2013: A Year in Reviews

I didn't do a lot of writing posts this year. But I did write up a review of each and every book I read in 2013, and I read a lot. Goodreads tells me it was 117 books, though I did cheat a little. Thirteen of those were The Human Division. The fact that I reviewed each and every installment has to count for something. I also won a reading challenge.

I think reviewing every single book has me reading a little differently, with more of an eye on technique and craft. I know formulating my thoughts about them has been helping me express myself better, though I do recognize they're not all masterpieces. At least you're getting your money's worth, right?

Last year, I recapped my favorites, and I enjoyed doing that. So, without further ado, below are my favorites of 2013. Please note that these are books I read in 2013, and many of them were published in previous years.

Favorite Debut: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. It was funny, poignant, and topical. I cared
what happened to the title characters, the world was populated by what felt like real human beings, and it didn't end the way I expected. I wouldn't have guessed this was this author's first novel; she has the craft, level of detail, and research down pat. I look forward to her next book, whatever it may be.

Favorite Series Conclusion: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. A lovely, satisfying wrap-up to a series I can see myself rereading happily, despite my ever-looming to-read pile. Atwood has a background in poetry, but the prose is never mired in overly flowery descriptions. She understands what words are for, and uses the right ones.

Favorite Post-Apocalyptic: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. I admit, I was skeptical about all the love it was getting in reviews when I started out. It seemed dated and depressing. But all that atmosphere was building to a lovely and perfect conclusion. I loved all that stalling for leading me to that beautiful ending.

Favorite Reread: 1984 by George Orwell. I revisited it for a book club, because we were going to discuss it in the context of Brave New World, and I hadn't read it since high school. I didn't expect to like it as much; I thought it was one of those books I'd outgrow. But the politics and notions struck me all the more, now that I'm more of a participant in how the world works. I think it helped, also, to have read Margaret Atwood's perspective on it last year in In Other Worlds.

Favorite Audio Performance: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde barely edges out Macbeth by William Shakespeare, but only because we're talking about the performance, not the quality of the story. Oscar Wilde wins out for style. If it were up against a Shakespeare comedy, it wouldn't have stood a chance. If you check both reviews, though, you'll see the common element that made them both such tough contenders.

Favorite YA: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Funny, revealing, universal yet illuminating. I wouldn't go so far as to make it required reading in schools, because that's how you make kids hate a book. But, I do think a lot of young people, especially misfits, artists, and ethnic minorities, might relate to the main character.

Favorite Fantasy: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. It was far better than it needed to be to hook me on the series. Personable, vulnerable gods and the best fantasy heroine I've ever read made this book positively addictive to me. This is one of those books that made me depressed I'd never write this well, then, when I got over it, determined to prove myself wrong.

Favorite Nonfiction: Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Thoroughly entertaining, often funny, and expands on what we, as readers, know about Sedaris and his family. It also answers a number of questions I've wondered while reading other stories of his.

Favorite Serial Fiction: Indexing by Seanan McGuire. It'll be released as an entire volume in late January, but, to get the full experience, you'll have to put it down for two weeks after every chapter. (No; read it however you like. I'm curious how it stands up as a whole work, actually, and would appreciate comments letting me know what you think, if you discover it that way.)

Favorite Short Book: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. It's been getting all kinds of critical acclaim, but, in this case, it's justified. This nostalgic tale about long-forgotten magic is lovely and poetic and a delightful read. And, it's just barely longer than a novella, so it's not like you've wasted a lot of reading time if you're not as enchanted as I was.

Favorite Doorstopper: Under the Dome by Stephen King. It justifies all that narrative space, but, whoo! It's a lot to find yourself faced with when you're already three books behind on your reading goal for the year.The themes resonated with me quite a bit, and it was deeper than I expected from Stephen King.

Favorite Concept: Lexicon by Max Barry. Control of the world through a few well-chosen words. Sounds like writing, true, but not the way it's presented here. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book half as much as I did. And I don't pick up books with the expectation they'll be merely tolerable.

