Top 10 of 2015

Last year, I read a lot. According to my count, I read 116 books, including graphic novels and novellas. That's a lot of books. It helped that I wasn't fully employed for a number of months and had insomnia for a few weeks in the fall, dropping me into a vicious cycle of staying up until 4 reading, napping, and then not being able to fall asleep at night so I pick up a book...

Side note: That was seriously unhealthy and I destroyed my immune system. Don't do that.

Looking back at those 116 books, I decided to whittle that down to my top ten books of the year. This was hard, as you can imagine, but not as hard as I expected. Despite reading a lot, many of the books were not that memorable or were easy to drop from my short list once I had a short list of seventeen books.

So, without further ado: my top books of 2015. These are in no particular order because asking me to do that would be infinitely more difficult than just picking ten.

1. The Martian by Andy Weir - Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard of this book. I adored and devoured this book and commend it for not being afraid of being full of science!geekery. I loved that Weir had a diverse cast gender-wise, did not make a big deal about this, and did not describe anybody's physical characteristics. Also, it was a damn good book.
2. Akata Witch by Nnedio Okorafor - This was the first Okorafor I read and I'm thankful that my public library had this book available as an ebook. If it hadn't I don't know if I'd had ever discovered Okorafor's books which are full of wonder and beautiful prose. Akata Witch tells the story of a young girl learning she has magic and going off to learn magic. Sound familiar? Think again. The book takes a well-known story trope and recasts it in a completely unique way.
3. Saga, Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples - I borrowed this from a friend, and need my own copy now. This Deluxe Edition collects the first three trades of Saga, which I had been hearing good things about for years but never picked up. Once I started, this blew me completely away. I fell into the story and fell in love with the characters. It's incredibly smart, unique, and quirky.
4. The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan - This is unabashedly British royal family fanfiction. It's also incredibly well-written and compelling with truly likable and human characters. I started this one night and did not get any sleep at all.
5. Returning My Sisters Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice by Eugie Foster - I don't normally like short stories, but the late Eugie Foster's stories are these perfect gems that eat into my brain and warm me up. This collection is my favorite of all her books. All the stories are firmly grounded in the history, culture, folklore, and mythology of China and Japan. These stories were like coming home for me. I grew up with these stories, this history, and Foster took the familiar and made them new with a veneer of adult sensibility.
6. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold - A new Vorkosigan novel! This isn't due to be published for another month but I happily gave Baen money for the eARC. I read this repeatedly for about a week; I loved it so. This is Cordelia's story, post-Aral. It's a story of life and love and moving on. It was a giant hug.
7. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day - Felicia Day is my spirit animal. Her memoir of growing up a geek and nerd resonated heavily with me.
8. Winter by Marissa Meyer - I adore the Lunar Chronicles and had this, the last book of the series, pre-ordered since it was available for pre-order. It was a perfect end to a perfect and amazing series that started with a cyborg mechanic who befriended a prince.
9. The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna - This book showcases the best of what YA and science fiction can be, tackling some heavy philosophical questions of self, identity, and free will. The main character is an echo (aka, clone) of a girl in India, and if that girl dies, the echo will take her place.
10. Cinder and Ella by Kelly Oram - A modern re-telling of Cinderella in which the prince is a famous movie star who is already best friends with Ella but she doesn't know who he is. I loved it.

Best Books of 2011

A bit late but my life has been beyond hectic. Between my work life taking over my entire life, my immune system finally catching up and punishing me with three weeks of being sick in December, and then getting eye surgery in January - I haven't had much time to even remember I had a blog, let alone update it.

But I did read in 2011. I didn't reach 100, but I tried.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
This is a family saga, a mystery, and a tragic fairy tale all in one. After her grandmother's death, Cassandra learns the family secret... her grandmother was found abandoned as a little girl on a dock in Australia. Rather than being taken to the authorities, the dockmaster and his wife who found her decide to keep her as their own daughter.

"We're all unique, just never in the ways we imagine."

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
In 1899, a girl on the cusp of adulthood rebels against her mother's expectations, instead aspiring to be a naturalist like her grandfather.

“One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live my life in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches. And if any young knights in armor dared to come calling on their white chargers and plead with me to let down my hair, I would pelt them with peach pits until they went home.”

Hester: The Missing Years of The Scarlet Letter by Paula Reed
At the end of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl leave the colonies. Many years later, Hester returns by herself. Reed explores what may have happened to Hester and Pearl during that time. Hester's unique sight from her time wearing the red A on her chest gives her entree into the inner circle of Oliver Cromwell, and she finds herself embroiled in politics and intrigue.

