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shadowkatIf you've been reading my lj for any length of time you've probably picked up on the fact that I'm eclectic in my tastes. I basically adore all genres and don't tend to discriminate that much. But I do have my comfort reads and this past year was a traumatic one, so the reading tended towards the comfort zone, with lots and lots of magazines.
These are the books that I read which I remember. And I'm using my lj as a crutch partly in this. Why is it that I remember the books I read when I was in my teens and twenties better than the ones I read this year? Was it the quality? (Doubtful, although don't remember everything read back then either - I was a book fiend. I consumed everything on my parents, brother's and the library's shelves.) Dunno.
This list is in no particular order and please note, it isn't a "BEST" list so much as just a list of novels that I found memorable and noteworthy. They are all flawed in their way, but I adored them all the same.
1. My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain. Bloody long book but memorable. Was a bit like reading a long prose poem. The writing style by the way reminds me a great deal of another book I'm putting on this list. Heavy in description and told in first person close. Reading it felt a bit like
floating on the ocean or sitting on a beach and just letting waves of prose sweep over you.
What was it about? A woman who has an affair with a married man, while researching a book based on a married woman having an affair. The escape of the boredom of one's own life via sexual release, where the two having the affair seem to be more into the physical companionship, then necessarily the day to day living. An escape, I think, from the day to day, into the body. Does it work - not completely - but go to the link above to see why.
2. A Canticile for Leibowitz by Walter J. Miller - a sci-fi novel that is more about faith, war, learning from history, and morality/power of choices than scientific achievements. Yet scientific achievements are both valued and worshipped in the novel, preserved by the monks of the future. The novel haunts you long after you finished the last page. And like many sci-fi novels you remember the themes more than the characters, which may be its flaw if there is one. The language weaves in and out - interslicing bits and pieces of other languages outside of English, such as latin. It is a book that requires concentration and work to read. It expects something from the reader. What I remember of it? Not much of the plot, just the idea, that history is doomed to repeat itself because we lack the capacity to learn from it or remember it, or see within it our own flaws - perhaps we fear to see them?
3. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - I enjoy Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series - I consider them much like Rowling's Potter novels to be my comfort reads. Fast. Quick. And oddly comforting. They are the sort of books that do not require much from you except well a little love, much like a cuddly teddy bear or a CD of Leonard Cohen tunes, assuming you like Cohen, if not, David Bowie. Harry Dresden is far from perfect. He's clumsy. He screws up. And that's what makes him lovable. The books build on each other, and the characters grow and change in each.
I fly through them. And they make me happy. I'm anticipating the next one due out in April, entitled "White Knight". And the series premiering on Dec 21, which I know won't be exactly like the books (I don't expect it to) but will be in the spirit of them.
4. The 9/11 Commission Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon ( Scroll down if you click on the link). I cried while reading this book and don't think I can read it again. But it clearly stated what went wrong on that fateful day, why it did, and what should happen.
5. What Love Means to You People by NancyKay Shapiro - a book that reminded me a great deal of O'Faolin's in how it was written. Except this is a love story between two men, not two women. And features graphic sex between men - rare that and not easy to find. It reminds me a little of Jeannett Winterson in how the sex is portrayed, although Jeannette does it with women. Also Poppy Z Bright's early goth novels comes to mind. And even though at the time, I initially thought "Three Junes" which deals with similar themes was better, I've since changed my mind. This one in some respects haunts me more. They are very different books at any rate and Shapiro's novel unlike Three Junes - allows the men to love one another. We see the romance and we see it end okay, not in Aids, as if that is the only ending - which it is not. The writing is beautiful and the descriptions pull you inside the story and characters. The flaw may be, like O'Faolin's, in making the relationship too much about the sex and the body, so that the characters themselves feel at times to be too pretty or not quite there outside of it. But it is a minor flaw and potentially a deliberate one, much like O'Faolin's. At any rate, I read it somewhere in March and I can still remember it fairly clearly and parts of it still haunt me, particularly the ending - which reinforces the theme about loving someone for who they are not are ideal of them - or the initial "sexual" attraction - how lies do have longterm consequences. Hard to explain, you'll have to read it yourself to get it. At any rate - a tricky novel and a gutsy one.
6. Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus's Childhood Pal" - an interesting "fictionalized" account of the story of Jesus Christ - which is at times humorous and others incredibly moving. The sort of book you cry and laugh during. It explores how hard it is to be the friend of someone who is perfect, who is chosen. And slated to die.
