It’s another giveaway in our Eight Crazy Nights of fun here at Smart Bitches.
Today’s prize: a totebag with three novels from the Harper Perennial Olive Editions. They’re cute and little and a fabulous repackaging, in my opinion, of some hefty good books.
The prize bag includes a copy of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kindera.
Want to heft a bag of books? Just leave a comment with your answer to the following question: what was the best book you read this year that wasn’t a romance? Comments close in 24 hours, so share your recommendations and keep your fingers crossed.
I picked up “Almost Moon” by the same author who wrote “The Lovely Bones” and pushed through it in an evening. Disturbing. Harsh. Oh so good.
A Life at Work by Thomas Moore.
I can be tempted out of lurking for free books. At least I’m honest about being mercenary!
I have a whole bunch of favorite books for this year, but we’re going to go with the most recently published: Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennet. Fantasy with romantic elements, so so good.
Company of Liars – Maitland – a group of people fleeing the Black Plague, all of whom have Secrets in their Pasts. (dum-dum-DUM!)
Marrying Mozart – Cowell – Mrs. Mozart’s family life when she was a teenager. Really touching.
What Was Lost – O’Flynn – about a little girl who wants to be a detective and the shopping mall she explores
I read Nicked and Dimed several years ago and I would highly recommend it.
I reread all my Barbara Pyms- lovely books-
A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky
Moon Called by Patrica Briggs
Wow there’s a lot of comments already. I’m at least the second person to say The Year of Living Biblically. I dig non-fiction when I’m not reading romance, and this one totally delivered.
This is how pathetic my life is. Since I started grad school, I’ve read maybe 3 romances from start to finish, everything else has been rereading. So, um, if you’re interested in the decorative arts or are writing a paper on art nouveau, I’d recommend the VMFA’s Late 19th and Early 20th Century Decorative Arts. However, if a young adult book that just happens to have romance thrown in counts as not a romance, it’s Rapunzel’s Revenge all the way. Shannon Hale tells the Rapunzel story with a fantastically original slant, and you gotta love the Western setting with Jack (of the beanstalk fame) thrown in.
I so look forward to reading real books this January. Books without footnotes, of just imagine!
ps: My security thing is “making51,” which I sure as hell hope isn’t a prediction of the end result of this paper I’m embroiled in.
The Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss. Imagine if Oscar Wilde and Ian Fleming had written a book together, and the hero was an elderly bisexual with no fear, a slight contempt for the rules and a son called Christmas. Lucifer Box is one of my all time favourite characters because he’s devastatingly dashing, sarcastic, a daredevil and he gets the job done. The book was sadly too short but I enjoyed every second. How can you not like a plot that includes gorgeous American secret agents, world travel and evil brainwashed boy scouts!?
Final Salute by Jim Sheeler was an incredible read. It is based off of Sheeler’s article of the same name for the Rocky Mountain Times (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/special-reports/final-salute/) and it follows several casualty assistance calls officers who must deliver the news to families that a relative has died in Iraq. It certainly wasn’t light reading, but it was one of the most powerful books I’ve read in a while.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was probably the best with Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen a close second.
I really enjoyed Water For Elephants. I believe it made a best seller list or two, and often I prefer things more off the beaten track, so to speak, but this was just very well done indeed.
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. This book is so compelling. I also loved My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Not only the best book I’ve read all year, but the best book I’ve read in several years, and a serious competitor for My Favorite Book Ever.
I also got into the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman this year—dark urban fantasy series with a snarky attitude and great supporting cast.
Mine’s probably Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. It’s a YA urban fantasy with lots of spunk (and if you listen to the audiobook I’ll guarantee you’ll fall in love with Rupert Degas’ narration as well as the book itself).
Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrel. Absolutely amazing-made me laugh and cry sometimes at the same time. I am in awe of him.
I would also say Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Hillarious.
What a tough decision. I guess I’ll have to go with Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians. I promised myself I would reread it when I go the bath tub functioning so that I could read it in the bath. Bathtub finally fixed and I got a hot bubble bath.
Ok so there’s no walls yet, but the tub is fine,
“Digital Fortress” by Dan Brown
Moon Called and its sequels. Couldn’t put them down!
