2011 in review, book-wise

Ah, 2011. It seems like you just ended yesterday.

First, I’d like to again apologize for not keeping up the reviews like I should. I’ve had a few personal projects on the go, and I hope to return to a more regular output in 2012. This site may alter itself somewhat, but the reviews will continue.

But now, in lieu of said incisive literary commentary, I’ve had a close gander at what I’ve read over the course of the past 365 days, and I thought it would be a good time to bring the whole thing out into the open for a year-end Best Of list (the reason the Internet was created!).

In 2011, I reached what is probably a personal milestone: 107 books read from cover to cover. I’m not sure when the last time I broke three digits was, but I was likely still in short pants. So, pre-2006. That’s a lot of books, and going over them, I’ve had quite a good year. In 2010 I was intentionally hurting myself through a masochistic desire to read books almost destined to grate on me like steel wool against bare flesh (I weirdly miss the nad-shrinking prose of Chuck Norris, James Patterson, and Stephanie Meyer; what does that say about me?). 2011, I went with what I wanted to read, which was not only more soothing to the soul, but also lent me quite a large list of recommendations today.

So below is a sizable list, divided into sections for easy consumption. I have not paid attention to year of publication, and I have ignored books I reread. I’ve bolded those I’ve reviewed.

Favourite books of the year: 

• The Sisters Brothers (2011), Patrick DeWitt 
• A Book of Tongues (2010), A Rope of Thorns (2011), Gemma Files
• Room (2010), Emma Donoghue 
• The Time We All Went Marching (2011), Arley McNeney
• City of Truth (1990), James Morrow 
• Idaho Winter (2011), Tony Burgess
• The Magician King (2011), Lev Grossman 
•  The Blue Light Project (2011), Timothy Taylor 
•  An Ordinary Decent Criminal (2005), Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal (2008), Michael Van Rooy

Novels I’d read again in a second: 

• Curiosity (2010), Joan Thomas 
• Drive-by Saviours (2010), Chris Benjamin 
• Kalila (2011), Rosemary Nixon 
• Tide Road (2011), Valerie Compton
• The Guardians (2011), Andrew Pyper
• Because I Have Loved and Hidden It (2009), Elise Moser
• Sarah Court (2010), Craig Davidson
• The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (2010), Christopher Meades
• The Town that Drowned (2011), Riel Nason
• Major Karnage (2010), Gord Zajac
• Annabel (2010), Kathleen Winter
• One of Our Thursdays is Missing (2011), Jasper Fforde
• Low Town (2011), Daniel Polansky
• The Island of Doctor Moreau (1897), H.G. Wells 
• The Canterbury Trail (2011), Angie Abdou
• The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), Lavie Tidhar
• Beauty Plus Pity (2011), Kevin Chong 
• John Dies at the End (2009), David Wong 
• The Alchemists of Kush (2011), Minister Faust
• Butterfly Winter (2011), W.P. Kinsella 
• Chasing the Dragon (2009), Nicholas Kaufman
• American Desert (2004), Percival Everett 
• True Grit (1968), Charles Portis
• This Hidden Thing (2010), Dora Dueck
• Jesus and the Eightfold Path (2011), Lavie Tidhar

Spectacular short fiction:

• This Cake is for the Party (2010), Sarah Selecky 
•  Light Lifting (2010), Alexander McLeod 
•  Crisp (2010), R.W. Gray 
•  The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (2011), Ann & Jeff Vandermeer (eds.) 
•  The Hair Wreath and Other Stories (2010) - Halli Villegas 
•  Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded (2011), Ann & Jeff Vandermeer (eds.) 
•  The Urban Fantasy Anthology (2011), Peter S. Beagle & Joe R. Lansdale (eds.)