How do we handle the death of a loved one? Fascinating novel.
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavaliar and Clay by Michael Chabon. An odd book - it's written like a biography, yet is clearly a faux or fictionalized one. Incorporating a vast history of the comics world from 1939-1970. And inspired the comic book -The Escapist - which you can find at your local comic book store. The book is about two guys who create a comic book hero - The Escapist, based partly on one of the guy's experience in escaping from Nazi Russia to US. It's also about their lives and the sacrifices they make for their art and their dreams.
8. Jonathan Franzen's Collection of Essays entitled 'How to Be Alone' - this is a collection of personal essays on writing by Franzen which surprised me. They are a lot better than one would think.
9. Sunshine by Robin McKinely - which I know I reviewed on lj this year but I can't find it. If you can - more power to you and ahem let me know. (Hint it wasn't tagged for some reason.) Adored this book. May be my favorite vampire novel ever, certainly favorite Robin Mckinley, not that I've read that many. It isn't what one would think and does not fall into an easy romance. The characters are the ultimate in star-crossed. And the vampires are sort of gross, alien, almost spider-like, the heroine struggling with her gift which has disadvantages. And it comments on evil in an interesting way, while developing an universe and world that is different than most I've seen in these novels. Truly the most innovative of the urban fantasy genre that I've read.
10. Guy Gavariel Kay's Tapestry series - The Wandering Gyre, The Summer Tree and The Longest Road. My favorite is the last one, which is saying something, because normally it is the first. A retelling of the Welsh Mabinogi legends, much as Pamela Dean retold Tam Lin, via university students. The writing at times feels a tad stiff and the characters a little stock, but overall an entertaining read with some haunting themes and metaphors. Amongst the best of the sword and socerery fantasy genre - with medieval trappings. Not as detailed as George RR Martin, nor as complex, but satisfying in its own right.
11. Sarah Dunant's Snow Storms in a Hot Climate - a story about an history professor who hails from England who flies to New York to save her childhood friend from an American drug dealer. The drug is blond, and named Lenny. Sort of Patricia Highsmith in tone, and does a good job of highlighting the shifting tides of friendship. Flawed though. Unlike the other novels on this list - it's the only I left in which I did not like the characters, except for the main one.
Others worth mentioning or that I remember: Charlain Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels - which are fun reads, quick, and comforting much like reading an Elizabeth Peters mystery, except with graphic sex. Bet Me - Jennifer Crusie - another quick read, a sexy fairy tale based on Cinderella except more feminist and the protagonist is overweight more or less.
And a whole bunch of magazines and self-help books...including: a New Yorker article on Bill Clinton, one by Orphan Pamuk entitled my father's suitcase, and a great short story by Stephen King about Memory. I know I read more, but I can't remember them or I stopped reading halfway through so they don't count. ;-)
While the 50 books in a year thing sounds tempting - I have enough goals at the moment, latest finish novel and revise before March 15, so can submit to online contest at The Gathering Place. (We'll see if I accomplish this.) Other goal learn to knit - which I've managed to accomplish in two days - I'm knitting rather well - haven't a clue what I'm making, but I am enjoying it. Last two, won't mention because I don't want to jinx myself and they are sort of obvious.
These are the books that I read which I remember. And I'm using my lj as a crutch partly in this. Why is it that I remember the books I read when I was in my teens and twenties better than the ones I read this year? Was it the quality? (Doubtful, although don't remember everything read back then either - I was a book fiend. I consumed everything on my parents, brother's and the library's shelves.) Dunno.
This list is in no particular order and please note, it isn't a "BEST" list so much as just a list of novels that I found memorable and noteworthy. They are all flawed in their way, but I adored them all the same.
1. My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain. Bloody long book but memorable. Was a bit like reading a long prose poem. The writing style by the way reminds me a great deal of another book I'm putting on this list. Heavy in description and told in first person close. Reading it felt a bit like
floating on the ocean or sitting on a beach and just letting waves of prose sweep over you.
What was it about? A woman who has an affair with a married man, while researching a book based on a married woman having an affair. The escape of the boredom of one's own life via sexual release, where the two having the affair seem to be more into the physical companionship, then necessarily the day to day living. An escape, I think, from the day to day, into the body. Does it work - not completely - but go to the link above to see why.
