Fantasy Book Club discussion

Make a list of all the books you read this year in order from best to worst. Or best 5 and worst 5.
Here's my list from best to worst:

1. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
2. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
3. The Call of the Wild / White Fang by Jack London
4. The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
5. Across the Face of the World by Russel Kirkpatrick
6. Acacia: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham
7. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
8. Watership Down by Richard Adams
9. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
10. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson
11. Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond E. Feist
12. Krondor: The Betrayal by Raymond E. Feist
13. Iron Elves: A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
14. March by Geraldine Brooks
15. Weapons of Magical Destruction by Stan Nicholls
16. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
17. Domes of Fire by David Eddings
18. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

These are the only Fantasy I've read this year.

5 Stars Books
1. Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
2. Storm Constantine:

The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure: The First Book of the Wraeththu Histories
The Shades of Time and Memory: The Second Book of the Wraeththu Histories
The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence: The Third Book of the Wraeththu Histories

The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit: The First Book of Wraeththu
The Bewitchments of Love and Hate: The Second Book of Wraeththu
Fulfilments of Fate and Desire: The Third Book of Wraeththu

4 Star Books
3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
4. Sarah Monette:

The Mirador: Doctrine of Labyrinths #3
Corambis: Doctrine of Labyrinths #4

5. The Third God by Ricardo Pinto: The Stone Dance of the Chameleon

3-4 Star Series
6. Kirby Crow:

Scarlet and the White Wolf: Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 1
Mariner's Luck: Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2
Land of Night: Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 3

5 star books:

1.Son of Ereubus by J.S. Chancellor
2.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3.City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
4.Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
5.Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
6.City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
7.City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
8.The Singing: The Fourth Book of Pellinor by Alison Croggon
9.Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
10.Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
11.Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
12.Succubus Shadows by Richelle Mead
13.Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead
14.Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
15.Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
16.Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
17.Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
18.Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead
19. Sea Glass by Maria V. Snyder
20.Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder
21. Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead
22.Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward
23.The Crow: The Third Book of Pellinor by Alison Croggon

4 star books:

24.Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
25.The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
26.The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
27.The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
28.Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward
29.Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead
30.Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
31.Graceling by Kristin Cashore
32.Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder
33.Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder
34.Magician by Raymond E. Feist
35.Into the Wild Erin Hunter
36.Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr
37.Frostbite by Richelle Mead
38.Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
39.Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
40.Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
41.Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
42.Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
43.Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
44.All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
45.From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
46.The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
47.The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
48.Torment by Lauren Kate
49.Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
50.Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
51.Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
52.A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris
53.Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

3 star books:

54.Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
55.Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
56.Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
57.Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead
58.Storm Born by Richelle Mead
59.The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
60.The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
61.The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
62.Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
63.Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter
64.The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
65.Fallen by Lauren Kate
66.Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
67.The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard
68.Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 by Stephenie Meyer

2 star books:


69.Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
70.The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer
71.Burned by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

5 Best Books This Year

1.Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
2.The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
3.Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
4.The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
5.The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
6.Emma by Jane Austen

Well, I couldn't help myself, so it turned out to be six books :P

5 Worst Books This Year

1.The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume 1 by Gordon Dahlquist
2.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
3.Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
4.The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
5.Sword in the Storm by David Gemmell

I like the star rating idea (and I think I'm done. I won't be finishing anymore books this year. This list may be short because I'm only going to include fiction books.)

5 star books

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Song in the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner
Fragment by Warren Fahy
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Wintertide by Michael J. Sullivan
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
1984 by George Orwell

4 star books

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

3 star books

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore
Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina edited by Kevin J. Anderson
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

I don't have any below 3 stars because usually when I don't like a book, I stop reading it. So these are the ones I didn't finish/didn't like

The Lesser Kindred by Elizabeth Kerner (I still might get back into this one, but I just haven't been enjoying it as much as the first book)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (still chugging through this one, but it's proven to be more of a chore than anything, which is really too bad. At this point I can't see myself wanting to continue on with this prospected 10 book series)

Since, unfortunately, I haven't really read that much this year (compared to the last few years, at least), sorting all my books should be easy enough.

With some books I can't really decide if they "outrank" so to speak, some others, so I'll just list them in whatever order.
The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks.
Shadow's Edge - Brent Weeks.
Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow - David Gemmell.
Troy: Shield of Thunder - Davdi Gemmell.
Troy: Fall of Kings - David Gemmell.
The Last Light of the Sun - Guy Gavriel Kay.
Coraline - Neil Gaiman.
The Crown Conspiracy - Michael J. Sullivan.

