Books [interlude]

It’s time for something lighter. 🙂 As promised in another entry somewhere, I wanted to post a list of the best books I’ve read in the last year. That doesn’t mean that they were necessarily written in 2006, merely that they weren’t blips on my radar until I stumbled across them in one way or another.

For most of my life, I could be pigeonholed into these categories:

1. Sci-fi/fantasy geek
2. Sports nut
3. Horror freak

While I delved into some other areas, such as historical fiction, the scope of my readings was really quite limited.  In 2005, I started branching out into new territory, initially into the more straightforward mystery/thriller series, such as Michael Connolly’s works featuring Detective Harry Bosch. 

(As an aside, Harry’s first name is Hieronymus, as he was named after the famous artist. I had never heard of him prior to that, and thus was quite pleased that a detective novel could introduce me to something so incongruous as an obsessive Dutch painter. I rather like his works, as they remind me in some ways of an early Salvador Dali.)

In 2006, I decided to expand my horizons further. Since Stephen King had recommended books I liked before, I decided to check his Top 10 Book Lists for 2004 and 2005, and read the ones that appealed to me. I believe it was 7 from each list.  Apparently, Mr. King and I share the same taste, liking both immensely popular and semi-obscure novels.

Truly, there are few things more satisfying than discovering other worlds. After many months of delving into pure fiction, I feel almost enlightened.  It’s even more thrilling that knowing these books is part of my job. As such, I consider it a responsibility, a mandate even, to recommend the ones that stirred me. Something I noticed was that a number of the books are very romantic. It’s somewhat ironic that my sensual, tender side was blossoming (it had always been there, but now it had a mirror) just in time for my relationship to dissipate.  Still, the common tie in these books is neither topic nor genre, but the characters.  For yes, I love Claire, and Henry, and Achamian, and Shadow, and Odd, and Ellen, and Gemma, Jackson, oh, and Satoris, and certainly wonderful Pi….

The reason Stephen King is my favorite author is because he invests his characters with personality. Individuality. Depth. They come alive. Perhaps that’s simply the reflection of someone who’s read every book multiple times, but the people he creates are vastly different from one book to the next, as much as you or I. I treasure that. Perhaps books are not merely an escape for me, but also a comparison; a chance for me to become someone else, to hold them next to me, to love them and hate them and praise them and condemn them.

To, for a moment, know them, just as I so often try to in everyday life.

Certainly, not everyone’s tastes are similar. There may be some in here that you’d consider stinkers. By and large, however, I believe these books are excellently diverse.  You may read all of them; you may read none. Regardless, I hope they grant some measure of joy. I won’t summarize them, because I want people to look for themselves rather than trusting to a snippet that wouldn’t do them justice.

Only one author appears twice, because I inexplicably have ignored Koontz for years, and I have been hurriedly making up for lost time. Also, if the book is part of a series, I’ve mentioned how many books it has and whether the book can be enjoyed as a standalone.  Every book listed is the first book because I’m smart like that.

Many of these books surprised me, like Prince of Thieves, which is a suspense/thriller/romance/character study/tragedy/drama/comedy. World War Z is simply brilliantly original filled with insight and truth. Oh hell, they all surprised me. I’ll stop rambling now.

Without further ado: my top 20 books of my 2006, with 5 honorable mentions that I really enjoyed but just fell short in some regard. My top 5 are in red. My top 10 are in red and green. It’s Christmas, after all. And yes, figuring out the top 5 or 10 took me a lot of deliberation. 1-4 are easy, but #5 (Darkness That Comes Before) is still fighting it out with the others. =p

General Fiction
The Lovely Bones  —  Alice Seibold
The Time Traveler’s Wife — Audrey Niffenegger (premise is sci-fi, but the story really isn’t)
The Mercy of Thin Air – Ronlyn Domingue
Life of Pi — Yann Martel
No Country for Old Men — Cormac McCarthy (also thriller)
Immortality — Milan Kundera (thank you, Ceir)
Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro
The Gardens of Kyoto — Kate Walbert

Suspense/Thriller
Lisey’s Story — Stephen King
Odd Thomas— Dean Koontz (trilogy, standalone)
Century Rain — Alastair Reynolds (also sci-fi)
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Case-Histories-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316010707/sr=1-1/qid=1166596980/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1092489-0710345?ie=UTF8&s=books”>Case Histories — Kate Atkinson
Prince of Thieves — Chuck Hogan
The Ruins — Scott Smith

Sci-Fi / Fantasy
The Darkness that Comes Before — R. Scott Bakker (trilogy)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War — Max Brooks
Banewreaker — Jacqueline Carey (dyad)
Touched by Venom — Janine Cross (trilogy, 3rd book not out yet)
The Nameless Day — Sara Douglass (trilogy)
American Gods — Neil Gaiman

Honorable Mentions (aka: No Link for You!)
The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer — Neal Stephenson
Tropic of Night — Michael Gruber (trilogy, standalone)
From the Corner of His Eye — Dean Koontz
The Curse of Chalion – Lois McMaster Bujold
A Great and Terrible Beauty — Libba Bray (trilogy, 3rd book not out yet)