Books of 2013 Meme
Jan. 9th, 2014 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhStealing a book meme from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
egelantier and hamsterwoman:
My complete list of 2013 books is back in this post.
The first book you read in 2013:
The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant. Very good! Durant writes a lot of female character-centric historical fiction, which is a genre very close to my heart. This one was about a female painter in Renaissance Italy, and I liked it a lot.
The last book you finished in 2013:
Ravan and Eddie, Kiran Nagarkar. I still need to write this up for my weekly reading meme, but my main feeling is: meh. Nice writing, needed a plot.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2014:
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Reiss. EXCELLEEEEEENT.
How many books read in 2013?
122, which is exactly normal for me. In 2012, I read 121.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
Fiction: 101 (83%)
Non-Fiction: 21 (17%)
Sounds about right. I do tend to read mostly fiction, though I like interesting non-fiction as well.
Male/Female authors?
Authors: 40 male (53%), 35 female (47%)
Books: 47 male books (39%), 75 female books (61%)
I seem to have read fewer female authors, but to have read much more of them. I assume this is mainly because the two big series I read this year (Ben January and Vorkosigan) were both by female authors.
Protagonists: 22 female (24%), 71 male (76%)
Good lord, that is a terrible ratio. Clearly I need to read more books with female protagonists.
Favorite books read?
Benjamin January! Not that anyone reading this is particularly surprised by that, but I just love them SO MUCH.
Best books you read in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY.
Okay, I suppose I can't say that for every question. In terms of "Most Awards Won", it would definitely by Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, but I actually liked Satanic Verses better in the category of "Rushdie Novels" and The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor better in the category of "Fictionalized Versions of Modern Indian History". White Tiger also won a lot of awards, but again, I was not so impressed.
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle would win for "History I Think More People Should Know", but it's also incredibly depressing, which makes it hard to recommend. I'm not particularly bothered by dark topics, and I found it an extremely hard book to get through.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid wins for "Best Writing in a Stylistic Sense", for being a strange but very effective spoken monologue.
Least favorite?
I didn't actually read anything spectacularly awful this year, which I consider quite the accomplishment. (There's usually always that one terrible book that sneaks in...) The worst thing I read was Haunting Jasmine by Anjali Banerjee, which I still need to write up for the weekly meme, but it was more just boring and shallow than amazingly bad.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
Probably Quarantine by Rahul Mehta. I spent a lot of time hunting down a copy of this (I originally saw it reviewed in a magazine as one of the very, very few Indian gay fiction books out there), so after having looked forward to it for a year, finally reading it and having it be so just typical fiction-professor-writes-short-fiction was incredibly disappointing.
Best series you discovered in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. One of the things I really love about the January series as a series is the way minor characters reappear book after book- generally in such a small way that you'd only notice if you're obsessive enough to read the entire series twice in direct succession, coughcough- but it makes the world feel so real and lived-in. I love seeing the Widow Redfern or Cora or Mohammed LePas or Hubert Granville or Burton Blodgett pop up again. They might be a major character in one book, but they're still there in the others, hanging around in the background.
Vorkosigan Saga is also very good! Just, you know, I have a One True Fandom at the moment, and my love is all-consuming.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
BENJAMIN JAN- BARBARA HAMBLY.
Oldest book read?
Emma, Jane Austen, at 1815. Next oldest was Villette, Charlotte Bronte, at 1853.
Newest?
I suppose Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch, since it doesn't come out until Feburary 2014 in the US. Good Man Friday, Untamed, The Lotus Palace, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, On Sal Mal Lane, Curtsies & Conspiracies, and The Case of the Love Commandos were all 2013 books. Which is impressive for me! Normally I'm not very good at keeping up with new releases.
Longest book title?
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, Steven Johnson. That is an excessive title. I feel like you don't even need to read the book after that.
Shortest title?
Eels, James Prosek. It's a book about eels! What more do you need to know?
How many re-reads?
13. Not too many.
Most books read by one author this year?
Barbara Hambly - 12 (plus 12 rereads)
Lois McMaster Bujold - 11
And then a big drop down to Michael J. Sullivan and Melissa Scott, tied at 3 each.
Any in translation?
I had thought it would be much more, but only two:
The Co-Wife and Other Stories Premchand (originally Hindi)
Gora - Rabindranath Tagore (originally Bengali)
How many of this year's books were from the library?
...none. Whoops.