From here I start with the lesser ones:
1984 - George Orwell.
Darwinia - Robert Charles Wilson.
Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks.
Debt of Bones - Terry Goodkind.
Priestess of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson.

These ones I either never finished or utterly hated:
War of the Twins - Weis and Hickman.
Firebird - Mercedes Lackey.
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett.

I have some more unlisted, but they're mainly insignificant...

I have read 106 books or novellas so far this year, and I'm far to lazy to list them all ;)

My Top Ten Read in 2010 (in no particular order)are:

1. Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
2. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
5. Those Who Went Remain There Still by Cherie Priest
6. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
7. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
8. The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
9. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
10. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

It was the best year of reading I've ever had! I sincerely hope the next year is just as good.

^^ I had a great reading year as well!

I read a lot of books this year, but I will list the ones that stick out the most (I will only include ones I first read this year, not re-reads):

1. Towers of Midnight
2. The Scorch Trials
3. Perfect Chemistry
4. Magic Strikes
5. Magic Bleeds
6. The Body Finder
7. Destined for an Early Grave
8. Return to Paradise
9. Twice as Hot
10.Twice Bitten

Huh, not sure I even read 10 books, I just finished with some college recently and have just found the time to get some reading in. This year from best to 'not best'

1. A Game of Thrones
2. A Clash of Kings
3. The Hunger Games
4. The Dark Tower
5. Unwind
6. The Graveyard Book
7. Graceling
8. I Am the Messenger

And that is all I read this year. Hoping for many many more in the coming year.

1 House of chains - Steven Erikson
2 The city and the city - China Miéville
3 The carpet people - Terry Pratchett
4 The scar - China Miéville
5 Neuromancer - William Gibson
6 Memories of ice - Steven Erikson
7 Moon's garden - Steven Erikson
8 Patient zero - Jonathan Maberry
9 Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding - Paulien Cornelisse
10 Nation - Terry Pratchett
11 Unseen academicals - Terry Pratchett
12 Midnight tides - Steven Erikson
13 House of suns - Alastair Reynolds
14 The winter ghosts - Kate Mosse
15 The Strain - Guillermo del Toro
16 Wolf hall - Hillary Mantel
17 The hippopotomus - Stephen Fry
18 The end of mr Y - Scarlet Thomas
19 The magicians - Lev Grossman
20 Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud
21 Pasquale's angel - Paul McAuley
22 Deadhouse gates - Steven Erikson
23 We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson
24 Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay
25 Matter - Iain Banks
26 Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling
27 The curious incident of the dog in the night time - Mark Haddon
28 The forest of hands and teeth - Carrie Ryan

Well, I'm not going to list all 97 books in order, but I'll give my top 10 and worst 10 - though I feel like my Best and Worst is more Favorite and Least Favorite, based purely on enjoyment factor. Some of the high rated ones are pure fluff, but fun, and some of the lower rated ones I just expected more from, after much hype.

Top 10:

Soulless by Gail Carriger
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Philip Reeve
A Matter of Magic by Patricia C. Wrede
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
The Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
Dark Lady's Chosen (Chronicles of the Necromancer, #4) by Gail Z. Martin
Just Another Judgement Day by Simon R. Green
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen M. Beckett


Bottom Ten:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Last Dickens: A Novel by Matthew Pearl
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
The Second Coming by David H. Burton

***

And a special mention to one of the strangest books I've read, with a great premise, which has stuck with me, even though the writing left much to be desired:

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume 1 by Gordon Dahlquist

It's sort of one of my favorites and least favorites of the year, all at the same time. And that deserves a mention all of its own.

Well now there's an idea, Colleen. Since I read 175 books this year, there's no way I'm going to list them best to worst. This is so arbitrary, anyway. There's no way I could pick a 'loved most', although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. But when I truly hate them, I stop reading.

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. ..."

Let's see. I wonder what that would be. Hmmm.

Chris wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. ..."

Let's see. I wonder what that would be. Hmmm."

I see where your mind is always going.

Kevin wrote: "Chris wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. ..."

Let's see. I wonder what that would be. Hmmm."

I see where your mind is always going."

I didn't even once mention sex in this thread.

LOL

Chris wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. ..."

Let's see. I wonder what that would be. Hmmm."

The one that most comes to mind is Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.. I had Storm Born on my 'do not read' list; and two on my 'do not finish' list - the ones already mention and The Warded Man, which I gave up on about half way through. I finished The Forgotten Garden, but hated it.

