2004 - the year in books
Dec. 31st, 2004 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulroFor the most part, I've been successful at reading more & watching less TV & idly surfing the net this year. As a result, I've read a lot of very fine books. A couple of them were even published this year.
The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte totally blew me away. I finished it just before my brother's birthday so I sent him a copy, and it totally blew him away too. I have been remiss in searching out any of the author's other works, which are allegedly stellar as well.
China Mieville's The Scar isn't as wonderful as Perdido Street Station, but it is well worth reading.
I spent less time than you might think reading the first two books in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, Quicksilver and The Confusion. I thoroughly loved both of them and will probably purchase the last volume with my book tokens.
I believe I raved about Mark Merlius's Pyrrus at the time. The Trojan War in 70s gay culture, superbly well crafted.
Speaking of gay culture, Clive Barker's Sacrament is less a fantasy novel than about the effect of AIDS on the gay community, and damn good with it. In an effort to catch up on my Barker, I also read Galilee, which starts out as utterly gripping Southern Gothic with a supernatural twist. Took me 2/3 of the book to realise it wasn't really going anywhere, though.
The unexpectedly delightful book of the year was The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I would have given it to a few people, but it's still only in hardback. I kept trying to write it up properly, but felt unable to explain why it's so good without giving away the end.
Another new book I had to rush out & purchase straight away was The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. It didn't suck, but I had such high expectations that it was a bit of a let-down.
On the non-fiction front, I finally read Revenge of the Land, which is about the part of the world where I grew up (towards the end, in my neighbourhood). If they'd taught us history like that in school, I might have taken some interest in local stuff. I also suspect that one of the idiots done for armed robbery went to my high school. The dates certainly fit with when he "dropped out".
I wrote recently about Richard Fletcher's Bloodfeud, a very wonderful book on Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. I never did get around to telling you all about How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen (I read it in Paris & it was thus involved in some of the weirder shit going on in my head while I was there; I've not had the energy to write the essay it deserves). There are points I disagree with, but overall I think everyone should read it.
Honourable mention also goes to Stephen Mithen's After the Ice. It's a difficult subject to make readable, but he succeeded.
I suppose I should include "Sucky Books I Read This Year". Really, that's only Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. If it wasn't so short, I probably would have overcome my need to finish everything I start reading & actually abandoned it.
As I start 2005, the to-read pile is threatening to topple over & the public library is forever getting new stuff I'm interested in. I still can't believe that my mother bought me the £35 book on Macchu Picchu that was on my wish list!
So, I'm going to be really sad and go curl up with a book, because I've been awake all day & that's proving a bit much for me.
The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte totally blew me away. I finished it just before my brother's birthday so I sent him a copy, and it totally blew him away too. I have been remiss in searching out any of the author's other works, which are allegedly stellar as well.
China Mieville's The Scar isn't as wonderful as Perdido Street Station, but it is well worth reading.
I spent less time than you might think reading the first two books in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, Quicksilver and The Confusion. I thoroughly loved both of them and will probably purchase the last volume with my book tokens.
I believe I raved about Mark Merlius's Pyrrus at the time. The Trojan War in 70s gay culture, superbly well crafted.
Speaking of gay culture, Clive Barker's Sacrament is less a fantasy novel than about the effect of AIDS on the gay community, and damn good with it. In an effort to catch up on my Barker, I also read Galilee, which starts out as utterly gripping Southern Gothic with a supernatural twist. Took me 2/3 of the book to realise it wasn't really going anywhere, though.
The unexpectedly delightful book of the year was The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I would have given it to a few people, but it's still only in hardback. I kept trying to write it up properly, but felt unable to explain why it's so good without giving away the end.
Another new book I had to rush out & purchase straight away was The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. It didn't suck, but I had such high expectations that it was a bit of a let-down.
On the non-fiction front, I finally read Revenge of the Land, which is about the part of the world where I grew up (towards the end, in my neighbourhood). If they'd taught us history like that in school, I might have taken some interest in local stuff. I also suspect that one of the idiots done for armed robbery went to my high school. The dates certainly fit with when he "dropped out".
I wrote recently about Richard Fletcher's Bloodfeud, a very wonderful book on Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. I never did get around to telling you all about How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen (I read it in Paris & it was thus involved in some of the weirder shit going on in my head while I was there; I've not had the energy to write the essay it deserves). There are points I disagree with, but overall I think everyone should read it.
Honourable mention also goes to Stephen Mithen's After the Ice. It's a difficult subject to make readable, but he succeeded.
I suppose I should include "Sucky Books I Read This Year". Really, that's only Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. If it wasn't so short, I probably would have overcome my need to finish everything I start reading & actually abandoned it.
As I start 2005, the to-read pile is threatening to topple over & the public library is forever getting new stuff I'm interested in. I still can't believe that my mother bought me the £35 book on Macchu Picchu that was on my wish list!
So, I'm going to be really sad and go curl up with a book, because I've been awake all day & that's proving a bit much for me.
