I officially finished the last of my 2017 books today and wanted to jot a few thoughts of praise for a year of really good books. I finished about 30+ books during the year.
#1 - George MacDonald by C. S. Lewis
MacDonald was Lewis' inspiration and part of the reason he switched from atheism to Christianity. This book is a collection of quotations from MacDonald's writings - including his overtly religious and his fantasy and fables. I highlighted about 1/6 of the book and look forward to rereading it over and over. I already shared some other quotes here.
#2 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year, and I try to sample some of the work of the most recent winners. This is easily my favorite of the works I've read in that endeavor. It tells in introspective retrospective the story of a butler looking back on what his life has meant. We see his attempts to sacrifice everything he held dear for the golden ideal he held - though it is never phrased in those terms - only to wonder at the end whether that sacrifice was really worthwhile. It is a very subtle work, with a great deal hiding beneath the surface. I think I will have to read it with Joy next to get a deeper understanding.
#3 - This is How You Die (Machine of Death #2)
For Christmas 2016 I got this book of short stories about a machine that tells you with 100% accuracy how you will die. Rather than focusing on the machine itself in this second collection, the authors tried to find very different directions to take it. I shed a few tears at the extremely touching first story about a twin sister who [spoiler spoiler spoilers]. I ROFLd at the supervillain's henchman who is assigned to do away with the people who come to stop him in increasingly interesting ways; because obviously, someone who dies by gunshot wound is easy to know how to kill, but what if they die of hypothermia or a bug bite or by Victoria Falls? Then there's the choose your own adventure where you are a guy trying to commit suicide... (that one was tough going!). Cyberpunk, small town America, turning of age story, B-movie horror... A few of the stories I needed to skip over because I am not a mature enough audience for them, so buyer beware. But a few of those stories have stayed with me, so it gets the #3 slot.
Honorable Mentions go to some fellows I enjoyed enough to buy more than one of their books this year:
Nathan VanCoops - I'm really looking forward to the third installment of his time traveler series
Drew Hayes - Who introduced me to the litRPG genre.
Andrew Rowe - I read three of his epic fantasies and am looking forward to more.
#1 - George MacDonald by C. S. Lewis
MacDonald was Lewis' inspiration and part of the reason he switched from atheism to Christianity. This book is a collection of quotations from MacDonald's writings - including his overtly religious and his fantasy and fables. I highlighted about 1/6 of the book and look forward to rereading it over and over. I already shared some other quotes here.
#2 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year, and I try to sample some of the work of the most recent winners. This is easily my favorite of the works I've read in that endeavor. It tells in introspective retrospective the story of a butler looking back on what his life has meant. We see his attempts to sacrifice everything he held dear for the golden ideal he held - though it is never phrased in those terms - only to wonder at the end whether that sacrifice was really worthwhile. It is a very subtle work, with a great deal hiding beneath the surface. I think I will have to read it with Joy next to get a deeper understanding.
#3 - This is How You Die (Machine of Death #2)
For Christmas 2016 I got this book of short stories about a machine that tells you with 100% accuracy how you will die. Rather than focusing on the machine itself in this second collection, the authors tried to find very different directions to take it. I shed a few tears at the extremely touching first story about a twin sister who [spoiler spoiler spoilers]. I ROFLd at the supervillain's henchman who is assigned to do away with the people who come to stop him in increasingly interesting ways; because obviously, someone who dies by gunshot wound is easy to know how to kill, but what if they die of hypothermia or a bug bite or by Victoria Falls? Then there's the choose your own adventure where you are a guy trying to commit suicide... (that one was tough going!). Cyberpunk, small town America, turning of age story, B-movie horror... A few of the stories I needed to skip over because I am not a mature enough audience for them, so buyer beware. But a few of those stories have stayed with me, so it gets the #3 slot.
Honorable Mentions go to some fellows I enjoyed enough to buy more than one of their books this year:
Nathan VanCoops - I'm really looking forward to the third installment of his time traveler series
Drew Hayes - Who introduced me to the litRPG genre.
Andrew Rowe - I read three of his epic fantasies and am looking forward to more.
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