The Sword and Laser discussion
Best book of the year. 2010 edition
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Best current fiction:Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
Best classic fiction:
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
(Runner up: White Noise by Don DeLillo)
Best non-fiction:
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
(Runner up: As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
Best series:
The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset by Suzanne Collins, YA
(Runner up: The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson)
I cannot believe I forgot to list this one...Atlas Shrugged
Most definitely one of the top books that I've read this year...
The Terminal State by Jeff Somers is my pick. It's the 4th in the Avery Cates series and was great fun to read.
Looking over my ratings, it looks like a it's been a bleak year for science fiction and fantasy, with no book earning ***** and only a few ****:Deep Navigation by Alastair Reynolds
Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds
Rocket Girls by Housuke Nojiri
Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri
The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa
The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
Six books, four authors, only one American.
My overall Best book for 2010 is Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I was introduced to him this year (and I am NOT a WoT time fan, so I had no idea about him.)Second place is a tie between The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks and Twilight Falling by Paul S. Kemp. I loved both of these books and look forward to reading more of them in 2011.
Here were the best books that I read this year:Nonfiction
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Fiction
Union Atlantic
Science Fiction
Dune
Fantasy
A Game of Thrones
Overall
Dune
Dune really gave me the inspiration to jump back into Sci-Fi and Fantasy. A Game of Thrones comes in as a close second. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it.
I don't read many books, at least not anymore. In fact, in the past few years, I daresay, I haven't read any or very few. This book club has introduced me in the past year to books that I typically would not have sought out or had the motivation to seek out. However, it was a book that I stumbled onto on various websites and sought out on my own that I would cite as the best for me this year. No criticism of the group or its book selection intended in the prior.
For me the best was The City & The City. Despite the fact that I wrote a not-so-positive review of the novel on this site that another characterized as trenchant, it was the only novel this year that really engaged me. I was actively analyzing, questioning, and interpreting the text as I read it. I think the very nature of text forces one into addressing how to interpret what is written, how it is written, and what is occurring.
The mystery of the world that is created and the heavy post-modern tones certainly ignited my interest. Perhaps the effort of it made me feel a bit smarter than I am in trying to wrestle with the subject matter and my meager readings and independent study of post-modernism. Be that as it may, there was no book this year that engaged me more or engendered more conversations with myself than The City & the City so it must the best for me, despite its failings.
I actually haven't read anything besides historical and educational journal articles that has come out in 2010. But out of what I have just read I would have to rank them as this.1. American Gods
2. A Game of Thrones
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I'm going to make one of my New Year resolutions to read couple things released during 2011.
Of the books I read that came out in 2010:1. Warriors
2. The Half-Made World
3. The Passage
4. Bitter Seeds
5. Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery
6. The Reapers Are the Angels
Enjoyed First Law trilogy and The Name of the Wind the most in total.
Going through my Goodreads list of things I read this year, I think my favorite non-fiction book this year was Shadow Divers (though there is some debate over how non-fiction it is). My favorite fiction book was The Name of the Wind. I read a few trilogies this year, including the First Law trilogy (which I enjoyed the first book a lot and didn't enjoy the 2nd and 3rd books quite as well), the Farseer Trilogy (which were good), the Night Angel trilogy (another where I liked the trilogy as a whole but I liked the first book better than the 2nd and 3rd), the Hunger Games trilogy (still undecided on how I really feel about the final book in that one), and I'm about halfway through the Mistborn trilogy (which I think is fantastic, though could do with less description of the fighting scenes--I lose interest in those parts, I'm much more interested in the world and the characters).
Been a good year for reading. Looking forward to 2011.
The best book that I read this year was Forever Peace, followed closely by The City & The City. I suppose the latter made me think more, but the former was the better book.
io9 has posted their list up http://io9.com/5714039/the-14-best-sp... . Looks like I need to read some Cherie Priest
Nathan wrote: "io9 has posted their list up http://io9.com/5714039/the-14-best-sp... . Looks like I need to read some Cherie Priest"I haven't read that Cherie Priest but didn't care much for the first in that series. Maybe Dreadnought is better.
I love the broader category of "speculative fiction," but I'm pretty sure McEwan would be surprised to find himself on that list! I read Solar and would never have included it in that group, although it did make me laugh.
Super Sad True Love Story is really good though. I felt both the Gibson and Collins were included because of the strength of their trilogies, but i think both were the weakest of the three.
That is the second best of list to include Feed, so I'm definitely going to try it. I also hadn't heard of Harmony. Thanks for posting the link!
Weird that they include Windup Girl which came out in 2009. Also strange that they include The Four Fingers of Death, which I almost picked up until I looked at the Goodreads and Amazon reviews.
The best book I read in 2010 was The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. I would also recommend it for the book club. Read mixed reviews about it, but I myself loved every bit of it.Second was Anathem, third Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag).
So, this year at least, I was completely in the sword and laser realm when it comes to my favorite books I read in 2010.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
His Majesty's Dragon (other topics)I am the Messenger (other topics)
The Book Thief (other topics)
Bitter Seeds (other topics)
Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Deluxe Boxed Set: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Plus On Stieg Larsson (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)Paul S. Kemp (other topics)
Brent Weeks (other topics)
Connie Willis (other topics)
Cherie Priest (other topics)
More...
For me it was I Am the Messenger
Best sword and laser (that I've read) Bitter Seeds
Honorable mentions
Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Deluxe Boxed Set: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
His Majesty's Dragon The Book Thief
And sooooo many more...