Well, Ladles and Jelly Spoons, today is the 31st of December, 2016. That last day of this year is finally here and I am finally getting around to my faves of this year. (Beth, of course, has been on the ball all year and has already gotten this done.)
I set my goal for reading this year intentionally low at 35 and then changed it to 30 when it appeared I wasn’t going to make it that far. Then, I only made that because I drove to my parents house for Christmas and they live 13 hours away from my house. Just. Under.The.Wire. But, I’m thrilled to pieces that I did. So, without further ado, I give you my top eight.
- The Martian by Andy Weir
Y’all, I know I was behind the times with this one, but it is so good. You owe it to yourself to listen to this on audio. The book was so good and R.C. Bray really brought it to life. - Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
This book made Shonda Rhimes my hero. She is so inspirtational.
- The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Will Patton does a knock-out job of reading this book. And, you may have noticed, but Beth and I both have a big ole crush on Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. - Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
This is maybe the most interesting vampire novel I have probably ever read. Plus, the presentation of race and gender going back in forth between modern times and the antebellum South was amazing. - The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
I’m still working on how to use everything I learned from this book. Alexander lays out a persuasive argument and backs it up with well-presented research. - Bitch Planet by Kelly sue DeConnick
In this dystopian future, the world is full of interesting and awesome women who are treated like garbage and shipped off to a prison planet. God, I hope this isn’t prescient. - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Achidie
Achidie has her finger on the pulse of race relations in America and the story she spins is full of humor, tenderness and amazing characters. I loved this book so much. - Emperor of Sound by Timbaland from childhood to sought after producer, this memoir tells the tale of Timbaland. I really enjoyed this walk through ’90s and -’00s music.
- The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
The Hogfather, the Santa figure in Discworld, has gone missing on his most important night of the year. It is up to Death, his assistant and his granddaughter to save the day. This book is funny, clever and such a good read (or, listen, as the case may have been.) - Call my by my Other Name by Valerie Wetlaufer
This is a story told in poems. The story, based on two historical figures, is about two nineteenth century women living as husband and wife told by a modern narrator. Wetlaufer spins an amazing story of love and heartache. She does a great job not putting twenty-first century categories on these historical characters. I loved the distinct voices of these poems. This is such a good book.
This has been a fun year of reading. I started a bunch of books in 2016 that I haven’t yet finished, so look for all of those reviews (Between the World and Me by Coates, Whipping Girl by Serano, Princess Diarist by Fisher, The Federalist Papers) in 2017!
I didn’t realize that Samantha Shannon published two novella’s in connection to her Bone Season series. I was delighted that one of was Jaxon Hall’s infamous pamphlet. On the Merits of Unnaturalness. Fans of the series will be familiar with the title as it is bases of the clairvoyant community and what made Jaxon a major player in the syndicate. Under the pseudonym of the Obscure Writer, Jaxon goes through all the different types of Clairvoyance there is and grouped them in seven different orders. This also created a hierarchy among the community by ranking orders by difficult and by rare each gift is. I feel like this is a must read for fans of the books because it really clears up a lot of the different gifts that the characters have and how they relate to each other. It also explains why some are treated with more reverence then others. We understand that Paige’s gift of dreamwalking is rare but not only that, it’s part of the seventh order so it makes her even more powerful among the community and having her in his gang, it makes Jaxon more powerful too. It also cleared up more as to why the “vile augurs” were so despised and exiled to Jacob’s island. I feel like I have a better understanding on the syndicate and Paige’s life after reading this.
Speaking of understanding more about Paige’s life, the second novella is the The Pale Dreamer. It chronicles the early days of Paige in the Seven Seals. She has only been in the gang for three months and so far on desk duty. Aching to prove her worth, Paige gets a chance when a Poltergeist is set loose in London. We see that even three years before the action of the Bone Season, Paige was already brave, a little brash but a quick thinker. Her powers are still raw but you can see the glimpse of her strong she will become. This is also shows us why she goes by The Pale Dreamer. It was the name given to her by Jaxon himself. It was the events depicted in the novella that lead her to becoming his Mollisher. At the time the Seven Seals is only Jaxon, Nick, Eliza and Paige so we get the glimpse of their early relationship between these characters. Also it lays the groundwork to the future conflict between Paige and Jaxon but also not that surprising as to why Nick and Eliza chose Paige over Jaxon at the end of The Mime Order. It’s definitely worth a read for any fan but not necessary to enjoy the series as a whole as it doesn’t really add to the narrative. It just fills out the world and Paige’s backstory a little more. With a little less then a month before the release of The Song Rising, it’s a good read while you wait.
A Study in Charlotte was a very fun read. It’s new take on the Sherlock Holmes stories. This time it’s the descendants of Holmes and John Watson. In this world, the famed detective and his assistant were real. Watson chronicled Holmes’ cases and well fictionalized them. The Holmes family continue to solve crimes and being eccentric, while the Watsons continue to be normal. Here we catch up with the latest generation of Holmes’ and Watson’s when Jaime Watson starts at a new boarding school. Jaime meets Charlotte Holmes, the girl who is full of mystery as anything else. (For some reason I thought Jaime was a girl and I was a little disappointed to find out that he isn’t but I got over it.) There are little sprinklings of the originally stories throughout the novels and the nastiest parts of the stories like Holmes’ drug use. Charlotte is just as impossible as the original Holmes or Benedict Cumberbatch’s. Shortly after Holmes and Watson meet a fellow student is murder in a way that is reminiscent of Holmes’ stories. Of course, they are the prime suspects. They have to work together to clear their names. They story goes through many twists and turns that will keep you guessing all through the story. You don’t have to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes to love this book. You just have to enjoy a good mystery with interesting characters and you’ll be set.
