2012 - A Reading Year In Review

The close of the year is a decent opportunity to reflect upon and share a few of the books I’ve most enjoyed reading and haven’t yet had time to feature here.  Unsurprisingly, there are a few of these.

2012 was a year I set myself to expanding consciously upon my previous reading horizons and looking to material outside of my normal comfort zone, this being something I achieved in part – both as a result of ensuring varied content for the blog and otherwise.  This notwithstanding, there has also been plenty of time for genre reading – this being a firm favourite and something I tend to revert to at varied intervals.

Spec Fic

I’ve been reading spec fic ever since my parents bought me a copy of Diana Wynne Jones' Howl’s Moving Castle for a previous birthday.  Looking back, a number of this year’s reads fall within this category, such as the subject of my previous review entry; this also being a re-read for this year (as for many). 

Additional stand out reads for this year include Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls and my first reading experience in connection with the works of Catherynne M Valente – The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making, described within the blurb upon the cover as “a glorious balancing act between modernism and the Victorian fairy tale, done with heart and wisdom” by Neil Gaiman.  Winner of the Andre Norton Award and similarly lauded by the author of The Last Unicorn, Tamora Pierce and Holly Black, this is one novel which deserves the praise heaped upon it.  I was similarly impressed by the highly anticipated follow up The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland And Led The Revels There.  Intelligent writing for smart readers.  Highly recommended.

Mixing YA into the melting pot here, I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed Kate Milford's The Boneshaker and The Broken Lands, which I read almost back to back, having ordered one whilst I was approximately halfway through the other.  Milford blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction by adding a certain amount of historical background into her tales of crossroads bargaining and demons and produces something noteworthy on each occasion as a result.  Genuinely entertaining reading.

Short Fiction

Probably not as many in this category as I would have liked, although I’m always on the look-out for suitable shorts.  I have, however, been dipping in and out of Shadow Show, the tribute anthology to Ray Bradbury and particularly enjoyed Kelly Link's contribution, Two Houses. 

During my random internet trawls for short fiction I also came across Calum Kerr's collection of flash fiction, 31, inspired by recent participation in NaNoWriMo and each entry of which was written in a single 10 to 20 minute sitting.  I, for one, enjoyed them, being partial to the odd piece of “shorter than short”.

Kate Milford’s The Kairos Mechanism probably also deserves a mention here, being novella length.  This is effectively a “bridge” story between The Boneshaker and her subsequent prequel novel, The Broken Lands but well worth the read simply on its own merits as a folklore based fantasy tale.  The project was originally Kickstarter self-funded but is also available in paperback and e-book format via Milford's own website.

Despite not having been published this year, I’m also mentioning Kat Howard's The Calendar of Saints as one of the pieces of short fiction which has had a significant effect upon me more recently.  A beautifully written tale of the blade as both instrument and point of honour.

Historical Fiction

YA also features here, with Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity being the one which impressed me the most.  Wein produces an affecting duel narrative detailing the fate of two friends who become involved in the British war effort – the “sensational team” referred to upon the back cover.  Gripping and full of well researched detail.

Crime/Thriller

Despite being (arguably) better known for her genre fiction, my most recent experience of Elizabeth Hand's work stems from her foray into the world of crime/literary thriller in the form of Generation Loss and Available Dark (another example of a prequel published subsequent to the events which follow it, similarly to Milford’s The Broken Lands).  An unlikely examination of art and redemption.

Graphic Novels

Graphic novels also feature within my 2012 reading list, despite this previously having been a neglected area for me.  Some of this is due in part to the sheer readability of Locke and Key, a series I’ve been following throughout this year and which arguably opened my eyes to a subsection of the bookshelf I’d previously been missing out on.  I’m eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this series and will hope for the possibility of stand-alones, even once the overall narrative arc is concluded.

Whilst this isn’t a comprehensive list of the works I haven’t previously referred to here for this year and isn’t intended to act as a “best of”  or “top five” or “ten” in the strictest sense, it does highlight at least a couple which I feel are well worth the time expended upon their contents.  Hopefully there’s something which may take your fancy and provide some reading material for the next occasion on which you have time for the written word. 

Something Sinister Lurks…

In the Tall Grass...

In The Tall Grass is a Stephen King Joe Hill novella collaboration previously released as a two–parter within Esquire and recently released in e-book and audiobook format.  The story begins when a brother and sister pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy call for help from beyond the tall grass which forms the title to the story.  Within minutes they have somehow become separated, disoriented and unaccountably lost.  Gradually, they realise something is toying with them, blurring the lines of reality, so that they end up travelling in circles; close to one another and yet never able to reach one another, even when apparently within close proximity and able to converse. 

