.
Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor… historical fiction, absolutely stunning book.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer - wartime historical fiction, epistolary telling; warm, interesting and delightful.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy, post-apocalyptic (and/or speculative) fiction. Bleak and gripping.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret ( ... )
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I thought that No Country for Old Men was brilliant, but I also really liked Atonement and a couple of other books by McEwan. The Road is in my TBR pile but I've been too depressed to try it, although I think I could manage it now. Is it as compelling as No Country for Old Men?
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Atonement was just too depressing and pointless for my taste. The writing was excellent, but this was one of those rare cases when excellent writing didn't make the story worth reading.
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2. Same as above, but your least favourite. In Memoriam (Tennyson). I know it's a poem, but it's book-length.
3. Was there a book that disappointed you, or that didn't live up to your expectations? Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman). I love Gaiman, but it was just okay.
4. Funniest book that you read in 2009? Beyond Heaving Bosoms (The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels) (Sarah Wendell, Candy Tan).
5. Scariest book that you read this year? World War Z (Max Brooks).
6. Most difficult book that you read and completed this year. I'm not sure, so I'm going to pass.
7. Any books on your list this year that you feel somewhat embarassed about admitting you've read? Maybe the fact that I read all of Amy Tan's novels in succession back in July?
8. Longest book you read this year. The Faded Sun Trilogy (C.J. Cherryh). It's an omnibus that I read as one book - 784 pages ( ... )
Reply
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