2. A Canticile for Leibowitz by Walter J. Miller - a sci-fi novel that is more about faith, war, learning from history, and morality/power of choices than scientific achievements. Yet scientific achievements are both valued and worshipped in the novel, preserved by the monks of the future. The novel haunts you long after you finished the last page. And like many sci-fi novels you remember the themes more than the characters, which may be its flaw if there is one. The language weaves in and out - interslicing bits and pieces of other languages outside of English, such as latin. It is a book that requires concentration and work to read. It expects something from the reader. What I remember of it? Not much of the plot, just the idea, that history is doomed to repeat itself because we lack the capacity to learn from it or remember it, or see within it our own flaws - perhaps we fear to see them?
3. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - I enjoy Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series - I consider them much like Rowling's Potter novels to be my comfort reads. Fast. Quick. And oddly comforting. They are the sort of books that do not require much from you except well a little love, much like a cuddly teddy bear or a CD of Leonard Cohen tunes, assuming you like Cohen, if not, David Bowie. Harry Dresden is far from perfect. He's clumsy. He screws up. And that's what makes him lovable. The books build on each other, and the characters grow and change in each.
I fly through them. And they make me happy. I'm anticipating the next one due out in April, entitled "White Knight". And the series premiering on Dec 21, which I know won't be exactly like the books (I don't expect it to) but will be in the spirit of them.
4. The 9/11 Commission Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon ( Scroll down if you click on the link). I cried while reading this book and don't think I can read it again. But it clearly stated what went wrong on that fateful day, why it did, and what should happen.
5. What Love Means to You People by NancyKay Shapiro - a book that reminded me a great deal of O'Faolin's in how it was written. Except this is a love story between two men, not two women. And features graphic sex between men - rare that and not easy to find. It reminds me a little of Jeannett Winterson in how the sex is portrayed, although Jeannette does it with women. Also Poppy Z Bright's early goth novels comes to mind. And even though at the time, I initially thought "Three Junes" which deals with similar themes was better, I've since changed my mind. This one in some respects haunts me more. They are very different books at any rate and Shapiro's novel unlike Three Junes - allows the men to love one another. We see the romance and we see it end okay, not in Aids, as if that is the only ending - which it is not. The writing is beautiful and the descriptions pull you inside the story and characters. The flaw may be, like O'Faolin's, in making the relationship too much about the sex and the body, so that the characters themselves feel at times to be too pretty or not quite there outside of it. But it is a minor flaw and potentially a deliberate one, much like O'Faolin's. At any rate, I read it somewhere in March and I can still remember it fairly clearly and parts of it still haunt me, particularly the ending - which reinforces the theme about loving someone for who they are not are ideal of them - or the initial "sexual" attraction - how lies do have longterm consequences. Hard to explain, you'll have to read it yourself to get it. At any rate - a tricky novel and a gutsy one.
6. Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus's Childhood Pal" - an interesting "fictionalized" account of the story of Jesus Christ - which is at times humorous and others incredibly moving. The sort of book you cry and laugh during. It explores how hard it is to be the friend of someone who is perfect, who is chosen. And slated to die.
How do we handle the death of a loved one? Fascinating novel.
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavaliar and Clay by Michael Chabon. An odd book - it's written like a biography, yet is clearly a faux or fictionalized one. Incorporating a vast history of the comics world from 1939-1970. And inspired the comic book -The Escapist - which you can find at your local comic book store. The book is about two guys who create a comic book hero - The Escapist, based partly on one of the guy's experience in escaping from Nazi Russia to US. It's also about their lives and the sacrifices they make for their art and their dreams.
8. Jonathan Franzen's Collection of Essays entitled 'How to Be Alone' - this is a collection of personal essays on writing by Franzen which surprised me. They are a lot better than one would think.
9. Sunshine by Robin McKinely - which I know I reviewed on lj this year but I can't find it. If you can - more power to you and ahem let me know. (Hint it wasn't tagged for some reason.) Adored this book. May be my favorite vampire novel ever, certainly favorite Robin Mckinley, not that I've read that many. It isn't what one would think and does not fall into an easy romance. The characters are the ultimate in star-crossed. And the vampires are sort of gross, alien, almost spider-like, the heroine struggling with her gift which has disadvantages. And it comments on evil in an interesting way, while developing an universe and world that is different than most I've seen in these novels. Truly the most innovative of the urban fantasy genre that I've read.
