This will be the list of books I've read this year, in order of how much I enjoyed them.
Books I Finished Reading in 2019
The Stone Sky- N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate- N.K. Jemisin
Black Leopard, Red Wolf- Marlon James
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August- Claire North
Catch and Kill- Ronan Farrow
Red Seas Under Red Skies- Scott Lynch
The Cabin at the End of the World- Paul G. Tremblay
The Ballad of Black Tom- Victor LaValle
Brother- Ania Ahlborn
The Delirium Brief - Charles Stross
The Republic of Thieves- Scott Lynch
John Crow's Devil- Marlon James
Now and Forever- Ray Bradbury
All the Birds in the Sky- Charlie Jane Anders
The Troop- Nick Cutter
The Acolyte- Nick Cutter
Little Heaven- Nick Cutter
The Labyrinth Index- Charles Stross
Baby Teeth- Zoje Stage
The Department of Sensitive Crimes: Alexander McCall Smith
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 9 (2017)- Ellen Datlow, editor
Drowned Worlds- Jonathan Stahan, editor (anthology)
Who's Bible Is It?- Jaroslav Pelikan
The Croning- Laird Barron
Bad Blood- Chuck Wendig
Double Dead- Chuck Wendig
Darkness on the Edge of Town- Brian Keane
Eat the Dark- Joe Schreiber
Winter World- A. G. Riddle
The New Testament of the Bible- J.C. editor (anthology)
The Horror at Red Hook- H.P. Lovecraft
Extracurriculars
Magik Limited Series: Magik 1-4
Annihilation Comic Run (Marvel Crossover Event): 27 comic run
Heathen Volume 1 (Graphic Novel)
Monstrous Volumes 1-3 (Graphic Novel)
Books I Read in 2019
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
Read
Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)
Abandoned (Donovan Trilogy #2)
Babylon's Ashes
(The Expanse #6)
Reading
Dagon Rising (Clickers #3)
Babylon's Ashes
(The Expanse #6)
The Devil All the Time
by Donald Ray Pollock
Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)
Abandoned (Donovan Trilogy #2)
Babylon's Ashes
(The Expanse #6)
Reading
Dagon Rising (Clickers #3)
Babylon's Ashes
(The Expanse #6)
The Devil All the Time
by Donald Ray Pollock
Re: Books I Read in 2019
I guess I'll post up some short reviews of the books I read. In the order I read them.
The Delirium Brief - Charles Stross
I think Mime once characterized this book as "The Avengers of the Laundry Files books" and that a pretty good description. The eighth book in the Laundry Files series, this one brings back characters and events from each of the previous books and weaves them into this satisfying culmination of some incredible world building. I understand that the coder-dork prose of Charlie Stross is boring and off-putting to some, but it's like comfort food to me and I could read it all day long. And the real strength of Stross's stories in this series is how his well developed world building has aged and evolved through the decade and a half that's elapsed in the fictional world. The cyber-Cthullu world feels real, even though it's fantastical and ridiculous. Loved this book so much.
The Obelisk Gate- N.K. Jemisin
It's weird to say this, but even though I felt this book (which is the second in the Broken Earth trilogy) was not nearly as compelling or amazing as the first book (The Fifth Season)- it's still my favorite book that I read this year. Jemisin's low-magic, far-future, medieval-tech world is so rich, textured and deep. Her commentary on sexuality and gender are pervasive to the story, but never preachy or off-putting. Hands down, she has created some of the most developed, realistic and complicated characters that I've read in ten years- and maybe ever. Her narrative style is genius. Full stop. So even though this book was not on the same level as the first, it was still amazing. It really only suffered from having to be the middle entry in a three act story/trilogy.
All the Birds in the Sky- Charlie Jane Anders
I really enjoyed this book as a change of pace from the other books I've been reading. The Broken Earth series is very serious and no-nonsense; the Laundry Files, for all their tongue-in-cheek pithiness are tackling heavy topics about relationships, mortality and fidelity; even The Gentleman Bastards, which is the lightest of the books I've been into, takes a serious turn towards gravitas. But Anders manages to strike a fantastic balance of writing a story with a breezy touch to the narrative, like it's just a fun story, while you're actually reading a plot about the apocalypse and end of humanity. But she does it with such a pleasant and nonchalant tone that it makes the book fun from beginning to end. I want to call it "charming" except that I find that word reductive and somewhat dismissive. This is a great story about two characters balancing nature and technology in the end times. And it's great.
