iamfitz ([info]iamfitz) wrote,
@ 2008-11-25 09:38:00
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Oh how I love lists!
Bookmarks Nov/Dec issue has a "Best Books of 2008" list. Yeah, I don't get it either, especially considering they must have compiled it sometime in September. Still, I love me some lists, so have at it.

The Two Best Reviewed Books of 2008

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (I doubt I'll like it, but I kind of want to read this one.)
Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

Contemporary Life

Lush Life by Richard Price
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles (This surprised me. It got pretty good reviews, but I didn't think it would make a year-end list. On my "to read sometime before I die" list.)
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan (Ugh. You already know what I think of this one. Blech.)
Now You See Him by Eli Gottlieb
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey

Artists at Work

Zeroville by Steve Erickson (Book I'd most likely say [info]mabnyx would like. Might want to read it myself.)
Sway by Zachary Lazar

American West

The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss
So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
The Plague of Doves by Louise Eldrich

Beyond U.S. Borders

The Theory of Clouds by Stéphane Audeguy (I want to read this one.)
Trespass by Valerie Martin
The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa
The Gathering by Anne Enright ·MAN BOOKER PRIZE, 2007
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (This one looks like fun.)
Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy
The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin (Looks very interesting.)

Story Collections

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
The Boat by Nam Le

Crime

The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber
Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina
Winter Study by Nevada Barr
The Legal Limit by Martin Clark

SF

One for Sorrow by Christopher Barzak
An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham

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[info]mabnyx
2008-12-04 03:35 am UTC (link)
SO HEY I HAVEN'T BEEN CHECKING THE INTERNET OBVIOUSLY. LIIIIIIIIISTS.

I really liked Zeroville! It doesn't make any sense at the end, but it is very interesting and caused me to add a thousand things to my Netflix queue. It is also the only one of Steve Erickson's books I've really liked, having also read The Sea Came in at Midnight and attempting to read...shit I don't even remember what it was called, but it tied in with The Sea Came in at Midnight kind of. I find his stuff...doesn't quite hang together as much as it should?

Also I disapprove of how there are only two SF books here, and how one of them sucked.

Anyway, goody! More things I have to feel guilty about not reading!

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[info]iamfitz
2008-12-04 06:08 pm UTC (link)
I knew it. You like that crazy pomo stuff that I can't abide. I'm currently reading Alias Grace by Atwood and feeling rather grateful that she wrote it. Especially after reading Hunger, which was...okay? I know it's a classic and all, but I seem to have missed the point. (Though that, perhaps, was the point exactly.) It has that Nineteenth Century style, where people go mad for no reason at all and get profoundly drunk on two glasses of beer. It's irritating enough when Dostoevsky does it, and I like him better.

I find that I don't really read SF anymore. I used to, but now there's too much else to read, and too little time. I've not read many novels at all this year, though I always seemed to be reading something. At some point, I think I'd like to read those Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson, but I probably won't.

Oh, and this makes me remember that I wanted to ask if you've read Little, Big by John Crowley? I figure you probably have, but if not I thought you might like it. (I hope it's okay to suggest books to you. I don't mean to be pushy, I just like sharing things that I think will make people happy.)

It's nice to see you back online.

fitz

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