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Sunday, December 28, 2008

2008 Top 5 Books

To prevent Halagan from claiming I cheated, let’s establish the rules of this particular list right now. I wanted to make a Top 10 Books list, but I was planning on counting entire series (or almost) as one entry on the list, and I could picture him complaining and calling me names. And, truth is, even I would argue that’s cheating. So, I might still count entire series as one entry, but I will limit this year’s list to only five entries instead of ten. Sounds fair? Well, even if it doesn’t, that’s the way things are. Let’s see what books I enjoyed the most in 2008:

1. Duma Key
Stephen King’s novel is, perhaps not surprisingly, my pick for book of the year. I really, really liked the story and characters in this book, and I hereby encourage everyone to read it.

2. The Hollows series
This year I read the six books in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison, and I loved them all. My favorites might be The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, and The Outlaw Demon Wails (numbers two and six, respectively), but every single one of the Rachel Morgan books is a terrific read. See the characters evolve and get knee-deep in trouble! See the alternate world Harrison presents in these novels grow and become more and more complex! See secrets revealed, plots twist time and again, and surprises shock you on a regular basis! Read these books!

3. The Alphabet Mysteries series
Sue Grafton’s private eye Kinsey Millhone is as memorable a character as they come. As a matter of fact, it is Millhone’s personality and way to describe things that keeps me coming back to this series. I have read up until letter J, and so far, F is for Fugitive and J is for Judgment are my favorites. But C is for Corpse and D is for Deadbeat run a close second!

4. Cuando fui mortal
One of several books by Javier Marías I read this year, Cuando fui mortal is a collection of short stories that will shock you and delight you at the same time, written in wonderful Spanish. If I had more than five slots, I would also include Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí, but I don’t.

5. Just After Sunset
Another short-story collection, this time by Stephen King. I think it’s rather appropriate I begin and end this year’s list with the master from Maine, isn’t it?

And since I can’t help myself, I’ll cheat and mention three runner-ups: The Ridiculous Race, by Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran, Making Money, by Terry Pratchett, and The Kingdoms of Thorne and Bone (all four of them, but especially the first two, The Briar King and The Charnel Prince), by Greg Keyes.
Let us know what you liked the most this year!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

O sea, que has acabado haciendo trampa igualmente... ;P

Que iba a aparecer el amigo Stephen King en tu lista estaba claro, pero que haya copado dos de las cinco plazas... alguna de las cuales se tienen que repartir incluso varios volúmenes... En fin, que estás enfermo de lealtad a tus autores favoritos, como también lo demuestra la aparición de Javier Marías. :)

Huelga decir que no me he leído uno sólo de los títulos que mencionas (bueno, excepto The Briar King). Pero que sepas que ya me has liado otra vez y ya he incluido los volúmenes de Rachel Morgan en mi Wish List de Amazon.

Sí, te odio.

Mario Alba said...

HAHAHAHA! Digo, buena idea, lo de añadir las aventuras de Rachel Morgan a tu Wish List.

Y no es que esté "enfermo de lealtad". Kim Harrison y Sue Grafton, por ejemplo, se han convertido en favoritas este año por méritos propios. Eso no quiere decir que todo lo que hacen es perfecto, pero sí me parece mejor que la mayoría de cosas que he leído. Y claro, había que hacerlo explícito de algún modo, hehehe.

Hablando de buenas lecturas, llevo 150 páginas leídas de Which Lie Did I Tell?, y sí es estupendísimo, tenías razón :) Gracias!

Anonymous said...

A la serie de Sue Grafton sí que no pienso darle una oportunidad. Vamos hombre, poner de repente veinte libros en mi estantería de lecturas pendiente... Suficiente peso aguanta ya.

Mario Alba said...

Hahaha. Trataré de tenerlo en cuenta en un par de meses...

Anonymous said...

Por favor te lo pido. De rodillas y todo.

Mario Alba said...

Hahahaha. Bueeeeeeeno...