Favorite Kids' Book: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Skottie Young. A delightful tall tale about time traveling dinosaurs, redecorating aliens, and a scatterbrained dad. Don't wait for an excuse to read it to a kid. Read it for yourself.

Favorite Classic: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. An excellent book for those who like this kind of thing. Dostoyevky can be depressing, and rambling, and rather dark. That's what I like about his books. This one in particular manages to highlight some of the best parts of human nature, while condemning the worst. I didn't always understand character motivations, but I didn't care. The characters knew who they were and where they were going, and I wanted to follow them to see where they ended up.

Favorite Science Fiction: Redshirts by John Scalzi. A send-up of various science fiction tropes that serves as both homage and satire, which is a neat trick to pull. I still can't believe Scalzi did that*, and I'm a little mad he pulled it off so well.

Favorite Author remains Seanan McGuire. This year, in addition to numerous short stories published on her website, Seanan also published Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid #2), Chimes at Midnight (October Daye #7), Parasite (writing as Mira Grant; first in a two-book series), Indexing (mentioned above), she had a story in The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination as well as several other anthologies, and she contributed to a Hugo-winning podcast. Just by sheer volume of my favorites of 2013, alone, she wins. But it's her consistency, her cheerful online presence, and her occasional posts about weighty, potentially controversial topics, that secures her the spot at the top of my author list for another year. The rest of her potential competition is running around in circles back at the start of the race.

So that's my 2013 in reading. How did yours fare?

I hope 2014 brings you some happy surprises, and many excellent books to read. Have a fun and safe New Year's.

* If you've read it, you know what that is. If you haven't, I'm not going to spoil the fun of finding out for yourself.

Review: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman and Skottie Young

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up as a Christmas present for one of my five nephews. But, having heard Neil Gaiman read an excerpt when he visited Saratoga Springs, I had to read the rest of it for myself, first.

Fortunately, the Milk is a tall tale in the classic sense, full of improbable coincidences and hilarious characters. It starts off as an absentminded father looking after his two kids, and forgetting to buy milk. When he does go to get it, he takes a long time coming back, and has a very creative story to explain what took so long. First he's kidnapped by aliens who want to redecorate the Earth, but he escapes through the time-space continuum and winds up with pirates, and is then rescued by a time-traveling stegosaurus. Then it gets really silly.

Even if you believe, as the kids in the story do, that it's all made up, it's still a fun story, full of twists and turns and unexpected resolutions. It's stuffed with plays on words and understated British humor, and the story made me laugh out loud more than once. It could be read either as the father making up a ridiculous story to distract the children from his irresponsibility, or it could be taken at face value. Either way, it's an enjoyable read.

The illustrations are fitting to the chaos of the story, and they lend credence to the father's tale. Skottie Young is a talented illustrator, and he seems inspired by the silliness, his drawings getting more detailed the more complicated the story gets.

It's too bad the nephew getting this as a present lives so far away. I'd love to see my sister's reaction when she first reads it aloud to him.


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Review: Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman and Adam Rex

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this to evaluate whether I wanted to give it to one of my five nephews for Christmas, and which one. I found it a cute story, one my sister might actually enjoy reading aloud.

Like most picture books, the story is simple: Chu is a panda, out doing fun things. At each place where he stops, he starts to sneeze, and his parents brace themselves. But it doesn't happen. Then, at the very end, he finally does sneeze, and it brings chaos to all of the places he visited earlier in the day.

The text is minimal, and there's a handful of pages that lack words entirely. This would give a child reading it along with a parent a better chance to engage in the story, as they could narrate what they see on the page.

The illustrations are vivid and nicely done. The book is eye-catching, and I can see it becoming a favorite among those who've read it.

I will be picking this up for one of my nephews. Even if my sister doesn't like reading it aloud, I will.