4 audiobooks (3%)
42 physical books (34%)
76 ebooks (62%)
Ebooks are just so much easier when you're traveling! Or eating, actually. You don't have to hold the pages open!
Book that most changed my perspective:
The Ghost Map taught me that I really, really, really don't want to get cholera, but I'm pretty sure I already knew that. Spitting Blood did the same thing for TB.
Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division, Patrick French, was a very interesting, new (to me) take on the Independence Movement. French very much has a perspective that was not the usual one; he's not a fan of Gandhi, for example, which sounds practically sacrilegious.
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, Kevin Boyle. This one is the actual winner of the category. It managed to be both a fairly unknown history and incredibly relevant to today (particularly in regards to the fate of the city of Detroit, the way home-ownership and segregation are still intertwined in the US, and the way home-ownership and the economy are still intertwined).
Favorite character:
Ben, Rose, and Hannibal from the Benjamin January series (and also Minou and Shaw and Livia and Olympe and Chloe and Livia and the Mayerlings and Marie Laveau and...). They are the snarky, Shakespeare-quoting, pretending-not-to-care-while-actually-caring-a-whole-bunch do-good threesome I never knew I needed in my life. BUT I DID.
Peter Grant from the Rivers of London books. Speaking of geeky, quoting (though perhaps Harry Potter instead of Shakespeare) justice-doers... (OMG CROSSOVER.)
Jude and Kit from Untamed. He's a cross-dressing duke! She's a tough gambling country girl! Together theyfight crime alter the Corn Laws! (Wait, now I want the AU where they actually fight crime).
Cordelia and Mark from the Vorkosigan series. CORDELIA IS EVERYTHING PERFECT AND GOOD IN THIS WORLD. Mark is... not, so much, but I still love him lots.
Soap from Gail Carriger's Finishing School series. I am way more invested in Soap's future than in the actual main character's. I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY, OKAY? HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO READ AND THEN GROW UP AND BECOME SOMETHING AWESOME, I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT.
Most memorable character:
I could basically copy and paste the list from above.
Miles Vorkosigan is definitely memorable, even if he doesn't push my 'favorite' buttons in quite the same way as the others.
Emma (from, yanno, Emma) is also very memorable, although I liked her less this time than the first time I read the book. I suppose there's only so much one can expect from a two-hundred-year-old book, but the classism bothered me much more this time around.
Favorite scene:
Benjamin January scenes:
The scene in A Free Man of Color where Ben is running away from the Peralta plantation, and the bayou landscape is described as "green on green on green" is the moment when I went from "this is a good book" to "OMG I LOVE THIS", so I have to include that scene.
Rose's first scene in Fever Season. Madame Lalaurie's last scene in Fever Season. Ben, Rose, and Hannibal eating mangoes together- there's something so sweet and friendly there.
Ben, Rose and Hannibal cooking lunch together in Graveyard Dust. Ben and Hannibal getting poisoned!
The entire end of Wet Grave, when hurricanes, alligators, pirates, lepers, escaped slaves, and smugglers somehow all come together into one climax. Ben and Rose's first time in this too is just, oh, so excellent. And Minou poling through the swamp!
Everything regarding the duel in Dead Water, from the moment Hannibal gets caught in it to his collapse afterwards, but especially the three-way fight between him, Ben and Rose. Rose and Hannibal planning to disable to steamboat so Ben can catch up.
Basically every time Ben and Hannibal talk in Hannibal's room during Dead and Buried- whether it's Ben forcing him to sober up, or them discussing Hannibal's past, or Hannibal telling Ben he won't go upriver with him (AHHHHH!) or Ben finding Hannibal's socks for him, or Ben yelling at Hannibal regarding his obliviousness to New Orlean's racial politics, or, just, all of it. I realized recently that Hannibal and Rose basically only say one line to each other in this entire book, and now I REALLY NEED the fic about how the two of them deal with all of these events.
Rose following Ben's attackers in disguise when Ben gets beat up in Dead and Buried.
Ben and Hannibal falling in the river in The Shirt of His Back. Baby John!
Okay, for non-Ben January scenes:
The climatic scene of Untamed. There's just.... so much awesome. It's like id-fic gone wild.
Cordelia going shopping at the end of Barrayar
The butterbug fight in A Civil Campaign
The scene late in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, where Francie tells her mom about the solider she almost slept with. It was just not what I was expecting from the book at all, and I really loved it.
