Ekaterina Sedia’s The Alchemy of Stone is a lovely steampunk novel with a wind-up heroine who just wants the literal key to her heart. The atmosphere is a mix of sensual organic elements and mechanical contraptions. The gargoyles and the soul-keeper are wildly inventive. If you like this novel, her Secret History of Moscow was also a satisfying read. The urban fantasy was made more interesting with the Russian mythology that comes to life.
I’m re-reading all of the David Foster Wallace novels and essays in tribute to an amazing writer and critic who succomed to depression this fall. All except Infinite Jest. IJ is a mighty, crazy, challenging work that I’m thrilled I read, but like reading Ulysses, once was enough. I needed to trust Wallace that IJ wasn’t just a bunch of post modern techinques without substance, and he delivered a tremenous reading experience. If you don’t want to tackle IJ, go with Oblivion: stories. I know when Haruki Murakami dies, I’m going to completely fall apart.
Thanks to the kindness of Tony and Ellie, I have a new place to share my book reviews and whatever else seems like a good idea.
Here’s my top books that I read in 2008:
1) The Ghost in Love. Jonathan Carroll. I send my first fan letter to Jonathan and he emailed back the next day will warm words. This is one of his best. Certain people are deciding not to die when it’s time. All the rules are changing. The dog will try to make it all better. Yes yes yes.
2) Slumberland: A novel. Paul Beatty. DJ Darky from LA createsthe perfect beat, but needs to find a recluse musician living in 80′s Berlin. His use of language is a scrumptious treat. I always see the spoken word artist in him when tackling music, race, sex, power, and life. Tuff and White Boy Shuffle are also great.
3) Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story. Leonie Swann. Having a flock of sheep investigate the death of their shepard was a brilliant concept that Swann sustained a marvelous read throughout. Very thought provoking in a sneaky good way.
4) Little Brother. Cory Doctorow. My favorite YA book I read this year. Marcus gets caught up in Homeland security round up and needs to use all of his hacking and group dynamic skills to fight back. Very inspiring. Doctorow is an internet superstar with his www.boingboing.net site and his other fiction has been a little hit or miss for me, but his first YA attempt is a treasure.
5) The King’s Last Song or Kraing Meas. Geoff Ryman. Set in the distant past and present Cambodia, I lost myself in the parallel storylines and appreciated the author notes at the end differentiating between where the creative non-fiction and fiction took place.
6) Implied Spaces. Walter Jon Williams. Dubbed the first great “Swords and Singularity” novel. This was a great adventure about competing planet sized sentient computers, and the trans-humans trying to stop a complete takeover of their galaxies.
7) The Last Musketeer. Jason. This Norwegian comic maker crosses Flash Gordon with the Three Musketeers in a heartfelt and surprisingly moving comic. Multi-genre madness.
Unwind. Neal Shusterman. A teen can legally have their body harvested for others to use in this thought provoking YA thriller. I got the biggest reaction from students when I booktalked this, and I still think aobut the issues it raised.
9) Life Sucks. Jessica Abel. Ill. by Gabe Soria. Cleaver convenience store vampire comic with great dialogue that was a joy to read.
10) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Steig Larsson. I don’t read that many thrillers, but this one stood out with memorable characters and I Sweden that I wasn’t familiar with.
Bonus Author fun pack: Robert Rankin is a comic fantasy writer from England that I discovered this year and went through all that I could get in the US, and then ordered a stack from the UK just to keep the joy going. He’s in the Tom Holt and Terry Pratchett vein that I adore. His reads are more formulaic that the two authors I just mentioned, but knowing what to expect is half the fun. Think of a good comic fantasy sitcom and you’ll get it.