This year, I made two rash decisions in early January:
- I was going to read 100 books before the end of the year.
- I was going to write a page in a notebook about each book, with a short summary, a rating from 1-5 stars, the name of the book/author/publisher/agent, and the first line.
I’m currently on book #99, and I still have almost a whole two weeks, so I think I’m going to finish on goal number one, and as any number of unfortunate friends can tell you, I’ve been talking about my book notebook (which I uncreatively call “the book book”) at parties all year and dragging it out from time to time, so both of these are mostly in the bag.
What I’ve been doing today, though, is looking through the listings and seeing what books I liked the most this year. And it turns out, I have a nice even 20 that I gave 5 stars to. Here’s a little info on all of them.
Surprises from compiling this, for me:
- It’s very SFF heavy but I’m actually incredibly picky about that genre and probably read a lot more YA over the course of the year, so it surprised me that so many ended up in the top 20.
- I was surprised that there were only six from the YA genre, because as an aspiring YA author, I read a lot of it. Reality is, though, that I had a WHOLE LOT of YA books that were four or four-and-a-half stars, and I just don’t have time to list them all.
- I don’t read a lot of novellas, generally, and yet I have three in the top 20 list. I think these are the only three novellas I read all year. I should’ve read more, that would’ve made getting to 100 a lot easier and faster! Maybe next year.
Without Further Ado, Here Are the Top 20 – in the order in which I read them.
Piranesi, Susanna Clark, SFF
This was the first book I read this year, on New Year’s Day, and it set a really high bar. Tells of a man trapped in an abandoned world, living inside what seems to be an ancient museum where mysterious tides flood various rooms and strange voices sometimes echo through the halls.
1st line: “When the moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule to witness the joining of three tides.”
You Sexy Thing, Cat Rambo – adult, SFF
This was just so much fun. Love the idea of a team of ex-soldiers running a restaurant in space and then getting catapulted back into the action. A great cast, and it gave me incredible emotional attachment to a sentient ship.
1st line: “The entrance chimes buzzed. Someone outside in the public hallway of the space station was paging admittance.”
A Tip for the Hangman, Allison Epstein, adult historical
About the life, times, and loves of Kit Marlowe. It made me cackle on page one and kept it up the whole way through. Loved Walsingham.
1st line: “Without tobacco, Kit knew, he would never survive Cambridge.”
The Last Cuentista, Donna Higuera, YA SFF
Newbery Medal Winner this year – amazingly written, fast moving story about a girl leaving Earth with her parents before a comet destroys the planet, and waking up centuries later in a very different society. All about the power of stories to shape our lives. Read it if you haven’t.
1st line: “Lila tosses another pinon log on the fire. “
Silver in the Wood, Emily Tesh, Adult SFF
A brilliant novella, so original it made me feel like a different species. About the green man of the woods and a human man who loves him. I’d been contemplating prior to this whether there were any books in which dryads feature prominently and here I found one!
1st line: “It was the middle of an autumn downpour when Tobias first met Henry Silver.”
The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon, Adult SFF
A “feminist retelling of St. George and the dragon” – so entirely engrossing, such in depth world building. Long and worth every second.
1st line: “The stranger came out of the sea like a water ghost, barefoot and wearing the fears of his journey.”
Ariadne, Jennifer Saint, adult fiction
Retelling of the myth of Theseus (who is a complete ass) and Ariadne (his abandoned wife) from her viewpoint, vivid and intense and makes some very interesting points about how historically, women pay the price for the god’s tempers.
1st line: “I am Ariadne, princes of Crete, although my story takes us a long way from the rocky shores of my home.”
Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire, Adult SFF
A brilliant, weird, and moving tale about kids who step through doorways to other worlds and how they cope when they find themselves kicked out and back in the ordinary world.
1st line: “The girls were never present for the entrance interviews.”
A Psalm for the WIld Built, Becky Chambers, Adult SFF
Completely beautiful little novela about a monk named Sibling Dex who sets off to the wilderness and meets the first robot anyone has seen in generations, a being named Mosscap who wants to learn about humans. Felt almost like a fable. The second book was excellent too but the first one is the jewel.
1st line: “If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you’ll get seven different answers.”
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Adult Fiction
One of my top three for the year, I think. The story of 80yo Vela and her relationship with a captive octopus named Marcellus at the aquarium where she is the night shift cleaning lady. I love that it revolves around two nontraditional friendships — an elderly woman and a young man, and the same woman and a cephalopod. Wonderful voice for Marcellus.
