TIS THE SEASON something something reindeer.
So, Mister Scalzi does this very nice thing at his blog where he says hey come by and tell us about your book, and then you do, and good times. I am not quite as nice.
Hence, here’s how this works:
You can recommend one book.
This book can be a novel or a comic or a short story or whatever.
Traditional, self-published, whatever.
The rub is:
You cannot recommend your own book.
Nope. Can’t do it. Don’t do it.
*smacks your hand*
You will recommend someone else’s book that you loved.
Not your own. Someone else’s. Get it? Got it? Good.
One recommendation, please. One book only. Now let’s hear ’em.
isnotacrayon says:
My favorite book this year was NIMONA by Noelle Stevenson. Graphic novel, YA/adult crossover, hilarious but with serious moments, laughing and crying. Everyone should read it.
December 7, 2015 — 12:18 PM
bakoheat says:
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nahisi Coates should be required reading for every high school freshman in America
December 7, 2015 — 12:23 PM
Sheila North says:
Tom Cox’s series, beginning with “Under the Paw” (1st book) and now up to latest and best, “Close Encounters of the Furred Kind”. On the surface, about cats, and living with cats, but really about being a human, with cats & other animals. Profoundly and surprisingly touching.
December 7, 2015 — 12:40 PM
mwebster76 says:
Our Endless Numbered Days is one of the best books I read all year.
December 7, 2015 — 12:42 PM
David Walther says:
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. Fantastic book.
December 7, 2015 — 12:44 PM
glenavailable says:
Oh how the world needs Richard Dawkins! His 2006 offering THE GOD DELUSION was a book for the ages.
December 8, 2015 — 1:34 PM
Eliot Peper says:
The Cartel by Don Winslow is a gritty epic set in the midst of the Mexican drug war. Traffickers, DEA agents, corrupt politicians, and everyday people are caught up in a deadly game with no true winners. Although the book is fiction, Winslow spent more than a decade researching the conflict and many of the scenes in the book are based on real-life events. It’s a disturbing, ambitious, violent political thriller that’s worth your time.
December 7, 2015 — 1:01 PM
lpstribling says:
If you’re into video game fiction, I highly recommend Ready Player One, by Earnest Cline.
December 7, 2015 — 1:28 PM
Kyra Dune says:
Tears Of Heaven by R.A. McCandless. Really good paranormal about angels and demons. The main character is the super snarky, kickass Del. She is a really fun and intense character. I highly recommend the book.
December 7, 2015 — 1:31 PM
Sasha says:
“Love Letters to the Dead” by Ava Dellaira. Just a really beautiful story about loss. It is told in the epistolary fashion, and that might not be for everyone.
December 7, 2015 — 1:33 PM
dangarble says:
I’m traveling back to 1999 to recommend Steven Brust’s assassin series. I’m having a hard time choosing between Jhereg (I believe the first published) and Taltos (the first chronologically). Vladimir Taltos is an assassin, the kind with a knife and sword (rapier?). He’s a wise-ass. Okay, start with Jhereg to get hooked and then work backwards. I bought the books separately. I bought them in a 3 book compilation (titled ‘The Book of Jhereg’) for my teenagers who loved them. Now I have them on Kindle.
To get you hooked, I will mail my 3 book compilation to you; it’s in excellent condition. Play fair. I only have 1 copy. If you’ve never read the series and it looks good after you’ve read some reviews, I guess post here and I’ll make arrangements to get a shipping address.
December 7, 2015 — 1:46 PM
cchrisman says:
super kind of you!
December 7, 2015 — 2:58 PM
Beth C. says:
“An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir. Easily one of the best books I read all year. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20560137-an-ember-in-the-ashes)
December 7, 2015 — 1:57 PM
Michael Mock says:
Martha Wells. Anything she’s written, really, but since you specified “one book” I’m going to go with The Cloud Roads. Great characters, grand adventures, horrible dangers, and a fascinating world that has essentially no regular humans in it.
December 7, 2015 — 2:37 PM
Lisa says:
I wish I could clone Martha Wells. I’ve read almost everything she’s written and never been disappointed.
December 10, 2015 — 3:49 PM
Leslie Aguillard says:
Travelling with Pomegranetes
December 7, 2015 — 2:38 PM
Jason Rohan says:
The graphic novel “Kingdom Come.” If you haven’t read it and you think comic books are for kids, it might just change your mind. Beautifully painted in gouache with a multi-layered story, it made me almost like DC Comics. ; )
December 7, 2015 — 2:43 PM
cchrisman says:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I just finished the series and loved her fun alive characters, and the myths that she built about angels and demons. It’s a three book Series.
December 7, 2015 — 2:57 PM
David Wilson says:
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. Reminds me of the Night Circus and is a lovely story.
December 7, 2015 — 3:00 PM
Kris Kramer says:
Shallow Creek by Alistair McIntyre. Small town Texas crime thriller.
December 7, 2015 — 3:10 PM
Tracy says:
Hero by Belinda Crawford – was a great YA Sci-fi raced through it, lots of fun.
