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books read 2009
Hurrah, this is my favourite end-of-year meme. A fic version will be coming too, I'm sure, when I finish weeping over how little I have actually managed to finish and how many WIPs are sitting on my desktop.
* denotes a rereading
(anthology) -- Making Violence Sexy - feminist views on pornography
Allende, Isabelle -- City of the Beasts
Atwood, Margaret -- Good Bones
Banks, Iain -- The Wasp Factory
Banville, John -- Mefisto
Bennett, Alan -- The History Boys
Brown, Dan -- Deception Point
Bulgakov, Mikhail -- A Country Doctor's Handbook
Burgess, Anthony -- A Clockwork Orange
Byatt, A.S. -- Possession
Clarke, Susanna -- The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories
Chang, Eileen -- Lust, Caution (& other stories)
Coetzee, J.M. -- Disgrace
Duncan, Glen -- The Bloodstone Papers
Duncan, Glen -- Death of an Ordinary Man
Forster, E.M. -- Maurice*
Friel, Bryan -- Translations
Gaiman, Neil -- Fragile Things
Gawande, Atul -- Complications: a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science
Gibson, William -- Pattern Recognition*
Gourevitch, Philip -- We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
Haddon, Mark -- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Høeg, Peter -- The Quiet Girl
Hollinghurst, Alan -- The Swimming-Pool Library
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou -- Ambiguous Adventure
Knox, Elizabeth -- The Angel's Cut
Knox, Elizabeth -- The Vintner's Luck*
Larbalestier, Justine -- Liar
Levin, Janna -- A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
Levy, Ariel -- Female Chauvanist Pigs: women & the rise of raunch culture
Maguire, Gregory -- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister*
Manto, Saadat Hasan -- Kingdom's End and other stories
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia -- One Hundred Years of Solitude
Maupin, Armistead -- Tales of the City
Mitchell, David -- Cloud Atlas
Moore, Alan & Gibbons, Dave -- Watchmen*
Moore, Christopher -- Lamb*
Moore, Christopher -- The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Nabakov, Vladimir -- Lolita
O'Brien, Patrick -- Master and Commander*
O'Brien, Patrick -- Post Captain
Palahniuk, Chuck -- Invisible Monsters*
Pamuk, Orhan -- Istanbul
Pamuk, Orhan -- My Name is Red
Pérez-Reverte, Arturo -- The Dumas Club
Pérez-Reverte, Arturo -- The Flanders Panel
Pierre, D.B.C. -- Vernon God Little
Pratchett, Terry -- Carpe Jugulum*
Pratchett, Terry -- Maskerade*
Pratchett, Terry -- Thief of Time*
Rees Brennan, Sarah -- The Demon's Lexicon
Rushdie, Salman -- The Enchantress of Florence
Salinger, J.D. -- The Catcher in the Rye
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Five Red Herrings
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Lord Peter Views The Body
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Whose Body?
Shakespeare, William -- A Midsummer Night's Dream*
Shakespeare, William -- As You Like It*
Shakespeare, William -- The Taming of the Shrew
Shem, Samuel -- House of God*
Shem, Samuel -- Mount Misery
Shriver, Lionel -- The Post-Birthday World
Smith, Joan -- Misogynies
Stephenson, Neal -- Anathem
Stephenson, Neal -- Cryptonomicon
Streatfeild, Noel -- Ballet Shoes*
Tan, Amy -- The Hundred Secret Senses
Tan, Hwee Hwee -- Mammon, Inc.
Tartt, Donna -- The Secret History*
Thomas, Dylan -- Under Milk Wood*
Winterson, Jeanette -- The Stone Gods
Winton, Tim -- Breath
Wodehous, P.G. -- My Man Jeeves
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Merlin Conspiracy
Zafon, Carlos Ruis -- The Shadow of the Wind
Zusak, Marcus -- The Book Thief
You're welcome to ask me about any of these, but I'm going to ramble for free on the subject of my five favourites.
Possession by A.S. Byatt
This is a stunningly erudite book about books, and biographies, and the grubby high-minded world of academia, and poetry, and dissolving yourself in someone else's life. And love, of course; intellectual, passionate love between two complementary minds. The most impressive thing about it is the way Byatt manages to write everything: the modern narrative, the love letters between two imaginary Victorian poets, the POETRY of these poets, diaries and articles and scraps of biography, a horde of vivid and three-dimensional characters, everything woven tightly and carefully together to create something extraordinary.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Tip of the hat to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
copinggoggles for reccing this one. It's first and foremost a beautifully, beautifully written book, with a lushness and mischief to the language that makes you want to immerse yourself in the words and never emerge. But it also has a fantastically original structure, a strong sense of humour, an even stronger sense of place and time (late 16th-century Istanbul), and an involving murder mystery. It's packed with deftly clever thematic discussions of cultural boundaries, religion, pride, and above all the nature of art and the responsibilities of the artist to his context and his craft. It blew me away. I'd never read anything even remotely like it.
Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre
Gun to my head, I'd probably have to name this as my top book for the year, and one of the most affecting books I've ever read. If I could write something half as intelligent and brutal and imaginative and funny and strong as this, I would die happy. It's about a teenage boy whose best friend goes on a high school shooting spree before killing himself, and what happens when the protagonist is also blamed for the deaths; dark subject matter, yes, but the writing is incredible and lively, and the voice of Vernon sweeps you into his life and his struggle with no effort at all. It's partly absurd, and partly shocking, and wholly entertaining, and just -- a wonderful, wonderful book. As soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again, and again, and try to work out how Pierre managed to create it.
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
I'll admit that my memories of the finer details of this one are fading, but I remember enjoying the hell out of it, and I definitely remember the fact that I read it hard on the heels of My Name Is Red and was fascinated by the complementary nature of their subject matter; the characters in Pamuk's book refer constantly to the artistic revolution occuring in High Renaissance Italy, and this book plunges you straight into Florence and that world. Niccolo Machiavelli is a main character! COME ON. TEENAGE MACHIAVELLI. Just as satisfying as teenage Vetinari. And woven around that is another narrative about India and immortality and legend and the twin powers of desire and storytelling. Rushdie has a knack for hilariously endearing characters, and creating a world with just the right amount of detail. I think I need to read this one again, and soon :)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Yeah, speaking of stunningly erudite. I know that Stephenson isn't everyone's cup of tea (he WILL go on and on about maths <33, and seems incapable of writing a novel that is shorter than 900 pages) but his stories are perfect for people who don't mind a hefty dose of intellectual stimulation with their twisty plots. Anathem is less complicated than Cryptonomicon (which I also read & adored this year) in that it has only one basically chronological narrative, but it makes up for this by changing genres occasionally just to keep you on your toes -- the lives and rituals of philosophical monks, then dangerous hijinks at the North Pole, then Diplomatic Missions In Space! It's very difficult to explain the premise succinctly, but Erasmus is a charming protagonist whose hair you constantly wish to ruffle, and there are enough adventures and quantum physics references <333333! and worldbuilding and friendships and sly romance and mysteries and politics to give it epic, epic scope. I enjoyed every second of it.
* denotes a rereading
(anthology) -- Making Violence Sexy - feminist views on pornography
Allende, Isabelle -- City of the Beasts
Atwood, Margaret -- Good Bones
Banks, Iain -- The Wasp Factory
Banville, John -- Mefisto
Bennett, Alan -- The History Boys
Brown, Dan -- Deception Point
Bulgakov, Mikhail -- A Country Doctor's Handbook
Burgess, Anthony -- A Clockwork Orange
Byatt, A.S. -- Possession
Clarke, Susanna -- The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories
Chang, Eileen -- Lust, Caution (& other stories)
Coetzee, J.M. -- Disgrace
Duncan, Glen -- The Bloodstone Papers
Duncan, Glen -- Death of an Ordinary Man
Forster, E.M. -- Maurice*
Friel, Bryan -- Translations
Gaiman, Neil -- Fragile Things
Gawande, Atul -- Complications: a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science
Gibson, William -- Pattern Recognition*
Gourevitch, Philip -- We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
Haddon, Mark -- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Høeg, Peter -- The Quiet Girl
Hollinghurst, Alan -- The Swimming-Pool Library
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou -- Ambiguous Adventure
Knox, Elizabeth -- The Angel's Cut
Knox, Elizabeth -- The Vintner's Luck*
Larbalestier, Justine -- Liar
Levin, Janna -- A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
Levy, Ariel -- Female Chauvanist Pigs: women & the rise of raunch culture
Maguire, Gregory -- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister*
Manto, Saadat Hasan -- Kingdom's End and other stories
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia -- One Hundred Years of Solitude
Maupin, Armistead -- Tales of the City
Mitchell, David -- Cloud Atlas
Moore, Alan & Gibbons, Dave -- Watchmen*
Moore, Christopher -- Lamb*
Moore, Christopher -- The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Nabakov, Vladimir -- Lolita
O'Brien, Patrick -- Master and Commander*
O'Brien, Patrick -- Post Captain
Palahniuk, Chuck -- Invisible Monsters*
Pamuk, Orhan -- Istanbul
Pamuk, Orhan -- My Name is Red
Pérez-Reverte, Arturo -- The Dumas Club
Pérez-Reverte, Arturo -- The Flanders Panel
Pierre, D.B.C. -- Vernon God Little
Pratchett, Terry -- Carpe Jugulum*
Pratchett, Terry -- Maskerade*
Pratchett, Terry -- Thief of Time*
Rees Brennan, Sarah -- The Demon's Lexicon
Rushdie, Salman -- The Enchantress of Florence
Salinger, J.D. -- The Catcher in the Rye
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Five Red Herrings
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Lord Peter Views The Body
Sayers, Dorothy L. -- Whose Body?