What did you assume I meant?

And now that I've listed those as worst, I have to say the best were

8 books in the Wars of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts

6 books of the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett

12 books of the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh

@Sandra - I'd actually forgotten that you'd hated Pillars. If I had remembered, that would have been my guess.

I missed that you didn't like The Warded Man. I gave it 5-stars, which shows how we'll agree whole-heartedly on one book (say, Lions of Al-Rassan) but disagree on another.

I had actually thought you were thinking of The Way of Kings, since you had just mentioned not liking it only moments before in another thread...

Chris wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Chris wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "although I could probably pick a 'hated most' LOL. ..."

Let's see. I wonder what that would be. Hmmm."

I see where your mind is always going."
..."
That is not what I meant and you know that just don't get started and destory this thread.

I haven't compiled my whole list yet, but off the top of my head I'd list

The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
& Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub

as the top 2. That's not counting re-reads, which would skew the list. I'll get the rest of my picks together later.

You've now taken 2 shots at me in this thread and I'm discussing books with Sandra. Who's destroying the thread?

Chris wrote: "I haven't compiled my whole list yet, but off the top of my head I'd list

The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
& Black House by [author:Stephen King|..."

Oh, I forgot Lions. But I read many books I rated 5 stars that I didn't list. That's what I meant about it being so hard to say what's best.

I didn't 'not like' Way of Kings. I gave it 3 stars because I thought the ending was good. Other parts were pretty good as well. BUT vast numbers of pages bored me, annoyed me, and made me go 'Hunh?' for plot holes and inconsistencies. I just don't think it deserved all the hype, and, as with many books I give 3 stars, I probably won't read any more Sanderson. I was only using it as an example of 'superhype' that tends to turn me off.

The Way of Kings is the same for me, but still liked, felt it could get better with the next book. Black House is a book that I tried and tried countless times to get in, but the people of the town's life was boring. On the other hand, The Talisman I loved it so much, pure King and fantasy mixed together, what is better than that.
Another book, Chris, we are just going to have to disagree on, Black House.

Chris, want to knwo how did you like The Talisman?

@Kevin - Black House actually took me a good while to get into it. It was a huge shift of tone from The Talisman and nearly put me off. But I stuck with it and decided by the end that it's one of my favorite King books ever. That says a lot, too.

@Sandra - Fair enough. 'Superhype' does tend to leave a bad taste in peoples' mouths. I'll read it soon, I'm sure. Not based on hype but that I've read all 3 Mistborn books and Warbreaker, and rated them all 5-star books. Also, if you count the 2 WoT books, that's 6 Sanderson works out of 6 that I've given 5-stars to.

So ok, lets then add Towers of Midnight to my top list. I'm really going to have to organize a list now. A list that's just a list and not wordy explanation.

Kevin wrote: "Chris, want to knwo how did you like The Talisman?"

Yes, also a 5-star book. I re-read it in 2010 and actually upgraded it from 4-stars. It had a nice feel with a little maturity (though that's certainly debatable. That I have any.)

That's just one of many reasons I won't list re-reads on my top 10. They'd be all over it.

That is how all this should have work out. I think it was too much for a 11 year old to have to go through alone til half way through.

Tower of Midnight, possiblity of the better Wheel of Time books, much better than the Gathering Storm, which was more of one sided. I t was nice to spread it around.

I'm not going to list all of my books here, but I've been thinking it over and I have a few to mention.

My favorites that I read this year, in no particular order:

Mistborn: The Final Empire by
Brandon Sanderson
The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan

And my least favorites (less of those, it was a good year):

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Dawn, agree with you on Garden of the Moon, just one of those books that everyone told me to read. When I read the book I could not get pass the writing style to know what the plot was. This was just not my cup of tea.

It's funny. I agree most positively with Dawn's favorite list. But I disagree on GotM.

I had no problem with the style.. I just felt no connection at all to the characters, I really didn't care whether they lived or died. I can respect it for what it is, it was very well written and the plot was detailed and complex, but it just didn't click for me. Oh well, you can't like them all, book slut or not.

Chris wrote: "It's funny. I agree most positively with Dawn's favorite list. But I disagree on GotM."

*shakes fist*

:)

Awwww. Still ♥ you. We can't always agree. People might get suspicious if we did.

I agree.

Wait!

I mean I disagree.

...

Right?

