I feel like the title says it all.
Still! To clarify:
It’s time to talk about books you’re digging. So, your goal is to drop into the comments and give us one book — and I hate that I have to say this but not your own book — that you read this year and loved. And do tell us why you dug it, yeah? This can be new books from this year, but isn’t restricted to this particular slice of temporal pie.
I’ll offer up two books I just read —
The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs, and Authority, by Jeff Vandermeer. The former is a Gunslingery fantasy with demon-bound steamships and guns and bloodthirsty elves in an alternate version of America. It’s short, but richly-layered, and John’s writing is like quicksand: one step in and you’re already drawn down and trapped within the prose. The latter book is about a thousand miles from the former, but equally amazing. Authority is the follow-up to Annihilation, and does a great job at answering questions from the first book while introducing a multiplying rabbit litter of enigmas all its own. It is a masterpiece of creepy, queasy discomfort. Vandermeer wields unease like a weapon. His prose is dense, a thicket you sometimes need to chop through, but worth the effort.
And yes, I know I told you to recommend one book and I’m recommending two but IT’S MY BLOG I CAN VIOLATE THE RULES IF I WANT TO and also cry if I want to and also eat cake frosting with my fingers if I want to SHUT UP AND DON’T JUDGE ME.
See you in the comments, word-nerds.
JJ says:
Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach, and Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Both smart, big space opera adventures.
March 24, 2014 — 2:54 PM
theviewfromtuesday says:
Wool by Hugh Howey. A dystopia novel for adults. I don’t need to sell it on here. It speaks for itself.
March 24, 2014 — 3:21 PM
boydstun215 says:
Definitely the best book I read in 2013. Planning to read Shift soon.
March 24, 2014 — 11:08 PM
Laura says:
“Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg. I’m normally not that into books-on-writing, especially slightly “touchy feely” ones — but man, Goldberg just GETS it. So much of this book seemed to speak directly to me. Highly recommended for writers.
March 24, 2014 — 3:49 PM
Wendy Christopher says:
Oh heck yeah – I remember reading that one just after I’d come out of a dark, dark place – life-wise as well as writing-wise. It seemed like everything she wrote was just what I needed to hear at that time. I can recommend her other book ‘Wild Mind’ as well.
March 24, 2014 — 5:02 PM
Ryan Viergutz says:
Tsutomu Nihei’s Biomega. Third volume, when it shifted storylines, was the best. Morbid, brutal, gory and twisted bio-nightmare.
March 24, 2014 — 4:19 PM
boydstun215 says:
Definitely going to check this out! Sounds cool.
March 24, 2014 — 11:09 PM
joannadacosta2014 says:
Misfit’s – The Scripts, Series One by Howard Overman. I chose it, because Misfit’s series one and two are two of the finest bits of television ever produced. I thought I might get insight on writing better dialogue. The book was mind bending. I felt like I was watching the show. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve seen the program already, or that the writing is so sharp, but the scripts communicate the the story fully formed into your brain. It is an amazing display of skill. You can purchase just series one, episode one if you don’t want the whole first series. It’s up there with my best book purchases, I would put it in the category of “how to” and reading for entertainment.
March 24, 2014 — 4:35 PM
Elizabeth Poole says:
I was going to say “Dead Things” by Stephan Blackmore, because it’s the perfect noirish urban fantasy, but then I realized I read that in 2013. So my pick is “The Siren” by Tiffany Reisz. Gorgeous, heartbreaking book. It’s erotica, and there’s some sex scenes, but it’s there to highlight the characters and their lives. Reisz really nails the sort of screwed up, “I love you, but you also emotionally hurt me in so many ways” that I hardly ever see outside of literary fiction. I cannot recommend this series any higher.
March 24, 2014 — 4:38 PM
Aerin says:
I recently discovered The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and am positively addicted. The first book, Cinder, is a retelling of Cinderella by way of Sailor Moon, with cyborgs. YES PRECIOUS.
