It’s the first Thursday of the month. Time to report!
What’s the best book you read in January 2023 and why did you love it?
It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF, or even fiction. We just want to share some great reading material.
Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.
And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page.
One commenter with a U.S. mailing address will choose one of these prizes:
- a FanLit T-shirt (we have sizes M, L, XL)
- a book from our stacks.
- a $5 Amazon gift card (this is the only option for non-USA addresses).
Subscribe to our posts here (you can filter for giveaway posts if you prefer).
I very much enjoyed the collection of Lovecraftian stories, “Lovecraft’s Monsters.” It had bunches of stuff in it, and I ended up enjoying all of it. I’ll have to figure out more about the authors of the stories, and more of their works that I should look up.
I finally got around to reading T Kingfisher’s Clocktaur Wars (Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine) and really enjoyed them. I’ve enjoyed all of Kingfisher’s books that I’ve read but these ones in the World of the White Rat, as they are now called, are my favorite. The Gods and Paladins, gnoles, and fun characters just make for a great reading.
“A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice” by Rebecca Connolly. I’ve been fascinated with the sinking of the Titanic since way before Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet made Billy Zane crazy jealous. This book looks at the tragedy from a slightly different perspective. The odd chapters are written from the perspective of Arthur Rostron, the captain of the Carpathia. The even chapters are written from the perspective of Katherine Connolly (no relation to the author), a third-class passenger from Ireland on the Titanic. The alternating chapter format allows this book to be truly inspiring and horribly sad at the same time.
“The Wisdom of Crowds” by Joe Abercrombie. The final book in Abercrombie’s “The Age of Madness” trilogy. Not as good as the first two books in the series but still very good.
Monster in the Mirror by Kristen Painter. A woman moves into a hidden town for supernaturals which she doesn’t believe exist and finds that her neighbor is Dr. Jekyll (and Mr Hyde). It was just a fun read
Fantasy/scifi-wise I enjoyed finishing Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy with “A Conjuring of Light” leaving open the possiblity that Kell and Lila could return. And Hilary McKay’s thoughtful middle-grade “The Time of Green Magic” a story of a family, “Abi, who had found courage that afternoon, brought it back with her, admired it, and installed it in her heart.” Otherwise Daniel Mason’s “The Winter Soldier” – a gripping WWI story set in the Carpathian Mountains, and “The Promise” by Ann Weisgarber, which incorporated the rather unknown tragedy of the 1900 Galveston hurricane and subsequent flooding in which over 6000 people died. A very good reading month for me.
with the start of a new term January wasn’t great for quantity so fewer chances for a “great” book. My best reads though were the 4-star The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill and The Darkness Manifesto: On Artificial Light and the Threat to Our Ancient Rhythm, by Johan Eklöf (translated by Elizabeth DeNoma). And though I did want more from it, I think Patricia Smith’s poetry collection Unshuttered, is an important one–each poem based on an existing image 19th century African-Americans and told in their voice
The second book of Babylon 5’s The Passing of the Techo-mages Trilogy, “Summoning Light”, by Jeanne Cavalos. Among other things, the story offers a different perspective on the episode of “The Geometry of Shadows” from Elric’s point of view. I met Jeanne Cavalos at a World Fantasy Convention, and pointed out that the ship was supposed to be The Crystal Cavern (as in the place where Merlin was put in stasis by Nimue, in keeping with the wizard theme) and she must have misheard the announcer and made it The Crystal Cabin in the book.
Cavelos.
I read the next installment in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, “Foundation and Earth”. This is the last one before the prequels. Our protagonists from the planet Gaia go in search of the ancestral planet Earth in this one, visiting Comporellon, Aurora, Solaria, Melpomenia and Alpha before finding Earth with a familiar face from the Robot series living on its moon.
I was fascinated by “The General Against the Kremlin: Alexander Lebed – Power and Illusion”, by Harold Elletson. I’ve always been interested in General Lebed’s character and what could have happened if he had become President of Russia.
Misti,if you live in the USA, you win a Fan Lit T-shirt (please specify 1st and 2nd preferred sizes) OR a book of your choice from our stacks, OR a $5 Amazon gift card. If your address is outside of the USA, you will get a $5 Amazon gift card.
Hi Marion – I live in the US. I will take an Amazon gift card.