The climatic scene of On Sal Mal Lane. You know it's coming, but still... ouch.
The very end of The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I love in particular how exactly what happens (or has been happening) is left unspecified.
Favorite quote:
Oh, man, this is hard. I don't keep track of quotes very much. I'm going to go with this one from Venetia, because a) it is awesome and I love it, and b) I posted it previously, so I don't have to come up with a new quote:
He laughed out at that, flinging back his head in wholehearted enjoyment, gasping: "Why, oh why did I never know you until now?"
"It does seem a pity," she agreed. "I have been thinking so myself, for I always wished for a friend to laugh with."
"To laugh with!" he repeated slowly.
"Perhaps you have friends already who laugh when you do," she said diffidently. "I haven't, and it's important, I think– more important than sympathy in affliction, which you might easily find in someone you positively disliked."
"But to share a sense of the ridiculous prohibits dislike— yes, that's true. And rare! My God, how rare! Do they stare at you, our worthy neighbours, when you laugh?"
"Yes! or ask me what I mean when I'm joking!"
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Well, in terms of literally being inspired to write fanfic, Benjamin January is the clear winner. Just to have something else to put here, Born Confused and The Thing About Thugs both had absolutely lovely language.
How many you'd actually read again?
Definitely the Ben January books. Probably also Emma, Midnight's Children, Untamed, Venetia, and the Mohsin Hamid books.
A book that you never want to read again:
Most of them, honestly. Not that I hated them, but there were plenty of books I read this year that I have no need to reread. Particularly when there's so many new books out there!
Book you recommended most to others in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. I wrote two different pimping posts for it, as well as attempting to recommend it whenever the occasion arose (I have to restrict myself from not recommending it in every single "Canon Recs" thread on ffa. Only once every other post!). I also tried to force people in my real life to read it, but that was less successful. Other than my mom! But I think moms might be legally obligated to indulge the obsession of their children.
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2013:
BENJAMIN JANUARY. Duh.
The genre you read the most in 2013:
Historical Fiction: 39
Fantasy/Science Fiction: 29
Literary fiction: 27
Historical non-fiction: 15
Memoir non-fiction: 4
Classics: 3
Science non-fiction: 3
Mystery: 2
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2013:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Is that old enough to be a classic yet? I dunno. I'm counting it anyway.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of the year?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was pretty surprising, actually. I had assumed it would be a silly little children's book, and it was very much more than that. The City of Devi was nothing like the previous book by the author I'd read, and I was very glad of it.
The hardest book you read in 2013 (topic or writing style):
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age was by far the hardest in terms of topic.
The Discovery of India may have been hardest in terms of style. I don't want to say Nehru is a bad writer, but god, that book was just endless.
The funniest book you read in 2013:
A Civil Campaign was hilarious and I adored it absolutely. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality was also pretty funny.
The saddest book you read in 2013:
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age was painfully depressing, as was the opening chapter of Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis. There were several books that tried to be sad, but did not succeed (The Folded Earth, Nectar in a Sieve, An Atlas of Impossible Longing), but I find a lot of books have that problem for me. I may just be too cynical. I think the title of saddest fiction I read goes to On Sal Mal Lane.
The shortest book you read in 2013:
Hmmm, I don't have page counts, but Pink Sheep was a tiny little book, as was Swami and Friends.
The longest book you read in 2013:
Probably either The Hindus: An Alternative History or India: A Sacred Geography, which are both massive 5-600 page hardcovers.
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
I didn't read anything that was too unusual for me this year. Maybe World Music: Traditions and Transformations, which was literally a textbook; not exactly the sort of thing I– or anyone reads for fun. But I liked it, and am glad I read it. For all that I love to listen to music, I know extremely little about it, and learning the actual definitions of things as basic as rhythm or melody was interesting. Also, now I know what syncopation is!
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. As is evidenced by the fact that I basically didn't read anything else for all of April. But the climaxes of this series are amazing; there's a point in each book where everything starts to come together and all the action goes faster and faster, and I just have to find out what happens.
Most beautifully written book in 2013?
Probably The Thing About Thugs. I loved the language, and it did a great job of capturing several very distinct voices.
Book you most anticipated in 2013?
Good Man Friday, Broken Homes and Carriger's Finishing School series.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?
Eels has a very lovely cover:
But I think the best design award has to go to Consider the Fork. Despite having such a boring subject (old silverware!), it's absolutely eye-catching. That little spill of salt is the perfect stark white against the black background.
Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?
I'm giving this to Benjamin January. Absolutely no one is surprised.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2013 to finally read?
Benjamin January, I suppose, because I had first heard about it ages and ages ago (I think probably around 2009-10?), thought it sounded interesting, and later acquired the first few ebooks. Which promptly sat on my Nook for several years while I read other things instead.
I also probably should have read the Vorkosigan saga ages ago, as well as Turn of the Screw. But I didn't like Turn of the Screw, so maybe I should have waited longer on that one.
Book that had a scene that left you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?
ALL OF BENJAMIN JANUARY. Also the end of Broken Homes, and Untamed.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2013?
I have an entire, over-stuffed bookcase holding only books I haven't read yet, along with God knows how much harddrive space worth of ebooks. How could I choose one?
New book you are most anticipating for 2014?
Ben January #13, whenever it comes out.
Whenever the next Rivers of London book comes out.
Speaking of things I have no idea when they will come out, Winds of Winter! May as well add it to the list.
I'm clearly not very good at keeping up with release dates.
Good Lord, that was long.
egelantier and hamsterwoman:My complete list of 2013 books is back in this post.
The first book you read in 2013:
The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant. Very good! Durant writes a lot of female character-centric historical fiction, which is a genre very close to my heart. This one was about a female painter in Renaissance Italy, and I liked it a lot.
The last book you finished in 2013:
Ravan and Eddie, Kiran Nagarkar. I still need to write this up for my weekly reading meme, but my main feeling is: meh. Nice writing, needed a plot.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2014:
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Reiss. EXCELLEEEEEENT.
How many books read in 2013?
122, which is exactly normal for me. In 2012, I read 121.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
Fiction: 101 (83%)
Non-Fiction: 21 (17%)
Sounds about right. I do tend to read mostly fiction, though I like interesting non-fiction as well.
Male/Female authors?
Authors: 40 male (53%), 35 female (47%)
Books: 47 male books (39%), 75 female books (61%)
I seem to have read fewer female authors, but to have read much more of them. I assume this is mainly because the two big series I read this year (Ben January and Vorkosigan) were both by female authors.
Protagonists: 22 female (24%), 71 male (76%)
Good lord, that is a terrible ratio. Clearly I need to read more books with female protagonists.
Favorite books read?
Benjamin January! Not that anyone reading this is particularly surprised by that, but I just love them SO MUCH.
Best books you read in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY.
Okay, I suppose I can't say that for every question. In terms of "Most Awards Won", it would definitely by Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, but I actually liked Satanic Verses better in the category of "Rushdie Novels" and The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor better in the category of "Fictionalized Versions of Modern Indian History". White Tiger also won a lot of awards, but again, I was not so impressed.
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle would win for "History I Think More People Should Know", but it's also incredibly depressing, which makes it hard to recommend. I'm not particularly bothered by dark topics, and I found it an extremely hard book to get through.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid wins for "Best Writing in a Stylistic Sense", for being a strange but very effective spoken monologue.
Least favorite?
I didn't actually read anything spectacularly awful this year, which I consider quite the accomplishment. (There's usually always that one terrible book that sneaks in...) The worst thing I read was Haunting Jasmine by Anjali Banerjee, which I still need to write up for the weekly meme, but it was more just boring and shallow than amazingly bad.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
Probably Quarantine by Rahul Mehta. I spent a lot of time hunting down a copy of this (I originally saw it reviewed in a magazine as one of the very, very few Indian gay fiction books out there), so after having looked forward to it for a year, finally reading it and having it be so just typical fiction-professor-writes-short-fiction was incredibly disappointing.
Best series you discovered in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. One of the things I really love about the January series as a series is the way minor characters reappear book after book- generally in such a small way that you'd only notice if you're obsessive enough to read the entire series twice in direct succession, coughcough- but it makes the world feel so real and lived-in. I love seeing the Widow Redfern or Cora or Mohammed LePas or Hubert Granville or Burton Blodgett pop up again. They might be a major character in one book, but they're still there in the others, hanging around in the background.
Vorkosigan Saga is also very good! Just, you know, I have a One True Fandom at the moment, and my love is all-consuming.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
Oldest book read?
Emma, Jane Austen, at 1815. Next oldest was Villette, Charlotte Bronte, at 1853.
Newest?
