You'd think with as many books I read in a year (some at the same time) that I'd be a much better writer. With gaming 2012 having closed and 2013 just gearing up for some releases I'm trying to catch up on all the movies and books I missed out on in the last few years. Here's a few novels I'm reading and looking forward to reading in these next few days:
Angelmaker
You'd think being the son of famous spy-novelist John le Carre would make it hard for Nick Harkaway to write his own espionage story. Thankfully Angelmaker takes a que from Harkaway's last book, the post-apocalyptic Gone-Away World and turned out a gonzo, pulp-adventure about a clockmaker who accidently triggers a 1950's doomsday machine! So far Harkaway's writing is full of whimsy, switching around tone and characters with each paragraph but his ideas are a lot of fun (Joe, the main character is the son of a famous gangster who's left with a collection of his father's socks;he meets, then teams up with an elderly woman who used to be an honest-to-god spy herself!) and he knows how to write likeable characters even in a world as nutty as this one.
Best Served Cold
After being taken with Joe Abercrombie's latest release 2012's Red Country, I immediately ordered the rest of his catalog from Amazon.com and so far Best Served Cold is dark-fantasy-noir at it's very best! Monza Murcatto is a famous mercenary out for revenge after her brother was murdered by their employer and she left for dead. Rather than a simple revenge tale, Best Served Cold plays out like a heist thriller with Monza and her allies planning specific acts for their intended targets. Despite being a very grim story (involving torture and viciously written action-scenes), Abercrombie sprinkles everything with dashes of (dark) humor and isn't afraid to show the toll these plans take on Monza'a humanity (I especially like her back and forth with the Northman, Shivers). Colorful characters and accessible writing make this a darkly satisfying read!
Shards
Despite being a piece of fiction, Ismet Prcic casts a main character of the same name (and apparently same background), a Bosnian who comes over to America in 1995. Shards is easy enough to jump into, chronicling Ismet's flight and how he's doing at University in a kind of sad but likeable tone. The chapters thenshift around in time and we see how he grew up in Bosnia with his mother, having to deal with artillery fire on a day-to-day basis (his letters to his mother from American are especially sad as Ismet's Ameican life isn't going too well). Things have gotten more interesting, though as instead of writing pure memoirs Ismet invents a character called Mustafa who seems to be leading a parrallel life.....except Mustafa, a soldier stayed behind in Bosnia. The story's structure takes some getting used to, and like I said Shards is not a "happy" read but it's surprisingly engaging and I don't think anyone would have too much trouble getting into this book.
On the back-burner
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow series: It's been a while since I've read Ender's Game, but I hear this parallel series featuring the side-characters is even more complex and exciting (can't wait to see what they do with Bean!)
Infinite Jest: I really should give up after all this time, but after renewed interest in the much admired (and deceased) David Foster Wallace thanks to his biography "Every Love Story is a Ghost Story" by D T Max I thought I'd give this one another go.
1Q84:I love Japanese writing but Haruki Murakami is one author I've had trouble embracing. I've heard 1Q84 is a great book, though (even by non-fans) so I promised myself I'd try it.
What books are you reading this year?