Best Books of 2005

[verbminx]

It being nigh-on December, the Best Books of 2005 lists are starting to come out. They're posting them at Bookslut as they find them, and I'm going to compile 'em right here.

Book that seems to pop up often or most (but that wasn't one of the Booker nominees) is Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black... it's on my "to read" list but quite a lot is ahead of it. Maybe I should bump it higher on the list. Also want to read Barnes's Arthur and George.

The New York Times Notables

London Times

The Guardian *

Christian Science Monitor


* note annoying pretentiousness of Chuck Palahniuk contribution. I Am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise.

Comments

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

From the lists? I'm not sure. I read a few books I liked a lot this year, though. I accidentally posted last year's NYT list, at first (fixed it before anyone saw it), and realized that I'd read a bit of it this year. Try reading anything by David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas was his popular book last year and early this year, but I also liked number9dream when I read it earlier this year (it's a few years old, and a sort of tribute to Haruki Murakami).

I also liked Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams, which is about 25 yrs old, and chilling.
Home Land by Sam Lipsyte - made a lot of this year's lists, deservedly.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - got a lot of press when it came out, and the first half is really compelling. But since it's about academics RACING AGAINST TIME TO GET INFORMATION FROM ARCHIVES!, the excitement only goes so far. I don't think it's been on a lot of lists.
Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum - Last year's, was an ABA nominee, good and dreamlike, will probably be enjoyed by people who like Winterson, though Bynum's linguistic skills aren't as effusive.
Foreign Babes in Beijing by Rachel DeWoskin - I haven't noticed this on any lists, though it may have landed there anyway. It's hard to describe, progressive nonfiction about a woman who lived in Beijing for 5 years after college and wound up stumbling into a starring role on a Chinese soap about, well, Foreign Babes in Beijing (also the soap's title).
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders - a brief, funny, scary political satire. The most cheerful book about genocide that you'll ever read.
Valiant by Holly Black - blackholly, this is quite good young adult fantasy. (I couldn't get into Michael Chabon's YA Sherlock Holmes book, which is on many of the lists, most probably more because it is by Chabon than because it is specifically great.)
Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff - funny! I liked it better than Fraud, his previous book.
Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail by Christopher Dawes - collision of punk rock and esoteric obsessions! Dawes is really a friend of Rat Scabies, the former drummer for The Damned, and they really did go on a sort-of-quest for the Holy Grail over the last few years. Mostly this involved sitting around Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France, getting stoned. Not really about the Holy Grail per se, it's more about the Rennes mystery discussed in Holy Blood, Holy Grail. They get a copy of The DaVinci Code and, while they never read it, they do tear up its cover to make holders for their joints. So funny.

I also sort of skimmed, and will read more closely in the near future, the first three books in the long-ass fantasy series by George R.R. Martin, starting with A Game of Thrones. For the most part, these are more about political machinations in a medievalish kingdom than they are specifically about wizards and gnomes. Very little of what goes on is actually magical; even the dragons that eventually show up are acknowledged as rare, but not really more miraculous or magical than elephants or giraffes would be to us. I think they could be enjoyed even by people who aren't normally into fantasy... I'm going to get the books-on-cd for my mom from the library so she can try them out in the car.

Pop by minxbot, that's where I post all my book stuff! Thinking of integrating it back here, though... between friends groups and tagging there's no compelling reason to keep it as a separate journal anymore.