The 2014 (and 2013) Book Review

In which I review the best and worst books read in 2014 (and a few from 2013).

(Warning - this post is really, really long. And I don't care.)

Last year I forgot to write my annual book review. I just...forgot. Not that it has become such an important part of your lives that my failure to write it resulted in a cosmic shift in the sands of time or anything (I honestly don't even know what that sentence means), but still. I forgot. I remembered around March, and by March, I didn't care very much and decided to lump 2013 in with 2014 - that is, if I remember to do a book review for 2014.


Two-Thousand-and-Thirteen

Before I start with 2014's books, here are a few of my favorite reads of 2013:

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

This is the sort of book I can't wait to re-read while I'm actually reading the book! Even for an avid reader, these sorts of books are few and far between; as much as I love to read, I don't often reread novels, or at least, not for many years.

I want to reread The Goose Girl, and soon.

Ani is a princess of a small kingdom who is sent off to marry the prince of the bigger, fiercer kingdom over the mountains from her home. She is double-crossed by her servants, and forced to work as the king's goose girl as she tries to regain her identity and save both kingdoms from going to war.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente

It took me a long time to read this book, and a long time to think about what to say in a review. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Let's call it The Girl Who... from this point on) is a strange, fantastical, incredible children's novel. It's the sort of book I think I'd like to read to my own children some day, the sort of book I could imagine, if I had read it as a child, sparking thousands of hours of pretend time in the backyard. It's not for everyone - the language is rich and convoluted and beautiful and confusing at times. The imagery is remarkable - and strange. The story is quite different - Valente has an awesome and bizarre imagination. Reading The Girl Who is a bit like eating Chocolate Mousse. I love Chocolate Mousse - but if I eat it too fast, I get a bit woozy from the richness. 

Rainbow Rowell - an author, not a book - Eleanor and Park, Fan Girl, and Attachments
It's hard to explain Rainbow Rowell's books. She writes young adult fiction, but it's so much more than that. She has a way of describing things that just...says it exactly the way I would hope that I would say it, were I writing these stories. She's best known for Eleanor and Park, which is excellent, but give her other books a try. However, I can't really recommend her most recent novel, Landline - I just didn't really get it, sadly.

The Bryant and May mystery series by Christopher Fowler.
This is the silliest series about two geriatric detectives on the loose, solving mysteries in London. Most of the books feature impossible locked-room type mysteries, very-old men crawling through sewers and wearing rather dodgy sweaters with pockets filled with string and old scones and occasionally small animals (I kid you not). I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series, and then sort of lost steam with the later books. What I love about them, apart from the humor (and some really clever mysteries) is the love affair with London that the books convey - each book is about a different aspect of London. And I love London. I was supposed to be born British, and it is one of the greatest disappointments of my life that I am not. So, if you, like me, have an affinity for that great city, you'll enjoy Bryant and May for the fun romp through London-
town.

My least favorite book of 2014? 
Without a doubt, it was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. While I appreciate the potential literary quality of the book - on a sort of academic level - never have I read a book that made me want to vomit while I was reading it. Actually, that's a lie - the Game of Thrones books also had that physical effect on me (and I stopped in the middle of book three and never have looked back).






Two-Thousand-and-Fourteen

2014 has been a rather skimpy reading year for me. I usually set a goal of reading 52 books a year...one book a week. That doesn't mean that I actually read one book a week, but during summer and breaks, I often consume one book a day, so it's not that hard for me. Unfortunately, I fell rather short in 2014 - by twenty-four books. Ridiculous! I think I spent too much time watching Scandal this summer, and not enough time catching up on my Tolstoy. And by catching up on my Tolstoy, I mean reading Tolstoy, because I haven't successfully completed any of his novels yet.

Resounding Meh:

Imperfect Bliss by Susan Fales-Hill

Dear Jane Austen Fans with a Desire to Pen Your Own Novel:

If you are truly a fan of Jane Austen, please do not attempt to write a Pride and Prejudice novel in the 21st century. I have rarely found a really good retelling of Pride and Prejudice in print - Bridget Jones's Diary is probably the exception.

Imperfect Bliss is the story of Bliss - Elizabeth - divorced-mom whose sister is chosen as the "Virgin" on a Bachelorette-style reality TV shows. Being the Elizabeth Bennett character, she is of course disapproving of her families' antics, etc, etc, etc.