Great titles:

• Jesus and the Eightfold Path (2011), Lavie Tidhar 
• John Dies at the End (2009), David Wong
• Squid Pulp Blues (2008), Jordan Krall 
• The Ass Goblins of Auschwitz (2009), Cameron Pierce 
• Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (2011), Patton Oswalt 
• Why Not a Spider Monkey Jesus? (2010), A.G. Pasquella 
• Major Karnage (2010), Gord Zajac

Books that would make awesome movies:

• Sandman Slim (2009), Richard Kadrey 
• John Dies at the End (2009), David Wong (coming in 2012!) 
• Major Karnage (2010), Gord Zajac 
• The Sisters Brothers (2011), Patrick DeWitt 
• Chasing the Dragon (2009), Nicholas Kaufman
•  Brains (2010), Robin Becker 
•  Patient Zero (2009), Jonathan Mayberry

Disappointments (not the worst books, just personal disappointment):

• Damned (2011), Chuck Palahniuk - and that’s it for me, I can’t take another Palahniuk letdown
• Wet Work (1993), Philip Nutman - heard a lot about it, but it’s only okay
• The Fall (2011), Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan - it's a fun ride, but nowhere near as scary or suspenseful as some reviewers have said
• Amnesia Moon (1995), Jonathan Lethem - from Lethem, almost anything not a masterpiece is a disappointment
• Robopocalypse (2011), Daniel H. Wilson - killer robots should be fun, not boring

Favourites of the Decade, if such a thing is at all possible...

You know, making up a list of favourite books of the year is hard enough, but of the decade? Sheesh.

I'm not sure if I can even adequately create such a list - there's a hell of a lot of novels published in the last ten years that I never read, most of them the critical blockbuster darlings. So any list I make cannot help but be inadequate. Years from now, I'll still be reading books from this decade, and the list will invariably change. Forget years, how about days from now - I'm just starting China Mieville's The City & The City, and can't help but think it could already make the list.

And what about fairly recent books? Sometimes, only the passage of years allows me to fully appreciate how a novel has affected me over the long-term. I'm sure I'll be coming back to Jeff Vandermeer's Finch or Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection at some point, but it's just too soon to make a final judgment at the moment.

But this is my blog, and as such, is an inherently self-serving enterprise. So it behooves me to go through the years and pick a few choice winners, even if the whole process is tainted by irrelevancy.

Actually, what is most surprising about the last ten years is how many books I cannot remember reading, but am sure that I have. I read The Tent? Really? It was short stories, that I remember, but after that, pfft. Nothing. Ditto Vernon God Little, although I think I liked that one. I even defended The Solitude of Emperors at a McNally Robinson Giller event, but right now, couldn't tell you word one about the plot.

Also, many of my favourite authors are nowhere to be seen. Stephen King is absent (although Under the Dome is on my TBR pile). No Clive Barker. No John Irving. No William Kotzwinkle.

So here is, in place of an objective, quantifiable list, are the novels published in last decade or so that have made a true, lasting impression on me. These are the personal favourites, the novels I could reread on a moment's notice; if I included all the novels that almost made the cut, the list would be endless. They run the gamut, from serious to silly, from sci-fi to sedate, from s-word to other s-word. These are the novels that made me want to write, and the novels that made me want to quit writing altogether. (All links are to pages from LibraryThing, the Internet's pre-eminent site for cataloguing essentially useless collections.)

