November means that it’s already the time of year when “year’s best books” lists start getting published. Publishers Weekly is the first out of the gate, with suggestions in many categories. Amazon has its lists out, too (including this list of the best Kindle books of the year). And so does Romantic Times, with many categories that deal with fantasy literature (scroll down. . . keep scrolling. . . there you are!). And various authors and celebrities discuss their favorite books of the year at Omnivoracious, beginning with George R.R. Martin.
And then there are the great fantasies you might have missed.
Of course, the reason all these lists are coming out now, and not at the end of the year, is because everyone wants you to buy books as Christmas and Hannukah gifts. There’s even a house on my block that had the Christmas lights all lit up by the day after Halloween. The seasons are swiftly passing by, aren’t they? “Gone Reading” has some gift ideas for the reader in your life that aren’t about books themselves, from prints to journals to shelving to sandwich plates.
It’s time to vote in the semifinal round of Goodreads books in many categories. I am disheartened to find how many great books I haven’t read yet, but I’m trying to look at it a different way: all these riches just waiting for me to get to them! (I own far more of these books than I’ve read yet, which is always the way. The “to be read” stack ever teeters.)
L. Timmel Duchamp has a fascinating piece up on her blog about the interaction between theory and science fiction. It’s heavy reading, but it repays the time and effort you put into understanding it, and it will make your reading in the genres we love all the brighter and more interesting.
No matter how much you love your Kindle (and I do love mine), read real books to your kids. They need the physicality of the object, the pictures, the print, the smells in order to really get it.
Cherie Priest’s steampunk Pinterest board is a joy to behold.
Those Disney princesses? Happily ever after wasn’t, always.
As a blogger, I’m already feeling pressured to get my list up! But I haven’t finished reading yet…
Maria, I feel the same way. When I had my own blog, I didn’t post a “year’s best” list until January — and even then, it was geared toward the best books I’d read that year, not just those that had been published that year. That’s what happens when you’re an eclectic reader!
Agreed–I post best of whatever I’ve read–not best of what came out in that year. I don’t usually read a lot of new releases. Of my yearly books, that number is probably only two or three. I don’t think I did a list last year and I’m on the fence on whether I’ll do it this year. There’s always so much to blog about already!