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Review: Shoggoth's Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman

Shoggoth's Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a short story Audible was giving out for free to promote
  The Ocean at the End of the Lane

. It included a bonus chapter of the Ocean audiobook.

The short story is originally from "Smoke and Mirrors." It's about Benjamin Lassiter, an American from a small Texas dry town, in more senses of the word than average rainfall. He's decided to do a walking tour of the British coastline during the off season, believing a guidebook that assures him that'll work out well. He winds up in a town called Innsmouth, and hasn't read enough to know why it's a bad idea to drink the local beer.

The story is funny, but not in a laugh-out-loud way. It's slyly so, and funnier the more one knows about H.P. Lovecraft's fiction. Benjamin knows even less about that than he does about beer and its effects, and the story hinges on his being completely unaware of what he's gotten himself into.

The story was narrated by the author, who does a fine job reading his words, though his American accent could use some work. He can be forgiven for that, for his pleasant British accent that carries the narration and other characters' dialogue.

The story is no longer offered through Audible, so I feel lucky to have pounced on the offer while it was still around.

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Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was one of the lucky readers who lived close enough to an event to see Neil Gaiman read from this book in person, answer questions, and then sign books, mine included. If you want to read my write-up about the event, it's in this blog entry.

Even without the excitement of meeting the author on his last US signing tour, though, I would've enjoyed this book. It's what I've always waited for in a fantasy novel, but I never realized this is what I lacked.

The book is short, and therefore can be a quick read. But if you read it quickly, you lose the flow of the language, the layers of complexity, the characterizations. The narrator is a middle-aged man, looking back at an event that happened when he was seven but had forgotten until that very moment. The narration has the honesty only a seven-year-old can have, filtered through years of experience and revelation. The young boy is often confused about things the adult understands, which evokes a certain wistfulness and melancholy at the same time.

The character is taking refuge after a funeral (the text never says for who, but, based on the focus of the story, I think it's his father). He goes to the end of the lane, where a girl four years his senior once lived. She called the duck pond "the ocean," and it's gazing at that pond that the unnamed narrator remembers that strange summer. His family had slipped in financial status, and had to take in boarders. One such boarder kills himself in the family car, which leads to the boy's meeting the Hempstock women. It's a grandmother, mother, and daughter (crone, mother, maiden), and the girl's name is Lettie. He goes with her to help put to rest a spirit who's been stirred up by the death, but something goes wrong, and a malevolent woman shows up at his house. He has to use every ounce of courage and strength his little seven-year-old self can muster to banish her, and, of course, there are consequences.

Neil Gaiman has said that he feels there isn't so much as a word wasted in this book, and I agree. Everything that's in there is essential. Every character needs to be there, every event, every detail, all shape this narrative. There are some things that go unwritten or unspoken, and the narrative shapes around those, too, defined by the space they left behind.

I read the hardcover of this book, but I intend to get the audiobook when I want to reread it. I think that could only add to the experience. I think both paper (or electronic) and audio are necessary experiences to absorb this story.


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Progress Post: Looking Up

Slowly but surely, I'm getting there.

I've been handwriting a lot of the updates to my current work-in-progress. I've had some moments where it's a lot easier to grab a handful of blank pages than my entire laptop. I've noticed that I can write for longer periods of time without distraction when I'm handwriting, as opposed to typing. The drawback is that the side of my hand gets smudged with ink, and that it takes extra time to type up. I currently have 16 pages front and back, which roughly winds up as one double-spaced typed page apiece. The last time I typed up some pages, I'd topped 40,000 words. So that's going well.

I also have my crit partners. I've been working with them since January, and they've both had excellent ideas to improve book 1 and polish it up for publication. They both had some very positive things to say about it, too, which was exciting.

I wish I could say my excitement translated into getting their stuff read quickly, but, alas, my motivation is failing me in all aspects of life. Hopefully typing this out will be just the kick in the rear I need to get moving on that, because, really? Five months? That's just laziness on my part.

