[Guinevere Seaworth]

Now that June is almost done, what have been your best reads so far? Try and keep 'em down to top 5 or 10 if possible.

Mine are:

Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson. I really enjoyed the Mistborn series and I thought he wrapped it up nicely.
Book of Joby - Mark J. Ferrari. Just a really good story overall. I still chuckle thinking of the Lucifer scenes.
The Ulysses Voyage - Tim Severin. A great practical insight to the Odysseus voyage in a replica Bronze age galley. I think he nailed alot of the stops and sights just by sailing a galley in the Aegean.
Hand of Isis - Jo Graham. A interesting look into Cleopatra's life from a female perspective. The city of Alexandria is wonderfully described. I still think Black Ships is better. Still, this book inspired me to re-watch epsiodes of ROME!
To Green Angel Tower Part 1 - Tad Williams. I know this is a re-read, but this book is the the strongest of the 4 IMO. You have the Sithi riding into battle to join forces with men, the ghant nest, the Battle of Sesuadra and Camaris blowing the horn all in one book.

[Poobah]

Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie

Nuff Said.

[red snow]

I've only read two books that were published in 2009 but both have been worth reading so

1) Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie
2) Nights of Villjamur - Mark Charan Newton

[Datepalm]

Highlights include The City and the City, The Terror, Cloud Atlas, In the Night Garden and The Road. The definite lowlight is one of the Bitterbynde books, and despite my best efforts, i'm not managing to get into the first Dresden Files book, reading it on and off for a month now.

[Larry.]

Jeff VanderMeer, Finch, Edmundo Paz Soldán, Los vivos y los muertos, Jonathan Littell, The Kindly Ones

[Velos]

Published this year (and in no particular order):

- The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
- Lamentation - Ken Scholes

Really, that is it for books published this year. I wasn't all that interested in most of the books being published in the earlier part of the year, then a flurry of novels started hitting the shelves when May rolled around and I haven't been able to get to them yet. The only novel that I could add to the list is The Judging Eye by Bakker, but I was less than enthused by it.

Published whenever (and again in no particular order):

- Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney (Graham Joyce)
- Escape From Hell! by Hal Duncan
- Shriek, An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer
- Long Walks, Last Flights by Ken Scholes

Reigning at the top of the combined list is Zafon, Heaney, and Smith, but the rest are not far behind.

[Mexal]

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (published this year in English)
Memoirs of a Master Forger by Graham Joyce
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (published this year)

Those are the two best I've read so far this year. The problem I'm finding is that unless it's really memorable, I don't remember it because I read so many damn books. Actually, I just looked at my book pile and that about covers it. I thoroughly enjoyed The Magus by John Fowles but the ending really fucked me up. It's a great ride though. Everything else has been good, but nothing great.

This post has been edited by Mexal: 28 June 2009 - 01:37 PM

[Jussi]

1) The Judging Eye - R. Scott Bakker
2) House of Chains - Steven Erikson
3) Soldier of Arete - Gene Wolfe
4) Jack of Shadows - Roger Zelazny
5) An Autumn War - Daniel Abraham

[Zach H]

2666, Roberto Bolano - epic look into the madness that results from living in (and writing about) a modern day apocalypse.

The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy - this darkly philosophical western was even better than the first of the Border trilogy.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, Matthew Stover - postmodern look into the nature of Star Wars/tie-in fiction. And, more importantly, a rousing good pulp adventure.

The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien - Never read this before for some reason. Wonderful escape.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain - hilarious and subversive look into feudal romanticism and forward thinking industrialism.

This post has been edited by Zach H: 28 June 2009 - 02:41 PM

[beniowa]

2009 books first,
Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie
Tides from the New Worlds, Tobias Buckell
Mean Streets, Jim Butcher et al
Turn Coat, Jim Butcher
Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, Charlie Huston
The City and the City, China Mieville
Lamentation, Ken Scholes
Avempartha, Michael J. Sullivan
Palimpsest, Catherynne Valente

Published prior to 2009,
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr.
The Sun Over Breda, Arturo Perez-Reverte
Devil’s Cape, Rob Rogers
The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson

[Brady]

Published this year: Best Served Cold immediately leaps to mind because I finished it not so long ago.