]I don’t remember if I started reading HIs Majesty’s Dragon this year, but it’s worthy of a shout-out. The first book that sprang to my mind is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s a fantasy about a legendary figure named Kvoth, currently living the life of a simple inkeeper. A historian comes and begs for an interview, so he bitterly begins retelling the story of his early years trying to learn magic. No quests, no epic battles, but a very good exploration of a larger-than-life character living with his triumphs and regrets. I look forward to book #2.
PS – The Dracula Tape and The Black Jewels Trilogy FTW!!!
The Girlfriends guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine.
I’m pregnant with twins and the other books are very clinical or try to freak you out. This one had tons of useful knowledge and was hilarious. Also I can already relate to just about every chapter. Definately a must read when you’re expecting.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love a good children’s story.
I read Notes from a Small Island By Bill Bryson
Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley—it actually came out in 2006, but book two, Bloodheir came out this year.
Anyway, this is a great fantasy about rival noble/royal houses struggling for power while another bloodline that got booted generations before after they tried to force their cultish religion on everyone is making a sneaky play to take back what is “rightfully theirs.” Good enough that it distracted me from being sick with the flu while bouncing around between airports last December.
Nightlife by Rob Thurman. Hands down the best book for me.
Let’s see: Jim Butcher’s White Knight, Lilith Saintcrow’s To Hell And Back, her Night Shift, Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe’s Something (I forget which Sharpe it was, but it was good), Lee Child’s Persuader, Barbara Hambly’s Dead Water. I am sure I read some other stuff, but those were the ones that stood out. Besides the romance, that is.
Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner. Set in Cuba in the 1950’s right at the beginning of the revolution, it follows a few different Americans (among others), one a child. The prose was gorgeous, and the plot was completely unpredictable- even though it was set around an actual historical event. I seriously can’t recommend it enough!
I really loved The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. I hear that I should have read his book of short stories Drown first.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
It isn’t a complicated literary work but it was the most entertaining and memorable “non-romance” read of 2008 – and I’ve read A LOT of books this year. It’s creepy, fun, brilliantly crafted and reminds me of nightmares I had as a child.
I loved reading Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain.
Toast: The Story of Boy’s Hunger by Nigel Slater
It is a culinary biography that is just lovely. If you like food or memoir, this is a book that you should definitely check out.
I second Rob Thurman and Patricia Briggs. Bliss! I also re-read Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion books.
I’m doing a Beowulf to Virginia Woolf (picking up one course per term, I may have a degree by the time I retire), and I was totally digging the alliteration in Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. Re-reading Bujold at the same time, I found huge tracts in which I just got lost in how beautifully alliterative her paragraphs were.
One book I read this year that was out of my normal niche was Cory Doctorow’s Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. Surreal and lovely.
I’ve read lots of great new books this year. Probably my favorite was “Nation” by Terry Pratchett.
But this was also my year to discover Lois McMaster Bujold and Sharon Shinn—Yay!. Almost all of their books are going to be on-going favorites for me…especially “A Civil Campaign” by LMB and “Archangel” by SS. Wonderful stuff!
Kushiel’s Dart, by Jaqueline Carey…. hands down the best book I’ve read this year. It has opened me up to the fantasy genre quite nicely.
The Real Animal House, by Chris Miller
He was one of the screenwriters on the movie, and based some of the movie on his on Frat at Dartmouth.
It’s both filthy and hilarious.
Rome’s Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric, by Michael Kulikowski. I realize this makes me sound like a pretentious historian, but I’m just an average geek that REALLY LOVES history. Also, almost everything I read, whether it fits the definition of the romance genre or not, has some elements of romance in it, so it’s hard to find books that don’t fit.
But this has sweeping moments of history, and things that changed the entire world. Not to mention it’s great research for historical romances, and debunks some of the myths of history that people have been using to support unfounded, nationalistic claims.
Hi, I’m a geek. But at least I admit to it. 🙂
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
I have plenty of deadlines bearing down on me, and yet this story of a young girl growing up in Iran in the early 1980s, then leaving to live and be educated in Europe, coming home and realizing home is no longer her home kept me up nights reading when I should’ve been working. It’s the perfect mix of autobiography and art (as it’s in graphic novel form), and I learned so much about Iran in the process. It’s funny, heartbreaking, and touching without ever becoming overly sentimental, and the art is beautiful and evocative in its simplicity. In fact, I started to dream in black and white illustrations for the duration of my reading.
Book: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Not only is it interesting popular science but if you ever watch the show House you will recognize a few of the patient cases. When isn’t an oddly wired brain interesting?