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d their top 100 books of 2009, including a top ten that, the Green Lantern Press noted, included no women. Outside of the fact that that's pretty damn astounding and very, very old school of them (complete with dark panelling, great halls in schools, and wear-your-tie-to-class ethos), I can't comment too much since I haven't read any of the top ten. Not a single one. In fact, the only one that looks interesting to me is The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, even though I tend to shy away from anything with the word "Discover" in the title. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Arbitrary? Yes. That's what makes me interesting.
But I did get to a few of the others, or they're on my tbr.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. This was a book that I put forwar
d for my October book club read, and it was vetoed since a lot of the members were worried it would give them nightmares. I didn't think it sounded that scary, but frankly the idea of a book affecting someone that much made me want to read it all the more. It also would have been a great RIP read if I would have gotten around to it, Set around a brutal night in which the narrator's family is murdered by her brother, the book deals with the memory and the truth of the night years later. This looked chilling and excellent.
Drood b
y Dan Simmons. I actually forgot this came out this year, and I certainly forgot to review it. It was well worth it - the book is brooding and mysterious, a tad on the long side, and not only wove its own excellent story but made me search out both Dickens' original Drood and Wilkie Collins' works. The scenes with the green woman on the back stairs....ugh. The way the book played with both reality and hallucination was masterly.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I admit, I haven't been a fan of
Waters since not particularly finding Fingersmith anything to write home about. Frankly, I still don't see what the fuss is - I found Fingersmith enormously predictable although people seem to love it. But The Little Stranger was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and yes, I'm the sort of person who would notice that sort of thing and let it compel me to give an author another try. Elitist much? (I can call myself an elitist. I'd appreciate it if you didn't, thanks much.)
Captive o
f Sin by Anna Campbell. Whoa. Wait a sec...hey, that's a romance novel! A dark Regency, in fact! What the hell is it doing on the PW's male-centric list? And who dared tell them that genre writing is good writing too? I can't even tell you how happy it made me to see it there, and I even had to read it twice to make sure it was the Captive of Sin by the Anna Campbell whom I know through Romancelandia websites like the Smart Bitches and Dear Author. (She's also my Goodreads friend, though I'll admit I've never met her. I'm not even certain we've had an e-conversation of any type, though I just left her a congratulatory note
through Goodreads.)
I perused the Mass Market section a little closer (woo-hoo, a whole five books - way to tap into the collective consciousness, PW) and found that three of the five are romances: Captive of Sin, Soulless by Gail Carringer (noted as "Victorian romance, supernatural creatures, steampunk sensibilities and a healthy dose of the bizarre ." Um, paranormal shelf? Whichever, this looks clever), and A Dark Love by Margaret Carroll, probably a modern romantic suspense. I'd never heard of Carringer or Carroll, but good on you too.
Where Men W
in Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by John Krakauer. This is up there on my list too, when I can find a used copy somewhere. I recently read Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, which was astounding and so very fascinating. When I found out that he was writing the story of Pat Tillman - with his family's blessings and assistance - I was on board. Immediately.
What's there that you like? What's missing? I have a hard time remembering what I've read that came out this year since I tend to wait for paperbacks or used books, but Drood captured my imagination like nothing else I read this year that was also a 2009 release. I will have to say that the best book I've read this year, though, is Embers by Sandor Marai - which was first published in English in 2000 though in his native Hungarian in 1942. No one ever accused me of being a modernist.
d their top 100 books of 2009, including a top ten that, the Green Lantern Press noted, included no women. Outside of the fact that that's pretty damn astounding and very, very old school of them (complete with dark panelling, great halls in schools, and wear-your-tie-to-class ethos), I can't comment too much since I haven't read any of the top ten. Not a single one. In fact, the only one that looks interesting to me is The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, even though I tend to shy away from anything with the word "Discover" in the title. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Arbitrary? Yes. That's what makes me interesting.But I did get to a few of the others, or they're on my tbr.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. This was a book that I put forwar
d for my October book club read, and it was vetoed since a lot of the members were worried it would give them nightmares. I didn't think it sounded that scary, but frankly the idea of a book affecting someone that much made me want to read it all the more. It also would have been a great RIP read if I would have gotten around to it, Set around a brutal night in which the narrator's family is murdered by her brother, the book deals with the memory and the truth of the night years later. This looked chilling and excellent.Drood b
y Dan Simmons. I actually forgot this came out this year, and I certainly forgot to review it. It was well worth it - the book is brooding and mysterious, a tad on the long side, and not only wove its own excellent story but made me search out both Dickens' original Drood and Wilkie Collins' works. The scenes with the green woman on the back stairs....ugh. The way the book played with both reality and hallucination was masterly.The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I admit, I haven't been a fan of
Waters since not particularly finding Fingersmith anything to write home about. Frankly, I still don't see what the fuss is - I found Fingersmith enormously predictable although people seem to love it. But The Little Stranger was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and yes, I'm the sort of person who would notice that sort of thing and let it compel me to give an author another try. Elitist much? (I can call myself an elitist. I'd appreciate it if you didn't, thanks much.)Captive o
f Sin by Anna Campbell. Whoa. Wait a sec...hey, that's a romance novel! A dark Regency, in fact! What the hell is it doing on the PW's male-centric list? And who dared tell them that genre writing is good writing too? I can't even tell you how happy it made me to see it there, and I even had to read it twice to make sure it was the Captive of Sin by the Anna Campbell whom I know through Romancelandia websites like the Smart Bitches and Dear Author. (She's also my Goodreads friend, though I'll admit I've never met her. I'm not even certain we've had an e-conversation of any type, though I just left her a congratulatory note
through Goodreads.)I perused the Mass Market section a little closer (woo-hoo, a whole five books - way to tap into the collective consciousness, PW) and found that three of the five are romances: Captive of Sin, Soulless by Gail Carringer (noted as "Victorian romance, supernatural creatures, steampunk sensibilities and a healthy dose of the bizarre ." Um, paranormal shelf? Whichever, this looks clever), and A Dark Love by Margaret Carroll, probably a modern romantic suspense. I'd never heard of Carringer or Carroll, but good on you too.
Where Men W
in Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by John Krakauer. This is up there on my list too, when I can find a used copy somewhere. I recently read Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, which was astounding and so very fascinating. When I found out that he was writing the story of Pat Tillman - with his family's blessings and assistance - I was on board. Immediately.What's there that you like? What's missing? I have a hard time remembering what I've read that came out this year since I tend to wait for paperbacks or used books, but Drood captured my imagination like nothing else I read this year that was also a 2009 release. I will have to say that the best book I've read this year, though, is Embers by Sandor Marai - which was first published in English in 2000 though in his native Hungarian in 1942. No one ever accused me of being a modernist.
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