One really, really good thing happened last week. On Thursday, June 20th, I went to a reading and signing event for Neil Gaiman at Saratoga Springs. I found my way there, and eventually found a parking spot. I did not arrive in time to submit a question for Mr. Gaiman. But I did have plenty of time to knit and people watch
before the event.

Then it was really Neil Gaiman on the stage, and really Neil Gaiman reading from his book and answering questions and being humble and adorable.

Not a good photo at all, but the blob on
the right in black is, indeed, Neil Gaiman.

He read from the book he was on tour to promote, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which our admission price got us a signed copy of. He also read from Fortunately, the Milk, his kids' book coming out this fall, which sounded utterly charming. He also discussed why this is his last book tour: because it's not fun for anyone when 4000+ people show up to get their books signed, and they're there all night, and he's bleary and grumpy and loses the ability to spell. He said he may do ninja signings, where he puts a notice up on his Twitter last-minute and maybe a couple hundred people come.

The event is going to be broadcast on WAMC on Tuesday, July 9th at 3 PM, and on Thursday, July 11th at 8:30 PM. Even if you're not local to the NY Capital Region, you can listen online at the link.

Then it came time for the signings. I was in group B, and wound up standing just in front of The Least Affected Youth, Ever. They loudly made fun of everyone and everything in the room, with sarcastic comments aplenty. Or maybe I was just overly sensitive because I was nervous, and had no moral support there to keep me centered.

I've met authors before, and almost always end up with that feeling I'm watching myself from outside, wondering what possessed me to say something so stupid. This time, I scribbled a note on the back of my email confirmation explaining I'm shy and that I clam up around people I admire, but that I loved his writing. I also scribbled the question I was going to ask, if I'd arrived in time to ask it. It was too involved for a quick, 30-second interaction, but I still got part of it answered.

When I finally got up to the front of the line and passed my note, I saw him read it, then his face visibly softened. He thanked me for my kind words, and held out his hand to be shaken. I shook it, and managed to whisper something like, "Thank you." He told me he was shy, too, and that one usually muddled through and made it, somehow, and learned to be better next time.

And now I have a signed copy of Ocean at the End of the Lane, and my copy of Fragile Things is signed and personalized. It's just a trade paperback, but it's also the last book I bought from Malaprop's before I had to move away from Asheville, NC.

The above doesn't have a whole lot to do with my writing progress. But that's one of the reasons I write. Because other writers can bring so many different people together to talk about how their words touched them. Because every writer I've met has been wonderful and warm and caring. Because, while I will never reach that level of fame, I could die happy if I met one person as ecstatic to meet me as I was to meet Neil Gaiman.

Review: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading it. You'd think there was reason to dread it, with how I kept putting it off, and rereading other Gaiman works before cracking this one open. In the end, it took a library audio edition, read by the author, to get me over my reluctance, and thank goodness.

Neverwhere is an urban fantasy in the Borderlands mold. It shows a world beneath our own (literally—the distinctions are London Above and London Below), one our surface-dwelling perspective character, Richard Mayhew, has difficulty adjusting to. It's through Richard we learn the rules of the underground, and he asks all the questions the reader might have. All Richard wants is to go home to a world he understands, and where he's safe and warm and comfortable, and where no one's trying to kill him.

He's dragged into this world by a young woman named Door, who has the ability to open portals locked to anyone else. Her entire family was just killed by two creepy assassins who call one another Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, and they're after her when Richard finds her and helps her. She's on a mission to find the angel, Islington, to find out what happened to her family and avenge them.

Door recruits help in the form of the Marquis de Carabas, whose power derives from swapping favors, and who Richard mistrusts, with good reason. Door hires Hunter as a bodyguard from the Floating Market, where she proves she's the strongest fighter in London Below. But, she's unable to go to London Above, and of course Door's quest sends her back to that world.

