Top 10: Novels Read (2012)

December means time to take a look back on the previous 12 months. Being a multimedia blog these days I have more than film to consider. First up I take a look at my literary experiences, which will be followed by the end of year mixtape (technical issues not withstanding) and then some movie lists before we start logging new things again in January.

2012 was a crazy year of reading for me. After logging only 46 novels in 2011 I started by challenging myself to read 100 books this year but that quickly changed to 200, a target which I managed to reach in September and 250 became my new aim. Incredibly very few of these books were awful, I guess I just pick safely the majority of the time. From those 250 here's my ten picks for most enjoyable read of the year and for the rest of the week there will be a full review of some titles not yet reviewed here on blahblahblahgay.

10. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (1946)

That such a quirky self referrential novel was written in 1946 astounds me. It reads like a modern day farce that Jasper Fforde or even Stephen Fry would be proud of, the quality of writing and humour is that high. There aren't many laugh out loud moments but the entire book is filled with joy that will keep a smile on your face.

9. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (2008)

The character of Web is so real, his voice addictive and funny and his adventure in to the world of crime scene cleanup is a highly entertaining surface for the emotional journey he takes.  

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8. Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block (1961)

A brilliant piece of noir fiction with an ending that makes Nightmare Alley feel like a unicorn ride through a flowery meadow to the end of the rainbow where the dame of your dreams is frolicking in the gold as she awaits your arrival.

7. Suddenly, A Knock On The Door by Etgar Keret (2010)

Keret is completely unlike anything else I've read. His stories are often strange and slightly fantastical, funny, dark, impressive and affecting. This is a serious work that apparently exhibits all of Keret's usual trademarks in it's study of the human condition.

6. Player One by Douglas Coupland (2010)

So oil is expensive, people go crazy, strangers lock themselves in to an airport hotel cocktail bar to survive the fallout, Douglas Coupland documents this scenario in 'real time' and helps you take a long hard look at yourself and what it is that you are doing, what we as a species are doing.

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5. Savages by Don Winslow (2010)

This is an American novel that analyses post 9/11, post Obama America in such a way as to bathe it in bright flourescent light, all it's failings and weaknesses shown as plain as day. It is a bold move for an American to write this stuff, almost constantly bashing every little detail of the 21st century American dream gone wrong.

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 4. Snuff by Terry Pratchett (2011)

This is the best and most enjoyable Discworld book in quite some time, I think perhaps you have to go back to Thud! before you come across anything quite like it in terms of completeness of vision, storytelling and literary heart, I don't think it's a coincidence that it too was a Sam Vimes book.

3. True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
 
Mattie Ross is a compelling narrator, with a strong, unique voice. Her travelling companions are equally compelling and conflicted characters, two very different men who Mattie doubts over the course of the novel but all three of them demonstrate the meaning of the title of the novel in spades by the climax. The adventure is occasionally tense, quite violent at times, graphically depicted and wonderfully told. The denouement is one of the most excitingly written pieces of fiction I remember reading.
 
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2. He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond (1984)

A remarkable work from a very talented man, it makes you care for somebody whose name you never hear mentioned, his clear affection towards the drunken mess of a man at the centre of the mystery is evident and if you don't care for Charlie Staniland or his life you will at least care that there is somebody out there desperate to bring his killers to justice.

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1. The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (2011)

Megan Abbott is not in this game to provide catharsis, she wants to twist your insides in to knots and steal your breath away.

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All ten picks get the full 5 star rating from me as first time reads and if you're looking for interesting stories written by talented authors then I can't recommend any of them highly enough. What were your favourite novels this year? Got any recommendations for me? Has anyone read any of these already? Leave all that and more in the comments below.

Book Review: Player One by Douglas Coupland (2010)

What Is To Become Of Us?

Player One by Douglas Coupland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Blurb: International bestselling author Douglas Coupland delivers a real-time, five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster. Five disparate people are trapped inside: Karen, a single mother waiting for her online date; Rick, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender; Luke, a pastor on the run; Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde incapable of true human contact; and finally a mysterious voice known as Player One. Slowly, each reveals the truth about themselves while the world as they know it comes to an end.

In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J. G. Ballard, Coupland explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion, and the afterlife. The book asks as many questions as it answers, and readers will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species -- and that there is no turning back.

Thoughts: So oil is expensive, people go crazy, strangers lock themselves in to an airport hotel cocktail bar to survive the fallout, Douglas Coupland documents this scenario in 'real time' and helps you take a long hard look at yourself and what it is that you are doing, what we as a species are doing.

It's part depressing, part uplifiting, part pessimism, part optimism, all of it is pure Coupland. I'm at a loss to explain this book, to analyse it, to find words that describe my unique experience with this author and his style of writing. Most people that I know are women and they dislike Coupland, it seems they think he is for men, not in a male version of chick-lit way, but they seem to think there's an element of the late teenage boy in his style.

I guess that is a compliment, meaning his observations of contemporary behaviours and the evolution of the mindset of the youth and their interaction with the world and technology are accurate.

"By the age of twenty, you know you're not going to be a rock star. By twenty-five, you know you're not going to be a dentist or any kind of professional. And by thirty, darkness starts moving in- you wonder if you're ever going to be fulfilled, let alone wealthy and successful. By thirty-five, you know, basically, what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life, and you become resigned to your fate..."

The world of Player One is presented as a form of dystopia before the apocalyptic events occur and in the course of his narrative Coupland questions the readers beliefs and assumptions on a wide range of subjects. Almost every page holds a line, a paragraph, an idea worthy of being drawn to your attention, of deeper longer thought being applied to it. The comparison to Vonnegut from the books blurb is no hyperbole, it is an impressive piece of 21st century literature indeed.

I love the work of Douglas Coupland, of his more serious work this is his finest achievement to date and a book I recommend for all. Even those women who consider him too male for their tastes.


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