10. Guy Gavariel Kay's Tapestry series - The Wandering Gyre, The Summer Tree and The Longest Road. My favorite is the last one, which is saying something, because normally it is the first. A retelling of the Welsh Mabinogi legends, much as Pamela Dean retold Tam Lin, via university students. The writing at times feels a tad stiff and the characters a little stock, but overall an entertaining read with some haunting themes and metaphors. Amongst the best of the sword and socerery fantasy genre - with medieval trappings. Not as detailed as George RR Martin, nor as complex, but satisfying in its own right.
11. Sarah Dunant's Snow Storms in a Hot Climate - a story about an history professor who hails from England who flies to New York to save her childhood friend from an American drug dealer. The drug is blond, and named Lenny. Sort of Patricia Highsmith in tone, and does a good job of highlighting the shifting tides of friendship. Flawed though. Unlike the other novels on this list - it's the only I left in which I did not like the characters, except for the main one.
Others worth mentioning or that I remember: Charlain Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels - which are fun reads, quick, and comforting much like reading an Elizabeth Peters mystery, except with graphic sex. Bet Me - Jennifer Crusie - another quick read, a sexy fairy tale based on Cinderella except more feminist and the protagonist is overweight more or less.
And a whole bunch of magazines and self-help books...including: a New Yorker article on Bill Clinton, one by Orphan Pamuk entitled my father's suitcase, and a great short story by Stephen King about Memory. I know I read more, but I can't remember them or I stopped reading halfway through so they don't count. ;-)
While the 50 books in a year thing sounds tempting - I have enough goals at the moment, latest finish novel and revise before March 15, so can submit to online contest at The Gathering Place. (We'll see if I accomplish this.) Other goal learn to knit - which I've managed to accomplish in two days - I'm knitting rather well - haven't a clue what I'm making, but I am enjoying it. Last two, won't mention because I don't want to jinx myself and they are sort of obvious.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 04:30 am (UTC)I picked up Shapiro's novel in a bookstore (since she's such a fixture in LJ-land) and scanned the first few chapters. Did not read (not into slash at all) but I admired the way she sucked me into the characters within a few pages. Interesting to hear that the romance leans so heavily on the sex scenes. Not surprising, that appears to be her niche, and it's something I suspect you have to be in the right mood to enjoy. I often find it tiresome as I feel she writes essentially the same story repeatedly (though can't confirm with this particular novel as I haven't read it) and yes, sex is the main coinage of them all. But she writes it exceedingly well...most novelists should count themselves so lucky as to create that much tension between 2 characters.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 05:17 am (UTC)Nuala O'Faolain and Jeannette Winterson. Poppy Z. Brite is another one who played with it - in her earlier works. And you see a lot of it in Laurell K Hamilton, LA Banks, and Kim Harrison novels. Anne Rice played with this as well. Some of it is out and out "erotica" - in which the plot is only there for the sex - eg - Hamilton's later novels. Some like O'Faolain, Shapiro, and Wintersen are more literary and actually saying something, the sex is there for more than titilation purposes. Actually there isn't that much "sex" in Shapiro's novel - most of it is in the earlier portion and it is there for a reason - to get across the fact that the two characters are in "lust" with each other - demonstrating how we overlook things for pure physical gratification (which happens regardless of whether you are gay or straight), in the later portion, the sex is downplayed a bit - we are shown how the relationship flounders when the items the propelled the "lust" or physical attraction are removed, and how trust is a necessary component for any relationship to survive. In this sense the book is a lot like Wintersen's novels and Nuala O'Faolain's My Dream of You.
I'm odd about sex scenes. They only work for me in a novel if the sex propells the character forward, tells me something new about them, or furthers their arc. I can't read most of Laurell K. Hamilton's novels for example - they bore me, because the sex is there just to turn us on.
Shapiro's novel wasn't about the sex, it was rather about the love - or how we love and the boundaries society places on it. Lots going on in that novel.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 06:25 pm (UTC)Sex is often a problem in film, as well. My husband and I were both intensely impressed with "History of Violence"'s use of sex scenes to reveal very subtle things about the suddenly shifting dynamics in a long-standing relationship.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 09:19 pm (UTC)Often I find it going too far one way or the other...too much or that overtly polite almost squeamish fade to black.
Film's the same way. History of Violence used it rather well. Little Children also does a decent job - utilizing it to highlight a sort of Madame Bovary/Lady Chatterly's Lover style theme. But I've seen films that do not know how to do it or are somewhat gratuitious - for a while romantic comedies came to mind. But things have shifted the other way somewhat.
Novels - you can use a "bad" sex scene to great effect as well - many male writers will often do that - such as Irving Welsh (Trainspotting fame).