Shakespeare, William -- A Midsummer Night's Dream*
Shakespeare, William -- As You Like It*
Shakespeare, William -- The Taming of the Shrew
Shem, Samuel -- House of God*
Shem, Samuel -- Mount Misery
Shriver, Lionel -- The Post-Birthday World
Smith, Joan -- Misogynies
Stephenson, Neal -- Anathem
Stephenson, Neal -- Cryptonomicon
Streatfeild, Noel -- Ballet Shoes*
Tan, Amy -- The Hundred Secret Senses
Tan, Hwee Hwee -- Mammon, Inc.
Tartt, Donna -- The Secret History*
Thomas, Dylan -- Under Milk Wood*
Winterson, Jeanette -- The Stone Gods
Winton, Tim -- Breath
Wodehous, P.G. -- My Man Jeeves
Wynne Jones, Diana -- The Merlin Conspiracy
Zafon, Carlos Ruis -- The Shadow of the Wind
Zusak, Marcus -- The Book Thief
You're welcome to ask me about any of these, but I'm going to ramble for free on the subject of my five favourites.
Possession by A.S. Byatt
This is a stunningly erudite book about books, and biographies, and the grubby high-minded world of academia, and poetry, and dissolving yourself in someone else's life. And love, of course; intellectual, passionate love between two complementary minds. The most impressive thing about it is the way Byatt manages to write everything: the modern narrative, the love letters between two imaginary Victorian poets, the POETRY of these poets, diaries and articles and scraps of biography, a horde of vivid and three-dimensional characters, everything woven tightly and carefully together to create something extraordinary.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Tip of the hat to
copinggoggles for reccing this one. It's first and foremost a beautifully, beautifully written book, with a lushness and mischief to the language that makes you want to immerse yourself in the words and never emerge. But it also has a fantastically original structure, a strong sense of humour, an even stronger sense of place and time (late 16th-century Istanbul), and an involving murder mystery. It's packed with deftly clever thematic discussions of cultural boundaries, religion, pride, and above all the nature of art and the responsibilities of the artist to his context and his craft. It blew me away. I'd never read anything even remotely like it.Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre
Gun to my head, I'd probably have to name this as my top book for the year, and one of the most affecting books I've ever read. If I could write something half as intelligent and brutal and imaginative and funny and strong as this, I would die happy. It's about a teenage boy whose best friend goes on a high school shooting spree before killing himself, and what happens when the protagonist is also blamed for the deaths; dark subject matter, yes, but the writing is incredible and lively, and the voice of Vernon sweeps you into his life and his struggle with no effort at all. It's partly absurd, and partly shocking, and wholly entertaining, and just -- a wonderful, wonderful book. As soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again, and again, and try to work out how Pierre managed to create it.
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
I'll admit that my memories of the finer details of this one are fading, but I remember enjoying the hell out of it, and I definitely remember the fact that I read it hard on the heels of My Name Is Red and was fascinated by the complementary nature of their subject matter; the characters in Pamuk's book refer constantly to the artistic revolution occuring in High Renaissance Italy, and this book plunges you straight into Florence and that world. Niccolo Machiavelli is a main character! COME ON. TEENAGE MACHIAVELLI. Just as satisfying as teenage Vetinari. And woven around that is another narrative about India and immortality and legend and the twin powers of desire and storytelling. Rushdie has a knack for hilariously endearing characters, and creating a world with just the right amount of detail. I think I need to read this one again, and soon :)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Yeah, speaking of stunningly erudite. I know that Stephenson isn't everyone's cup of tea (he WILL go on and on about maths <33, and seems incapable of writing a novel that is shorter than 900 pages) but his stories are perfect for people who don't mind a hefty dose of intellectual stimulation with their twisty plots. Anathem is less complicated than Cryptonomicon (which I also read & adored this year) in that it has only one basically chronological narrative, but it makes up for this by changing genres occasionally just to keep you on your toes -- the lives and rituals of philosophical monks, then dangerous hijinks at the North Pole, then Diplomatic Missions In Space! It's very difficult to explain the premise succinctly, but Erasmus is a charming protagonist whose hair you constantly wish to ruffle, and there are enough adventures and quantum physics references <333333! and worldbuilding and friendships and sly romance and mysteries and politics to give it epic, epic scope. I enjoyed every second of it.
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