Freewheeling Andy Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 The books of the year for me have been Bad Science by Ben Goldacre Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski Hokkaido Highway Blues by Will Ferguson Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones and I'm currently very much enjoying The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon - If I had to pick one, it would probably be Imperium, which is a really majestically brilliant book. But it's basically a decade old. But any book which charts a brilliant journalist's own experience as he travels around a collapsing Soviet empire (and his previous experience under a super-strict Soviet regime) really has to be brilliant, and one by Kapuscinski doubly so. But Bad Science, Mister Pip and Yiddish Policeman's Union are all fairly new this year - either new in paperback or completeley new. If I had to pick a book of 2008 (rather than a book I read in 2008), it would definitely be Bad Science, because it's so spectacularly enlightening and adds layers of justifiable cynicisim to so much that you read and hear in advertising and reporting. Excellent stuff. Quote
missmellow Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 I haven't read that much this last year, so I'd have to say the Twilight series. EXCLUDING Breaking Dawn. That was just utter .... poop, to put it lightly. Along with the movie. ... It's extremely hard to mention it without starting a 10 hour rant. So applaud me. Heh. Quote
Loopyloo100 Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 I would have to say it's a tie between: Paying For It by Tony Black Aberrations by Penelope Przekop I loved both these books and I'm really looking froward to reading Tony Black's second novel in the series starring Gus Drury called Gutted. Quote
Sedge Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 My favourite of 2008 was easily 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. It's a collection of short stories and was worth reading for 'Pop Art' alone. Quote
Weave Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 'The Ingenious Edgar Jones' by Elizabeth Garner 'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndham 'Escaping Dreams' by Bronwen Winter Phoenix 'A Certain Slant of Light' by Laura Whitcomb 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy 'Twilight' by Stephenie Meyer 'In the Miso Soup' by Ryu Murakami 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke 'A Season of Eden' by J M Warwick ^I had a few favourites in 2008 Quote
Chimera Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Mmm depends on the criteria. Digging To America by Anne Tyler was the one that stayed with me most for some reason. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini if you're going for the sheer force of the writing. I know, I know, that makes two Quote
SueK Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I too read too many to remember last year (following on with that trend this year too methinks!). I don't know if this was the best book I read but it certainly stayed with me for a long time after reading it - and that was The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I've now started to list my 2009 books in the back of my diary (in case this questions pops up next year:lol:). Quote
Raven Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndham That is on my list for this year. Quote
jenmck Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Surprisingly, it was a vampire book. (NOT a big vamp fan). It was Joey W. Hill's "Mark of the Vampire Queen" which is the second in her series. Hill is a brilliant erotic writer. I read a ton by her last year. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.