Top 20 Books of 2013

Sooo….  My original plan was to make this a Sunday blog, but since I will be in Wales all weekend (yay!) in a personal tour of certain important regions regarding Celtic Mythology, I put it on today ;)

Besides, it works brilliantly, because this is an entry dedicated to the 20 books that made my heart soar during 2013, and hey, it’s Tolkien’s birthday!!  What better way to celebrate one of the top men who made me a writer than to speak of pretty books?  Ironically, none of his books are on the list because I’ve read them all, except The Children of Hurin, but I’ve chosen not to read that one for personal reasons… I reserve the right to change my mind about it, but that’s my choice as of now.  I’m also celebrating, very very proudly, I must say, that I managed to read 52 books during the year, double yay!  Not one every week, because some were much much faster to read than others, and some I read together at the same time.  Same difference.  Well, also ironically, not all of them are literature, because I like to read wellbeing books and philosophy or history too, but I’m focusing on literature on this list.

Off we go!

20.- Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse.

This was a Christmas gift from my friend Jamie (Christmas 2012), and it is, like Diana Gabaldon’s work, chic lit for the smart chic.  It has action, it has romance and it has magic (ha, same reasons as the next entry)...  and because I learned a lot about the Crusades and the Inquisitions (both from the actual book and from all the research that it led me to), and this feeds my own writing so organically!

This book has a lot of quality, no wonder they made it into a TV series... I have not seen it, but maybe one day...  there are so many things to watch out there!  The book is pretty cool; do check it out if you’re into historical fiction.

19.- Cross Stitch, by Diana Gabaldon.

                This was actually a birthday gift from my friend Michelle, partly as a joke, partly because she says (and she’s right) that all women should read a bit of historical romance now and then.  Truly, it is very relaxing.  I mean, not when they’re in the middle of a highland battle, or escaping from a prison or from being executed...  or when they’re being tortured.  Or not even when they’re having sex.

Uhm.  Why did I think this book was relaxing?

I’ve already said it: chic lit for the smart chic, and you even learn a bit here and there; there’s action, romance and magic all in one book.  And I have an anecdote to go with it: I actually finished reading it sitting at the bus stop, three blocks from my house, at midnight, the night I came back from Newcastle on my graduation week.  I did it because I knew my landlady was at home and I know how her mouth works: once it starts going, it might not finish until an hour or two later, and I was returning from my graduation, for God and the Goddess’ sakes, so I knew she would start speaking as soon as I’d walk in the door.  She did, by the way; we ended up talking for almost an hour.

So, the fact that I sat there in the cold to read the last two or three pages and be able to close the book peacefully made me realize:  this book deserves mention!

18.- A gathering light, by Jennifer Donnelly.

                I read this book for school, from the “optionals” list... such a great choice!!   We’d already read an excerpt in class, and I was very taken by the story, so I put my hands on it as soon as I could.  It’s a murder mystery, and not the only one you’ll see on this list.  Yet, more importantly than the murder, the story is about the effect that the sad event has on the protagonist, and about her pursue of stories...  the book is about that breaking point, the one that makes us all go “This is it, this is what I want to do...”, and of course it is also about all the obstacles that came her way once she chose; because it is like that with all of us, right? It is when we say we’ll go for something that the road suddenly seems full of blockages.

But we all go and get it in the end, whatever the cost, and that is what makes us great.  And that is what makes this book inspiring and heart-warming.

17.- The Bridget Jones Diary and The Edge of Reason, by Helen Fielding.

                I am counting them as one book because of their continuity within each other.  Cheating, I know, but brilliant non-the-less.

I’d wanted to read these two ever since I found out they were originally books.  I had my doubts, because of the diary-style, but I enjoyed the movies so much (just like Sex and the City, to be honest, but I’ve not felt the need to try to read those particular books), and the whole art within the art was so alluring that I just caved in!  I’m glad I did because they’re so funny that I just couldn’t stop laughing on the tube...  so it’s lucky that I’m in London, because I think here the word “weirdo” has lost all meaning, hahaha!

It was truly fascinating to see Colin Firth and Hugh Grant and Mr Darcy (the Austen one) go through so many layers in and out of the page and my image memory...  so, in this case at least, I am willing to say that watching the movies before the book was the best thing for me, hehe.

(By the way, I reread Pride and Prejudice and I loved it as much as when I was nineteen.)

