The Philippine Online Chronicles

I'm a reader. I am a voracious--if slow--consumer of the written word. While I do have a backlog that inspires both consternation and anticipation, over the past twelve months I was fortunate enough to read a lot of good books, both fiction and non-fiction.

I seek both entertainment and education from texts, and while the most effective learning tools are as fun as they are informative, there are also books I have enjoyed for no other reason than the sheer pleasure of being immersed in the worlds that their words create. While my infatuation with these volumes does merit closer inspection through dedicated reviews (by myself or other contributors), as the year draws to a close it seems appropriate to look back and pay homage to a few of the works of fiction--some released just this year, though not all--to which I've sacrificed vast chunks of my lifespan. So here, without any particular order (and within the context that my tastes lean heavily toward speculative fiction), are the ten books I found to be the most entertaining reads of 2009:

Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon:  To this day there are those who claim that any book written that possesses elements of the speculative (robots say, or vampires, or Cthulu) is, by nature, inferior to "mainstream" literature on an objective level. Writers such as Michael Chabon seem to take great joy in taking this argument, stripping it naked, then hoisting it atop a flagpole for the amusement of all and sundry--Chabon is, after all, the writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which is about comic-book-style superheroes. You won't find aliens or dragons in Gentlemen of the Road; instead you will find a richly imagined alternate history built around the premise of "Jews with Swords" and anchored by a pair of protagonists with personalities so rich and a friendship so true that, after a solitary adventure, they have already won their place in the pantheon of heroic partnerships.

All You Need is Kill by  Hiroshi Sakurazaka: As a fan of Japanese Anime and Manga, I've always wished that non-Japanese speakers like myself would someday have a chance to read Japanese speculative prose-- the Japanese have an entirely different set of genre tropes that make for an interesting contrast with Western-influenced SF. The problem is that the effort-profit ratio of translating a Japanese novel is miniscule when compared to, say, translating a Japanese anime or video game-- and what translations that did come out seemed to lose that intangible factor that made the original versions such hits in Japan. While I don't know if the profits are any getting better, the translations certainly are-- All You Need is Kill is the first release of Viz's Haikasoru imprint, and the first Japanese novel translation I've ever read that didn't read like a translation at all.

Trese: Mass Murders: the third volume in the much-loved and critically acclaimed urban fantasy graphic novel-- and the first volume to be composed completely of never-before-published content-- Trese 3 was one of my most anticipated releases this year, and for the most part it did not disappoint. It brought to a close the initial story arc of the series, and answered most of the questions that have been at the forefront of readers' minds since the first Case was released… and if in so doing it raised a whole host of new questions, well, the fact that there are still more Alexandra Trese stories to tell is a good thing.   

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I'm usually wary of any book that receives too much of a promotional push, but Hunger Games actually deserves more press than it has been getting. The plot is simple enough, but the pacing is impeccable, and the characters elevate the tale to heights few works can reach. Katniss, the heroine and POV character, is one of the most sympathetic and most well-realized characters in fiction of any genre that I have read in recent years, and she will provide a refreshing alternative to those who seek a YA heroine whose motivations are not tied in some way to a romance.

Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley: This is the latest volume in the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, which is right at the top when it comes to the amount of sheer awesome per page. If the plot synopsis doesn't hook you (boy meets girl, boy must fight off her Seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends--who identify themselves as such--to win her heart), if the characters and their (well, not Scott's, but every snarky comeback needs a set-up after all) snappy dialogue don't win you over, then the kinetic, endearing art style will.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield: A big part of the thrill of speculative fiction is discovering new worlds, finding places that should be familiar but which have been twisted and tweaked to conform to other rules, other facts. It is the world-building that I find so enticing in the new series by Scott Westerfield (of Uglies fame), an alternate 1914 where a modified version of Charles Darwin's theories form not just the foundation of a branch of science, but shifts the course of technology and engineering to an entirely different path--and in so doing creates the strange new grounds for an all too familiar war. The beautifully detailed illustrations of Keith Thompson also aid in the immersion.

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci: A good anthology manages to be both united in theme yet diverse in its exploration of that theme, and Geektastic manages that feat handily as its stories and mini-comics (half of which are done by Scott Pilgrim's O'Malley) delve into the psyche of many subsets of "geek" -- or, as the authors define the term, "a person who is so passionate about a given subject or subjects as to occasionally cause annoyance among others." Whether your own passion is Star Trek, or dinosaurs, or livejournal RPs, you're likely to find a story to call your own within these pages.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow: This one I've covered for the POC before, but don't take my word for it--you can download an electronic copy for free, read a tale of tech-savvy youth fighting against government excess, then spend long hours in dozens of bookstores trying to find a physical copy.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan: This is the first of Morgan's novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, and while he's gone on to write more books in the series you can certainly read this as a stand-alone… and as an example of a very, very impressive first novel. Once again it is the world-building that blew me away here-- what Morgan does here is speculate on one element: what if, in the far future, we could download and store consciousness itself? --and uses the novel to explore how that one advancement changes everything, from criminal incarceration to virtual entertainment, in the context of a gripping thriller.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang: I haven't actually finished this collection yet-- I'm going through it slowly, as I tend to do with works I enjoy-- but the short story "Story of Your Life" alone is enough to win it admission into my top ten list of this year, and probably for any year; it is an example of how even a story constructed around an obscure scientific principal or three can, in the hands of a master, still be a gripping story about people, about the joys and burdens of the love of a mother for her child.

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Most of the books on the list were available, at one time or another, at both Fully Booked and National/Powerbooks, except that I've only seen Scot Pilgrim and All You Need is Kill at Fully Booked and Comic Odyssey, while I've never seen Stories of Your Life in any Philippine bookstore.

Trese: Mass Murders cover image sourced from babblingpoint.

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