Drowned Worlds- Jonathan Stahan, editor
Oh boy. An anthology about melted ice caps and how a futuristic world might deal with that- sounds intriguing, right? Not so much. The problem with all anthologies is that you get good and you get bad. But usually the good (or at least fun) outweigh the bad and overall you have a positive experience. And that's the way it was with this book, but just barely. I won't trash talk the stories I didn't like, but Charlie Jane Anders' contribution was one I didn't care for. But then it's balanced out by Venice Drowned by Kim Stanley Robinson and Brownsville Station by Christopher Rowe, which were both beautiful and moving. The real standout here was Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök by James Marrow- a hilarious and original look at what happens with the North Pole melts. A lot of the other stories were just... fine. So that's how I felt about the book... fine.
Who's Bible Is It?- Jaroslav Pelikan
I like to find history books about topics that I know nothing about. I almost chose a book about the history of the Balkans, but went with this instead. I regret my choice a little. When I was a teen, I read the entire bible because I thought it was a book everyone should read since everyone thinks it's so important (although I was already an atheist by then). So this book- which is ostensibly about how we define what is "the bible" (which is different for Jews, Christians and Muslims), and then examines how the bible was written and who decided what actually constitutes "the bible." While it was definitely interesting and I learned a lot from the book, it suffered from a few things. First, didn't really focus on Islam, so it really was an examination of the Jewish and Christian books of faith. That's fine, but I found it a little disappointing. Second, way too much of the book is spent on explaining what each of the different books of the bible were about. And while I understand that some of this is important to explain the context for the other examination- it was WAY too in-depth. A good 40% of the book was a summary of the different parts of the bible, which was just boring. So overall I enjoyed it and learned from it, but can't really recommend it unless you know this is a subject you're into.
The Delirium Brief - Charles Stross
I think Mime once characterized this book as "The Avengers of the Laundry Files books" and that a pretty good description. The eighth book in the Laundry Files series, this one brings back characters and events from each of the previous books and weaves them into this satisfying culmination of some incredible world building. I understand that the coder-dork prose of Charlie Stross is boring and off-putting to some, but it's like comfort food to me and I could read it all day long. And the real strength of Stross's stories in this series is how his well developed world building has aged and evolved through the decade and a half that's elapsed in the fictional world. The cyber-Cthullu world feels real, even though it's fantastical and ridiculous. Loved this book so much.
The Obelisk Gate- N.K. Jemisin
It's weird to say this, but even though I felt this book (which is the second in the Broken Earth trilogy) was not nearly as compelling or amazing as the first book (The Fifth Season)- it's still my favorite book that I read this year. Jemisin's low-magic, far-future, medieval-tech world is so rich, textured and deep. Her commentary on sexuality and gender are pervasive to the story, but never preachy or off-putting. Hands down, she has created some of the most developed, realistic and complicated characters that I've read in ten years- and maybe ever. Her narrative style is genius. Full stop. So even though this book was not on the same level as the first, it was still amazing. It really only suffered from having to be the middle entry in a three act story/trilogy.
All the Birds in the Sky- Charlie Jane Anders
I really enjoyed this book as a change of pace from the other books I've been reading. The Broken Earth series is very serious and no-nonsense; the Laundry Files, for all their tongue-in-cheek pithiness are tackling heavy topics about relationships, mortality and fidelity; even The Gentleman Bastards, which is the lightest of the books I've been into, takes a serious turn towards gravitas. But Anders manages to strike a fantastic balance of writing a story with a breezy touch to the narrative, like it's just a fun story, while you're actually reading a plot about the apocalypse and end of humanity. But she does it with such a pleasant and nonchalant tone that it makes the book fun from beginning to end. I want to call it "charming" except that I find that word reductive and somewhat dismissive. This is a great story about two characters balancing nature and technology in the end times. And it's great.
Drowned Worlds- Jonathan Stahan, editor
Oh boy. An anthology about melted ice caps and how a futuristic world might deal with that- sounds intriguing, right? Not so much. The problem with all anthologies is that you get good and you get bad. But usually the good (or at least fun) outweigh the bad and overall you have a positive experience. And that's the way it was with this book, but just barely. I won't trash talk the stories I didn't like, but Charlie Jane Anders' contribution was one I didn't care for. But then it's balanced out by Venice Drowned by Kim Stanley Robinson and Brownsville Station by Christopher Rowe, which were both beautiful and moving. The real standout here was Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök by James Marrow- a hilarious and original look at what happens with the North Pole melts. A lot of the other stories were just... fine. So that's how I felt about the book... fine.