December 7, 2015 — 3:11 PM
gamethyme says:
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. By far the best book I’ve read in the last year, much less the best Fantasy novel. I even like it better than I have the last couple of Mistborn books (and that’s a crazy-high bar).
December 7, 2015 — 3:25 PM
Alyson Hart says:
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman. Absolutely brilliant.
December 7, 2015 — 3:32 PM
Pamela says:
Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt. One of my favourite books of 2015. It’s the retelling of the Hero’s quest for love. It was droll, and sly and delicious. Some of the dialogue reminded me of Monty Python actually. DeWitt also wrote Sisters Brothers.
December 7, 2015 — 3:49 PM
Maurice says:
Leviathan Wakes – it’s not from this year, but it has a television adaptation out in a few days. Great work from the team behind James S. A. Corey. I almost never pick up a series and read straight through what’s available anymore. This I did. Worth every word.
December 7, 2015 — 4:13 PM
Manders says:
I literally just finished that book today. It’s really good stuff.
December 7, 2015 — 10:56 PM
S.M. Carrière says:
I am in love with Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Book One is Gardens of the Moon. This series is brilliant.
December 7, 2015 — 4:21 PM
shoesalaart says:
I’m currently reading these and am absolutely in LOVE! Epic doesn’t even begin to cover it!
December 7, 2015 — 9:17 PM
Christopher Laughlin says:
Star Wars: Lost Stars – by Claudia Gray
December 7, 2015 — 4:31 PM
Curtis Dibrell Jr. says:
The book I am recomending, is Losing Joe’s Place by Gordan Korman. It’s funny, and has a really good cast of characters.
December 7, 2015 — 4:45 PM
Jemima Pett says:
I’m recommending Tails of the Apocalypse by Chris Pourteau et al. It’s an anthology of apocalyptic tales in which animals play a major part. I mean – what happens to pets when their owners get eaten by zombies/die of plagues/get attacked by aliens? This gives some answers… and, in a nice twist, profits go to the US charity Pets for Vets – to enable rescue animals to be matched up with veterans in need of companionship.
December 7, 2015 — 4:46 PM
janinmi says:
I am torn, torn, I tell you, between an author collection and a novel. Oh dear. I’ll go with Blindsight by Peter Watts, because I’m reading its follow-up. They are both amazeballs.
December 7, 2015 — 5:27 PM
glenavailable says:
On a completely unrelated note, TORN was also the name of a particuarly well written and touching song by Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia back in 1996. Youtube anyone?
December 8, 2015 — 1:41 PM
Ryan Viergutz says:
Peter Higgins’s “Wolfhound Century.” It’s one of those dangerous addictive books that I could not stop reading for the life of me.
It’s about a pseudo-Soviet inspector named Vissarion Lom called from a middle-of-nowhere province to the capitol city Mirgorod to investigate the terrorist Josef Kantor. He gets embroiled in a big old web of intrigue and conspiracy with a direct connection to the piece of *angel stone* in his forehead, parallel universes and a living angel corrupting the city.
The book is utterly drenched in Soviet-Russian atmosphere. It sounds so complicated when I bring up the parallel universes but it’s a relentless, crazy-fast rocket-pace book. I’m already reading the sequel, which is just as amazing.
December 7, 2015 — 5:34 PM
Shane Keene says:
Paul Tremblay’s A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS
December 7, 2015 — 5:45 PM
glenavailable says:
A huge ‘indeed’! The plot of A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS sounds sitably gripping and twisting.
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.
To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.
Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface–and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
December 8, 2015 — 1:12 PM
Kathy Holzapfel says:
Loved Mitch Albom’s The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. A novel told from the point of view of the talent, Music. Best line: “Everyone joins a band in his life.”
December 7, 2015 — 5:50 PM
Gingermutt says:
So … for me it’s a fantasy book called “Illearth War”, by Stephen R. Donaldson, but here’s the rub. It’s the second book in the series, so here me out. Book one is not bad. It’s called “Lord Foul’s Bane” and the premise is a leper from our world named Thomas Covenant, a misanthropic broken shell of a man, is transported to a fantasy world to do battle against an ancient evil. His response is to declare it a delusion and that none of it is real.
This isn’t really a spoiler since it’s in the title of the series, “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.”
The reason I’m citing book two is, reading book one was fun, but traditional 70s fantasy, but book two was when I realized I’d stumbled on something truly exciting (as far as things in the fantasy genre go). So … there you go, “Illearth War.”
December 7, 2015 — 5:52 PM
Gingermutt says:
Noooo! typo! *hear* *hear me out*
darn.
December 7, 2015 — 5:53 PM
Gail Hamilton @ghamilton9 says:
“Windigo Fire” by M.H. Callway. Non-stop action in the merciless wilds of Northern Ontario where the road runs out and the misfits gather. Mass murder, bears, shamanic visions and possible killers who must work frantically together to escape a raging forest fire. What’s not to love in this thriller set amid raw natural grandeur few of us have ever experienced!