Published before this year: Already Dead turned me into a total Huston fanboy. Lush Life by Richard Price really impressed me. It was incredibly frustrating, but deliberately so.

Beyond that I get a little blurry on exactly what I've read this year as opposed to last year. The Judging Eye might have been up there, but it didn't blow me away like I was expecting.

[Myshkin]

Published in 2009:

1) Gears of the City by Felix Gilman
2) Lamentation by Ken Scholes
3) Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton
4) The Judging Eye by R Scott Bakker
5) Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Note: I have still yet to read the 2009 offerings from Alan Campbell, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Brian Ruckley, and Jay Lake.

Note 2: I read Peter Brett's The Painted/Warded Man last year when it came out in the UK, and so it will not make it onto my list for 2009.

[Bellis]

I'm not keeping a list anymore so I know I'll be missing something obvious. Bad Bellis.

Really engrossing recent releases that stick in my memory -

2666 - Bolano

Corambis - my latest read and because I feel like pimping Feli- er- Sarah Monette

The City and the City - Mieville, though it took me two reads to warm up to it

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin

Death With Interruptions - Saramago

The White Tiger - Adiga



Older releases discovered this year -

The Crimson Petal and the White - Faber

The Last Unicorn and A Fine and Private Place - Beagle

Villette - Bronte

Waiting - Ha Jin

Inverted World - Chris Priest




Honorable mentions to Dan Abraham's (I see you lurking) An Autumn War and Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series. And Steph Swainston's No Present Like Time and Dangerous Offspring. And, OK, Thunderer because I have to admit, a person could do much much worse.

ETA: added a few

This post has been edited by Bellis: 29 June 2009 - 09:51 AM

[MattD]

I haven't read a ton of books published in 2009 yet, but favorites so far include Valente's Palimpsest, Mieville's The City and the City, Wexler's The Painting and the City (I'm just a sucker for these city books) and Gilman's Cloud & Ashes.

[K_P]

Published in 2009 and read so far:
Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie
Turn Coat - Jim Butcher
Fall of Thanes - Brian Ruckley
MythOS - Kelly McCullough
Just Another Judgement Day - Simon R Green

[lady narcissa]

I don't think I've yet read a book published in 2009 that has really stood out. Yet....still lots of books to be read!

However, I did discover the Song of Ice and Fire series this year and that is really standing out so far. And taking up much of my reading time!

The other series that really stands out is the Matthew Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom - Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, and Revolution. A fantastic historical mystery series set in Tudor England with great history and a strong sense of place.

[TheEvilKing]

Ranking my 2009 releases best to worst:

1. Dragon In Chains - Daniel Fox
2. The Judging Eye - R. Scott Bakker
3. The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas

I'm reading Best Served Cold at the moment and it will probably slot somewhere into the top 2. Got the new Hobb lined up, and I also want to get to Dragonfly Falling, Fall of Thanes, Lamentation, God of Clocks, Gears of the City and Nights of Villjamur. So yeah, early days yet.

[Trinuviel]

My favorite 2009 releases (so far):

Catherynne Valente - Palimpsest
Daniel Fox - Dragon in Chains
Jacqueline Carey - Santa Olivia
Jacqueline Carey - Naamah's Kiss
Jo Graham - Hand of Isis
Elizabeth Bear - Seven for a Secret

[Caligula_K]

Only read two books published this year- in order:

1. Joe Abercrombie- Best Served Cold
2. R. Scott Bakker- The Judging Eye

Really though, I loved the Abercrombie book, but The Judging Eye, though good, didn't excite me too much, and had I read more that has been published so far this year, probably wouldn't make it on a top 5 list.

Top 5 books that I've read this year (non-2009):

1. Vladmir Nabokov- Pale Fire
2. Jeff Vandermeer- City of Saints and Madmen
3. Gene Wolfe- Soldier of Sidon
4. Jeff Vandermeer- Shriek: An Afterword
5. Gene Wolfe- The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Worst book read this year:

Dan Simmons- The Terror

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Santa Olivia - Jacqueline Carey
The Judging Eye - R. Scott Bakker

About to start Mieville's latest, which I presume will make the list.