Best Books for 2007

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  Grim and dark and miserable, The Road is also a brilliant book about survival and love between a father and his son.  It’s a post-apocalyptic book, and so like most post-apocalyptic books it has stuff about searching for food and marauding gangs and death and violence.  Lots of violence.   McCarthy writes in a detached, almost cold style, and yet the emotional stuff and the intensity comes across in spades.  It’s a short book, so you’ll probably read it in two sittings.  But it’s also a very harrowing book, so you might not be able to rush through it.  I know there were times when I had to put the book down because of how intense it was.  An amazing book and a piece of art.  Even Ophrah liked it.

Prayers for Rain by Denis Lehane.  This is the 5th (and at the moment last) book in the Kenzie / Gennaro crime noir series.  It’s up there with Darkness Take My Hand and Gone Baby Gone (which I also read this year) as the best of the five books.  If you haven’t read a Lehane novel before, then don’t start here, but rush out and by A Drink Before theWar (the first Kenzie / Gennaro book).  Lehane is a wonderful writer who fills his books with mystery, humour, violence and a cracking plot.  There’s plenty of twists and turns and in the case of Gone Baby Gone (soon to be released at the cinemas) plenty of moral complexity.  Seriously, I’ve been banging on about Lehane for a couple of year and it’s about time one of you went out and enjoyed his books like I have.  Oh, and yeah, he wrote Mystic River as well (which is better than the movie).

Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman.  The fact that Rob is a good mate of mine doesn’t change the fact that Tiny Death is a brilliant collection of short stories.  Unlike most collections, it honestly does not have a single dud story.  Rob’s stories mix black humour with magic realism, which makes for stories that are at times both funny and disturbing.  My favourites were Mortal Coil (where humanity is told by God exactly when they’re going to die, in a note, left under the door), So Proud (which is poignant tale about a woman who gives birth to antique furniture, wrapping included) and Tiny Deaths (which is probably the best re-telling of the Jesus story ever and deserves an award of some sort).   One of my other faves is a story about a man who goes to hell and befriends Hitler’s dog.  Go on and buy it now.

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold.  This book was published 5 years ago, but I’ve only got it now.  It’s a fictional account of magician Charles Carter.  It blends stuff that really happened with made up stuff with accomplished ease.  It might be a bit flabby in the middle, but, for the most part, Carter Beats the Devil is a real page turner.

No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy.  Because I’m seeing the movie on Tuesday, and because I’ve had the book for 2 years (and hadn’t read it) and because i adored The Road, I thought I’d end the year with a bit more McCarthy.  And I’m glad I did.  This is an unconventional novel that’s more about philosophy than it is about crime.  That said, it’s amazingly violent, with people dying left right and centre.  Anton Chigurh is an amazing character – a fatalistic psychopath, and I can’t wait to see how he’s characterised in the film.  The other main protagonist is Sheriff Bell, who feels he’s living in a time and place which no longer has a place for him.  This book isn’t for everyone, mostly because it doesn’t have a nice neat ending.  Also the detached, dialogue driven writing style enhances the  nihilistic, depressing and bleak atmosphere of the novel. 

So that’s my top 5.  Other notable books I read this year were:

Carnies by Martin Livings.  A really good werewolf novel and a great character piece

The Company by Max Barry.  Max does Corporate farce (well that’s what I’m calling it) like no other.  Bloody funny with a cracking plot to boot.

Survivor / Lullaby / Rant by Chuck P.  I read his whole canon this year – very bad move and not recommended – and these are the one’s I liked the most.   Survivor is raw, but good.  Lullaby is a good horror, urban fantasy novel.  And Rant is cyberpunk, time travelling novel with rabies, and only a book that Chuck could write.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon.  Not for everyone because it assumes you understand Jewish rituals and Yiddish.  It’s also. maybe, a bit long.  But it’s also a very clever crime novel, with a compelling protagonist at its centre.  It just missed out on my top 5.

In terms of the 20 or so TV tie in books I read this year, the best were:

Genuis Loci – a Benny book by Ben Aaronovitch

Collected Works – a Benny short story collection, which I’m in.

Q&A by Keith R A DeCandido – The first Star Trek novel that I’ve read in like 8 years.  It’s got Q in it and is fun.  The Peter David book that follows, Before DisHonour has the Borg in it and is also fun.

Only Human by Gareth Roberts.  Easily the best of those early 9th Doctor BBC novels.