Books of 2013
Aug. 2nd, 2014 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustIn 2013, I read 58 books:
42 were fiction
16 were non-fiction
42 were novels
0 were collections
0 were anthologies
20 were by authors I had read before
22 were by authors I had never read before
8 were first novels in a series
14 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
Chalice by Robin McKinley - Another lovely fantasy from McKinley. A beekeeper suddenly becomes the joint guardian of the land, forced to work with the new lord who is no longer quite human, as they learn their roles and develop a tentative relationship.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - Intense and marvellously written. I loved recognising all the lines referenced by the show. Silence of the Lambs was also brilliant. Hannibal was just depressing. And I didn't even want to try Hannibal Rising.
Murder in Mississippi by John Safran - A true crime story about a white supremacist killed by a black man, only the more Safran digs, the more complicated it gets. (Retitled for American release, because in Australia, "Murder in Mississippi" sounds mysterious and exotic, whereas in the US, it's the equivalent of "Murder in New South Wales".)
Redshirts by John Scalzi - A parody that had me smiling, and then punched me in the heart. Unexpectedly moving.
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - If you liked Code Name Verity, you'll know what I mean when I say this book will rip out your heart in a totally incredible way. Rose is the young pilot who goes down behind enemy lines and lives through the concentration camps. Unflinching and inspirational.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - A boy struggling with the loss of his mother finds his way inside the stories of a very old book. Beautiful and lyrical and haunting. Like a fairytale, but the dark and complex side of a fairytale. Not without redemption, but not without cost. The author has said this is the book he would save from the fire if he had to choose.
Disappointments:
The Werewolves of London by Brian Stableford - This has been on my to read list for years. Cool title and cool premise: a young man on an expedition to Egypt accidentally rouses ancient gods, triggering a war between powers. It started off intriguing enough, but soon got weird and metaphysical and kind of longwinded.
I Know What You Did Last Supper by Wayne Williams and Darren Allan - I was hooked by the premise: two days after Jesus Christ's crucifixion, Judas Iscariot receives an anonymous note stating, "I know what you did." Wrapped with it is an eye and a tooth from two recently butchered friends. Someone knows that Judas betrayed Jesus and is intent on killing his friends one by one in revenge, launching Judas into a race against time to find the killer. For some reason, I thought this would be a quirky murder mystery. Instead, it was like a slasher movie, with people being murdered in gruesome ways. And the reveal at the end made me angry.
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett - I love watching Ankh-Morpork change and evolve, and bringing in the railways is a huge turning point, that Terry acknowledged years ago would be a game changer for the world. And Moist von Lipwig is one of my favourite characters. But this book felt kind of choppy and uneven, like an early draft, and I think the last few books have suffered from this too. But that's okay. I still love the Discworld books and plan to read every single one, as long as I have the chance.
This was also the year of:
* getting into romance (Jennifer Crusie's Strange Bedfellows and Bet Me, Lisa Kleypas's Friday Harbor and Travis series)
* getting back into Sara Paretsky (Fire Sale, Hardball and Body Work)
* getting back into Agatha Christie (finally reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and discovering the Miss Marple books)
42 were fiction
16 were non-fiction
42 were novels
0 were collections
0 were anthologies
20 were by authors I had read before
22 were by authors I had never read before
8 were first novels in a series
14 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
Chalice by Robin McKinley - Another lovely fantasy from McKinley. A beekeeper suddenly becomes the joint guardian of the land, forced to work with the new lord who is no longer quite human, as they learn their roles and develop a tentative relationship.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - Intense and marvellously written. I loved recognising all the lines referenced by the show. Silence of the Lambs was also brilliant. Hannibal was just depressing. And I didn't even want to try Hannibal Rising.
Murder in Mississippi by John Safran - A true crime story about a white supremacist killed by a black man, only the more Safran digs, the more complicated it gets. (Retitled for American release, because in Australia, "Murder in Mississippi" sounds mysterious and exotic, whereas in the US, it's the equivalent of "Murder in New South Wales".)
Redshirts by John Scalzi - A parody that had me smiling, and then punched me in the heart. Unexpectedly moving.
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - If you liked Code Name Verity, you'll know what I mean when I say this book will rip out your heart in a totally incredible way. Rose is the young pilot who goes down behind enemy lines and lives through the concentration camps. Unflinching and inspirational.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - A boy struggling with the loss of his mother finds his way inside the stories of a very old book. Beautiful and lyrical and haunting. Like a fairytale, but the dark and complex side of a fairytale. Not without redemption, but not without cost. The author has said this is the book he would save from the fire if he had to choose.
Disappointments:
The Werewolves of London by Brian Stableford - This has been on my to read list for years. Cool title and cool premise: a young man on an expedition to Egypt accidentally rouses ancient gods, triggering a war between powers. It started off intriguing enough, but soon got weird and metaphysical and kind of longwinded.
I Know What You Did Last Supper by Wayne Williams and Darren Allan - I was hooked by the premise: two days after Jesus Christ's crucifixion, Judas Iscariot receives an anonymous note stating, "I know what you did." Wrapped with it is an eye and a tooth from two recently butchered friends. Someone knows that Judas betrayed Jesus and is intent on killing his friends one by one in revenge, launching Judas into a race against time to find the killer. For some reason, I thought this would be a quirky murder mystery. Instead, it was like a slasher movie, with people being murdered in gruesome ways. And the reveal at the end made me angry.
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett - I love watching Ankh-Morpork change and evolve, and bringing in the railways is a huge turning point, that Terry acknowledged years ago would be a game changer for the world. And Moist von Lipwig is one of my favourite characters. But this book felt kind of choppy and uneven, like an early draft, and I think the last few books have suffered from this too. But that's okay. I still love the Discworld books and plan to read every single one, as long as I have the chance.
This was also the year of:
* getting into romance (Jennifer Crusie's Strange Bedfellows and Bet Me, Lisa Kleypas's Friday Harbor and Travis series)
* getting back into Sara Paretsky (Fire Sale, Hardball and Body Work)
* getting back into Agatha Christie (finally reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and discovering the Miss Marple books)
