Yes, I am actually trying to get this done before the end of the year (Well, that didn't happen). Pretty good, considering I just posted my Best of 2017 list a few days ago! I read 71 books this year, averaging 1.36 books a week. This was 5 titles less than the goal of 75 I had set for myself. My number one pick was an add one, but one that really resonated with me. It got good reviews when it came out, but I haven't seen it on any Best Books lists for the year. In fact, the only book on my list that has been on several Best Of lists is my 9 choice.
1. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I read a review of this in "Publishers Weekly" and thought it sounded pretty interesting. I'm very glad that I decided to try it, because I loved it. Murata tells the story of 36 year old Keiko who has been working in the same Tokyo convenience store for 18 years. Registering somewhere on the autism spectrum, she has never fit in with her family, friends, or schoolmates till she starts working here. All the rules for working in the store and interacting with customers and coworkers are laid out in the employee manual. It is only when she starts to deviate from her established life to make others happy that she starts to have problems. I adored Keiko and was rooting for her on every page to make the best decisions for her own life.
2. Elevation by Stephen King. This is just a novella by the King of Horror, but has jumped into my top 3 of his works. It's not horror at all, in fact, it most reminded my of some of Ray Bradbury's best fantasy. Scott Carey is losing weight, but he doesn't look any thinner. He has decisions to make, including in whom to confide. This is a moving story of friendships, old and new, and determining your own fate.
3. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor Another novella, this one won the Hugo and Nebula Awards a few years ago, although I just discovered it. Binti is a young woman from an African tribe who had been accepted into the most prestigious university in the galaxy. Her unique skills are needed when problems arise on the trip there. This is the first in a series of 3 stories and I look forward to trying the other two..
4. He - John Connolly A fictional look at the life of Stan Laurel, half of possibly the greatest comedy duo ever. The book starts in the beach house Stan lived the last years of his life in and is told through a series of flashbacks. This is definitely not a sugar coated look at his life, he was not wonderful human being, but neither was he a bad guy. And you can definitely feel the love he had for his partner, Oliver Hardy. Although not based on this book, I'm now looking forward to seeing the Laurel and Hardy biopic coming out this year.
5. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers This is the final book in a science fiction trilogy that started with Long Way To A Small Planet, which was on my Top 10 last year. All three books are very well done and extremely readable, although only loosely connected.
6. Varina by Charles Frazier Frazier has now written 4 novels, 3 of them have finished on my Top 10 lists over the years. I love his writing, it's very descriptive. This is the story of Varina, the wife of Jefferson Davis. It mostly concentrates on her escape from Richmond at the end of the Civil War, but her whole history with Davis is covered in flashbacks. She was a very interesting person and not at all what you would expect from the wife of the leader of the Confederacy.
7. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah A damaged Vietnam vet moves his wife and teen daughter to a small town in Alaska to live off the grid in 1974. Things go smoothly for a short time, then the father starts to deteriorate.
8. Irontown Blues by John Varley John Varley is one of my favorite SF writers. His books harken back to the classic science fiction of the 1940s-1960s, but still feels fresh. This is essentially a noir thriller featuring a private detective living on the moon who is hired by a beautiful young woman. She has been infected with an engineered virus and wants to know why. Needless to say, his investigation leads to deeper and darker secrets.
9. There There by Tommy Orange This is the only book on my list that is on multiple big name Best of lists. This is a slowly developing story about a large group of Native Americans in the Oakland area. As the book progresses the characters are heading to a final resolution a the city pow-wow.
10. Noir by Christopher Moore More noir, for shore! This time it's Christophe Moore's take on a noir novel so you know it's going to be wacky. The story involves a beautiful dame, gangsters, mystics in Chinatown, deadly snakes, and possibly a little green man. I laughed all the way through this book.
Overall, it wasn't a great year for reading for me. The first two books on my list are the 2 that will stick with me for a long time. The others were good, and I really enjoyed reading them, but I doubt I will remember a lot about them a few years down the road.
And the worst book I read this year was "The Man From the Train" by Bill & Rachel James, a true crime novel about a serial killer that operated in middle American between 1898 and 1912. There's fascinating stuff here, but the way the authors tell the story just drove me crazy - it was all conversational and quite disjointed.
5. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers This is the final book in a science fiction trilogy that started with Long Way To A Small Planet, which was on my Top 10 last year. All three books are very well done and extremely readable, although only loosely connected.
6. Varina by Charles Frazier Frazier has now written 4 novels, 3 of them have finished on my Top 10 lists over the years. I love his writing, it's very descriptive. This is the story of Varina, the wife of Jefferson Davis. It mostly concentrates on her escape from Richmond at the end of the Civil War, but her whole history with Davis is covered in flashbacks. She was a very interesting person and not at all what you would expect from the wife of the leader of the Confederacy.
7. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah A damaged Vietnam vet moves his wife and teen daughter to a small town in Alaska to live off the grid in 1974. Things go smoothly for a short time, then the father starts to deteriorate.
8. Irontown Blues by John Varley John Varley is one of my favorite SF writers. His books harken back to the classic science fiction of the 1940s-1960s, but still feels fresh. This is essentially a noir thriller featuring a private detective living on the moon who is hired by a beautiful young woman. She has been infected with an engineered virus and wants to know why. Needless to say, his investigation leads to deeper and darker secrets.
9. There There by Tommy Orange This is the only book on my list that is on multiple big name Best of lists. This is a slowly developing story about a large group of Native Americans in the Oakland area. As the book progresses the characters are heading to a final resolution a the city pow-wow.
10. Noir by Christopher Moore More noir, for shore! This time it's Christophe Moore's take on a noir novel so you know it's going to be wacky. The story involves a beautiful dame, gangsters, mystics in Chinatown, deadly snakes, and possibly a little green man. I laughed all the way through this book.
Overall, it wasn't a great year for reading for me. The first two books on my list are the 2 that will stick with me for a long time. The others were good, and I really enjoyed reading them, but I doubt I will remember a lot about them a few years down the road.
And the worst book I read this year was "The Man From the Train" by Bill & Rachel James, a true crime novel about a serial killer that operated in middle American between 1898 and 1912. There's fascinating stuff here, but the way the authors tell the story just drove me crazy - it was all conversational and quite disjointed.