March 24, 2014 — 4:41 PM
Echoe says:
Same here… I’m already halfway through the second book. They’re not perfect of course, but they’re better written than I usually expect from the YA genre. The world is so immersive. Lots of fun 🙂
March 24, 2014 — 6:54 PM
April says:
The Coldest Girl In Coldtown, by Holly Black does the impossible: it makes Vampires interesting again. It’s also YA that doesn’t read like YA. Not that things that do read like YA are bad, necessarily, but TCGIC’s pacing, imagery, and structure give the reader a lot more credit than I’m used to seeing in YA books. It’s smeared in blood and dead fucking sexy and you should all read it right now. Right. Now.
March 24, 2014 — 4:42 PM
Dave Thompson says:
Just wanted to say: I heard this book recently and completely agree. One of the best vampire books in a long time. Anybody who thinks vampires can’t be terrifying and sexy should check it out.
March 25, 2014 — 4:16 PM
Aaron Daniels says:
Though it didn’t come out this year, I just finished Brandon Sanderon’s rather excellent epic fantasy novel The Way of Kings featured a super-imaginative setting dominated by superstorms, rock shelves, nearly aquatic plant and animal life, and the signature evokative magic systems.
Super pumped about reading its sequel, Words of Radiance, which came out early this year.
March 24, 2014 — 4:43 PM
Gavin says:
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastian de Castell. It’s a fantastic first book that gives you a gritty fantasy world, and then presents a protagonist who can rise above the grimdark while still surviving in it. It’s a fantastic read.
March 24, 2014 — 4:45 PM
Teddi Deppner says:
“Death Has Come Up into Our Windows” by Stant Litore. Historical fiction with zombies. The prose is lyrical, and the depiction of Middle Eastern monotheism back in the days when Babylon laid seige to Jerusalem reads like high fantasy. The contrast of love story, social evils and the supernatural is haunting and horrifying and beautiful.
March 24, 2014 — 4:45 PM
Liz Czukas says:
I just finished DON’T EVEN THINK IT by Sarah Mlynowski and it was brilliant because it was told by an amorphous “we” of students who all got telepathy as a side effect of a flu vaccine. I’d never read a story told by “we” before, but Mylnowski nailed it. It’s contemporary, humorous, and light-hearted despite some heavy topics. Really enjoyable.
March 24, 2014 — 4:52 PM
Brie says:
I finished Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham. Fantastic epic fantasy, with a cohesive plot related through many varied but multi-dimensional characters.
March 24, 2014 — 5:51 PM
Laith Shriam says:
The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. It’s an epic fantasy with an incredible plot, well thought out magic, and characters that never act the way you expect.
March 24, 2014 — 5:56 PM
murgatroid98 says:
I’ve read several books so far in 2014, but one series that really stand out is Angelfall and its sequel, World After by Susan Ee. I’m anxious for the next book in the series. It puts a horror/fantasy spin on the whole god/angels/demons mythos. I couldn’t tell much difference between the “good guys” and “bad guys”.
March 24, 2014 — 6:07 PM
sheilasstephens says:
I was totally knocked out by Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. The way he transforms poverty, pain, and bad judgement into something so gritty and transcendent. It felt like someone had mixed the creative DNA of John Steinbeck, Tom Waits, and Dorothea Lange. Normally I read to make myself feel better, but when someone makes me love what’s repugnant—wow! I’ll take lots more of that. I’ll take a couple more days to recover and then dive into more of his work. Nothing has been this shocking and moving in a long time. Writing this emotionally invasive makes me feel inspired and alive again.
March 24, 2014 — 6:28 PM
Nikki says:
Anne Bishop’s Written in Red and it’s sequel Murder of Crows. One of the best urban fantasy worlds ever and the characters are fantastic!
March 24, 2014 — 6:31 PM
Samantha says:
“The Circle” by David Eggers is the one that I keep thinking about.
March 24, 2014 — 6:54 PM
zigmir says:
The autobiography of Giacomo CASANOVA, Histoire de ma Vie. Holy crap, it is amazing. If you’re at all interested in biographies, you need to take a look. And yes, THE Casanova.
