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bookgazing) wrote2012-12-24 10:26 am
bookgazing) wrote2012-12-24 10:26 am
Top 20 for 2012
Since I’m about halfway through ‘Moby Dick’ it’s unlikely that I’ll get any more books read by the end of 2012, so that means it’s time for me to list my top reads of the year. Since I didn’t review very many of the books I read in 2012, I’ve let myself make a big top twenty list so some books I haven’t had time to mention get a moment to shine here.
In no particular order, the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2012:
‘The Kingdom of Gods’ - N K Jemisin: Reading this was emotional! I’m a sucker for an ending which satisfies me romantically and this delivered everything I could have wanted, considering that Jemisin was never going to give her readers a conventional happy ending. Now I’ve finished the trilogy I want to read them all again.
‘The Murder of Halland’ – Pia Juul: I’m going to talk a bit more about what I like about this novella during Smugglivus, so right now I’ll just say that the female protagonist was a really unique creation.
‘Breaking Away’ – Anna Gavalda: A translated novella about sibling relationships that shows while you can never go home again, you can visit for one perfect afternoon. I adored this and think everyone should read it. Expect me to be continually evangelical about it in the future.
‘Feed’ – Mira Grant: (review - ladybusiness)
‘Under the Poppy’ – Kathe Koja: A slowly building narrative that requires patience to unravel, but I found the effort so rewarding (despite any minor issues I had with the rise and fall of tension in the middle of the book). I especially liked the style of suddenly dropping dialogue from the characters into sentences that had previously been in the voice of the omniscient narrator.
‘Iron Council’ – China Mieville: (co-review with maree)
‘Alone in Berlin’ – Hans Fallada: One of the most depressing books I’ve ever read about the political impact the individual can make. I may never get over it, but Fallada offers hope too if you squint just a bit.
‘The Song of Achilles’ – Madeline Miller: I had some issues with this one (some of the writing and the way female characters were presented) which really, really bothered me when I was reading it. At the same time, I found it such a passionate and interesting work that it would be really dishonest if I said it still wasn’t one of my favourite books of the year. Expanding classical works for the win!
‘The Lost Books of the Odyssey’ – Zachary Mason: This book really is more my kind of revisionist work than ‘Song of Achilles’, warm fuzzy feelings about the romance in Miller’s book aside. It not only expands the readers insight into the original story it’s based on, it also plays around with the configurations of fiction in. It is probably best to read ‘The Odyssey’ right before reading this book. If you have a reasonable working knowledge of the story then you’ll understand most of these stories, but there were a few which are based on details I’d forgotten all about. Kind of want to read it again next year after reading the original.
‘Jezebel’ – Irene Nemirovsky: As per usual for a Nemirovsky novella, this story is full of bitter relations. An ageing woman watches her daughter grow beautiful and feels it destroy her. It’s a story about how the pressures of the world poison the relationships between these two women, as society pushes the mother to stay young and attractive, or fade from view.
‘The Tiger's Wife’ – Tea Obhert: (review)
‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ – Azar Nafisi: The one piece of non-fiction I read this year! I read this with litlove and it made me want to learn much more about women in countries where Islam is the main religion. Nafisi uses four books, including ‘Lolita’ as starting points for discussing the changing political situation in Iran and specifically the way that political regimes treat women. It provided interesting literary criticism and some useful reminders about the way any progress towards equality works.
‘My Mortal Enemy’ – Willa Carther: (review)
‘The Greatcoat’ – Helen Dunmore: This is the first novel from the new Hammer Horror imprint. Its story pulls horror out of the isolation the protagonist feels and her life’s possession by ghosts, which makes for quite a subtle, but effective creep. I’m not sure it’ll scare most readers, but it does disturb.