Personal note after reedition (09/09/15): I feel like The Edge of Reason did not have the same kind of impact on me than the first one did, and if asked again about this list, I would probably leave it out.  But that’s just my viewpoint…!

16.- The Helper, by David Jackson.

               As a way to get experience (and read a heap of free books), I’m volunteering with TripFiction.com, reviewing books that take us to exciting places.  One of the many books I’ve reviewed is The Helper, a really great thriller!  I found it an absolute page-turner, and I won’t really say more than that because I have to publicize myself and I hope that you will all be turning into the TripFiction.com blog to see what I said about this book, hehe.

15.- The Beauty of Murder, by H.K. Benedict.

                This is another one of the books I reviewed (again, check out my review at TripFiction.com), and I really liked it because it was paranormal thriller at its best...  I loved the setting: Cambridge, which is the second British city I ever went to and thus the second British city I fell in love with.  The storyline is quite original, and the characters are very well rounded.  The mystery is well produced and the style is great, because the story is told in three different voices, which makes it delightful, psychologically.

                I took the three voices model for my own book, Wideawake, which you can find on Amazon Kindle; I think it works amazing for any thriller, paranormal or not.  Well, it works fantastic on any book!

14.- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell.

                Becasue of really interesting comments from my friend Hillery on an email when I first moved to Newcastle, I wanted to read the book before watching the film...  It was a bit like a double-sided knife, but I’m glad I did it, because the characters had plenty more meaning as I saw them on the screen...  of course it also made the whole same-actor-playing-different-characters thing more aggravating to me, literally speaking.

                The book is so original, and the style is so particular.  Big time.  It makes me think that Mitchell is a literary genius.  I want to read more of his books.  Hooray for him and for his penmanship.

13.- Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

                I’d wanted to read this book for many years, and it so happened that when my friend Spyros came to visit me in London, he suggested we go and watch the musical.  He has been a fan of the musical for a while, and I was getting pretty hyped to go with him.   Best. Musical. Ever.

                Bar none.  Best musical ever!  I loved the colour and the songs and the actors and the costumes and the storyline.  I bought a Glinda necklace and we took pictures with the actors and everything, it was awesometacular... The next day we were walking past a bookstore and Spyros goes “Hey, this is where I bought my first book in London”, and I’m all “That’s it, this is where I buy Wicked”.

I did, I read it, I loved it and I put it on the list.

Ironically, I do not like The Wizard of Oz.  Hm, probably that’s why I liked this one so much!

Word of advice:  for those musical enthusiasts, if you haven’t read the book, know that it is very very very different than the musical.  I enjoyed it immensely, yet have to admit I like the musical better.

12.- Glint, by Anne Coburn.

                Glint is a children’s book, but I can pretty much say that all fantasy-loving adults will enjoy it as much as any child.  I found the story very metaphorical – yet, even if Ann Coburn was my teacher at Newcastle University, and a great teacher at that, I couldn’t go and ask her about the meaning of the duality...  It is a universal truth that even if the author has one idea about his or her book, it’s the reader who will give it its last meaning down that line...  and then there are discussions between readers and a new line might be created, and so forth.  But this I have to say: as much as I was tempted to, I did not ask her.  And now I regret it.  I will probably email her one day and ask her.  Blimey, now I’m contradicting myself online.

                Moving on!

11.- The Silver Linings Playbook, by Mathew Quick.

                I also wanted to read this book before the movie came out...  I loved the book very much – but I have not seen the film!  I do want to, and maybe I will just rent it at some point, or something, but the thing is that I really enjoyed the book.  It’s written in a very original way, with a very original voice, and like a lot of the books I’ve mentioned on the list already, this one is quite heart-warming as well!

                I might do a follow-up when I see the movie, but for now, this is definitely one of the books that I recommend for everyone, whatever age or gender or cultural background.

Note after re-edition (09/09/15): I saw the film and I loved it! Kudos for all the actors and crew!

10.- Strange Pilgrims (Doce Cuentos Peregrinos), by Gabriel García Márquez.

                A Hundred Years of Solitude has been one of my favourite novels for over a decade, and now, while working on the MA, we had to choose our own books to read to make our points with our own stories.  I picked this one...  I’d read some of García Márquez’s short stories before, but not a full book of them.  I picked it because I was going to write about a Latin American who comes to England for studies (yes, a bit autobiographical), and I wanted to experience that feeling through his pen.  It was absolutely wonderful.  There are some stories there that you can just feel in your veins; being a migrant or a tourist or a student, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you’ve entered into a different land, for whatever period of time, and from whatever original nationality, this book will make you feel something very very deep.  Everyone should read it!

