Top Reads 2008

I was digging around Half Price a few days ago with my friends, pulling out old favorites and recent good reads (and, of course, new eye-catching titles) when I came across a copy of The Book Thief. I handed it over to one of my friends and told her that it was probably one of my favorite books from last year, probably in my top five. That got me to thinking, though...What have I read recently (as in the year 2008) that really moved me? That was so good, every time I see another copy of it, I'm tempted to buy it and send it to someone else who needs to read it? My coworker and I read Hal Duncan's Vellum at the same time, and a number of our other coworkers heard us talking (very animatedly) about it and started reading it, too. Now everytime we get a customer named 'Seamus' or 'Renard' or 'Carter', we twitter a bit, exchange significant looks, and in general scare the living hell out of said customer.

Anyway, that's part of the joy of finding a really good new book, right? You share it with people you love and you know will love the book almost as much as you (because you always have first rights to fangasming, since you discovered it, right?). Well, these books made the cut out of the massive stack of things I read in 2008 to be listed as my top five. Not all of them are new- or even from this decade (Delany's for example), but all are excellent reads which I've pushed to customers at my job or to my friends and coworkers. My copy of Vellum is starting to look a bit tattered from being loaned out...maybe I should keep the next copy I buy...


The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (I have a link to one of her interviews on my last blog)



The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village by Samuel R. Delany (It's the only non-fiction book to make this list, and yet somehow it's still about SF. Go figure.)



The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Ok, ok, it's a YA novel...don't judge me! Get the book and judge it!)



Vellum and Ink by Hal Duncan (I'm counting these on one line because they're a...duology. I guess)



Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (This is another I keep talking up to customers. I plan on re-reading it sometime soon, too)