The Big Why (2004), by Michael Winter - my favourite Canadian novel of the past ten years.
The Book of Illusions (2002), by Paul Auster - Maybe Auster's least-appreciated novel, but my favourite from him since City of Glass.
The Brief History of the Dead (2006), by Kevin Brockmeier - I cried at the end.
The Crash of Hennington (2003), by Patrick Ness - Weird, glorious satire.
Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife (2006), by Sam Savage - I wish I wrote this one, it said so many things I wanted to say so much better than I ever could.
From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain (2007), by Minister Faust - Best superhero novel I ever read, right up there with Watchmen.
The Fortress of Solitude (2003), by Jonathan Lethem - I will never forget this novel, if only for the fantastic character name of Mingus Rude.
Inside (2006), by Kenneth J. Harvey - Harvey never disappoints, but Inside is a pared-down masterpiece.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004), by Susanna Clarke - I practically ate this book whole.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (2002), by Christopher Moore - Damn, this was funny.
The Life of Pi (2003), by Yann Martel - It's gotten a huge backlash, but Martel's fable etched a deep trench in my soul.
ManBug (2006), by George K. Ilsley - Best romance I've ever read.
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break (2000), by Steven Sherrill - Greatest title on the list, and a wonderfully odd ode to loneliness.
Norman Bray, in the Performance of his Life (2004), by Trevor Cole - Captures the antics of age (and ageing actors) as perfectly as anything I've ever read. Also, the funniest Canadian novel in a long time.
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart (2005), by Lydia Millet - A satire as penetrating as Vonnegut and as heart-felt as, well, Vonnegut.
Planet Reese (2007), by Cordelia Strube - This one was a surprise to me, too, but Strube's satire has lingered with me.
Quicksilver (2003), by Neal Stephenson - Sheer insane brilliance.
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey (2007), by Chuck Palahniuk - I saw J.G. Ballard in this tale.
A Small and Remarkable Life (2006), by Nick Di Chario - Theodore Sturgeon's heir.
Winkie (2006), by Clifford Chase - Again, I wish I wrote this fable/satire of terrorism and stuffed animals.

So, there you go, a little glimpse into my life via the novels of the past ten years I cannot imagine living without. If you read them on my say-so, great. If you like them, terrific. If you hate them, why are you taking advice from me anyway?

See you in twenty-ten, y'all.

Best reads in 2008, not necessarily of 2008

The end of another year. Where did it go? What just happened? Who replaced my once robust physique with this mockery of human sloth?

As literature goes (what I read of it, anyway), it was a year of soaring highs and crushing lows. I tend not to harp on the bad ones here, as I feel a trifle guilty, but I read a couple of absolute tripeloads that gave new meaning to the terms 'balderdash' and 'numbscullery.' Not to mention 'boring,' 'eugh,' and 'are you freakin' kidding me? Really?'

But why dwell on the poor, when there was so much of the rich? And as no one pays me, I can read whatever I want, from whatever genre and year I choose, so the ratio of wonderful to dreck can be quite high.

So, without further blabble, I present my favourite reads of 2008, in alphabetical order so that I don't have to actually commit to any one as being better than another. But I did have an all-round favourite, as you'll see below (hint: it's the one with the teddy bear). These are all novels I'd read again in a heartbeat, which, for me, is the highest form of praise.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman (2001)

• I'll admit to being late to the party with this one, primarily because of the novel's overall hugeness. But man, Gaiman is a master, and American Gods is the closest thing I've read to the classic fantasies of Clive Barker (such as The Great and Secret Show). Big, sprawling, dense, and enthralling.

The Beach - Alex Garland (1996)

• Another late-comer to this one. I enjoyed Garland's follow-up novel The Tesseract, although The Coma was a bit of a snooze. But Beach is a ripping good yarn, equal parts adventure story and Lord of the Flies-like social commentary.

The Cat's Pajamas and Other Stories - James Morrow (2004)

• Morrow is one of the great heroes of modern satire. Towing Jehovah (and the rest of the Godhead Trilogy) should be required reading alongside Swift and Vonnegut. I absolutely cannot wait for his newest, Shambling Toward Hiroshima. This collection is a peerless representation of his favourite themes; religious fundamentalism, the apocalypse, and all-round plain weirdness.

Entitlement - Jonathan Bennett (2008)

• No Canadian novel of 2008 moved me more deeply than Bennett's ode to the misunderstood rich. Bennett effectively mines the teritory of F. Scott Fitzgerald, presenting the world of the wealthy from the eyes of those who cannot have.