Time for coffee I think.

Best Books:
Mad Ship (Robin Hobb)
Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)
The Great Hunt (RJ)
The Shadow Rising (RJ)
The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)
Shadow's Edge (Brent Weeks)
A Man Betrayed (JV Jones)
His Majesty's Dragon (Naomi Novik)

OK Books:
Ship of Destiny (Robin Hobb)
The Black Jewels Trilogy (Anne Bishop)
Foundation (Mercedes Lackey)
Throne of Jade (Naomi Novik)
The Dragon Reborn (RJ)
Lord of Chaos (RJ)
The Fires of Heaven (RJ)
Song in the Silence (Elizabeth Kerner)
Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay)
The Belgariad (David Eddings)
Rain Wild Chronicles (Robin Hobb)
Rhiannon's Ride Trilogy (Kate Forsyth)
The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson)
The Chronicles of Amber vol. 2 (Roger Zelazny)
Master and Fool (JV Jones)

Didn't Love:
The Chronicles of Amber vol. 1 (Roger Zelazny)
The Baker's Boy (JV Jones)
Ship of Magic (Robin Hobb)
Black Powder War (Naomi Novik)
A Crown of Swords -> Crossroads of Twilight (Robert Jordan)

Hated:
American Gods (Neil Gaimon)

Hated:
American Gods (Neil Gaimon)
..."

LOL, I felt the same.

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Hated:
American Gods (Neil Gaimon)
..."

LOL, I felt the same."

How come both of you hated American Gods?

Kevin wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Hated:
American Gods (Neil Gaimon)
..."

LOL, I felt the same."

How come both of you hated American Gods?"

It's hard to explain, there was a lot of potential with the whole idea of gods, but it was just so horribly carried out. I hated the characters and nothing was happening at all in the book to keep me interested. I never finished it because I heard that the 2nd half of the book was basically the same.

I'm trying to remember all the books I read this year. Though I know that it is not anywhere near the numbers that some of us have read there are enough that I really can't list them all let alone rate them.
My contribution is a list of the books that would vie for my favorite book of 2010.

The Way of Kings
A Dog's Purpose
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Suitable Boy
Three Cups of Tea
The Poisonwood Bible
Middlesex
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

It is interesting as I review this list that only one book would qualify as fantasy. I didn't read many fantasy novels in 2010 that I found exceptional. I did finish the Terry Brooks High Druid series, reread Eddings and finished the McCaffery dragonriders books, but none of them really blew me away in the same way that A Thousand Splendid Suns did.
I know 2011 will be a much better year for fantasy reading since I will have some wonderful
recommendations from my fellow fantasy book club members.

i just started on my fantasy kick so there's not a lot in there, but here goes:

ASoIaF- Martin (almost done with AFFC)
Ender's Game- Card
Norwegian Wood- Murakami (Favorite author ALL TIME!!)
Jesus's Son- Johnson
Tree of Smoke- Johnson
Cat's Cradle- Vonnegut
Number 9 Dream- Mitchell
Ender's Shadow- Card

those are all my favorites!!! the five before Ender's Shadow really come in at a tie for third.

This is in no particular order except chronological but the outstanding books I read last year (in fiction) were:

The Napoleon of Notting Hill, G.K. Chesterton
Lolly Willowes : Or the Loving Huntsman, Sylvia Townsend Warner
Mr. Fortune's Maggot, Warner
Summer Will Show, Warner
The White Paternoster and Other Stories. T.F. Powys
Father Adam, Powys
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
Lorna Doone, R.D. Blackmore
Mock's Curse: Nineteen Stories, Powys
The Selected Stories, Warner
Kraken, China Mieville
The Marquise of O and Other Stories, Heinrich von Kleist
The Corner That Held Them, Warner
The Music at Long Verney: Short Stories, Warner

Honorable Mentions:
David Mack's Star Trek novels
Anchorwick, Jeffrey Barlough
The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan
The City & The City, Mieville
Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin Anderson

Stay aways:
The Caryatids, Bruce Sterling
Enchanted Pilgrimage, Clifford Simak
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Robert Howard

Matthew wrote: "i just started on my fantasy kick so there's not a lot in there, but here goes:

ASoIaF- Martin (almost done with AFFC)
Ender's Game- Card
Norwegian Wood- Murakami (Favorite author ALL TIME!!)
Jes..."

I just got Norwegian Wood a while ago, was recommended to me by a visiting Japanese professor since I spent some time in Kobe!

