So this year I read 78 books, which is 28 more books than I read last year.  The reason for this is simple – public transport.  With the aim of getting some excercise, saving on petrol money and improving the environment, I started taking the tram to work around May last year.  And it was the best decision I ever made.  My stress levels dropped, and I suddenly looked forward to getting up in the morning, sitting on the tram and reading a book.   Now, I wonder how I lived without public transport, and the odd day that I need to take the car in, like tomorrow, fills me with dread.  Well… that’s overstating things, a bit, but I like those days less.

Anywho, of the 78 books I read – 38 were general fiction, 39 were TV tie in and 1 was non fiction.  Of the 78, I marked fifteen 9 and 9.5 out of 10.  None of these 15 were tv tie in (which I will rant about in a second post), but one of them was the only non fiction book I read – The Writer’s Tale – which I’ll also post about in a seperately.

So here are the 13 top fiction books I read.  I think they’re all superb, brilliant, entertaining books and I can’t recommend them enough…

Favourite book for the year was:

The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell: I’m not going to say too much about this book other than extoll its many virtues.  I was introduced to O’Connell by Justin Ackroyd from Slow Glass books, and I’ve never looked back.  I don’t normally buy hardcovers, but I make an exception with O’Connell whose lyrical style and ability to tell a dark, moody, surreal and magical story – but without being pretentious or overtly ambiguous – is an utter delight.  If you’ve been reading Jeff Vandermeer’s blog, you’ll be seeing Jack’s name coming up often.  Vandermeer loves him as well… and he couldn’t be more right.  The Resurrectionist is probably O’Connell’s best work… it’s heartfelt and brutal and just – well, read it and find out! 

Duma Key by Stephen King:  Loved it.  I wrote a review on the AsIf website… so you can read my thoughts about it there.

The Dragon’s of Babel by Michael Swanwick:  A sort of sequel to Iron Dragon’s Daughter.  It’s a weird mixture of high fantasy, cyberpunk and the real world, which somehow comes together really well.  You don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this one (though there are a couple of small references for those who have read Iron Dragon).  This book highlights the breadth and depth of Swanwick’s imagination.

Already Dead by Charlie Huston:  I read allot of crime this year.  That said, I didn’t expect to be reading a book about a vampire Private Eye.  Charlie Huston, whose been writing gritty crime novels for the last few years, turns his hands to the old cliche of vampires to great effect.  Joe Pitt isn’t keen on being a vampire and drinking human blood, but somehow he works both sides of the different vampire clans in New York by being a Private Eye.  Much fun and blood and hard boiled writing ensues.  The books is short, punchy and heaps of fun… even if it does have vampires.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane:  If I’m not mistaken this book is being turned into a film by Scorsese.  If so, I can’t wait to see what he does with it.  Shutter Island, written by the man who brought us Mystic River, is a real mind fuck of a novel.  It involves a cop going to an asylum on an island and discovering what goes on there.  It feels very much like a Philip K Dick novel, where nothing and no-one, including reality itself can be trusted.  It’s a gripping read, with a corker of an ending.

Bad Monkey’s by Matt Ruff:  Another mind fuck of a novel – moreso than Shutter Island.  But I’m not going to say anymore about this book.  Just read it.  Seriously, the less you know the better.

The Deep Blue Good By by John D MacDonald:  Go ask Terry Frost about how good the Travis McGee books are.  (And Terry I will be e-mailing you).  It might have been written in 1964 or so, but the story still feels fresh and relevant, with MacDonald writing about the same issues and concerns that we face today.  Through McGee, MacDonald makes Flordia come alive.  McGee himself is laid back and a loner with a brutal streak.  He’s hard to like, but he’s also hard not to like.  I loved this first book and intend to read the series.

KIller Inside Me by Jim Thompson:  Another classic crime novel, written in the 50s by that great noir writer, Jim Thompson.  KIller Inside Me is seen as one of his greatest works, and it’s not hard to see why.  It’s written through the eyes of a serial killer.  But this is no Dexter, who you sort of can’t help but like.  This is Lou Ford, Sherrif of the Town who acts like a dullard but is actually an evil fucker.  The genius of the book is that while you hate spending time with this bastard… you can’t help but read on.  And boy, does it get disturbing.  Anyone at all interested in the crime genre should read this classic novel. 

My Name is Will by Jess Winfield:  A great book about Shakespeare that I bought because I heard the writer interviewed on the New York Times Book Review podcast.  It skips between the story of Will Shakespeare Greenberg of the 1980s and the Will Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon during his early years in 1582.  Will of the 80s is a student (writing a thesis on his namesake and trying to come up with an original take) trying to avoid the Reagan era’s crackdown on drugs.  While the Will of 1582 is trying to be a Catholic with out being strung up and tarred and feathered.  It’s a mixture of fiction and history and speculation of Will Shakespeare’s early life – and it’s a bloody big heap of fun as well.

The Terror by Dan Simmons: If you’d told me last year that I’d be reading a 920 page novel on the Franklin expedition to chart the North West Passage, and I’d love it to pieces, I think you were gaga in the noggin.  Then again, if you told me the book was written by Dan Simmons, I’d understand.  Simmons is a wonderful writer, and his ability to make history jump off the page, while also putting his own theory and fictional twist on this failed expedition is fantastic.  I knew nothing about Franklin before reading the book.  Afterwards, I spent a week checking out about it.  The book is fiction – I mean it has an ice monster in it – but it’s fiction written in such away that you sort of wonder whether this is what really happened… compelling stuff.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss:  I hate epic fantasy trilogies, but this one works.  Yeah, it’s a bit Harry Potter at times (the hero, in his youth is a rebel who goes to a magic school), but I found the story and the characters to be engaging and I’ll definitely be buying the next book.

Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler:  I hate post apocalyptic books as well (well other than The Road by Cormac Mcarthy), but I couldn’t put this one down.  I mean, it actually has Go Go Girls in it.  Basically, America  and the world goes to shit, and a few years later our hero literally comes down from the moutain where he’s been sheltering to discover that in amongst all the anarchy and canabalism, society and civilisation is slowing crawling back together, with Go Go Girls being the main attraction and the main source of the economy.  The book is often hilarious and brutally violent all in the same sentence.  If it has a problem it’s the ending, which is a bit abrupt, but seriously with a title like that, how could you go wrong?

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis: You’ll know Warren Ellis from comics like Planetary and the like.  When he discovered that he was expected to write a book as part of a deal, he produced this… strange beast.  It’s gonzo, deeply offensive and some of the best fun you’ll have withiout getting nude and slathering yourself in ice cream.  The book is filled with pop culture, weird sexual perversions and totally bonkers characters.  And somehow it all comes together in the end.  It’s also an easy read and you’ll knock it off in a day or so.
So there you have it.  Go out and buy all these books now.  You’ll thank me if you do.  How’s that for sheer arrogance!