The book does an excellent job both of capturing the romanticism and otherworldliness of a fantasy realm tucked in right beneath our own, and of showing the grit and pain and fear of being on this kind of quest. Richard's desire to return to London Above makes perfect sense. London Below is filthy, dangerous, cold, chaotic, and utterly unpredictable.

The book is transcribed from a BBC miniseries, which I saw before I read the book. It fleshes out a lot of the story, and explains parts in the miniseries that had confused me. It also expands the ending by a couple of chapters, and gives a lot more insight into Richard.

Overall, I found it an enjoyable story. It reminded me a lot of Charles de Lint's Newford stories, though a bit grittier.

I highly recommend the audio edition. Neil Gaiman is an excellent reader, and it added to my enjoyment of the story to hear him reading it. He integrates the actors' mannerisms from the BBC miniseries into the dialogue, which really distinguishes each character nicely.


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Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I reread this as part of a book club, and we also watched the movie. By all rights, the fact that I read a paperback last time, and I read an illustrated edition this time should mean that I'd add a star. But this time around, I was more aware of the flaws.

Stardust is a new fairy tale that takes place during Victorian times. It's about Tristran Thorn, and it starts with his odd origins when his father meets a woman with furry, pointed ears at the Market, the one time every nine years people are allowed through the gap in the wall that gives his hometown its name. The wall separates Faerie from the mortal realm, and the rules are different on either side.

One night, Tristran promises the woman he's in love with to fetch a falling star. He sets off, encountering enemies and allies, and finds the star, who's furious to be treated as a thing. She's the daughter of the moon, and has only watched the goings-on of the world from far above. Meanwhile, a witch wants to cut out her heart to eat for its vitality, and the star is carrying the key to Stormhold's succession.

The book is highly entertaining, though not as quick-paced as the movie. There's no ticking clock, and Tristran is gone for months. Unfortunately, there are also a number of fairy tale conventions that go unexplained. They're simply "the rules," or how it is, and waved off without further explanation. Tristran grasps things instinctively which could've made a good point for the reader to figure out how this fairyland works. So readers looking for a world that's fully explained to them will be disappointed.

If you've seen the movie and thought you were getting the whole story, I recommend you give this a read, because they are two different entities. I strongly recommend you get your hands on an edition illustrated by Charles Vess, because the illustrations are just gorgeous.


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Review: Tails of Wonder and Imagination

Tails of Wonder and Imagination by Ellen Datlow

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



While this collection has several delightful stories in it, it also has an awful lot of stories about cats being tortured, mistreated, or killed, and it was upsetting to read. The one story with a meaningful cat death made me cry like my own cat had died.

Here are the highlights:

"No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be..." is about an artist who painted ads, and incorporated in all the cats he'd loved.

"The Price" is a Neil Gaiman story about a cat showing up to deal with an otherworldly pest problem.

"Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion" by Charles de Lint is about a cabbie with a criminal record going on a rescue mission for a kitten.

"Gordon, the Self-Made Cat" by Peter S. Beagle is about a mouse who goes to cat school. It's still adorable, though I've read it several times, now.

"The Burglar Takes a Cat" is about a bookstore owner and retired thief being talked into having a cat, though he doesn't consider himself a cat person.

"Coyote Peyote" by Carole Nelson Douglas is a short story about Midnight Louie, the feline PI.

"The Poet and the Inkmaker's Daughter" is a fable about a matchmaking red bobtailed cat.

"The Manticore's Tale" is a fun fairy tale about a manticore kidnapped as a kitten, then befriended by a young girl who needs to escape.

"Nine Lives to Live" by Sharyn McCrumb is a revenge tale about a man who gets his wish and comes back as a cat.

"Dominion" is a creation myth where Eden's serpent creates cats out of clay and juice from fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

"Healing Benjamin" is the aforementioned story that made me cry. It was lovely, but upsetting.

The trouble with rating anthologies is the uneven quality. The above stories deserve 4 or 5 stars. The stories I haven't mentioned, though, are what stuck with me when I chose the overall rating.



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