I suppose Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch, since it doesn't come out until Feburary 2014 in the US. Good Man Friday, Untamed, The Lotus Palace, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, On Sal Mal Lane, Curtsies & Conspiracies, and The Case of the Love Commandos were all 2013 books. Which is impressive for me! Normally I'm not very good at keeping up with new releases.
Longest book title?
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, Steven Johnson. That is an excessive title. I feel like you don't even need to read the book after that.
Shortest title?
Eels, James Prosek. It's a book about eels! What more do you need to know?
How many re-reads?
13. Not too many.
Most books read by one author this year?
Barbara Hambly - 12 (plus 12 rereads)
Lois McMaster Bujold - 11
And then a big drop down to Michael J. Sullivan and Melissa Scott, tied at 3 each.
Any in translation?
I had thought it would be much more, but only two:
The Co-Wife and Other Stories Premchand (originally Hindi)
Gora - Rabindranath Tagore (originally Bengali)
How many of this year's books were from the library?
...none. Whoops.
4 audiobooks (3%)
42 physical books (34%)
76 ebooks (62%)
Ebooks are just so much easier when you're traveling! Or eating, actually. You don't have to hold the pages open!
Book that most changed my perspective:
The Ghost Map taught me that I really, really, really don't want to get cholera, but I'm pretty sure I already knew that. Spitting Blood did the same thing for TB.
Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division, Patrick French, was a very interesting, new (to me) take on the Independence Movement. French very much has a perspective that was not the usual one; he's not a fan of Gandhi, for example, which sounds practically sacrilegious.
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, Kevin Boyle. This one is the actual winner of the category. It managed to be both a fairly unknown history and incredibly relevant to today (particularly in regards to the fate of the city of Detroit, the way home-ownership and segregation are still intertwined in the US, and the way home-ownership and the economy are still intertwined).
Favorite character:
Ben, Rose, and Hannibal from the Benjamin January series (and also Minou and Shaw and Livia and Olympe and Chloe and Livia and the Mayerlings and Marie Laveau and...). They are the snarky, Shakespeare-quoting, pretending-not-to-care-while-actually-caring-a-whole-bunch do-good threesome I never knew I needed in my life. BUT I DID.
Peter Grant from the Rivers of London books. Speaking of geeky, quoting (though perhaps Harry Potter instead of Shakespeare) justice-doers... (OMG CROSSOVER.)
Jude and Kit from Untamed. He's a cross-dressing duke! She's a tough gambling country girl! Together they
Cordelia and Mark from the Vorkosigan series. CORDELIA IS EVERYTHING PERFECT AND GOOD IN THIS WORLD. Mark is... not, so much, but I still love him lots.
Soap from Gail Carriger's Finishing School series. I am way more invested in Soap's future than in the actual main character's. I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY, OKAY? HE NEEDS TO LEARN TO READ AND THEN GROW UP AND BECOME SOMETHING AWESOME, I DON'T EVEN CARE WHAT.
Most memorable character:
I could basically copy and paste the list from above.
Miles Vorkosigan is definitely memorable, even if he doesn't push my 'favorite' buttons in quite the same way as the others.
Emma (from, yanno, Emma) is also very memorable, although I liked her less this time than the first time I read the book. I suppose there's only so much one can expect from a two-hundred-year-old book, but the classism bothered me much more this time around.
Favorite scene:
Benjamin January scenes:
The scene in A Free Man of Color where Ben is running away from the Peralta plantation, and the bayou landscape is described as "green on green on green" is the moment when I went from "this is a good book" to "OMG I LOVE THIS", so I have to include that scene.
Rose's first scene in Fever Season. Madame Lalaurie's last scene in Fever Season. Ben, Rose, and Hannibal eating mangoes together- there's something so sweet and friendly there.
Ben, Rose and Hannibal cooking lunch together in Graveyard Dust. Ben and Hannibal getting poisoned!
The entire end of Wet Grave, when hurricanes, alligators, pirates, lepers, escaped slaves, and smugglers somehow all come together into one climax. Ben and Rose's first time in this too is just, oh, so excellent. And Minou poling through the swamp!
Everything regarding the duel in Dead Water, from the moment Hannibal gets caught in it to his collapse afterwards, but especially the three-way fight between him, Ben and Rose. Rose and Hannibal planning to disable to steamboat so Ben can catch up.