March 24, 2014 — 6:57 PM
auroranibley says:
Because the movie came out and was awful, I heard a lot about how good Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin is. Can’t and won’t speak for the movie, but the book is mind-blowingly beautiful.
March 24, 2014 — 7:25 PM
Beverly Melven (@bevula) says:
HIld by Nicola Griffith was a brain-melter and world-shaker. I would have said God’s War & its sequels by Kameron Hurley (un-be-fucking-lievably awesome) but someone already said it, so it’s like I get two without cheating.
March 24, 2014 — 7:38 PM
Brandon Earl Bristow says:
Stephen kings “On Writing” a fun read full of Kings writing advice mixed with a mini bio. I really got a lot out of it.
March 24, 2014 — 8:10 PM
Jules Anne Ironside says:
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell. This book just blew my mind. I’m a sucker for a dystopian future story but not especially find of zombies (in general, with a few notable exceptions, they bore me.) this book changed that. Set in a post zombie apocalyptic world, Temple is a fifteen year old girl with a Ghurka blade and a strangely strong moral code. She is easily one of the best string female characters I have ever read; smart, resourceful, practical to the point of ruthlessness and yet able to see beauty even divinity without judgement, in a world gone to hell. This book is not for the faint hearted – there are no punches pulled when it comes to brutal, gut wrenching and visceral reality in this world. In an odd counter balance to this, I was constantly surprised and haunted by the beauty of the narrative; zombie apocalypse does not usually equal transcendentally beautiful language. It’s a great story – in a world where everyone is dead, zombie or those still trying to live normal lives, only Temple and the deadly man she makes an enemy of, are truly alive. If you read nothing else this year, read this (sorry Chuck …)
I think this is going to turn out to be my book of 2014 and I feel gutted that I don’t have it to discover all over again,
March 24, 2014 — 8:15 PM
Stefanie G says:
I just read The Reapers are the Angels too, and agree that it was amazing. I generally don’t go in for the dystopian/zombie/post-apocalypse stories, but this one was somehow different and beautiful. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
And is it a coincidence that the next commenter recommended a Meg Abbott book? Alden Bell and Meg Abbott are husband and wife. Haven’t read any of her work yet but heard she’s great – there must be some magical writing vibes going on in that house.
March 28, 2014 — 9:13 AM
Heather Milne Johnson says:
Die a Little by Megan Abbott. Post war noir with a strong female lead and an equally strong female protagonist. Plus they drink so much my liver hurts just reading about it.
March 24, 2014 — 8:35 PM
Digressica says:
My favourite book so far this year has been Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, the sequel to Wolf Hall. I’ve never been much into historical fiction before but this series blows my mind. When I finished this book I actually missed Thomas Cromwell, which is not a thing I ever thought I’d say. I can’t wait to read the third and final book in the series, but I think I’ll be waiting a little while yet.
March 24, 2014 — 9:03 PM
Dana @ Celiac Kiddo says:
Totally agree! Though I didn’t read it in 2014, Bringing up the Bodies was fantastic, I love Mantel’s series and also now have a soft spot for her Cromwell 🙂 Can’t wait for the last installment.
My 2014 pick is Still Writing by Dani Shapiro. Came at just the right time for me, inspiring and motivating.
-Dana
March 24, 2014 — 9:08 PM
Heather Milne Johnson says:
Wolf Hall has been in my Kindle for a while. I need to step to!
March 26, 2014 — 10:09 PM
Mozette says:
I haven’t been reading that many books this year… only 3, which is disgraceful for me… but then I’m writing a book, so when I’m writing, I don’t read much; as the ideas for my book come thick and fast. I normally can’t sleep because of how much is going on in my the book inside my head and I don’t want to mix up my characters with the characters of another outside book.
So, I haven’t been reading really. Pity isn’t it?
But ask me next year and I’ll probably tell you about a great book I’ve read over Christmas. 🙂
March 24, 2014 — 9:49 PM
curleyqueue says:
Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen. Clean, tight story and great- no, make that awesome- names and characters. Humor and an actual story that is also a successful mystery. Much admiration.