‘The Snow Child’ – Eowyn Ivey: Like the best of Ted Hughes nature poems (not that one about the swallows, ugh, every school year we had to read that again and again) this novel shows both the beauty and the ferociousness of nature. It’s based on a Russian folk story about a little girl made from snow by a childless couple and Ivey fleshes out that story, while sticking with one of the traditional endings.
‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ – John le Carre: I loved the 2011 film and went on to love the book, especially because the gay relationship between Bill and Jim more explicit. I’m a big fan of the kind of spy literature/political thriller which places as much emphasis on creating a world as creating a plot.
‘Railsea’ – China Mieville: (co-review – ladybusiness)
‘The Ask and the Answer’ – Patrick Ness: The second book in Ness’ trilogy had a lot of interesting things to say about feminism and how the patriarchy works on ordinary men. I think I liked this one more intellectually, while the first one grabbed me in the heart with all its drama. Can’t wait to see what the last book is like!
‘Beside the Sea’ – Veronique Olmi: One of those books that puts you right in the mind of a disturbing character and allows you to empathise without approving of their final actions. I wish I’d been able to see the play when it was on. Disclosure: I was an intern for the UK company that published this book and ‘The Murder of Halland’.
‘Come Back to Sorrento’ – Dawn Powell: Nostalgia and pretension keeps the characters in this book from really making anything of their lives in the present. Powell is kind about her characters, even though they are caught in a mire of nostalgia which makes them behave in a ridiculously superior manner. And that kindness is why this book is on my top 20 list and Ali Smith’s ‘There but for the’ isn’t.
Easily the worst book I read in 2012:
‘The Auschwitz Violin’ - Maria Angels Anglada: Let the blurb from John Boyne, author of yet another manipulative book about genocide, warn you away from this badly written piece of awful. Full review pending.
In no particular order, the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2012:
‘The Kingdom of Gods’ - N K Jemisin: Reading this was emotional! I’m a sucker for an ending which satisfies me romantically and this delivered everything I could have wanted, considering that Jemisin was never going to give her readers a conventional happy ending. Now I’ve finished the trilogy I want to read them all again.
‘The Murder of Halland’ – Pia Juul: I’m going to talk a bit more about what I like about this novella during Smugglivus, so right now I’ll just say that the female protagonist was a really unique creation.
‘Breaking Away’ – Anna Gavalda: A translated novella about sibling relationships that shows while you can never go home again, you can visit for one perfect afternoon. I adored this and think everyone should read it. Expect me to be continually evangelical about it in the future.
‘Feed’ – Mira Grant: (review - ladybusiness)
‘Under the Poppy’ – Kathe Koja: A slowly building narrative that requires patience to unravel, but I found the effort so rewarding (despite any minor issues I had with the rise and fall of tension in the middle of the book). I especially liked the style of suddenly dropping dialogue from the characters into sentences that had previously been in the voice of the omniscient narrator.
‘Iron Council’ – China Mieville: (co-review with maree)
‘Alone in Berlin’ – Hans Fallada: One of the most depressing books I’ve ever read about the political impact the individual can make. I may never get over it, but Fallada offers hope too if you squint just a bit.
‘The Song of Achilles’ – Madeline Miller: I had some issues with this one (some of the writing and the way female characters were presented) which really, really bothered me when I was reading it. At the same time, I found it such a passionate and interesting work that it would be really dishonest if I said it still wasn’t one of my favourite books of the year. Expanding classical works for the win!
‘The Lost Books of the Odyssey’ – Zachary Mason: This book really is more my kind of revisionist work than ‘Song of Achilles’, warm fuzzy feelings about the romance in Miller’s book aside. It not only expands the readers insight into the original story it’s based on, it also plays around with the configurations of fiction in. It is probably best to read ‘The Odyssey’ right before reading this book. If you have a reasonable working knowledge of the story then you’ll understand most of these stories, but there were a few which are based on details I’d forgotten all about. Kind of want to read it again next year after reading the original.