1st line: “Darkness suits me.”
How to Stop Time, Matt Haig, Adult SFF
Matt Haig is always a favorite of mine. Tells about people who age at 1:15 the normal rate and the things they must sacrifice to remain undetected. The main character struggles against a group that makes sure all of the long-lived players are keeping to the rules, the primary one of which is “never fall in love.”
1st line: “I often think of what Hendrich said to me, over a century ago, in his New York apartment.”
Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell
The imagined story of William and Anne Shakespeare’s courtship and marriage and the loss of their son Hamnet to the plague. Astonishing. Gorgeous everyday magical realism in the character of Anne. What I wrote in the Book Book: “I’ve never seen writing like this before. Every thread of a human heart laid bare on a page and made breathable.” GORGEOUS depiction of the bond between twins and the sacrifices siblings will make for each other. Caveat: I cried a lot in this book. But it’s worth it.
I think this is my number one from the list for the entire year.
1st line: “A boy is coming down a flight of stairs.”
When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill, Adult SFF
In 1950s US, 600,000 women spontaneously become dragons and fly away, abandoning their families. In response, the government leads an effort to make everyone forget. This becomes impossible when the dragon women begin to return. Gorgeous and heartsore book about family and what it means.
1st line: “Greetings Mother—I do not have much time.”
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix Harrow, SFF
Dual POV novel about the doors between worlds and the power to open and close them as seen by a daughter and her mother, who disappeared many decades earlier.
1st line: “When I was seven, I found a door.”
The Thing About Jellyfish, Ali Benjamin, YA/middle
I’m not sure if this is YA or middle grade, or perhaps just straddles the border between the two, but this is a very close runner up for the top three list for the year. I read it after an agent at the PNWA conference recommended it as a nearly perfect YA book, and she was right on the money. Deals with Suzy, a 7th grader trying to mourn the loss of her best friend while coming to terms with the worst thing she’s ever done in her life, and the scientific research she uses to distract herself from both.
1st line:””A jellyfish, if you watch it long enough, begins to look like a heart beating.”
The Agathas, Kathleen Glasgow, YA mystery
Great teen mystery with a believable and suprising antagonist who I only figured out a few pages before the big reveal (which is hard to do to me; I’m good at book sleuthing). Wrapped through the background is a deep look at social strata in a rich California coastal town and the uncomfortable friendships that can develop between outcasts from different groups. My teen is getting this for Christmas. Shhhh, don’t tell her.
1st line: “Alice Ogilvie is crazy.”
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead, middle grade
An older book and the only middle grade on the list, former Newbery Medal winner, and a complete love letter to Madeleine L’Engle. 12 yo Miranda, who carries A Wrinkle in Time everywhere she goes, is trying to solve the mystery of who keeps leaving her strange letters in unexpected places and which of her friends’ life these notes are telling her needs to be saved.
1st line: “So mom got the postcard today.”
Mrs. Bridge, Evan Connell, Adult fiction
This is an old one; read it after a presenter in Kauai said it was her favorite novel of all time. I sat down to start it in the morning and didn’t move until I finished it several hours later. Quiet, deep story of a woman’s marriage and family life, told entirely in vignettes, satire without mockery, so very good.
1st line: “Her first name was India—she was never able to get used to it.”
When The Angels Left The Old Country, Sacha Lamb, YA SFF
Another top three for the year. Perfect book about an angel and a demon who leave Poland to try to rescue a young girl from their shtetl who has disappeared into early 20th century NYC. I’m not sure I will ever forget Little Ash and Uriel. What I particularly loved, aside from just the great story, is how Sacha takes the concept of angels and demons and manages to characterize them in totally new ways from everything else I’ve read involving the same creatures, making them strange, odd, and completely Other, and yet entirely loveable at the same time.
1st line: “In the back corner of the little synagogue in the shtetl that was so small and out of the way it was only called Shtetl, there was a table where an angel and a demon had been studying the Talmud together for some two hundred years.”
The Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki, Adult SFF
It took me a few chapters to fall in love with this one but I’m so glad I stuck with it. The story of Shizuka Satomi, who made a deal with the devil to save her soul by delivering five violinists’ souls, and her student Katrina Nguyen, who changes her mind about sending off the fifth and final soul. Also there are aliens, hiding from a galactic empire by running a donut shop. Yes, really. It’s weird and wonderful.
1st line: “Shhhh…. Yes, it hurt.”
Megan Zalkan Writes 