What was the best book you read this year?

Favorite book I read this year was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I don't play MMO's but I have a pretty good understanding of the terms and stuff from friends and the book was awesome.

 

Nathan, that is a great resource. Thank you. I've really enjoyed most of these books, though "Over a Torrent Sea" bored the crap out of me and I was just too stubborn to give up on it.

I recently saw an interview with Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis. It was funny to listen to a fan try to explain to them what was going on with their characters in the books. Of course, they had no idea.

Write, "Articles of the Federation" picks up right after the "A Time to..." series and I highly recommend reading it before "The Fall." It will be obvious why I say that once you read both.

"Articles of the Federation" is a favorite of mine. It's kind like crossing "The West Wing" with "Star Trek," which makes it a perfect fit for my tastes. It might be a little slow for some, but it does help set up some key things in "Typhon Pact," "Cold Equations" and "The Fall."

 

Yes, thanks, Nathan. I'd never seen that flow chart. It seems I've managed to follow it pretty well, anyway, but it will be a help for placing some of the books.

And, just to mention, these are a little separate from and outside the timelines of the other books, but I really liked the "The Lost Era" series, as well. I recommend them if you haven't read them, for the variety if nothing else. They're very character-driven and can stand alone but make a nice series, too.

I agree about "Over A Torrent Sea." It's one of the few Trek books that was too slow-moving, and I also couldn't stand/couldn't believe that one scene in there about the main topical character, um, wiping Riker's ass for him when he was incapacitated. Totally unnecessary and completely out of place in Trek literature. That book was a little slow but I like Star Trek enough to tolerate that. That section alone, though, was what almost ruined that book entirely for me.

Otherwise, the character-driven-ness of the "Titan" books is one of that series' real strengths.

 

Tenth of December, George Saunders

 

Ouch. I forgot about that bit. So much of the interaction she had with Riker made me cringe.

Funny. I never realized "The Lost Era" was a series. I did read "The Buried Age" and enjoyed it. I may have to check some of those out.

 

Becoming Shakespeare.

http://www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/2007_07_011465.php

 

Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy.

 

Gone Girl

 

You guys all only read new books?

 

Seems that's what I've been doing lately. As a librarian, I am hip to all the newest books and have easy access to them. Meanwhile, I have a bookshelf full of my own older books that I neglect. Although today I did bring home a 30-year-old book.

 

If I read two new books a year, I'm doing good. I'm usually about 2-3 years behind. Most of the "new" books I read this year were published in 2009-10.

 

Yes, that's what I meant by new. I'm just such a slow, involved reader that I gravitate toward classics because I don't want to waste my limited book-reading time. I figure I'm safer with books that have stood out over time.