This novel was the sort of novel that couldn't find itself - was it trying to be chick lit? Was it a comedy of manners? Was it Austenesque? Was it trying to elevate chick lit? There are clear parallels to P&P, but of course with the usual 21st century twists. The author seemed to struggle between wanting to write in a more contemporary style and wanting to write with Austen's prose. The result were awkward metaphors, out-of-place word choice and unwieldy cultural references.

If you want to experience Pride and Prejudice in the 21st century, go watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. As an English teacher, it's rare for me to recommend a video over a book, but in this case, the LBDs succeed, hands down.

(Oddly enough, my 2012 Resounding Meh was also an attempted Pride and Prejudice spin-off or sequel or whatever - for some reason, I keep reading them, hoping that someone will finally "get" it.)

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Before I begin, let's get one thing clear: I. Love. Tina. Fey.

Bossypants was funny (I literally LOLed multiple times - and you know I hate the term LOL with basically the passion of a thousand burning suns, so I must have really LOLed.). I liked some of her message (not all, as I fall on the conservative side of most things, well, particularly social issues, 9/10, I think). I'm still not entirely sure what her thesis was, which is a problem, but I'm not certain if it's her problem, or mine, since I read it rather quickly. I enjoyed her anecdotes and wise-cracks about growing up, working on SNL, playing Sarah Palin, creating 30 Rock, motherhood, etc. It wasn't really a memoir in the chronological sense - it was more like a series of slightly related essays, which is fine, but I am not sure that it was either - memoir or essays? [I'm a big fan of Erma Bombeck, whom I discovered, oddly enough, as a fifteen year old (and somehow related to, despite the fact that I wasn't a 40-something suburban mom with a septic tank problem) and Fey's motherhood and growing-up "essays" (chapters?) were quite a lot like Erma Bombeck...but were they supposed be? Is Tina Fey going to read this review and get offended that I compared her voice to Erma Bombeck and lambaste me in her next memoir? Part of me really hopes so. I'm rambling, I know.] It jumped around in time too much. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the next chapter. I think one of the comments on the book probably said it best: this is a book that is to be listened too. Fey's voice is loud and clear in the book, and that's great - but it's a little too conversational for a book. I would love to listen to this, and I wish that I had. I may even go back and listen to it, because, I really like Tina Fey, and I'd like to listen to her tell her stories. I'm just not so sure that I want to read her telling her stories.

Of course, it's a lot better than most celebrity memoirs (no disgusting sexual escapades related, for which I am super-grateful, because ew.), and I'm positive Fey wrote it herself, which is step of from most of them. So, read it if you like her. I don't think it's the earth-shattering celebrity memoir of the century, but as memoirs go, it's readable and likable, and you don't feel disgusted with her at the end of the book.

The Worst:

The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan

So, I love fantasy. I will never deny this. And, I'm ever on the hunt for good fantasy. Which means I tend to read a lot of crappy fantasy in the meantime. Goodreads recommended this series to me, based on my reading history, and I thought, well, what the heck? The reviews were favorable, so, I picked up the prequel, which was a mistake.

I haven't read a lot of fan fiction (not a rabbit-hole I want to stumble down). But I imagine it would read a lot like The Crown Tower. This book felt like it was fan-fiction of the author's earlier works. I hadn't read the author's other books, but I got the impression that I would appreciate this one much more, had I read the other series. The author admittedly encourages readers to read first the books that come chronologically later. I have a problem with this because I just wonder what is the point of writing a pre-quel that doesn't have the same vim and verve as your other books. An example of a good pre-quel is Asimov's Forward the Foundation - though he wrote it much later, I believe a person can pick that up seamlessly without the sense that it would make much more sense to have read the "later" (chronologically speaking) books in the Foundation series.

Since Michael J. Sullivan wrote these after the "later" books, it felt like he was sort of pandering to what his readers might want to know about these characters. There was very little point to this book, which bothered me. The Crown Tower is the story of the two characters of his actual series and how they met. The main story line was slightly interesting – the two characters eventually become master thieves or something? But, if you want to read a fantasy series about master-thieves, read The Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch- so, so, so good. An author who not only writes well, but creates rich and likable characters. You will laugh, you will cry (seriously: you. will. cry.) I admit that's what I was hoping for with the Crown Tower, though, of course, no one - no one, I tell you - can ever quite be a Locke Lamora.

The worst part is that I continued to try reading the series, and honestly...I stalled out half way through the last book and haven't been able to pick up it up again. So, I definitely do. not. recommend.

