MetaChat - So what were the good books this year?

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27 December 2005

So what were the good books this year? Or have we already done this?→[More:] Most of what I've read this year has been older. I did enjoy A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, and 300 pages in I think I'm enjoying Europe Central, although it's also serving as a reminder of why I don't read more Vollman.

post by: PinkStainlessTail at: 13:20 | 27 comments

I just finished Mission To America by Walter Kirn. Very sharp satire.

posted by jonmc 27 December | 13:23

The new Melville bio by Andrew Delbanco is excellent. That might be my only book read that was actually published this year.

posted by omiewise 27 December | 13:33

I actually just added Melville's Pierre to my "stuff to read soon" list, based on its influence on the movie Careful.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 December | 13:51

Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld.

posted by rainbaby 27 December | 13:55

I'm reading Cant Stop Wont Stop by Jeff Chang, an awesome history of the hip hop generation. I bought it on the way home to my parents', and im halfway through it.

On the cover, an acquaintance of mine, Simon Reynolds, says: "[Jeff is] one of our most insightful commentators on urban music. Authoritative, incisive, and entertaining... a massive achievement."

Booyakasha!

[i just got back to London. Just in time by the looks. Snow has scarfed up the South-East inna Snarling Snow Tiger / Cute Bunny stylee.]

Oh, and Ladies Man, as recommended by our own JMC.

posted by urbanwhaleshark 27 December | 14:02

Ladies Man was the one I remembered first. Great great book. But I was thinking books published this year. By the by, though, Samaritain didn't do it for me.

posted by rainbaby 27 December | 14:06

Tom Perrotta's Little Children was excellent, as is all his stuff.

posted by jonmc 27 December | 14:08

Gald you both liked Ladies Man, BTW. Samaritan's appeal is more diffuse, and it's central point is a difficult one, so it's not for everyone.

posted by jonmc 27 December | 14:11

Oh, I was thinking of books I read this year. Books published this year = none worth mentioning.

posted by urbanwhaleshark 27 December | 14:13

I don't think I didn't "get" the central point! But anyway.

posted by rainbaby 27 December | 14:14

Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. As I described it to Headache Man last night, it's like American Gods, but much lighter.

posted by TrishaLynn 27 December | 14:27

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

posted by drezdn 27 December | 14:27

Oh, and Thud! Can't forget that one.

posted by TrishaLynn 27 December | 14:29

I def agree that Bried and Frightening Reign of Phil is up there, but I'd read anything by Saunders. I'm sure liking Cloud Atlas, but that came out last year.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 27 December | 14:50

Simon Reynolds is an acquaintance of yours, uws?

posted by kenko 27 December | 15:31

Oh, read this year?

Well, I read Don Quixote this year, which I will always remember and hope to reread many times. I've been halfway through Proust again and I like it even better than before.

Best lately:
A House and its Head by Ivy Compton-Burnett which was just too excellent for words. It made me an instant addict, and unfortunately most of her 15 books are out of print and the complete set is like 1k.

The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns was just fucking excellent, and I read two of her other books which were good but not that good.

My Father and Myself by JR Ackerley was excellent, just slightly better than his novel, and better than My Dog Tulip. I'm working on Hindoo Holiday now, but I've no had a ton of time over the holidays.

posted by omiewise 27 December | 15:56

I was aiming for stuff published this year, but it's all good.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 December | 16:12

My friend (and APO brother) Rashid just published a novel this year, called Lazarus, and it's fabulous.

posted by sisterhavana 27 December | 17:42

Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet was my favorite book of the year. Naturally it's about the nuke. Robert Oppenheimer (The Father of the Nuke), Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard all get blasted to the future by the Trinity Test. They find out all the terrible things that nukes have brought to the world and go on some kooky campaign to disarm the world. A lot of fun. I imagine quounsar as Leo Szilard acually.

posted by panoptican 27 December | 17:51

Millet also wrote this wonerfully hilarious book:

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by panoptican 27 December | 17:53

I liked JR Moerhinger's The Tender Bar quite a bit. I'm also half done Seven Types of Ambiguity by I Forget and it's quite good so far.

posted by dobbs 27 December | 18:21

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion is extraordinary and moving, and I found Nelson's Purse to be an unusually riveting read for a biography/history book. Usually only fiction has me staying up all night, but both of those titles had me turning pages well into the wee hours. My favourite bathroom reading these days is The Rock Snob's Dictionary. Alas, I was disappointed that it contained no mention of that cult classic, "Jingle Rock Bell".

Disclaimer: I do not work for Random House!

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 27 December | 18:57

"Jingle Rock Bell" is experimental classical music in the Alvin Lucier mode, so it didn't get included.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 December | 20:15

Frank McCourt's Teacher Man is excellent. Amy Tan's Saving Fish From Drowning is just as good.

posted by DeepFriedTwinkies 27 December | 21:02

The People of Paper, by Salvator Plascenia. And new in translation are the first parts of The Aesthetics of Resistance, by Peter Weiss, and Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marías.

posted by misteraitch 28 December | 05:02

Published this year? Dang...I read only a few things that meet that criteria.
The full collection of the english translation for Epileptic by David B finally came out this year (early 05) and was damn good. That's it for me!

posted by safetyfork 28 December | 11:02

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 31 December | 23:22

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