March 24, 2014 — 10:12 PM
sullivan102013 says:
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It’s ironic, touching, and well worth the read. Once you get to certain points in the book you cannot put it down.
March 24, 2014 — 11:03 PM
boydstun215 says:
Blindsight by Peter Watts. Probably the best hard sci fi novel I’ve ever read. It’s pretty technical, but it’s absolutely engrossing, heart-pounding, and gorgeously written. Oh, and it features a race of mind-reading aliens, a vampire, a post-human (sort-of like a highly intellectual zombie), and a host of other kick-ass characters.
March 24, 2014 — 11:06 PM
Lindsey Bonner says:
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. It came out last year but I only got a chance to read it this year. An novel constructed around one woman that dies and then comes back to life to repeat her life. It makes you question how certain events impact or lives and if those events are small or big. Atkinson does a superb job and some of the paths the main characters life takes are heart wrenching. I loved it and recommend it to anyone that will listen.
March 24, 2014 — 11:54 PM
Dan Dan The Art Man says:
I read Joyland by Stephen King this year. I loved this book. It made me cry three times. Twice out of joy for a character, and once out of sadness. It’s a book that pulls you into its world right alongside the protagonist and when you finish reading it you feel like you’re still there – but you’re not so you really want to go back. As with most Stephen King books the characterization was fantastic. It was an intimate book. You’re very much with the main character the whole time. It had it’s moments, but it was not a very scary book, but it was so good! You will love the main character.
March 25, 2014 — 12:54 AM
AJ Bauers says:
It’s not very original as this book has become super popular, but I just finished The Fault in our Stars by John Green and I loved it.
Yes, it’ll make you laugh and it’ll make you cry. But what makes it great is the voice of the main character: honest, smart, and memorable. And I appreciate Green’s goal: to write a cancer story that’s not focused on having cancer.
March 25, 2014 — 12:56 AM
theguildedearlobe says:
RUNNER by Patrick Lee. Lee is probably the best author I know keeping you guessing at exactly what Genre his novel is. I will bend the rules and through is an endorsement for his Breach series as well, which kicked ass.
March 25, 2014 — 1:38 AM
Thomas Pierson says:
I have read several books this year, but my favorite has to be The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien.
A dark and comic tale of obsession, hell, and bicycles; The Third Policeman is one hell of a read. I can’t really say much more than that, It’s a book that has to be experienced.
March 25, 2014 — 2:40 AM
Benoît Mars says:
Here, in France, the Paul Beatty masterpiece “The White Boy Shuffle” has been translated only this last summer, under the title “American Prophet”. Even in French, almost 20 years after its initial release, it’s a blasting book, masterly written and eagerly captivating, from a nowadays chronicle to the epic fate of a messianic poet. I loved it.
March 25, 2014 — 5:23 AM
Jeff Xilon says:
It’s almost 4 years old now, but I finally read Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death” (read as an audiobook) a couple months ago and it was fantastic. It’s well deserving of it’s WFA win and Nebula and Locus nominations. Set in a post-apocalyptic Sudan with a lot of magic and some tech (though that wasn’t completely clear to me a lot of the time – perhaps it shows how well the future post-apocalyptic setting was done that sometimes it felt more like a fictional world with African influences) it’s the story of a girl coming into her own power and confronting her world, her society, her place in it and her past. I really enjoyed this book but I do have to warn that it’s probably not for everyone as rape, rape as a tool of war, slavery, female circumcision and racial bigotry are all big parts of the story. It’s not a light read, but it is a good one, and it’s not all dark and grim by any means.
March 25, 2014 — 8:22 AM
SA says:
“The Baroque Cycle” Neal Stephenson – Massive Trilogy. Best book I’ve read in a long time.
March 25, 2014 — 8:56 AM
Reggie Lutz says:
Matthew Revert’s Basal Ganglia – Which I am still reading. It’s about two people who retreat from a cruel and wounding society to live in an underground fort built of linen, modeled after the structure of the brain. Weird, wonderful, poetic, insightful, the prose surprises with its beauty on every page.