Who's Bible Is It?- Jaroslav Pelikan
I like to find history books about topics that I know nothing about. I almost chose a book about the history of the Balkans, but went with this instead. I regret my choice a little. When I was a teen, I read the entire bible because I thought it was a book everyone should read since everyone thinks it's so important (although I was already an atheist by then). So this book- which is ostensibly about how we define what is "the bible" (which is different for Jews, Christians and Muslims), and then examines how the bible was written and who decided what actually constitutes "the bible." While it was definitely interesting and I learned a lot from the book, it suffered from a few things. First, didn't really focus on Islam, so it really was an examination of the Jewish and Christian books of faith. That's fine, but I found it a little disappointing. Second, way too much of the book is spent on explaining what each of the different books of the bible were about. And while I understand that some of this is important to explain the context for the other examination- it was WAY too in-depth. A good 40% of the book was a summary of the different parts of the bible, which was just boring. So overall I enjoyed it and learned from it, but can't really recommend it unless you know this is a subject you're into.
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mimekiller
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
Back Reading PUNISHER MAX, hot damn I love this series, I can read about Castle turning criminals into hamburger meat all day long, the cool thing about the MAX series is they stick to him being a vietnam vet and kind of old as fuck. Great stuff.
Re: Books I Read in 2019
The Stone Sky- N.K. Jemisin
Look, y'all read my other review for the second book in this series. Here's the deal- this is the third (and final) book in the Broken Earth series and it was beautiful and amazing and perfect. I didn't think it could surpass how much I loved the first book, but it did. I wound the threads of the stories together in such a great and note-perfect way. It's so great to see some story elements that I thought were random- but it turns out were deliberate and intentional and purposeful all along. Brilliant. You need to read this series just so you can read this book.
The New Testament- God
I haven't read the bible since I was a teenager. I forgot how repetitive the gospels were. That said, the gospels were interesting and the repetitive nature was good for retention. After the gospels I just found it so tedious. It seemed to me about a lot of old men writing letters to other people about how they need to do Christianity the right way. Lot of mansplaining. Oh- and do you know how much the bible hates women? I mean like- there's a lot of woman hate in there.
Double Dead and Bad Blood- both by Chuck Wendig
You know, it's hard to write a book. So I'm reticent to be overly critical of anyone's creation. But I had a problem with both of these books (which are in the same series with the same main characters). The premise is kind of cool: what happens to a vampire who wakes up from near death to discover that the world has been destroyed by zombies, thus making sustenance (humans) scarce? I actually liked the world and rules that were set up for this post-apocalyptic world. But the problem was twofold: (1) the main character is a misanthrope, which we're supposed to be watching and hoping to see his redemption; (2) the male gaze is overwhelming in these books. The first problem makes the book very offputting- while you understand that the main vampire character (Coburn) is a monster struggling for humanity, you can't help but feel like it's celebrating his vicious, give-no-fucks monster side. It's this kind of antihero thing (which I used to like) that makes me realize, as I get older, that it's kind of a weird fascist fetish-- that one person (always a man) can make everything okay in the world if he exercises ultimate power and force of will. Ugh. The second problem is even more offputting- the women aren't real characters. Nearly every woman is described by her sexualized appearance. At least three times, and maybe four, there were women "sprawled out, ass in the air" like they were inflatable sex dolls. It was pretty gross.
Baby Teeth- Zoje Stage
This was a weird read for me. Even though I enjoyed the book a lot, I don't think it was meant for me. The plot centers around a mother and her struggles with her daughter, who she is becoming convinced wants to murder her. And while there's a question of whether it's real or in the mother's head, the book takes an even darker turn. The main character suffers from Chrohn's disease and there's this really great juxtaposition throughout the book about the decaying relationship between mother and daughter and the mother's decaying relationship with her own body. Throw in an undercurrent of questions related to postpartum depression and this novel takes an even darker path than I originally anticipated, and it's all for a conclusion that was pretty complex and satisfying.
Look, y'all read my other review for the second book in this series. Here's the deal- this is the third (and final) book in the Broken Earth series and it was beautiful and amazing and perfect. I didn't think it could surpass how much I loved the first book, but it did. I wound the threads of the stories together in such a great and note-perfect way. It's so great to see some story elements that I thought were random- but it turns out were deliberate and intentional and purposeful all along. Brilliant. You need to read this series just so you can read this book.