Basically every time Ben and Hannibal talk in Hannibal's room during Dead and Buried- whether it's Ben forcing him to sober up, or them discussing Hannibal's past, or Hannibal telling Ben he won't go upriver with him (AHHHHH!) or Ben finding Hannibal's socks for him, or Ben yelling at Hannibal regarding his obliviousness to New Orlean's racial politics, or, just, all of it. I realized recently that Hannibal and Rose basically only say one line to each other in this entire book, and now I REALLY NEED the fic about how the two of them deal with all of these events.
Rose following Ben's attackers in disguise when Ben gets beat up in Dead and Buried.
Ben and Hannibal falling in the river in The Shirt of His Back. Baby John!
Okay, for non-Ben January scenes:
The climatic scene of Untamed. There's just.... so much awesome. It's like id-fic gone wild.
Cordelia going shopping at the end of Barrayar
The butterbug fight in A Civil Campaign
The scene late in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, where Francie tells her mom about the solider she almost slept with. It was just not what I was expecting from the book at all, and I really loved it.
The climatic scene of On Sal Mal Lane. You know it's coming, but still... ouch.
The very end of The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I love in particular how exactly what happens (or has been happening) is left unspecified.
Favorite quote:
Oh, man, this is hard. I don't keep track of quotes very much. I'm going to go with this one from Venetia, because a) it is awesome and I love it, and b) I posted it previously, so I don't have to come up with a new quote:
He laughed out at that, flinging back his head in wholehearted enjoyment, gasping: "Why, oh why did I never know you until now?"
"It does seem a pity," she agreed. "I have been thinking so myself, for I always wished for a friend to laugh with."
"To laugh with!" he repeated slowly.
"Perhaps you have friends already who laugh when you do," she said diffidently. "I haven't, and it's important, I think– more important than sympathy in affliction, which you might easily find in someone you positively disliked."
"But to share a sense of the ridiculous prohibits dislike— yes, that's true. And rare! My God, how rare! Do they stare at you, our worthy neighbours, when you laugh?"
"Yes! or ask me what I mean when I'm joking!"
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Well, in terms of literally being inspired to write fanfic, Benjamin January is the clear winner. Just to have something else to put here, Born Confused and The Thing About Thugs both had absolutely lovely language.
How many you'd actually read again?
Definitely the Ben January books. Probably also Emma, Midnight's Children, Untamed, Venetia, and the Mohsin Hamid books.
A book that you never want to read again:
Most of them, honestly. Not that I hated them, but there were plenty of books I read this year that I have no need to reread. Particularly when there's so many new books out there!
Book you recommended most to others in 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. I wrote two different pimping posts for it, as well as attempting to recommend it whenever the occasion arose (I have to restrict myself from not recommending it in every single "Canon Recs" thread on ffa. Only once every other post!). I also tried to force people in my real life to read it, but that was less successful. Other than my mom! But I think moms might be legally obligated to indulge the obsession of their children.
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2013:
BENJAMIN JANUARY. Duh.
The genre you read the most in 2013:
Historical Fiction: 39
Fantasy/Science Fiction: 29
Literary fiction: 27
Historical non-fiction: 15
Memoir non-fiction: 4
Classics: 3
Science non-fiction: 3
Mystery: 2
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2013:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Is that old enough to be a classic yet? I dunno. I'm counting it anyway.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of the year?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was pretty surprising, actually. I had assumed it would be a silly little children's book, and it was very much more than that. The City of Devi was nothing like the previous book by the author I'd read, and I was very glad of it.
The hardest book you read in 2013 (topic or writing style):
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age was by far the hardest in terms of topic.
The Discovery of India may have been hardest in terms of style. I don't want to say Nehru is a bad writer, but god, that book was just endless.
The funniest book you read in 2013:
A Civil Campaign was hilarious and I adored it absolutely. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality was also pretty funny.
The saddest book you read in 2013:
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age was painfully depressing, as was the opening chapter of Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis. There were several books that tried to be sad, but did not succeed (The Folded Earth, Nectar in a Sieve, An Atlas of Impossible Longing), but I find a lot of books have that problem for me. I may just be too cynical. I think the title of saddest fiction I read goes to On Sal Mal Lane.
The shortest book you read in 2013:
Hmmm, I don't have page counts, but Pink Sheep was a tiny little book, as was Swami and Friends.
The longest book you read in 2013:
Probably either The Hindus: An Alternative History or India: A Sacred Geography, which are both massive 5-600 page hardcovers.