Gun, with Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem (1994)

• Lethem is god, there I said it. His short stories are spectacular, and his novels are incredible forays into the imagination. Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, As She Climbed Across the Table; not a misstep in the bunch. Occasional Music, one of his first, mixes Raymond Chandler with Philip K. Dick, and throws in a talking kangaroo to boot, yet never comes across as jokey or silly. A classic detective novel, even with the musical pistol.

His Illegal Self - Peter Carey (2008)

• Carey can be a little hit-or-miss with me. The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith is amazing, whereas My Life as a Fake worked better as an exercise than a novel. His Illegal Self is Carey at the top of his game, buttressing his story of alienation and loneliness in the outback with two of the most memorable characters of the year.

How the Dead Dream - Lydia Millet (2008)

• Like Morrow, Millet is a pre-eminent satirist, but Millet is arguably more gentle (although George Bush, Dark Prince of Love is pretty out there). After the breath-taking majesty of Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, Millet shifts gears to a character study of a man (named T.) driven to despair after tragedy, only to find himself through the study of animals. It's more of a fable than a story, but Millet's portrayal of T's withdrawl from society is as heart-breaking as they come.

Inside - Kenneth J. Harvey (2006)

• Some once referred to Kenneth J. Harvey as the Canadian king of GritLit, and that's as good a summation as any of his talents. Harvey's early work's were more overtly disturbing, but his last few forays have a revealed a stunning talent that will (if there is any justice) be studied and lauded with the same intensity and fervor as Margaret Atwood and Timothy Findley. Inside, which follows a man released from prison after fifteen years of being wrongly incarcerated, has all the trappings of a mundane TV movie. But Harvey is made of sterner stuff. Inside is unflinching, spare, and rivetting. Superlatives fail me, Inside is that good.

The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury (1950)

• C'mon, it's Bradbury at his height. I've revisited Chronicles every few years, ever since I discovered it in grade school. It's boldness and originality still floor me.

Valley of Day-Glo - Nick DiChario (2008)

• A modern sci-fi absurdist classic. After enthralling me with A Small and Remarkable Life, DiChario threw me with a completely different story, a post-apocalyptic epic about warring factions of native Americans. It sounds severe and bleak, but when the lead character is a eunuch named Broadway Danny Rose, you get a sense of DiChario's unique sensibilities.

We Are Now Beginning Our Descent - James Meek (2008)

• One of the finest novels I've read about, well, writers. Meek takes a journalist with aspirations of writing a best seller, and throws everything he can at him. At once a treatise on the futility of war and a character study of self-loathing, Meek's novel snuck up on me, and it was only when I realized that I kept repeating certain scenes in my head for weeks afterward did I appreciate his accomplishment.

Winkie - Clifford Chase (2006)

• Last alphabetically, but first in my heart. Winkie is a teddy bear charged with terrorist activities and subjected to the strangest kangaroo court imaginable. How could I not but love it? A strong satire of our world, anchored by a beguiling protagonist. Winkie is absolute magic.

And because I cannot bear to leave these others aside, a few more novels to consider while the bleak Canadian mid-winter assaults us.

Runner-ups:

The Order of Good Cheer - Bill Gaston
The Pilo Family Circus - Will Elliott
Last Days - Brian Evenson
Spaceman Blues: A Love Song - Brian Francis Slattery
The Monsters of Templeton - Lauren Groff
Soon I Will be Invincible - Austin Grossman
City of Saints and Madmen - Jeff Vandermeer
All My Friends are Superheroes - Andrew Kaufman
Cabal - Clive Barker
Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow
Everyone in Silico - Jim Munroe
Iterations and Other Stories - Robert J. Sawyer
The Killing Circle - Andrew Pyper
The Flying Troutmans - Miriam Toews
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - John McFetridge
Brother Dumb - Sky Gilbert
Last Night at the Lobster - Stewart O'Nan