Sex scenes are a lot like action scenes - either over done or avoided by writers. George RR Martin is an example of a writer who overdoes it on the action scenes, to the point that I just start skimming after a while.
Hamilton and Rice are examples of writers who write sex scenes that grow dull due to repetition and overuse. Actually that's the reason I stopped reading Diana Galabadon's Outlander - she had about 100 pages worth of sex scenes, all similar to one another, and none of them propelling the action.
I was basically bored. There are other writers, mostly fanfic, who want to write porn, but are no longer turned on by the traditional types - so start creating poses that well, I'm not sure are anatomically feasible regardless of whose involved. LOL! I often find myself squinting at the print, with a bewildered expression on my face, trying to picture the people in that pose, then giggling. (eg. One had a froggie - basically the gal is in a squat while the guy is doing a backbend. Okaaay. The Hafa Yoga Sex Position - way to multi-task guys. LOL! Proof positive that even sex gets boring to read about and watch after a while.)
Clarification on Slash
Date: 2007-01-12 05:04 am (UTC)In Shapiro's novel - the two men are "gay" they aren't "bisexual" or heterosexual. If there is a "slashy" romance in the novel it might be later, with one of the gay men sleeping with a woman in order to have a child - which bugged me because I found it out of character, somewhat unbelievable, and yes, "slash". Although, I understand why the writer did it - so shrugged it off.
The reason I point this out - is I don't think you can describe homosexual romance as "slash". That would be describing it as "kinky" or "subversive" and it simply is not that. I can see why you did, I almost did in regards to this book - because the sex scenes I read reminded me a great deal of the Angel/Spike ones - and they are written for a "female" readership or with a "female" readership in mind, but I've read a few reviews by gay, male readers, that indicates the book is realistic in its portrayal of homosexual romance. And it is just that a "homosexual romance". If we don't call Rosemary Rodgers bodice rippers or Anne Rice's Beauty sex orgy books slash, can we call this book slash? No. Definitely not. Now, if it were a book about Kirk and Spock having sex, I'd say it was slash. (and potentially in violation of copyright law - but that's another issue.) ;-)
So this book is no more "slash" than the L Word, Willow-Tara's relationship, or Queer Ass Folk.
Re: Clarification on Slash
Date: 2007-01-12 06:20 pm (UTC)Was "Queer Ass Folk" a deliberate typo? Heh.
I wasn't implying the story itself was subversive...
I think it's just a semantics issue.
Re: Clarification on Slash
Date: 2007-01-12 06:36 pm (UTC)Consensus? Not as much as I thought. People appear to be all over the board on it, as far as I could tell from the ones who responded.
The main consensus if there is one is that it describes a non-canonical relationship between two fictional characters who would not ordinarily be in one - usually a gay relationship such as say Kirk/Spock, Spike/Xander, or Faith/Buffy. And is normally only used for fanfic or in fandoms. But like all things, it may not be so easily defined. It does however carry a "subversive" connotation attached to it, so I'd be careful how you use it online. Many people appear to think of it as a term that describes a gay relationship written by either women regarding male/male or men regarding female/female about two non-gay characters for their own sexual gratification. Which is very different than what Queer As Folk and L Word are doing. If that makes sense?
(No not deliberate, I honestly couldn't remember if it was Queer As or Queer ASS...LOL!)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-12 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 02:33 am (UTC)As for slash - I would also go for the definition that it puts two same sex characters together that are not canonically together. I am pretty sure that is the working definition these days. There seems to be a distinction with the word femslash - just to let people know that it's f/f.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 06:20 am (UTC)And I'm not allowed to buy any new books until I finish the ones I have and ahem..that other thing.
Yes, apparently that's the major consensus on slash. But, it isn't how everyone is using the term, which makes it interesting. There's quite a few people online that appear to be using it the same way I was. I suppose it depends on how narrowly you wish to define it.
Some people define things very narrowly, others more broadly.
Interesting.
Shapiro's book is not for everyone. But I found I liked her ending and it moved quickly for me. I got a big bogged down in the center, but was still compelled to finish - it wasn't the "romance" that compelled me, so much as the pain and angst - the feeling that these characters had such a deep breakage of trust there was almost no recovery. Again it has a lot to do with what speaks to us.
Lamb - I struggled with in places as well. But overall enjoyed it.
Very moody reader. As a result am between books at the moment, trying to get into Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of The Wind, but it just is not happening.