Whitehurst's Top 5 Reads of 2014
Reading is a thing. But it's not an easy thing to keep up. Over the last two years I've tried to make it a thing that comes as easily as sleeping, but it isn't that easy. I love to sleep. I love to read. But finding the time for one thing is nowhere near as easy as the other thing.
Despite things getting in the way (long commutes and a big ass move to the California coast), I got my hands on, and chewed through, twenty-eight books in 2014. From a chunk of Executioner novels to "Catcher in the Rye," there was a grand attempt to love pulpy stuff and classic stuff as one. I picked out five of them as my top picks for the year. I'm not going to review them, just mention how they stuck with me after closing the book. Like always I make no apologies for loving books others might consider drivel, books discriminated against for one bias or another, or books some think are beneath their literary class.
Classism has no place in the written word.
First are the classics. I finally got through, and cannot forget certain passages, of “Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller. The style of prose, the images of Paris and partying, are like tighter versions of The Rum Diary in a way, and of course Miller came first, about thirty years before Hunter S. Thompson got there. The mood created by Cancer became something I looked forward to feeling each and every night.
In part because I grew up in, and once again live, in the land of John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men” came into my hands at the perfect time. The short novella is so simple its brilliant. And like so many of his shorter works it packs a punch. Who cares what scholars and drama-geeks think of it, who cares how literary the perception is, read it for the killer story.
“Rightful Place” by Amy Hale Auker makes my top five for 2014 not because I felt it should be a staple of my literary diet, but because the collection of short stories set me far from my literary kick-back zone. I don't read westerns often, and when I do they're the sort with gunfights, brothels and no mention of vehicles. Her beautifully written stories, however, are set firmly in the modern age, country music and pickup trucks, and sing a song of western love, for big sky, cold landscapes and the harsh truth of a cowboy's life.
Then there are contemporary, new novels. Whether hated, loved, or simply blown off, these two books stuck in my head long after I put them down, so they too made the list. First is “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs. Billed as a young adult novel (where some of the best reading can be found), the book focuses on children with some measure of special talents rather like mutants from the X-Men comics. In fact, Miss Peregrine's is like Harry Potter set in World War II, with an X-Men twist. And it was lots of fun!
Lastly there's Daniel H. Wilson's sweet “Robopocalypse.” Like Miss Peregrine's this book has also recently born a sequel, not to mention talk of film adaptions to both novels. Wilson's book has elements of other tales, both in print and in film (Terminator for instance), but it sets a fabulous tone, rich in imagery, and unleashes plot in spurts – from the point of view of multiple players. For those who like their hard science fiction, their robots and human resistance, pick up this book.
Despite things getting in the way (long commutes and a big ass move to the California coast), I got my hands on, and chewed through, twenty-eight books in 2014. From a chunk of Executioner novels to "Catcher in the Rye," there was a grand attempt to love pulpy stuff and classic stuff as one. I picked out five of them as my top picks for the year. I'm not going to review them, just mention how they stuck with me after closing the book. Like always I make no apologies for loving books others might consider drivel, books discriminated against for one bias or another, or books some think are beneath their literary class.
Classism has no place in the written word.
First are the classics. I finally got through, and cannot forget certain passages, of “Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller. The style of prose, the images of Paris and partying, are like tighter versions of The Rum Diary in a way, and of course Miller came first, about thirty years before Hunter S. Thompson got there. The mood created by Cancer became something I looked forward to feeling each and every night.
In part because I grew up in, and once again live, in the land of John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men” came into my hands at the perfect time. The short novella is so simple its brilliant. And like so many of his shorter works it packs a punch. Who cares what scholars and drama-geeks think of it, who cares how literary the perception is, read it for the killer story.
“Rightful Place” by Amy Hale Auker makes my top five for 2014 not because I felt it should be a staple of my literary diet, but because the collection of short stories set me far from my literary kick-back zone. I don't read westerns often, and when I do they're the sort with gunfights, brothels and no mention of vehicles. Her beautifully written stories, however, are set firmly in the modern age, country music and pickup trucks, and sing a song of western love, for big sky, cold landscapes and the harsh truth of a cowboy's life.
Then there are contemporary, new novels. Whether hated, loved, or simply blown off, these two books stuck in my head long after I put them down, so they too made the list. First is “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs. Billed as a young adult novel (where some of the best reading can be found), the book focuses on children with some measure of special talents rather like mutants from the X-Men comics. In fact, Miss Peregrine's is like Harry Potter set in World War II, with an X-Men twist. And it was lots of fun!
Lastly there's Daniel H. Wilson's sweet “Robopocalypse.” Like Miss Peregrine's this book has also recently born a sequel, not to mention talk of film adaptions to both novels. Wilson's book has elements of other tales, both in print and in film (Terminator for instance), but it sets a fabulous tone, rich in imagery, and unleashes plot in spurts – from the point of view of multiple players. For those who like their hard science fiction, their robots and human resistance, pick up this book.
No comments have been added yet.
