This year I tried to read A LOT, and I did. Here’s what I read, in no particular order
Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
This book is an excellent example of narrative voice, and
the main character has a lot of charisma.
It’s about a young black orphan named Bud Caldwell living in the early
1900s, who is trying to find his father.
It’s a children’s book, and a winner of the Newberry award and the
Coretta Scott King award. Five stars.
Zero Day
David Baldacci
When I heard that every book that Baldacci has ever written
has hit #1 or #2 on the NYT bestseller list I figured I couldn’t lose. Zero Day is cheeseburger writing at its
best. Everyone loves a cheeseburger,
right? It’s not gourmet food, but it
goes down easy and you get a satisfying meal.
Reading Zero Day you can pick out all the tools and tropes of modern
schlock, all tastefully served up.
There’s the super-short chapters that increment the plot (sometimes
tediously so), the constant use of hooks to keep you going (and make you feel
like you’re reading one long sales-pitch), the stakes that steadily mount until
you’re certain the world is about to blow up, and the super-big pay-off at the
end. It was an enjoyable read, all in
all. If you like military spy thrillers,
you’ll like this. Four stars.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Diana Wynne Jones
This was one of the most creative books I’ve read in a long
time. I can’t say too much about it
without giving a whole bunch of the plot away.
I had two gripes, although they were not fatal. First, I thought the main character was too
complacent with the fact that she got turned into an old lady. Most girls (as in, just about every girl) I
know would totally freak out. That
pulled me out of the story for a while, but it wasn’t enough to put the book
down. The other problem I had was that
the writing in places felt kind of rough.
All that said, my overall impression is still rather fond. Jones did a good job on this story. Four stars.
The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler
Chandler is one of the definitive detective noir
authors from the early 1900s, and his writing is really good, but in the case
of this story I don’t think it lives up to his past work. It’s tedious, there are no stakes, and there
is no reason for the main character to stay involved, yet he does. I give it two, maybe three stars.
Trouble is My Business (anthology)
Raymond Chandler
Chandler is the author of 1,000 one-liners. One of my favorites has to be from Farewell, My Lovely: “It was a
blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a
hole in a stained-glass window.” I read
short stories because they give a lot of insights to the craft of writing, and
they can be difficult to pull off. I
thought that the cleverest story from this book, was Goldfish. The title doesn’t
sound like much, but the plot was clever. I also liked Trouble is My Business. I
can’t remember anything about the other two, which says enough. Three Stars.
Icefall
Matthew J. Kirby
I really, really liked Icefall. It’s advertised as a juvenile mystery, but
I’d definitely classify it as early medieval fiction. This is the kind of thing that I really
love. I’m really tired of epic fantasy,
and the way it all feels the same.
Icefall was so different and refreshing.
The characters are Scandinavian, the children of a war-lord who’ve been
sent away by their father to be hidden for their protection. I love the way Kirby brings out the early
medieval lifestyle and mindset, it’s nothing like the high fantasy schlock that
you see so much of these days. Five
stars.
The Lost Kingdom
Matthew J. Kirby
After reading Icefall, I was jazzed for something else by
this author, but I found it kind of hard to get into this story. Maybe it was a little too young for me, or
maybe it was the way I found all of Kirby’s science way too much of a
stretch. Meh. Did not finish.
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
This was a really good find.
I love the opening hook: “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held
a knife.” I read that to my writer’s
group, and they were all impressed. Then
I said, did you notice the blatant use of passive voice? That got us into a nice little argument about
why passive voice works in some cases but not others. I still don’t think it’s nearly as evil or
taboo as people say (I’ll get off my soap-box, now). This story was a case-study in milieu. An evil man has killed everyone in a family
except for the toddler, who wandered out of the house and into an ancient graveyard
a couple blocks down the street. The
ghosts in the graveyard take responsibility for the baby and raise him. I could write a whole blog-post about how
this book puts you into a place. The
graveyard is filled with different types of ghosts, and forbidden places. Add this one to your list. Five stars.
Different Seasons (anthology)
Stephen King
I don’t read Stephen King, so much as I study Stephen
King. Again, short stories are a really
great way to see how authors put together plot, characters, concepts, setting,
and narrative voice. The best way to
learn how to write like a great author is to read stuff that they write. The best two stories in this book are Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,
and The Body. I could go on and on about these two
(Shawshank Redemption was made into a movie).
I also liked Apt Pupil. Stories about children becoming corrupted and
turning evil are always disturbing. Five
stars.
The Fifth Element
Terry Pratchett
This is one of Pratchett’s better stories. It started humorous, then it got kind of
serious and sentimental and I-don’t-know-what in the middle, then it became
humorous again at the end. Even still,
it was a good read. Five stars.
Legion
Brandon Sanderson
My only gripe about this one is that it was so short. It’s just 80 pages. The concept is brilliant, but it’s kind of
like an amusement park ride: a thrilling rush, and over way too soon. Sanderson could spin a whole series on this
one. If you’re looking for a nice snack
to take the edge of your reader’s hunger, give this one a try. Four stars.
The Last Kingdom
Bernard Cornwell
This was a re-read.
Again, I study my favorite authors.
