Shiri Read 50+ Books in 2013. Her Ten Favorite Are:
In no particular order:
1) The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. More exposition than I usually enjoy but the soft, fable like quality to the complete work made me not give a shit. History, myth, fantasy, love, hate, loss, discovery… whole lives lived in one day and over the course of centuries. Has that Broadchurch slow burn quality I love in my television but so rarely find done well in a book that doesn’t originate in India or with an Indian author. I finished the library copy and immediately purchased a hard copy so I can read it over and over and over again.
2) Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Could be real science, violence, ego, ambiguous villains, ambiguous heroes, a precocious kid, and crazy well integrated flashbacks. I also bought this one within minutes of finishing and I recommend you skip the middle man and purchase.
3) The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach. Yep, that dude who wrote Go the Fuck to Sleep, best experienced as a Samuel L. Jackson audio book, has also written big people stuff. Ancient Aztec deities, a heart in a box, a sprint across the no-man’s land that is the border between the US and Mexico, virgins, zombies… Read. Just… read.
4) Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa by Benjamin Constable. Any attempt to explain this book will fail to do it justice. Literary, convoluted, infuriating, amazing. The central conceit turned me off in theory but was, in practice, remarkably well done and I’m glad I what the hell-ed it. It’s good to try different pools every so often.
5) The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma. A Secret History, that book you thought was really awesome when you were in college and playing at being at being a *nose in the air, putting on a beret* intellectual, all grown up. You spend a good deal of your reading time wanting to punch the characters in faces or guts or nuts, but in an enjoyable way that makes you want to keep reading to find out when you are next going to feel the overwhelming urge toward physical violence. The plot is fantastic and convoluted enough to keep the reader guessing and hey, it’s about writers and writers are, by nature, fucked up. True news.
6) Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore. Necromancer who really wants to be an asshole but is, by some odd twist of fate, a decent guy. Santa Muerte. That is all.
7) Clean/Sharp by Alex Hughes. There are some bare spots in character development, but the plots are solid and the stories move. I read each novel in just a couple of days and I have two kids, a full time job, and a writing career I’m trying to get going. I like the lead and I have a feeling we’re being set up for some spectacular plot bombs and characters switches. Thoroughly enjoyed.
8) The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. I was a bit intimidated as, in several reviews, people complained they didn’t understand the techno babble and were thus, disengaged from the story. I disagree. I didn’t get all the techno babble and I loved the book any way. I even looked some of the physics and math up and I am not wont to do such things. I gather from some additional research that this single volume was originally two novels and there is this very strange time jump about 2/3 of the way through… funny, sciency, geeky enjoyment.
9) Redshirts by John Sclazi. So very meta without being the slightest bit obnoxious about it, pulling from canon and twisting said on its lame-ass, old, boring head. Phenomenal. Read. Laugh. Scratch your head in puzzlement. Laugh some more. Embrace and love.
10) Horns by Joe Hill. Time slipping done so masterfully it doesn’t need to be announced, a Satan in the oldest and Adversarial of incarnations. Horror set so firmly in the real world, the reader can see it happening down the street. Movie on its way and it’s going to be good.
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