March 25, 2014 — 9:06 AM
Joan Griffin says:
“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” – quirky characters untangling a nerd-y mystery… beautiful!
March 25, 2014 — 9:49 AM
Jessie H. says:
Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach (and it’s sequel Honor’s Knight!) was a great reminder of why I love sci-fi.
March 25, 2014 — 11:28 AM
ephemeragrrl (@ephemeragrrl) says:
Well I *was* going to say Annihilation by Jeff Vandemeer, but as you’ve already pimped Authority, so people will be checking that shit out already (and you really really should), I’m going with Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre, which came out in 2009 and is a YA/horror/demons or are they affair with a wicked sense of humour and a perfect sense of pitch.
March 25, 2014 — 11:33 AM
Carlos Ferreira says:
I have read and loved Charlie Stross’ trilogy-of-two, Halting State and Rule 34. Two brilliant books, tremendously well-written and insightful.
March 25, 2014 — 11:59 AM
dontdeletemeblog says:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time- Mark Haddon
I found this book really depressing, but I really enjoyed it. I wonder what that means?
March 25, 2014 — 1:18 PM
M T McGuire says:
Fuel to the Fire Trilogy by David Staniforth… and the first one’s free. Imagine Trilogy by Lex Allen.
March 25, 2014 — 1:25 PM
TymberDalton says:
“On the Beach” by Nevil Shute. I know it’s an old book, but it was new to me, and left me gutted. I’m glad he didn’t write it with some last minute, out of his ass, impossible ending. It ended the way it needed to, and I still can’t stop thinking about it.
March 25, 2014 — 1:49 PM
Frauke says:
“The Hidden Track” by Angelika Henschl. It’s about two friends wo drifted apart over the years and because of several severe problems. Those problems became secrets lurking in the shadow and soiling everything left between those two. Both friends are absolutely different – Penny inherited a fortune but tries everything just to get the next inebriation, be it alcohol, drugs, or sex with strangers (mostly guys who will give her drugs in exchange), while Lisa just married and now has to cope with the “better” life of the upper class. “The Hidden Track” deals with their last try to re-animate their old friendship, but it will end in a desaster.
What I really loved are the broken yet beautiful characters. Especially Penny is one of the most desperate, hurt, wounded und suffering persons I have ever read about.
March 25, 2014 — 3:56 PM
Dan Wright says:
Well, there’s this one book, recently published and written by myself, called… oh wait, NOT my book. Hmmm. Okay, Got it.
The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher “and” William Shakespeare. Yep, it’s The Empire Strikes Back, arguably the best entry in the Star Wars sage, done in Shakespearean prose and style, filled to the brim with more in-jokes and references than you can shake a spear at. (Ha-ha, puns).
It adds gravitas to the original story, too, highlighting the tragic portions of the story and does a convincing job of making it seem like it’s in the same vein as Macbeth or King Lear.
Plus, there’s talking AT-ATs, singing ugnaughts and the hopefully soon to be classic line “Exit, pursued by a wampa.” If that doesn’t draw you in then verily thou art dead inside, good sir.
March 25, 2014 — 6:09 PM
Betsy says:
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is a contemporary, realistic YA novel about Hayley, a teen whose mother died when she was young and whose father has PTSD from his time in a war zone. It’s an engrossing read. I just did a bit of poking around on the web, and found an interview in which the author explains that she drew on her own personal experience growing up. Her father was an American soldier who was sent to Dachau after WW II to bury bodies and help the survivors. The experience haunted him for the rest of his life. That’s some seriously brave authoring in my opinion. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/monica-edinger/laurie-halse-anderson-on-_b_4593751.html
March 25, 2014 — 7:52 PM
Rio says:
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. One of the most intense and real YA novels I’ve ever read. Seriously, fuck all these tame, polished dystopian romances. Ship Breaker holds nothing back. It feels like a future that could actually happen, and you can tell that the characters have actually suffered. This is a YA book that will actually make you think, not just some entertaining romantic fluff.
March 25, 2014 — 8:41 PM
Stephen McClurg says:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I had missed this one and it was well worth the read.
March 25, 2014 — 9:40 PM