Cornwell really understands the warrior’s mindset…not that I’ve actually
been in the military…but he does really put you into the action. He writes absolutely the best battle scenes, and
for the most part his stories are historically accurate. So, you are entertained for 300 pages—and—you
learn a bit of history, too! Can’t lose
there. My copy of this book is so
heavily underlined it looks like I’ve studied for a college course. I gotta put in a quote here:
Tears were blurring my sight, and
perhaps the battle madness came onto me because, despite my panic, I rode at
the long-haired Dane and struck at him with my small sword, and his sword
parried mine, and my feeble blade bent like a herring’s spine. It just bent and he drew back his own sword
for the killing stroke, saw my pathetic bent blade, and began to laugh. I was pissing myself, he was laughing, and I
beat at him again with the useless sword and still he laughed, and then he
leaned over, plucked the weapon from my hand, and threw it away. He picked me up then. I was screaming and hitting at him, but he
thought it all so very funny, and he draped me belly down on the saddle in
front of him and then he spurred into the chaos to continue the killing.
And that was how I met Ragnar,
Ragnar the Fearless, my brother’s killer, and the man whose head was supposed
to grace a pole on Bebbanburg’s ramparts, Earl Ragnar.
ooh-ho-ho! (insert nasal French laugh, here) Il est
si bon!! It’s like a Swedish massage
with words. Five stars—no, this one gets
a five-plus!
Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey
This was okay. It was
pretty good as far as hard sci-fi goes.
I thought Corey did a good job portraying the unforgiving reality of
space. Still, I’m not sure what I
thought of it, overall. It had some good
stuff. 3 to 4 stars.
The Alchemist: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Michael Scott
Juvenile urban fantasy cheeseburger writing. This had some interesting ideas, but I didn’t
get all that into it. Not sure why. I wished there was a little more character
development, for one. 3 stars.
The Hound / The Colour Out of Space
H. P. Lovecraft
My wife picked up a book of Lovecraft’s stories. I’m not sure why, she’s really not into
horror, but from time to time she’ll check out an anthology from the library
and then pick out the stuff worth looking at, and give me a list. I was interested in The Hound, because it was another black-dog story, like Hound of the Baskervilles. I’m keenly interested in black-dog stories,
because the sequel to Mage’s Craft
(the novel I wrote) is going to be kind of about this. Not sure what to rate these. 3.5 stars.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
I had really mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, the story is brilliant. This is worthy of a Stephen King award for horror
/ speculative fiction, or something.
It’s that good. On the other hand
I’m not sure about Bradbury’s writing, per se.
Bradbury is a master of metaphor, but sometimes he overdoes it to the
point where you really can’t tell what’s going on. There was quite a bit of that in this novel. I had to re-read several scenes, and some of
them I just had to shrug and move on.
And on top of that, the main character’s father (the librarian) talks
with the same heavily metaphorical voice as the narrator, which makes me wonder
who’s narrating, and who’s speaking in dialog.
Anyway, I’m probably a heretic for saying this because Bradbury is so
well respected, but 3 stars.
Partials
Dan Wells
This was really well done. I’ll probably pick up the
sequel. Someday. I’d be more excited about it if there weren’t
so many post-apocalyptic novels out there.
Even still, four stars. Go read
it.
Redshirts
John Scalzi
I have mixed feelings about Scalzi. On the one hand I don’t appreciate the way he
uses his fame and his clout in the Sci-Fi community to push his heavily liberal
agenda and shame other authors who don’t follow his beliefs…and on the other
hand, his writing is just so gawl-dang good!
Scalzi isn’t Stephen King, and he’s not Bernard Cornwell. He’s not that kind of good. He’s more like…hilariously entertaining Terry
Pratchett kind of good. He fancies
himself as a comical sci-fi writer, like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), but I don’t agree with that so
much, either. I never took Adams
seriously—and I was never meant to—but I do take Scalzi seriously. He has a way of being able to spin a serious
plot, weave in a social issue (sometimes a little in your face), and pull it
off in a way that feels really entertaining.
I can zip through 30 pages like it’s nothing. Something else about Scalzi’s writing, too,
is that he never describes his characters, and he never describes scenery. His stories are always page after page of
witty, tight, charming, serious-yet-funny, repartee. Yum!
Five stars. Oh, wait…the book is
about a bunch of crewmen on a space-ship—er…never mind, that will totally give
it away. Just read it!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey
I read this because I’m looking for character sketches for
the sequel to my novel, Mage’s Craft. Nurse Ratched is at the top of everyone’s
top-ten list of all-time villains. When
I heard that the movie was made from a book, I checked it out from the
library. The writing is super-good. It’s Stephen King good. You literary snobby types will love it, too. Five big-ones.
The Host
Stephanie Meyer
I think I grew half a uterus reading this. Tedious, tedious, tedious. There’s a lot of emotional working-it-out
kind of internal struggle, which as I guy made me want to slap the main
character and tell her to pull her crap together. That said, I DID finish it. Am I made into a better person? A more caring sort of man, in touch with his
feminine side? Not really sure. That said, I think the book merits some
serious praise. You’ll like it. Even if you’re a guy. It’s worth it. 3.5 to 4 stars (depending on how many
X-chromosomes you have).
Partial credit
Everything’s Eventual
Stephen King
This is another anthology.
It’s got a nice mix of stuff in it, and all of it short. I read short story anthologies when I’m
between books and looking for a snack.
Something light. I’m still
working my way through it, but currently I’m stuck in the middle of Fuzzy Nation (another Scalzi book), and
after that I’ve got something else that I grabbed off the library shelf at
random.
So…that’s nineteen books, and some spare change if you count
the Lovecraft stories. Wow, a record for
me. It’s been a very full year.
So what have you read this year? I’m always looking for something new. Leave a comment below.