9.- The Great Gatby, by (The Great) F. Scott Fitzgerald.

                Frankly I only wanted to read the book before the Leonardo DiCaprio movie came out...  and I fell head over heels with it!  I could not believe what I had missed all these years...  I mean, I usually felt illiterate and a bit of a fake for not having read it (even though I’ve read a great many masters anyhow), so when the movie was about to come out I said “This has got to stop, I have to read it!”  I did.  I loved it!  Oh, I have not seen the 60’s movie, btw, but I will see it as soon as I have the chance.

                Ah, and I cannot help but stop for a minute and say how much I liked Tom Hiddleston’s Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris.

                So, with the book, I breathed in the light of it...  it was just so poetic, the light in the pages, and the characters are so extraordinary, and the dialogue just so potent...  I just love it.  Love it!

8.- The Drive, by Tyler Keevil.

                 The Drive is another one of the books I’ve reviewed on TripFiction.com (I recommend my review on the blog as much as the book itself).  It’s funny and heart-warming and very appropriately located in the West Coast of the US.  I particularly loved Sprite.  And it’s bound to make anyone say “What the hell...?” in more than one passage.  Totally worth it.

                I would recommend this book to the younger adult readers, but I’m sure that more than one mature adult would also enjoy it immensely.

7.- Londoners, compiled by Craig Taylor.

                I’ve often said that I’ve been in love with London since I was 12, so a few months ago I came to visit along with my friend Cata, who’s been here plenty of times and had a book called Londres Insólito y Secreto (Secret and Incredible London) so we decided to discover some of those things that are not on the usual tourist routes...  and we found so many secrets!  One of those secrets was The School of Life, where I got the book and a few other things (and where I’ve taken a great many workshops, now that I’m living here).

                Londoners changed my way of seeing London.  For good or bad, it’s too early to say.  This is the only book on the list which is not literature; but it is stories: real, personal, heart-warming stories, and it has given me a new perspective on what it means to live and breathe London.  It also took me into Treadwells, where I met my new friends Mani, Vathani and Fiona, and that makes me feel so blessed.

                This book I recommend to all who would like to know more about this wondrous city from a deeper outlook and a sharper angle.

            Note after re-edition (09/09/15): this book and how it led me to Treadwells is also the reason I met my future husband, actor and playwrite Stephen Cole!  Check him out on Facebook and YouTube as The One Man Theatre Company.  (Give me three cheers for synchronicity!!)

6.- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Trilogy of Five (books 1-4), by Douglas Adams.

                Yes, just books 1 through 4.  The fifth might make you want to jump out the window if you’re not emotionally prepared to cope with it.

                Books 1, 2 and 3 are all pretty much alike, all hilarious and exciting.  Of course, it’s 100% sci-fi so it might not be for all, but those who like Star Wars and Star Trek and of course Doctor Who will really enjoy it.  Those who don’t like those series might also really enjoy it actually – it’s not a rule, by any means!  Douglas Adams also became one of my favourite British authors, and the fact that he was a script writer for Doctor Who for many years and that some of the Hitchhiker books came from unused Who scripts just makes me love the books all the more.  Oh, and the Hitchhiker was recommended to me (for years) by Alan, Nikolas, and my cousin Paola.

                Now, the fourth book: that one is still very good, although the style and tone changes completely.  I would recommend it to all who liked the first three, but not everyone might react to it in the same way, so it’s tricky.

                The fifth book just made me want to jump out the window.

5.- The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie.

My mum loves to tell a story of how, when I was about to graduate from high school and was in a panic because I could not decide what BA I would go into afterwards, she asked me: “What would you like to be doing when you retire?”  She thought that the kind of activity I imagined doing at retirement could give me a clue as to what I would be retiring from.  She is incredibly proud of my answer:  “I would like to lie on a hammock and read Agatha Christie novels”.  Seriously, she tells it to everyone she can.  And seriously, that’s what I would like to do!

