Curious to see what the Lemmings are reading this year.
I’ll say my favorite this year was “The People of the Deer” by Farley Mowat, a novelization of the authors time spent in the Canadian North.
An incredible read with some wonderful prose.
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Unexpectedly, it’s Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I’ve always loved the movie and the book adds to it. A real joy to read.
Oh yes, it’s been years since I read the book. I really enjoyed all the industrial espionage and corporate scumbaggery added in.
One is my all time favorite books. The second one is also much better than the movie.
I really loved A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.
It hit me right at a time when I needed it, and made me feel that change might actually be ok.
My favorite book I read this year was “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin and the rest of her Broken Earth Trilogy was fantastic as well. It’s such a uniquely dangerous and i I’mnteresting world full of mystery and horror. It really grounded with fantastic characters and a compelling plot. Plus it deals with issues like systemic oppression and climate change in a way that just doesn’t just feel like it is copying real world but slapping fantasy/sci Fi paint over it.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery did grab my attention with its themes of class conflict and gender. Its most unique feature is prioritising philosophical and intellectual discussions through the protagonists’ journals; the plot comes in second.
Thank you, I’ll be checking this out!
“Little Eyes” by Samanta Schweblin, a story about how a new technology connects people around the world, and the varied happy and horrific consequences. Samanta Schweblin is my new favorite author. Her best work (imo) is Fever Dream, a hallucinatory novel that feels like a fever dream, about the negative impact of some environmental issues in Argentina.
Sounds right up my alley, thank you!
Published this year: Looking Glass Sound (Catriona Ward)
Read this year: Wolf Hall trilogy (Hilary Mantel)
“The Phoenix Project” by Gene Kim. It’s been a revelation. The second book, “The Unicorn Project”, is not as good, but still definitely worth a read.
Oh The Phoenix Project sounds really interesting, fictional devops and IT what an interesting idea!
It’s only fictional as a full story. All the little events, substories, incodents - they’re all real.
The Wizard of the Crow is a book I picked up randomly at a used bookstore and it ended up being an all time favorite. It gets into some pretty heavy topics but some well placed humor keeps it from being overwhelming.
Ann Patchett continues to impress, both Bel Canto and The Dutch House were excellent. Loved Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Also discovered T. Kingfisher; read Thornhedge and Nettle & Bone, and definitely want to read more of her stuff.
@WanderingCrow best novel I’ve read that was written this year, or best novel I’ve read this year?
Best novel you’ve read this year, no need to cap it by publishing date!
@WanderingCrow Then I think I’d say The Eighth Life (For Brilka). By Haratischwili. A Georgian family saga, spanning the 20th century
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern!
I’ll remember that book like a treasured gourmet meal forever.
Even if I later forget the details, the silken blessing of her prose and how close I grew to her characters while living in their world will linger.
River of Gods by Ian McDonald. I’ve read a lot of books this year but River really stood out. The world building, prose and characters were all top notch.
Lonesome Dove was beautiful and brutal; a window through time.
I really enjoyed **The Kaiju Preservation Society ** by John Scalzi. Very fun read and how a group of scientists would interact on an everyday basis is very on point.
Red rising, it’s been so long since I read a book like ender’s game but I do always enjoy the story of youth in a violent world coming to terms with the society they live in, but this one had so much more than I was expecting.
I was worried it was going to be some pale imitation of ender’s game but instead it was an entirely new story that ended up providing a more brutal look into the viscera of a sick society.
Honorable mention: Logan’s run which I finally read a couple days ago. Brief but wildly exciting.
You know I have this book sitting on my shelf for a few months but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I heard good things about it, but I just kinda forgot about it
You’ll dig it. I had to read the first three books in a row after the first one captured me.
Red Rising had some excellent world building and I really enjoyed the early books. The further along it went, the less I enjoyed, but that may be me. I found myself lost a few times and Brown keeps on chugging.
The further along you went just in that book, or in the series?
That is interesting, I was pretty captivated the whole time and read it in a few days basically when I had any free time, but two of those times were walking around drunk during back to back snow storms listening to the audiobook, so if a particular scene was slow I may have missed that hahaha.
In the series. I hit a struggle after the first half of book 3 and 5 was a slog for me.
The first two books are thrilling!
Oh okay. I stopped at four. The first trilogy was pretty satisfying for me and I don’t think 6 was out yet, so I’m taking a break from then for now
4 was worst. I think because he changed his style.
5 was better because I expected it to be different but the story moves better.
6 was like reading 1-3 again. He even said as he winds down the series he’ll be writing in more the style of the first trilogy
Cool, thanks for letting me know. I actually did read a couple chapters of number four, but I put it down and took a break. It’s good to know you enjoyed six so that I can give the second trilogy another whirl.
Something felt weird about book four, but I didn’t analyze it at all. What changed with his style?
I watched an interview with him at a Comic-Con a year or so ago. I think it was the multiple perspective that he took on it. Plus he had to figure out how to create new momentum within the book after everything had changed. Book four I feel like he was trying to figure out where he wanted the rest of this to go. Initially it was supposed to be a six book series with it being really too trilogies. But now it’s going to be seven books. Four five and six get progressively better as you go and sex feels more like the original trilogy 👍🏻