‘Jezebel’ – Irene Nemirovsky: As per usual for a Nemirovsky novella, this story is full of bitter relations. An ageing woman watches her daughter grow beautiful and feels it destroy her. It’s a story about how the pressures of the world poison the relationships between these two women, as society pushes the mother to stay young and attractive, or fade from view.
‘The Tiger's Wife’ – Tea Obhert: (review)
‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ – Azar Nafisi: The one piece of non-fiction I read this year! I read this with litlove and it made me want to learn much more about women in countries where Islam is the main religion. Nafisi uses four books, including ‘Lolita’ as starting points for discussing the changing political situation in Iran and specifically the way that political regimes treat women. It provided interesting literary criticism and some useful reminders about the way any progress towards equality works.
‘My Mortal Enemy’ – Willa Carther: (review)
‘The Greatcoat’ – Helen Dunmore: This is the first novel from the new Hammer Horror imprint. Its story pulls horror out of the isolation the protagonist feels and her life’s possession by ghosts, which makes for quite a subtle, but effective creep. I’m not sure it’ll scare most readers, but it does disturb.
‘The Snow Child’ – Eowyn Ivey: Like the best of Ted Hughes nature poems (not that one about the swallows, ugh, every school year we had to read that again and again) this novel shows both the beauty and the ferociousness of nature. It’s based on a Russian folk story about a little girl made from snow by a childless couple and Ivey fleshes out that story, while sticking with one of the traditional endings.
‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ – John le Carre: I loved the 2011 film and went on to love the book, especially because the gay relationship between Bill and Jim more explicit. I’m a big fan of the kind of spy literature/political thriller which places as much emphasis on creating a world as creating a plot.
‘Railsea’ – China Mieville: (co-review – ladybusiness)
‘The Ask and the Answer’ – Patrick Ness: The second book in Ness’ trilogy had a lot of interesting things to say about feminism and how the patriarchy works on ordinary men. I think I liked this one more intellectually, while the first one grabbed me in the heart with all its drama. Can’t wait to see what the last book is like!
‘Beside the Sea’ – Veronique Olmi: One of those books that puts you right in the mind of a disturbing character and allows you to empathise without approving of their final actions. I wish I’d been able to see the play when it was on. Disclosure: I was an intern for the UK company that published this book and ‘The Murder of Halland’.
‘Come Back to Sorrento’ – Dawn Powell: Nostalgia and pretension keeps the characters in this book from really making anything of their lives in the present. Powell is kind about her characters, even though they are caught in a mire of nostalgia which makes them behave in a ridiculously superior manner. And that kindness is why this book is on my top 20 list and Ali Smith’s ‘There but for the’ isn’t.
Easily the worst book I read in 2012:
‘The Auschwitz Violin’ - Maria Angels Anglada: Let the blurb from John Boyne, author of yet another manipulative book about genocide, warn you away from this badly written piece of awful. Full review pending.
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I plan to revisit everything N.K. Jemisin wrote in 2013. :) I'm really excited to still have the entire Inheritance trilogy and the sequel to The Killing Moon to read. Also, I think she has some short stories out there (unless I'm making it up out of an overabundance of excitement).
Others I hope to try: The Tiger's Wife, Feed (which I tried but life exploded and I had to return it to the library), Railsea (which I got from Ana and should read soon), and I hope to actually reread the whole Chaos Walking trilogy (although I really need to find a place that still sells the UK hardcover of The Knife of Never Letter Go, otherwise my set doesn't match and it drives me bonkers).
I'd love to see all your reading stats for the year, too (if you decide you want to share them)! :')
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I'm excited for you to read Feed and The Tiger's Wife (you could help me puzzle out a particularly troubling character in that one, maybe). I got 'Monsters of Men' for Christmas btw so I will finish the series this year :) And if you want the UK hardcover I could try and scout it for you?
Still working on my stats post - stand by :)
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(Anonymous) 2012-12-29 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)Rebecca H.
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