According to Goodreads, I've read 106 books. It will be 107 by tomorrow, since I'm only four pages from the end of The Weathermonger. This count isn't a perfect representation of the picture, though, since it includes five novellas, thirteen graphic novels, and at least one audiobook performance that only sort of counts as a book. Still, it's a good way to grasp how things have been going.
I can't tell you what the best book I read this year was, but I can give you a sampling of the five-star ratings I've given. My star ratings (like everyone else's, I suppose) mostly reflect my reaction in the moment, and looking back on them, I'm sometimes surprised--something I only moderately enjoyed stayed with me, or something I loveloveloved loses its luster. But sometimes, great books are just great books. So:
Troubled Waters, Sharon Shinn. Reviewed here. I love Sharon Shinn. I don't love every one of her books uncritically, but I think that makes me love her more--I know it's not just that I'm bewitched or she has a gimmick; it's that she writes such good books.
The Warrior's Apprentice (The Vorkosigan Saga), Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm finally reading the Miles books. They're just as much fun as I was promised. I read two quickly, and now I'm dawdling so I don't finish too fast. I can't say much about how great these are that hasn't been said a million times--the Amazon reviews alone are so glowing as to be bottomless.
Some nonfiction....
Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick. Reviewed here. Even more timely now that Kim Jong Il is dead and North Korea's about to go just a little wonkier. Amazingly well-painted portrait of life in the modern world but cut off from it.
Letting Go of God, Julia Sweeney. Spiritual journeys--complicated ones by intellectuals, especially--are one of my favorite types of stories. This is actually an audiobook/performance, so I'm not sure it counts as a book, but I'd like to recommend it here anyway, because I really liked the way all Sweeney's considerations orbited around trying to reconcile her experiences as a believer with the mythology she had grown up with. Moving, and thoughtful, and funny.
And a couple of novels...
Rules for Virgins, Amy Tan. This one is a novella, and absolutely lovely. It's an instructive monologue from an experienced geisha to her student. The subtleties of relationships--power, sex, culture--and the delicate pressures everyone is exerting are intricate and fascinating. And the hints of character that are revealed through the lessons are equally compelling. I wish it had been longer.
Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good year. I found a lot of great new authors and had a lot of fun in a lot of great fantasy worlds. There are all kinds of things that I imagine myself reading in the new year--more literary fiction, more classics--but I'm having so much fun the way I'm going, I'm not setting any goals. We'll trust where the wind takes me.
Welcome 2012!
2 comments:
I remember everyone raving about Marcelo in the Real World, but I've not read it yet. I admit I didn't really like the 100,000 Kingdoms at all, but I am really intrigued by your comments on Sharon Shinn. I recently read her Summers at Castle Auburn and didn't really love it, though I wonder if that has more to do with my age at the time of reading it than anything else.
So there you have it—you've officially beaten me. After our conversation last year I've been obsessively adding all the books I've read to GoodReads, and my total is 91. See? You *do* read more than me.
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