So, because there are over 80 of them and I would probably go mentally insane if I tried to read them all during retirement, I decided to give myself a head start! Slightly OCD as I am, I chose to start from novel number 1 and make my way through them like that.  I did not do it like that, I started by my favourite: And Then There Were None (otherwise called by me in different media as Ten Little Indians).  I loved it as much as I did when I was in high school.  And then I started from the beginning.

Agatha Christie needs no introduction: she is the Mistress of Mystery Novels.  As much as Arthur Conan Doyle is the Master...  so yes: if you love crime and mystery books, this is a complete go-to.

4.- Basket Case, by Carl Hiassen.

I’ve liked Hiassen since I read Stormy Weather years ago, and I pretty much knew that this book would deliver just as much.  I was not wrong.  As far as detective novels go, this is awesome; and as far as humorous books go, this is pure genius!  I recommend it to everyone, something that I cannot so with most of the books on the list because I know everyone has different tastes, and I think Hiassen could satisfy most if them.

3.- The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

This book is simply amazing.  From top to bottom, it’s just perfect.  It’s got fantasy to keep you going for years and mystery and romance... and some of the best word games I’ve ever read!  The characters are so well rounded and the literary references are great...  and the play into Jane Eyre is just phenomenal.

I got it on my very last day as a student at Newcastle.  It was my gift from me to me for finishing the Masters.  It was also recommended by Nikolas (it was our last trip together to Oxfam Books, a great way to say good bye to the city and our literary rituals).

Btw, Fforde is rapidly climbing the ladder of my new favourite British authors, and his birthday is right before mine, thank you very much!

2.- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman is without a doubt my favourite British author...  yes, Tolkien and Rowling and Carroll and Austen and Christie and Conan Doyle will always be my favourites, it’s just that now I’ve discovered another one!

Neverwhere had been thrust towards me continuously by two close friends, Alan and Nikolas, and the only reason I had not read it was for lack of time...  but for a London lover like I’ve been since I was 12, and for a fantasy lover since I discovered the use of word, then it was a complete and utter must!!  Frankly, I thought it would be the number one in the list, and they were very much nose to nose, I just had to pick one for listing...  it was hard and it still is, even as I write this...!

Anyway, storywise, Neverwhere has it all: it is a story about a trip into the darkest parts of your soul (at least that’s the symbolism for me), and it’s full of magic and wonderful creatures and amazing discoveries in every turn of the page.  Absolutely perfect.  Or else, the only thing that made it come second was the thing about the cats.  When you read it you will understand.  Still, just what the doctor ordered!

Last year I also read Stardust and M is for Magic; I really liked Stardust as a movie, and I was very pleased to discover that it didn’t make me like it less when I read the book.  The book is precious in every sense, and the movie is hilarious in ways that could only have been conveyed by film, so they’re both good in their own way.  M is for Magic is fantastic!  Most of the short stories are perfect in every sense, particularly Chivalry, which is bar none my favourite short story ever and makes me so so so glad I read it.

OK, this is me giving three Gaiman books second place in the list.  Yes, it’s cheating, I know, but it was kind of hard to avoid doing it, since I gave first place to someone else...

1.- Dance Dance Dance, by Haruki Murakami.

I got this book one sunny day in Dublin, in a wonderful bookstore called The Winding Stair.  I actually saw the bookstore through the window of the tour bus, and, since we were planning to dine at the Clarence Hotel, and the bookstore was just a few blocks from it across the river, my mum and I decided to go check it out.  Long story short, I told her that I’d always wanted to read Murakami and she bought it for me, yay!!

About the book, I can say that it’s very magical without being a fantasy book...  it takes place during the eighties, and because  most of the references weren’t known to me until the nineties or even the early two-thousands, it took me back to my adolescence and early adulthood.  It is a story about search, friendship an evolution, all of my favourite things, with just the right touch of mystery and romance.  Loved it big time!!

So, that’s my list for this year...  I have, as of now, only 652 books to read...  plus all the ones that will enter because of TripFiction.com, plus all the ones people will recommend me, PLUS a bunch that I know people will give me now and then...  So, I do not know if I will manage 52 books again (at all) a year, but this was a really fun year for trying and succeeding... and in future lists I might just do a top 10 or something quirky.

As they say, so many books... so little time!

In any case, enjoy if you pick any of these books, and do recommend me some if you believe I would enjoy one of the ones you’ve read.

And again, a Cheers! straight from the heart!

Sandra Cole ~ Lover, Dreamer, Seeker, Writer