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
I didn't read anything that was too unusual for me this year. Maybe World Music: Traditions and Transformations, which was literally a textbook; not exactly the sort of thing I– or anyone reads for fun. But I liked it, and am glad I read it. For all that I love to listen to music, I know extremely little about it, and learning the actual definitions of things as basic as rhythm or melody was interesting. Also, now I know what syncopation is!
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
BENJAMIN JANUARY. As is evidenced by the fact that I basically didn't read anything else for all of April. But the climaxes of this series are amazing; there's a point in each book where everything starts to come together and all the action goes faster and faster, and I just have to find out what happens.
Most beautifully written book in 2013?
Probably The Thing About Thugs. I loved the language, and it did a great job of capturing several very distinct voices.
Book you most anticipated in 2013?
Good Man Friday, Broken Homes and Carriger's Finishing School series.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?
Eels has a very lovely cover:
But I think the best design award has to go to Consider the Fork. Despite having such a boring subject (old silverware!), it's absolutely eye-catching. That little spill of salt is the perfect stark white against the black background.
Book that had the greatest impact on you this year?
I'm giving this to Benjamin January. Absolutely no one is surprised.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2013 to finally read?
Benjamin January, I suppose, because I had first heard about it ages and ages ago (I think probably around 2009-10?), thought it sounded interesting, and later acquired the first few ebooks. Which promptly sat on my Nook for several years while I read other things instead.
I also probably should have read the Vorkosigan saga ages ago, as well as Turn of the Screw. But I didn't like Turn of the Screw, so maybe I should have waited longer on that one.
Book that had a scene that left you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?
ALL OF BENJAMIN JANUARY. Also the end of Broken Homes, and Untamed.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2013?
I have an entire, over-stuffed bookcase holding only books I haven't read yet, along with God knows how much harddrive space worth of ebooks. How could I choose one?
New book you are most anticipating for 2014?
Ben January #13, whenever it comes out.
Whenever the next Rivers of London book comes out.
Speaking of things I have no idea when they will come out, Winds of Winter! May as well add it to the list.
I'm clearly not very good at keeping up with release dates.
Good Lord, that was long.
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Date: 2014-01-09 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 10:22 pm (UTC)this said! i'm impressed and envious of your reading prowess! and jealous.
and so excited you got to make your way through the vorkosiverse for the FIRST TIME EVER, it's just so - ahhh. it makes me kinda happy (even if miles is not your favorite).
you know, one of the things i love about these books is similar to what i (and probably you) love about januaries - it's not about Hero and Ensemble Background, it's about protagonist and OTHER LIVING PEOPLE.
both ben and miles are pretty larger than life, in different ways, but they make people around them be larger than life too, instead of serving as their backdrop. you could pull out pretty much every secondary and possibly even tertiary character out of these books and give them their own story, and this story would be exciting and readable. it makes these verses so compelling...
*distracted, cries over Ivan Book That Could Be*
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Date: 2014-01-09 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 10:36 pm (UTC)VORKOSIGAN IS SO GOOD. And yes, excellent point. I would love an Ivan book- I really liked his POV chapters in... I think it was A Civil Campaign? I want a whole book of Ivan and his sometimes-successful-sometimes-not love-life and avoiding responsibilities while hanging out in the city. I would also read books of Elena, and Mark-and-Kareem's Betan College AU, and Bel Thorne, and Taura, and OF COURSE Cordelia and Aral. And Gregor. And Ilyan and Lady Alys pretending to be retired but secretly running everything. ALL OF THESE I WANT.
but they make people around them be larger than life too, instead of serving as their backdrop
That is an excellent point, and very very true.
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Date: 2014-01-09 10:38 pm (UTC)duder, you're in luck because there IS an ivan book, and it's basically what you describe :D i'm a bit bummed about it because it suffers from post-civil-campaign-syndrome, aka nothing of actual value or weight happens, but it's adorable and frolicky and full of shenanigans.
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Date: 2014-01-09 11:47 pm (UTC)Anyway, I say all of this as a warning just in case, but I still REALLY REALLY recommend them.
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Date: 2014-01-09 11:56 pm (UTC)OH MAN I DID NOT KNOW THERE WAS AN IVAN BOOK. Looking forward now! I love shenanigans and cannot complain.
