What does it mean to be “literate” and am I doing enough to qualify? Looking back on 2009, I read 27 books, which neatly equates to a book for every 2 weeks. I’m not a particularly speedy reader, but I know for a fact that only a couple of them took me 2 weeks to get through, which is a pretty clear sign that I had a lot of days (or weeks) where I wasn’t reading anything. Hm. Not a good start. Of the 28 books I did read, at least half are YA or decidedly “genre,” with most of the rest skewing decidedly geek. Mabye two or three of those books require much work on the part of the reader. It isn’t that I regret reading the books I do – far from it! (with one or two exceptions) – but I certainly didn’t push myself this much in either quantity or content. It’s not as if I can hope to read but a tiny fraction of the books put out each year (not to mention, checking off the past 200 years of lit), but I can sure as hell do better at keeping up the literary conversation.
Of the books I did read, what stood out this year? Dan Simmons’ Drood was a personal favorite, as I loved Wilkie Collins as a delectably loathsome narrator of Dickens’ finals years. While neither author had a release in 2009, I discovered new YA authors Ysabeau Wilce and D.M. Cornish earlier this year, and their respective worlds of Califa and the Half-Continent quickly earned their place alongside Hogwarts, Narnia and Fantastica in my esteem. On a related note, I adored Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, a more adult take on the Wizard-coming-of-age subgenre. The trip to the magical world was a bit of a letdown, but then, wasn’t that sort of the point? The first “Girl Who,” the posthumous pop-lit mysteries from Sweeden, was a solid read, but the second was an gripping (if totally implausible) page turner. Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is one of my favorite novels of recent years, if not ever, and The Year of the Flood was a worthy companion. I still like the original better, if only because I was visiting her dystopian world anew, but I loved framing device of sermons and hymns in this one. Good stuff. I’d never read Richard Powers, but after Generosity, I’m adding the rest of his books to my queue. Amazing writer, and the themes hit close to home.
I didn’t include comics/graphic novels in my 28 book count, but I did read a few of those as well. My biggest pleasure of the year was The Unwritten, by Mike Carey. I’ve enjoyed his writing for years, but this is shaping up to be his very best work. The new Scott Pilgrim book was fun as ever, but at this point, I’m just waiting for the finale. Aside from series I worked on, I only read a half dozen manga titles this year, and of those, by far the standout series was Urasawa’s Astro-boy remix Pluto. It left me a little cold at first, but by the second volume in, I was hooked and by volume 4 I was completely caught up in the melodrama. I shouldn’t limit my list to printed comics though, as perhaps my very favorite comics of the year were the Williams-Sonoma Sapphic Erotica arc of Achewood and the emergence Kate Beaton as a cartoonist for the ages (of the ages…of history).
So that’s what 2009 was like for me as a reader. Time to make up for 2009’s shortcomings with a reading resolution! In 2010 I will try to up my book count from 28 to at least 52. Of those books, at least half should be from writers I’ve never read before. I should read a few prize winners, and as a new member of the SFWA, all of the nominees for fantasy/sci-fi. And at least 10 of those should be nonfiction (I only read 2 this year, yeek).
Okay, ye readers. What books stood out for you this year? Anything I should add to my list or avoid? Any resolutions you want to share?
My full (and woefully short) reading list is after the jump, listed in more or less the order that I read them:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
A Friend of the Earth, T.C. Boyle
Deeper, Jeff Long
Foundling, D.M. Cornish
Lamplighter, D.M. Cornish
Flora Segunda, Ysabeau Wilce
Flora’s Dare, Ysabeau Wilce
Drood, Dan Simmons
Lost City of Z, David Grann
Mainspring, Jay Lake
Zoe’s War, John Scalzi
Un Lun Dun, China Mieville
Bones of Faerie, Janni Lee Simner
Free, Chris Anderson
Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones
World War Z, Max Brooks
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
The House of Many Ways, Diana Wynne Jones
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolf (technically 4 books)
Peter & Max, Bill Willingham
Invisible, Paul Auster
The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood
The Magicians, Lev Grossman
Acacia: The War with the Mein, David Anthony Durham
The Convalescent, Jessica Anthony
Generosity, Richard Powers
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I would much rather have a shorter list than one where I cannot even remember some of the books I read
Quality over quantity. I have books I’ve been wading through for years on and off like the Dead Sea Scrolls (started 2005). Just finished the first of the Chronicles of Amber prequels (unbelievably fast) and some assorted writings by Oscar Wilde including his essays. Books collecting dust on the waiting-to-be-read pile include some kind of compendum of Medieval sagas and stories, a book of Irish folktales accumulated by Yeats and a small Time encyclopedia of fairies, although I must admit I bought it mostly for the paintings. Between work and everything else there isn’t much time to read and when I do, something invariably ends up getting pushed aside to make room for it. Don’t mind me, I was the kind of kid who was disappointed that I couldn’t memorize the entire encyclopedia set when I was seven (only read to Africa and gave up) *eyeroll*
I used to frequent the library like pilgrims go to holy places, but as I advanced in school, fanfiction and manga took over. So my resolution must be: Read more books?
Therefore I rarely find new books as I re-read the ones I haven’t read for a long time. And any new books are mostly Danish, so I doubt they have been translated. But the one ‘new’ book I did find was The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The book I would like to recommend (if you haven’t read it before) is The Valley of Secrets by Charmian Hussey. A very charming story about a orphaned boy who inherited a property after his uncle. And his discovery of the strange creatures inhabiting the property. The most magical thing are the creatures, so don’t expect wizards dueling or a fight between good and evil, just a sweet story
If you liked the Gene Wolf, my faves by him are the Soldier In The Mist series about a soldier wandering through ancient Greece who has to record each day on a scroll because he has Memento-style amnesia. Also King Dork, by Frank Portman, was the first good boy YA novel I’ve read in a long time, sort of a Catcher In The Rye story that makes virulent fun of Catcher In The Rye. Goes well with A Secret History, by Donna Tart, and Special Topics In Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl.
I’m with Sarah on “Special Topics In Calamity Physics” – it was pretty fly. I think it’s somewhere on the hall bookshelf, too
Oh, you read some good ones! I like The Graveyard Book, and Dark Lord of Derkholm is just charming… have you seen the sequel? It’s called Year of the Griffen, and it’s about Elda. Also very good, but not as long.
Also, I’d recommend a series that here in the USA is called The Last Apprentice, by Joseph Delaney. It’s told from a first-person narrative, which usually is very annoying, but in this series it works very well. It’s creepy and fun to read.