Top 5 books i gave 5 stars:

Night's Master by Tanith Lee
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Warded Man By Peter V.Brett
Changes by Jim Butcher
Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop

Books I gave 1 or 2 stars:

Flirt by laurell K. Hamilton
Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Wow, going through my list of fantasy I read in 2010 has made me realize I did not read as much of this genre as I thought last year. I read 183 books total and only 12 of those were fantasy (not counting urban fantasy). Also I did not hate any that I did read; they all got 4 or 5 stars.

5 stars:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Naamah's Curse
The Way of Kings
Daughter of the Forest

4 stars:
Lord of the Changing Winds
The Mists of Avalon
Raven's Shadow
The Last Stormlord
The Battle Sylph
Warrior
Crown of Crystal Flame
The Crown Conspiracy

My favorites are.

Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and BS
Name of The wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Assasin's Aprentice by Robin Hobb
Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

The books i didn't like were.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell By Susanna Clark
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peak
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Ellen wrote: "Matthew wrote: "i just started on my fantasy kick so there's not a lot in there, but here goes:

ASoIaF- Martin (almost done with AFFC)
Ender's Game- Card
Norwegian Wood- Murakami (Favorite author..."

Norwegian Wood is different from Murakami's other works. Its his romance novel. It still has the Murakami feel and magical realism, but is slightly more main stream. I love it, but i love EVERYTHING he writes. Its also the book that made him popular with the masses. Enjoy!

As I only joined Goodreads recently I find it difficult to even list which books I read this year (or actually in 2010) and it would be even more difficult to list them in order of preferences as different books have appealed to me in different ways. What I can and will do is list my biggest literary discoveries of 2010.
1. Mike Carey has to be first on the list as his Felix Castor books blew me away. I had dabbled some in the Urban Fantasy books previsouly, but Carey’s ability to create such a bleak and dark world, while at the same time do it in such a humorous and warm way was impressive. Let me share my favorite quote from the first book The Devil You Know where the protagonist’s restless is described as "I prowled about the house all day like a hermit with haemorrhoids..". The other reason I came to love Carey’s books is that he has chosen to ‘break the mold’, in changing the concepts of genre enough to create a world of his own. Felix Castor isn’t a detective, but his character fit enough into the role that I would I would label his books as Paranormal Noir. Unfortunately he has only written five books so far, but if you’re familiar with graphic novels you might recognize his name. Looking for something similar I also found Jim Butcher’s Dresden files.
2. The second discovery was two other authors that like Mike Carey changes the formula for ‘Urban Fantasy’ (which is a label I’ve come to loath during the last year, even if I like the books in that genre) enough to create something new. In Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom books the magic that Allie wields has consequences, which adds a definite flavor to the story as a whole, which I find quite appealing. The other author is Ilona Andrews who in her books about Kate Daniels has create a world where magic and technology can blend, if not quite co-exist, which adds an interesting seasoning to her world. The stories lean a bit much towards PNR, to be fully enjoyable.
3. Reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest re-awakened my interest for classic Sci-Fi, which I plan to explore in 2011. It reminded me of when I discovered H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds the best told SF story I’ve found, even if it would probably classify as Steampunk today. To write it as a travel journal, although not uncommon at the time, was a stroke of genius. If you haven’t read it then I strongly recommend that you give it a try.
4. Mark Del Franco and M.L.N. Hanover get’s an honorable mention as they also offered new takes on the genre and even though I wouldn’t call them great, they were good enough to work as relaxing entertainment. I wanted to mention another author/book as well, but the names have gotten lost in the fog that was once my memories. (I’ve also failed to add it to my book list here at Goodreads, which irks me). It was a strange story about a dream walking demon slayer, with welsh (?) heritage and a zombie apprentice. Let me know if you recognize it.
5. The last discovery on the list is Lauren K. Hamilton’s books about Anita Blake, which I found strangely appealing – not due to the story – but due to the seemingly unedited (or at least poorly edited) state of the books at release. Guilty Pleasures was the most obvious one and I would probably never have read another book in the series, if I hadn’t bought the first two books at the same time. The first books showed quite clearly the maturing of Hamilton’s authorship and as I’m approaching the tenth book, my interest has migrated to how she chooses to develop the world and the character over time and books in the series. So I can recommend the series if you want to ‘meta read’ a series.

I haven't read any books I disliked but I didn't get Modesitt L.E. Jr.'s book Haze and it was a struggle to get through Charles Yu's book How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.