Honorable Mention:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Please don't hate me for this one. But, guys, it was really, really good. And John Green is probably my soul mate - seriously. And The Fault in Our Stars was completely different than I expected. But I should have expected it to be good because I love John Green. (If you haven't watched his Crash Course videos, you 1) aren't terribly well informed about world history and 2) are totally missing out on an incredible experience.) I expected The Fault in Our Stars to basically be Twilight with cancer. And it wasn't at all. It was much more. It had literary depth and quality and made me think and make me laugh and made me cry. That's all I'm going to say about it, lest you think I've morphed into an emotional fifteen year old girl. Which, lately, that's how I feel so, whatever. 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

What would it look like if a high-functioning, albeit undiagnosed, man with Asperger's Syndrome set out to find the perfect mate? The Rosie Project explores this - Don Tillman decides to find himself a wife - and very methodically sets about looking for the perfect woman. Of course he finds the perfect woman, but just not the woman he planned for. It's a romance, but it's more than that. I honestly didn't even feel like I was reading a romance. You're routing for Don the whole time - but it's a little like reading a romance novel in which Sheldon Cooper decides to set out to find a wife (if he cast aside Amy or something). If Sheldon drives you crazy, maybe steer clear of The Rosie Project.

The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty

I randomly picked up this book, because I wanted to read another book by the same author - What Alice Forgot - but the library didn't have it, so I got this one. Oddly enough, I eventually checked out What Alice Forgot, but couldn't get into it, so I'm glad I found this one first, because I probably wouldn't have tried to read something else by her (does that make sense?).

The Hypnotist's Love Story is about a woman (who happens to be a hypnotist) who meets a guy online and everything is great - and then it turns out the guy has a stalker (an obsessive ex-girlfriend). And then the book becomes more about the woman and the stalker than the woman and the boyfriend. It's a really good read. It was challenging and funny and sad. It was really, really thought provoking. Don't be deceived by the chick-lit sounding plot and cover - it's really not. You know I wouldn't recommend Chick-lit, right? You know that - right?

Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Bookshop by Robin Sloane

If you take books, fonts, Google, computer programming, dragons, secret societies, hackers, and immortality, what pops out is Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Bookshop. It's a relatively easy read, language-wise. I can't even really explain what the book is about, other than that long list of random things. Ultimately, it's about the power of friendship - which sounds super-corny, but read the book - you'll find it's not.

The Best:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is an excellent author whose books I do not always love. I also read American Gods this year, and while I "got" it, and I got that it was a really impressive literary feat, and probably something that will be studied in college English classes in the future, I didn't like American Gods. It made me uncomfortable and a little depressed and unhappy. 

But, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was so different. I just really loved this story of childhood, and the frightening things that happen in childhood - and the underlying tale of God's redemption and Grace and salvation. Look, I don't try and force Christian meaning on books. My students used to asked me about that, and honestly, I think we need to be very careful how we interpret books as Christians. It's okay to see the Christian symbolism for ourselves, but be careful in interpreting a book for it's Christian imagery. And, I'd caution the same for The Ocean at the End of the Lane - but whether Gaiman intended such a strong Christian allegory or not, I think it's there. I finished the book feeling overwhelmed by God's grace and Christ's sacrifice. It reminded me of my own fallenness, and my own inability to do anything about my sin - that I need God's grace. The writing is also beautiful, and the story is gripping and exciting and frightening and I couldn't read it at night as I was going to bed because parts of the story are terrible (because it's a Neil Gaiman novel, of course).

The best books stick with you, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane has stuck with me. It hasn't faded. I'd like to teach it one day, if I'm ever teaching upper level high school again (and if I ever have the freedom to teach what I want to teach again).

The Five Books I Want to Read in 2015

(Because this post wasn't long enough already...)

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Nope, never read it. Yes, I know that's a travesty. I'll try and rectify that. By the way, rectify is a really gross sounding word.

2. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Only read half of it. Just saw it as a play. Would like to read the whole thing.

3. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Don't know much about it.

4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I started it last year - really enjoyed what I read of it, but somehow didn't finish it. 

5. The third book in the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Which isn't published yet, and doesn't have a release date yet. Please, oh, please, Rothfuss...finish writing the book. 

Okay - time to pay it forward: what books stood out to you in 2014? Make your recommendations in the comments!

Until next year's novel length book review! Happy 2015, folks!