fajrdrako | Books in 2006...

From Booking through Thursday:

So, now that 2006 is over . . . what were your favorite books of the year?

It was a terrific year for books.

The top of the heap:

(1) The Macedon novels of Karin Lowachee: Warchild, Burndive, and Cagebird. First-class SF. Brilliant and wonderful books. Captain Cairo Azarcon is one of the best heroic characters I have encountered in years.

(2) The Eugenides series by Megan Whalen Turner: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. First class fantasy. Brilliant and wonderful books. Gen is utterly remarkable and memorable.

(3) The Atticus Kodiak novels of Greg Rucka. Thrillers: Keeper, Finder, and Shooting at Midnight. There are others in the series, all good, but I liked these three best because of the inclusion of Bridgett Logan, private eye and Atticus' bisexual girlfriend.

(4) The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, a sequel to the brilliant novel Swordspoint , and it gives new meaning to the phrase 'long awaited'. A swashbuckling coming-of-age adventure with witty bisexual characters.

(5) The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold. I almost hesitate to mention it, as it feels like half a book - the second part, The Sharing Knife: Legacy, isn't out yet. I mention it because I think it is Lois McMaster Bujold's best book in years - I was much less impressed with her other fantasy novels. Utterly romantic in all the right ways.

(6) The End of Faith by Sam Harris. I'm still not sure how much of this book I agree with, but it was a very liberating thing for me to read. It showed me that I can believe in spirituality with accepting religion on other people's terms, and that I do not have to show outward respect for ideas I do not respect just because they are religious.

The above books (and others) made 2006 a rather superb year for reading. I could add the biographies of Ivor Novello and Christopher Marlowe and Lord Hervey. Plays both read and reread by Shakespeare and Marlowe. I could add - but it seems superfluous - the reading I did about the Crusades and other aspects of the twelfth century, which is never far from my consciousness.

And yet... I feel I fell behind in the reading department in 2006. Didn't read as much as I usually do, or as much as I like to. Watched more television than usual, mostly because of Doctor Who, Torchwood, Veronica Mars and Battlestar Galactica.

But then, there's a lot to be said for quality over quantity.