December 7, 2015 — 5:58 PM
Bill Rose says:
Shibumi by Trevanian. Guaranteed to get your attention.
December 7, 2015 — 6:00 PM
innerouterawkward says:
“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. I say this knowing full well the group I’m addressing, but I actually just read it for the first time last month. If you haven’t gotten to it yet, you should.
December 7, 2015 — 6:16 PM
glenavailable says:
Widely considered to be here masterpiece,this book is Christie’s best-selling novel with over 100 million copies sold, also making it the world’s best-selling mystery. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6th November 1939 as Ten Little Niggers, after the British blackface song, which serves as a major plot point.
December 8, 2015 — 1:47 PM
Lace says:
Andrea K Höst is probably the most reliable indie author I’ve happened to read. She writes fantasy and some SF. The first volume in her Touchstone Trilogy, Stray, is a starting point, available electronically for free at a number of the usual outlets, or start here: https://sites.google.com/a/andreakhost.com/touchstone/home/stray
December 7, 2015 — 6:30 PM
mariahavix says:
I’m going with I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17408897-i-am-princess-x It’s cool, fun, fast, pretty. So pretty. It is comic and novel together. (Good lists! I had to make a list of more than one at my blog because only one is not enough! It is so nice to go through here and add new things to my to read list.)
December 7, 2015 — 8:27 PM
AJ Terry says:
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. The first book in The Expanse series on which the new SyFy TV series is based.
December 7, 2015 — 8:34 PM
pwodoom says:
“Beasts of Tabat” by Cat Rambo. Great Book, great writer.
December 7, 2015 — 8:59 PM
Mozette says:
Can I recommend two? Please?
Too bad, I’m gonna
‘Revival’ by Stephen King
‘Star Wars Aftermath’ by Chuck Wendig (and no, I’m just saying this to score brownie points, it really is a great book!).
December 7, 2015 — 9:22 PM
Jean M. Cogdell says:
Want to read something a bit different, by an amazing author? Check out The Memory Closet by Ninie Hammon. Months after I read the last line of the last chapter I still think about this book.
December 7, 2015 — 9:28 PM
Matthew says:
I’m going to keep it recent, and with that, I really enjoyed “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker
December 7, 2015 — 9:39 PM
wildbilbo says:
Hit the ‘Three Body Problem’ and ‘The Dark Forest’ by Cixin Liu. Excellent stuff.
December 7, 2015 — 10:12 PM
wildbilbo says:
Damn. That was two books.I cheated…NOOOOOOOO
Bugger it. Get them anyway.
Also Get:
– The Female Factory (Lisa Hannett & Angela Slatter)
– Revision (Andrea Phillips)
– Take on Me (Minerva Zimmerman)
– Aurora (Kim Stanley Robinson)
– The Southern Reach Trilogy (Vandermeer)
– Maddaddam Trilogy (Atwood)
…..
I read so many great books this year.
December 7, 2015 — 10:16 PM
Manders says:
I’m late to the party, but I really got into The Thousand Names (and sequels) this year. It’s flintlock fantasy with some truly fantastic characters.
December 7, 2015 — 10:54 PM
Dana Ishiyama says:
“Maniac Magee” by Jerry Spinelli
First read it was I was 9 years old. Now I’m 34 years old. I forgot the title. Every time I tried to find the book, I ended up buying something different (DAMN YOU, KINDLE!). Finally found the book two days ago, and it’s as good as I remembered. No, fuck that; it’s better than I remembered. It’s an awesome fast read, and great for most ages.
December 8, 2015 — 1:57 AM
boundbeautifunk says:
Damn you!
(Adds to re-reading list)
I read that in 4th grade, met Jerry Spinelli in 6th. It’s been YEARS since I thought about that book.
December 8, 2015 — 3:54 AM
Karen says:
It’s Christmas, and books are for giving, so I recommend Race to the End of the World, by A. L. Tait.
For the young people in your life (age 10 and up). If you have a young person who loved, say, John’ Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, they might also like this first book in the Mapmaker Chronicles.
I enjoyed it, and I’m considerably older than ten.
December 8, 2015 — 4:53 AM
pp48 says:
Being mortal: medicine and what matters in the end, by Atul Gawande. One of the best non fiction books ever. The end of life practices he talks about could be game changing, if only more doctors were on this
same page. if you’ve ever lost someone to cancer or some other hideous disease, and thought, “there’s got to be a better way,” READ this. Or, even if you didn’t.
December 8, 2015 — 8:01 AM
Noel R. says:
Horror/ghosty graphic novel shorts collection Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
December 8, 2015 — 8:14 AM
Jennifer Hayward says:
Nalini Singh’s Changeling series. I have never been a paranormal romance reader until I read her and she’s converted me! Her stories are passionate and gripping, the world she’s created fantastic! I want to go live there.
December 8, 2015 — 8:20 AM
Nick Nafpliotis (@NickNafster79) says:
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. One of the best horror/Lovecraftian novels I have ever read.
December 8, 2015 — 8:25 AM