I read other books than the ones listed below, but they were non-fiction or fiction I didn’t want to include as a favorite.
Speculative Fiction (Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror)
- A Dragon of a Different Color
by Rachel Aaron
This is the fourth installment of Aaron’s Heartstrikers series, the story of which proceeded nicely until this one. The middle of this book is a world-building info dump disguised as dialogue. Still worth it if you’re invested in the series. Lots of great things happen, but I hope the next one moves faster.
- We Are Legion
by Dennis E. Taylor
I bought this from Audible.com because it’s not available through my local library system. I was pleasantly surprised. Taylor’s protagonist is a snarky nerd who finds himself part of desperate space exploration program. Funny and sarcastic.
- The Very First Damned Thing
by Jodi Taylor
I admit I downloaded this for free from Audible.com. It’s an introduction to Taylor’s The Chronicles of St. Mary’s universe, which looks good. Interesting, but didn’t blow me over. I’ll probably give the series a try.
- Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
I have been wanting to read this for quite a while. Rothfuss unleashes a beautiful writing style with this first book and the story kept me going. The story is complete, but there are some unanswered questions for the rest of this series to address.
- Crosstalk
by Connie Willis
The protagonist got on my nerves, but I so badly wanted to find out what was going on, I plowed through it. Not on the same level as Willis’s The Doomsday Book, but a fun read.
- Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods
by Sylvain Neuvel
This series has been a nominee for Goodread’s Best Books two years in a row, and I can see why. The story is told by a group of people involved in a project of finding robotic parts buried around the world and building mechanical giants. Neuvel includes a lot of twists and surprises.
- The Book of Lost Things
by John Connolly
Looks like a kid’s book, but with all the violence, sex and depressing imagery, it’s definitely for grown-ups. Connolly adds some adult themes to some beloved fairy tale icons and draws up this creepy tale.
- All the Birds in the Sky
by Charlie Jane Anders
This turned out to be one of my surprise favorites of the year. Patricia and Lawrence keep crossing paths. At the end of the world, they become involved in a war, end up on opposite sides.
- Dark Matter
by Blake Crouch
Another surprise favorite for this year. Crouch takes the alternate reality trope and raises some interesting questions.
- Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater
A group of teens in backwater Virginia, get mixed up in dark matters in their search for a lost king.
Mainstream Fiction
- Landline
by Rainbow Rowell
This popped up a couple of times as a book I should read, so I did. A woman tries to repair her marriage by magically talking with a younger version of her husband from the early days of their relationship. Didn’t really reveal how using an old landline phone could do that.
- A Visit from the Good Squad
by Jennifer Egan
While this book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, I’m not sure it is any more thematic than any other similar piece of fiction. I did enjoy the complex characters Egan developed through a series of interrelated short stories.
- Invisible Monsters
by Chuck Palahniuk
Every page of this novel is insane. It creeped me out, but it was Palahniuk at his most bizarre and entertaining.
- No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy
Man stumbles across a lot of drug money. Lots of anti-heroes in this book. Good read and a good movie, too.
- Call Me by Your Name
by Andre Aciman
A coming-of-age story about an Italian teen in the seventies who falls for an older guy staying with his parents for the summer.
Classics
- Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
What would happen if books were illegal and burned when found? I need to read this one again and soon.
- Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
Billy Pilgrim descends into madness, or does he? He tells his tale as an unreliable narrator in this classic.
- A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
Sort of in the same category as Dead Poet’s Society.
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
Finally, after three tries, I got through it. A slow-paced novel isn’t necessarily a bad thing in Hemingway’s case. It built up the tension.
- A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
Upon finishing this book, I have completed the Ernest Hemingway collection.
- Winesburg, Ohio
by Sherwood Anderson
A little depressing, with characters who are depressed. Still glad to add it to my classics repertoire.
Young Adult Fiction
- Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
Lots of controversy about this book and the Netflix series based upon it. I’ll be honest. I didn’t think a girl would really kill herself over the reasons presented in this story. But news events in the last month have changed my mind. It does happen.
- The Outsiders
by S.E. HintonI decided to re-read this on its fiftieth anniversary. This is the novel that created the whole Young Adult genre–although I doubt Hinton saw herself as the one who would pave the way for all the vampire novels in the Young Adult section. It’s always fun to re-read a book to see how I’ve grown since the last time.
Andrew M. Friday 