Once Upon a Time

Posted on November 27th, 2006 by inkstone.
Categories: ink & paper.

On New Year’s Day, I started keeping a list of the items I read in 2006. Partially inspired by the 52 Books in a Year challenge offered in various venues; and partly because I’ve never kept count. Since I’m fond of categorizing, I separate novels, nonfiction books, manga, graphic novels, and unpublished manuscripts by my writer friends. It makes things easy to track and find.

Yesterday, I finished reading my 51st novel. It’s been an interesting exercise, to say the least, since I never had any idea regarding the number of books I consumed, but also because as I go down the list from the start of 2006 until now, I can see how my reading patterns changed or perhaps what mood I was in at any particular time. The first half of 2006 was dominated by the genres of young adult, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. The second half of 2006, however, is characterized by “literary” novels or, rather, what often gets called “literate genre” novels in critical book reviews. Because, obviously, if it has something worth saying, it’s not really genre. (Oh, I’m sorry. Did I let some snark slip past?)

So my booklist isn’t so much a list of the books I recently read, but rather novels that stood out in particular, for one reason or another.

Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones
It took me a couple years to read this, which stirs up vague feelings of guilt as I sort of know the author, but I did get around to it. This is very firmly a genre fantasy novel, but it’s also very different from other novels currently on the market. There are no farm boys with mysterious lineages who claim the sword of power to save the world. There are no asskicking girls in leather sexing it up with hot vampires of questionable repute. In a nutshell, this is a forensic murder mystery in a fantasy setting. The main character is cursed by a goddess to see ghosts. The murders are brutal and ugly. Guess who the ghosts of those victims go to for help? This was the author’s first novel, and also the first in a series, and I think it’s definitely worth a read. If you mostly read mysteries, it might not be as complicated as you’re used to, but if you’re a longtime fantasy reader, this is definitely something new.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
This novel actually comes out officially in January 2007, but I managed to snag an ARC (advanced reader’s copy). This is a Victorian mystery, which I admit is a genre I don’t read much of. To be honest, I think this is my first such novel. For that reason, I can’t judge its merits based on subgenre conventions or subversions, but I can tell you it was entertaining and very fresh. The protagonist, Lady Julia, has a highly engaging voice and I think the plot and characters do an excellent job of highlighting the confines of proper Victorian society and the repressed sexuality that permeates it beneath the surface.

Benighted by Kit Whitfield (also known as Bareback)
Unless I read something completely mindblowing and amazing in December, this is going to be my favorite novel of 2006. In the United States, in addition to the title alteration because apparently we can’t handle a naughty title like Bareback, it’s marketed as an urban fantasy, which is a double-edged sword. The marketing label introduces it to the widest audience possible (urban fantasy is very big in the US market right now, mostly because there’s a lot of crossover readership between romance and fantasy), but at the same time, if you go in expecting this novel to be like Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, or any of their ilk, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

I think the novel is highly underrated. The people who would like it the most don’t want to read it because it’s about werewolves. And many urban fantasy loyalists hate it because they say it’s boring and slow. If by boring and slow, they mean the main character, Lola, doesn’t have five guys wanting to have sex with her at any given moment or doesn’t do a mini-travelogue where she meets all the supernatural bad guys of the city, then yes, it is boring.

This is a challenging novel in many ways but at its heart, it is a novel that examines race, prejudice, bigotry, and how growing up a minority both marks and damages you. It’s just that it does it through the lens of a werewolf urban mystery. The trick here, though, is that it’s not werewolves who are the minority. It’s the people who don’t change shape with the full moon who are.

Thanks to the wonders of Bookmooch, I currently do have a To-Be-Read pile. Select titles I’m looking forward to are:
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Farber
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Aubrey Niffenegger
Neuromancer by William Gibson
(I’m a terrible, horrible person who is sorely lacking in her science fiction reading, so I’m trying to remedy that oversight by going back and reading the classics. I figure you can’t get any more classic than the novel that gave rise to cyberpunk.)


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