2010 Reads: My Personal Picks So Far
It’s not the end of the year yet, but reading Christchurch City Libraries’ top picks yesterday made me think about the books that have been standout reads for me so far this year. I read a huge number of books so to qualify a book really needs to standout in retrospect as well as being something I enjoy while reading. (That’s a much bigger list and needless to say there’s some very good books on it.) So here’s my top 6 picks so far, in alphabetical order by author:
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi — medium-future dystopian scifi that really hooked me in from the opening sequence
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Tigers at Awhitu by Sarah Broom — this accomplished and moving debut poetry collection made a great reading start to my year.
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Room by Emma Donoghue — a Booker shortlisted novel I didn’t expect to enjoy from the back cover, but by the end of Chapter 2 I didn’t want to put it down.
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The Treekeeper’s Tale by Pascale Petit — powerful poetry from celebrated UK poet, Pascale Petit, covering themes of nature and archaeology.
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Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan — a YA paranormal urban fantasy that is not about vampires (despite the title.) I really enjoyed the characters and Tiernan’s use of (real) history in the backstory.
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Tymon’s Flight by Mary Victoria — I love the concept of the “world tree” and the steampunk overtones with dirigibles and flying machines.
Oh my! You were right to keep it a secret. What a lovely vote of confidence to wake up to… 🙂
I’ve read so little and *pickily* this year most of the ten or so carefully chosen books would go on a ‘best of’ list. 🙂 But one that definitely makes the grade for me is ‘The City and the City’ by China Mieville. Did you enjoy that?
I am glad it was a nice surprise. I did like China Mieville’s The City and the City and in fact was hard pressed to choose between that and The Windup Girl in the Hugo voting. My main reasons for going with The Windup Girl as my first choice in that lineup are recorded in my Hugo’s series on Out of this Eos<
I have as yet to read ‘Windup’ but I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy that too. ‘City’ was my first-ever Mieville, and I have to admit the concept of the overlapping cities was particularly satisfying. Sometimes I fall in love with an idea to the point where I forgive vast flaws in the actual story… but in this case, both were engrossing.
For me, The City & the City was quite different from other Mieville novels I’ve read, although the city of New Crobuzon and others are also very powerful presences in Bas-lag, the world of Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. City is almost Fantasy Noir imo, and influenced as much if not more by detective/crime fiction, rather than FSF, but I enjoyed it a lot. But if you’re not sure about The Windup Girl, maybe start with Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, which I discussed here. Being YA it’s an easier read but still a great story.
Yeah, I agree completely. ‘City’ was 90% noir detective with a dash of something vaguely-sf, liberally doused with much Borgesian coolness. I’m looking forward to discovering more Mieville. Bacigalupi too!