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Date: 2014-01-10 12:11 am (UTC)I do like mysteries, though, and I like other things Barbara Hambly has written. So I'll see what I can find.
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Date: 2014-01-10 05:51 pm (UTC)That is an excessive title. I feel like you don't even need to read the book after that.
Oh yeah, wow... That is at least a short story in the title right there XD
Ebooks are just so much easier when you're traveling! Or eating, actually. You don't have to hold the pages open!
I've been a bit reluctant to read my Kindle while eating, because I'm afraid I'll get crumbs inside or spill something on it, but having a Kindle would've been such a boon when I was trying to read while nursing my kids, because holding a baby latched on and trying to hold a paperback open is the awkwardest reading pose ever!
The Ghost Map taught me that I really, really, really don't want to get cholera, but I'm pretty sure I already knew that
LOL!
Mark is... not, so much, but I still love him lots.
Oh, hooray, another Mark fan! He is actually my co-favorite character in the Vorkosiverse (sharing that spot with Galeni). Miles is a fabulous protagonist, but I love Mark more -- he's gotten such a raw deal for most of his life, but he's trying so hard <33
And agreed with your views on Cordelia, of course, but I've yet to meet a Vorkosigan reader who isn't :)
The butterbug scene is pretty funny, but my favorite ACC moment is when Miles realizes what is being served at his dinner party. Just thinking about his impulse to shout "Stop, stop, you're all eating hideous bug stuff!"
P.S. Looks like HTML ate your "most books read by one author" answer, but I'm going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess that it was Barbara Hambly and "a zillion" ;)
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Date: 2014-01-10 06:02 pm (UTC)this said! i'm impressed and envious of your reading prowess! and jealous.
and so excited you got to make your way through the vorkosiverse for the FIRST TIME EVER, it's just so - ahhh. it makes me kinda happy (even if miles is not your favorite).
you know, one of the things i love about these books is similar to what i (and probably you) love about januaries - it's not about Hero and Ensemble Background, it's about protagonist and OTHER LIVING PEOPLE.
both ben and miles are pretty larger than life, in different ways, but they make people around them be larger than life too, instead of serving as their backdrop. you could pull out pretty much every secondary and possibly even tertiary character out of these books and give them their own story, and this story would be exciting and readable. it makes these verses so compelling...
*distracted, cries over Ivan Book That Could Be*
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Date: 2014-01-10 07:59 pm (UTC)Oh, I spill liquids and crumbs and sauces and all sorts of things on mine all the time. It has yet to do any damage to it. It's sort of nice, because if I spill, say, ketchup on the screen, I can just wipe it off, whereas a book would be permanently stained. But it is great for anything where you need to use your hands otherwise.
Miles is a fabulous protagonist, but I love Mark more -- he's gotten such a raw deal for most of his life, but he's trying so hard <33
Yes, exactly. There's something much more human and sympathetic about Mark. I just adore him and his struggles, while Miles feels more like he can take care of himself and doesn't need my help, ha.
Galeni is also awesome! I can't believe I forgot him in my list of favorite characters. Really, I love pretty much everyone in the series.
And YES the dinner party scene is FANTASTIC. I loved the Vorkosigan livery butterbugs. Really, all of ACC is wonderful; I couldn't put the book down when I was reading. Every single new scene was just so amazing I had to see what happened next.
(And, whoops, thanks! Fixed now. There is way too much html in this post.)
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Date: 2014-01-10 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 09:49 pm (UTC)There's something much more human and sympathetic about Mark. I just adore him and his struggles, while Miles feels more like he can take care of himself and doesn't need my help, ha.
Completely agreed on all of these points. I just want to give Mark a hug! Miles... not so much, even though he's great fun to read about. I think it was Delia who said that Miles just take over everything and she couldn't stand that (sorry this is such a vague reference, my copy of ACC is out with a friend), and I kind of feel the same way when I think about Miles as a person rather than protagonist. I think if I knew him in real life, I'd stay pretty far away.
Really, I love pretty much everyone in the series
That's the way I feel about them all, too. The more books in the series I read, the more favorites I acquired...
ACC was actually the first Vorkosigan book I read -- I picked it up because of the shiny cover, and a lot of it didn't make much sense to me, but I still had a blast with it, and went back and started reading the series from the beginning. And I thought, maybe ACC was my favorite because it was my introduction to the world, but when I went on a series reread the last couple of years I determined that, no, even if I read the books in order, ACC is still the one I love best :D