The New Testament- God
I haven't read the bible since I was a teenager. I forgot how repetitive the gospels were. That said, the gospels were interesting and the repetitive nature was good for retention. After the gospels I just found it so tedious. It seemed to me about a lot of old men writing letters to other people about how they need to do Christianity the right way. Lot of mansplaining. Oh- and do you know how much the bible hates women? I mean like- there's a lot of woman hate in there.
Double Dead and Bad Blood- both by Chuck Wendig
You know, it's hard to write a book. So I'm reticent to be overly critical of anyone's creation. But I had a problem with both of these books (which are in the same series with the same main characters). The premise is kind of cool: what happens to a vampire who wakes up from near death to discover that the world has been destroyed by zombies, thus making sustenance (humans) scarce? I actually liked the world and rules that were set up for this post-apocalyptic world. But the problem was twofold: (1) the main character is a misanthrope, which we're supposed to be watching and hoping to see his redemption; (2) the male gaze is overwhelming in these books. The first problem makes the book very offputting- while you understand that the main vampire character (Coburn) is a monster struggling for humanity, you can't help but feel like it's celebrating his vicious, give-no-fucks monster side. It's this kind of antihero thing (which I used to like) that makes me realize, as I get older, that it's kind of a weird fascist fetish-- that one person (always a man) can make everything okay in the world if he exercises ultimate power and force of will. Ugh. The second problem is even more offputting- the women aren't real characters. Nearly every woman is described by her sexualized appearance. At least three times, and maybe four, there were women "sprawled out, ass in the air" like they were inflatable sex dolls. It was pretty gross.
Baby Teeth- Zoje Stage
This was a weird read for me. Even though I enjoyed the book a lot, I don't think it was meant for me. The plot centers around a mother and her struggles with her daughter, who she is becoming convinced wants to murder her. And while there's a question of whether it's real or in the mother's head, the book takes an even darker turn. The main character suffers from Chrohn's disease and there's this really great juxtaposition throughout the book about the decaying relationship between mother and daughter and the mother's decaying relationship with her own body. Throw in an undercurrent of questions related to postpartum depression and this novel takes an even darker path than I originally anticipated, and it's all for a conclusion that was pretty complex and satisfying.
Re: Books I Read in 2019
I read the Acolyte by Nick Cutter. It's a detective story based in an alternate, fascinating world of super Christianity (Jews and Muslims are housed in Ghettos). But it's written in the vicious, pulp genre style that was pretty cool. Sure, there's plot holes and I had a few problems with character motivations- but it was a thrilling ride. Very much enjoyed it.
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mimekiller
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Phoebe
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
I bought David Brooks' latest book and was all charged up to read it, and when I looked into his story further before reading it I discovered so many horrible things about him that I don't even want to read the book now. Ugh! Hoping I can get my money back.
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
By Cutter?
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
yep yep sorry that was super unclear, yea same author.
Re: Books I Read in 2019
I’m in.
Re: Books I Read in 2019
Just got done reading The Cabin at the End of the World. Holy shit. This fucking book.
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Phoebe
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
Just read the Poe short story about... I'm literally to freaked out to post it. There's a reason he's the master of horror.
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akiva
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
Reel on a repeating loop
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
I signed up for it yesterday and I THINK its still happening but Amazon is giving away three months of Kindle Unlimited for free, that makes summer reading a bit easier.
*EDIT*
So browsing the catalog, Kindle Unlimited has a TON of graphic novels, very happy with this.
*EDIT*
So browsing the catalog, Kindle Unlimited has a TON of graphic novels, very happy with this.
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Phoebe
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
All the Light We Cannot See is a pretty darn good book. Historical fiction in WWII.
Re: Books I Read in 2019
Black Leopard, Red Wolf- Marlon James
I'll post a full review of this later, but this was wild and amazing. Fantasy story steeped in African culture and mythology, and the opposite of herteronormative. So good, y'all.
I'll post a full review of this later, but this was wild and amazing. Fantasy story steeped in African culture and mythology, and the opposite of herteronormative. So good, y'all.
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mimekiller
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Re: Books I Read in 2019
75 pages into the pulpy JIGSAW MAN and unless it really shits the bed I think i can recommend it, would make for good October spooky reading
The premise is a guy on the verge of offing himself is given a chance to make 2 million dollars, he just needs to quite give his right arm to someone. It gets more wild after that.
The premise is a guy on the verge of offing himself is given a chance to make 2 million dollars, he just needs to quite give his right arm to someone. It gets more wild after that.
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