The premise of the situation is simple and touches upon themes previously addressed within King’s works (Firestarter and Children of the Corn come to mind in respect of the “tall grass”) and it works.  We, the reader, are taken into dark territory, here.  The narrative is disconcerting and, in places, physically and conceptually disturbing, without getting spoiler specific – so, not for the faint at heart.  Ultimately, both characters and situation turn full circle, adding to the sense of a complete narrative arc and claustrophobia of the scenario, from which, it seems, there is no escape.  This leaves a lingering sense of the inevitable on which to ponder as the story closes, as well as a possible need to clean up from the gore.  Chilling and bloody.

As an added bonus, the e-book format includes excerpts from the forthcoming Dr Sleep from King, sequel to The Shining and the beginning of Hill’s forthcoming NOS4R2.  Incidentally, NOS4R2 is already on my TBR’s mental listing…  

Selected Shorts

I’m always interested in short stories, whether singularly or produced as part of a collection or anthology – possibly because I’ve seen numerous references to the suggestion that this is a “dying” art form.  (Stephen King, for one, is an author who fights against this suggestion and, incidentally, looks towards artistic expression in e-format, serialisation; pretty much anything if it gets the words onto paper.  If you haven’t taken a look already, do yourself a favour and look out at least one of his short story collections.  If you’re not a horror fan, why not plump for Different Seasons and read – or even re-read - his novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, amongst others?)

This is just a précis of some of my recent reads – and, in a couple of cases re-reads, which would be worth taking a look at.

Stories (Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio was a compilation I originally picked up a copy of for Gaiman’s novelette The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains and Joe Hill's The Devil on the Staircase (both of which are well worth the time expended in a read of).

 

It was also my introduction to Kat Howard's work, being the volume which contained her first published short story, A Life in Fictions, the tale of a girl who is, quite literally, written into a story by her boyfriend.  Since then I’ve looked up copies of further shorts published by Howard and never yet been disappointed by having done so.  I’d heartedly recommend her Beauty and Disappearance  published in Weird Tales 356 but a number of her short stories have also been published online, such as Choose Your Own Adventure and The Least of the Deathly Arts.

Speaking of Joe Hill, 20^th Century Ghosts also deserves a shout out.  Hill is often coupled with the phrase “son of Stephen King” in write ups but is more than capable of holding his own against the legacy of his father’s writing, on the basis of my reading to date.  Whilst this collection of short stories is predominantly horror based, some of the entries fall outside of this category, such as Pop Art, the story of an inflatable boy or Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead, which simply takes place on the set of a making of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.  (Incidentally, if you’re a UK reader, there’s a short film of Pop Art available via the BBC website here, courtesy of Amanda Boyle).

I’ve also looked up a number of Karen Joy Fowler's short stories this year, within her collections, Black Glass and What I Didn’t See.  I particularly enjoyed The Pelican Bar in her 2010 collection (What I Didn’t See), in which Norah is sent to a boarding school with a difference.  To say much more would spoil the impact of the story, so I’d suggest looking it up yourself to get the full effect.

Margo Lanagan is something of an acquired taste for some but her short story collection Black Juice contains the excellent Singing My Sister Down, which was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best short story.  It documents the tale of a young boy watching his sister being executed by way of a tar pit for the murder of her husband.

New and Novel

There’s been a certain amount of debate in publishing circles as to whether e-publishing means the death of the “traditional” novel.  One of my most recent reads, however, is a book which bucks the trend towards e-formatting and pretty much cries out to be read in hard cover – Theodora Goss's The Thorn and the Blossom.  This self-described “two-sided love story” utilises an accordion-fold binding (without a spine) as its unique selling point. 

 

Essentially, Goss tells the same love story from the perspective of both lovers, with the reader capable of choosing which version of events they will read first, Evelyn’s or Brendan’s.  Much like the accordion-style interwoven format, the two accounts marry together, each supporting the other, with moments of overlap throughout the narrative.

As a prior recipient of the World Fantasy Award and someone whose previous work has included adaptations upon fairy tales (A Rose in Twelve Petals and Sleeping With Bears), it is no surprise the novella utilises the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as its starting point.  Goss adapts this subtly, to cultivate the “Tale of the Green Knight”, this being the title of a medieval romance which Brendan hands to Evelyn when they meet.  Thus, Arthurian legend mixes with Celtic mythology and the magical realism which forms the basis of much of Goss’s work.  Soon enough, this causes both characters to question whether or not they might be the cursed lovers who are the subject of the tale itself…

The novella is brief, at approximately 40 pages for each version, but reads well as two self-contained stories and as a cohesive whole.  Whilst some aspects of the lovers’ tale are left unanswered, this does not detract from the tale, serving to add poignancy to its spare story arc.  Too, there are nice touches in the artistry of the cover and inside the work itself, with the colour scheme of green and gold mirroring those referred to via the “Green Knight”.  You can also discover a small thumbnail image of the Green Knight on peeling back the removable sticker on the outer case containing the book itself, should you so wish. 

Clearly, a lot of thought has been given to ensuring the narrative supports its format and should ensure Quirk Books’ latest offering reaches its intended audience.  Whilst it is also possible to purchase an e-format, it would be a pity to waste the opportunity to experience the physical version, for this reader at least.