“There are many more layers to innocence than one might ever imagine, and we are ever unaware of them until each barrier is breached.”

Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler by Jessica Speart
This is all true -- the story is so outlandish, the characters so completely unbelievable that it is impossible that the story is anything but. This is the story of Ed Newcomer, US FWS agent, and his quest to bring down Yoshi Kojima, the world's "butterfly kingpin".

"According to Interpol, the illegal worldwide animal trade rakes in a cool ten to fifteen billion dollars a year, and in the world of butterflies, Kojima had established himself as the kingpin."

Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn
This is a straight-up fantasy set in a near future dystopia police state. It merges Greek mythology, folktales and fairytales, King Arthur, global political struggle, and the most awesome little storeroom in the world into one intricate story. Evie returns home to look after her sick father, only to discover that he has one hell of a family secret, and a legacy to pass onto her.

"He sounded like a mystic sage. A wizard, not her father. Another character from a story, and she couldn't turn the page to see what happens next."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebeca Skloot
This is the story of a woman, Henrietta Lacks, who died of cancer in 1951 but whose cells live on to this day. Her doctor took her cancer cells and used them to create the immortal cells which are the basis of modern medicine. This is also the story of Lacks' descendants, who were never told of their mother's unwilling contribution of science, and who never saw any money from the billions her cells made for the medical industry.

“But I tell you one thing, I don't want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that's just sad.”

Best Books of 2010

Every year, I challenge myself to read at least 50 books and I keep track of what I read and my impressions over at Goodreads. In 2009, I had read 122 books -- so it is with some feeling of failure that I clocked in the end of 2010 with only 74 books. Still a high number, but I felt I could have done better.

Below are some of the best books that I read last year, in no particular order.

The Magician's Elephan by Kate DiCamillo
DiCamillo is known for her children's books, many of which contain a fable-esque quality. The Magician's Elephant is a very sweet story of an orphan boy, an elephant, and how wishes do come true.

"Magic is always impossible.... It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it's magic."

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
William is a farmer's son in Malawi, a poor African nation. During the midst of a famine, his family could no longer pay his tuition and he was forced to leave school. Using old textbooks available at the library, scavenged materials, and ingenuity, he builds a windmill to power his family's home, and gains international fame. The truly remarkable thing: he was only fourteen. This is an extremely inspiring story of perseverance, tenacity, overcoming adversity, and the power of learning.

"I try, and I made it!"

Soulless by Gail Carriger
This is the first book of Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, a fun steampunk romp featuring Alexia Tarabotti, a spinster who happens to lack a soul. One night at a party, she stumbles onto a plot involving vampires, a werewolf lord, and a secret society. See my review of the entire delightful series here.

"Cats were not, in her experience, an animal with much soul. Prosaic, practical little creatures as a general rule. It would suit her very well to be thought catlike."

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Major Earnest Pettigrew is a widower in a small town in England. Mrs. Ali is the widowed Pakistani shopkeeper in town. Together, the two defy societal conventions, fishmongering busybodies, and cultural differences to find deep friendship and even love. Utterly charming and delightful.

"The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small, don't you think?"

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
A fairy tale without magic, and a love story without romance. A frumpy middle-aged Utah housewife stumbles into bestfriendship with a Hollywood heartthrob. They are from two different worlds, are complete opposites, but yet fit together perfectly. See my full review here.

"He would never abandon her, never leave a gaping hole, and even if he died someday, he was preserved like a lab specimen from all the alcohol he imbibed, so he wouldn't look or act much different."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
I have a weakness for epistolary novels. I love them, adore them, and devour them. There is a true talent in telling a complete story in only letters. Guernsey takes place after World War Two, and tells the story of Juliet Ashton and the friendship she forges with the inhabitants of the island of Guernsey through letters. She learns of the Nazi occupation of their island, and the formation of their Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (read the book to find out the origin of the name). Completely engrossing.

"We clung to books and to our friends; they reminded us that we had another part to us."

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This book follows three women in the Civil Rights era South: two black maids, and one white woman. The three band together on a very dangerous project: to give black maids of the town a voice to tell their stories. The book is both heartbreaking and hopeful.

"All my life I'd been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl. But with Constantine's thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe."

Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
Smith and Lourie are Canadian environmentalists who used themselves as guinea pigs, testing to see how much the use of normal, household products can raise their urine and blood levels of dangerous chemicals of concern. The authors also gave a thorough history of each chemical, and the potential dangers of exposure - particularly to the very young, and what we can do to reduce our exposure. This is a book I think everybody should read because knowledge is the most important thing in keeping ourselves and our children safe.

"Far from being the rock or island in the Simon and Garfunkel song, it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is 'sponge.'"