Your top 10 favorite reads of 2008

[soulsinging]

Heh i finished Killing of the Tinkers recently. Nice to see another fan of Bruen !

Do you like Bruen and Jack Taylor books ? I love reading his special writing style and the dark but funny stories of Jack Taylor. More of dark novel than crime books that series.

I read him only this month for the first but i devoured Guards and Tinkers book. Guards beated it to my top 10 reads.

Good to see Lehane best book of Kenzie/Gennaro series too in the list.

I have read all the Jack Taylor books aside from the most recent one... Cross I think. The books ARE very dark and kinda remind me of Chandler in that they are less about the mystery "plot" and more about the protagonist and his moral strivings and failings. Sometimes it gets a bit over the top, but always fascinating.

The Lehane books are among my all-time favs!

 

[Connavar]

I have read all the Jack Taylor books aside from the most recent one... Cross I think. The books ARE very dark and kinda remind me of Chandler in that they are less about the mystery "plot" and more about the protagonist and his moral strivings and failings. Sometimes it gets a bit over the top, but always fascinating.

The Lehane books are among my all-time favs!

Have you read Jim Thompson? He is a bigger influence on Bruen. The first Jack Taylor book is very similar to The Killer Inside Me. He even mentions it in the first.

If you like Bruen try more Hardboiled crime writers. Other than Chandler,Thompson i have found these really good; Ross Macdonald,Cornell Woolrich,Richard Stark.

Lehane i like but there are few of his kind today in american crime. There were many in the eras of the writers i mentioned.

 

[soulsinging]

Have you read Jim Thompson? He is a bigger influence on Bruen. The first Jack Taylor book is very similar to The Killer Inside Me. He even mentions it in the first.

If you like Bruen try more Hardboiled crime writers. Other than Chandler,Thompson i have found these really good; Ross Macdonald,Cornell Woolrich,Richard Stark.

Lehane i like but there are few of his kind today in american crime. There were many in the eras of the writers i mentioned.

Yeah, the greatest class I took in college was a seminar on the detective novel... it was a blast and introduced me to the basics. We started with wilkie collins, conan doyle, and agatha christie, but also samples hammett and chandler. I've been hooked ever since.

Ross MacDonald is one I've been flirting with for a while, and I saw you mention Stark elsewhere and may look into him soon. But first I want to get caught up on Jim Butcher's Dresden files. I'm also getting hooked on John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels. They're an interesting bunch... kinda blurs the line between horror and the supernatural and the classic noir detective. Fascinating stuff.

 

[Connavar]

Heh i enjoy Dresden series alot, one of the reasons is that Butcher blend the classic noir detective flavour into it. Harry is totally a modern Phillip Marlowe with a twist of the fantastical. Charlie Parker i have the first book. Havent seen anything of the supernatural yet. Just real dark crime stuff.

My fascination in crime/noir fiction is reading books about criminal or messed up people like Jack Taylor. Thats why Donald Westlake is my favorite crime writer cause of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_(fictional_criminal).

I have read alot about heroic PI now its seeing it from the other POV.

 

[elvet]

Well, if I'm only limited to 10:
The First Law trilogy (Abercrombie)
The Empress trilogy (Feist and Wurts)
Second Sons trilogy (Fallon)
Red Seas under Red Skies (Lynch)

 

[soulsinging]

Heh i enjoy Dresden series alot, one of the reasons is that Butcher blend the classic noir detective flavour into it. Harry is totally a modern Phillip Marlowe with a twist of the fantastical. Charlie Parker i have the first book. Havent seen anything of the supernatural yet. Just real dark crime stuff.

My fascination in crime/noir fiction is reading books about criminal or messed up people like Jack Taylor. Thats why Donald Westlake is my favorite crime writer cause of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_(fictional_criminal).

I have read alot about heroic PI now its seeing it from the other POV.

That link didn't work for me. Connolly doesn't really go into explicit supernatural stuff. His main character might be to your liking based on what you said... he's one tortured guy that blurs the line between good and bad. The supernatural element comes more into later books with psychics, Charlie talking to the dead, and similar stuff. It's eerie writing for sure. His first book (Every Dead Thing) is pretty uneven and not fantastic, but the second was excellent and I hear the third ups the bar even more. So I'll be curious what your impressions are.

The Dresden Files is in a class all its own though. There are few novels I have enjoyed reading as much as his!

 

[Connavar]

That link didn't work for me. Connolly doesn't really go into explicit supernatural stuff. His main character might be to your liking based on what you said... he's one tortured guy that blurs the line between good and bad. The supernatural element comes more into later books with psychics, Charlie talking to the dead, and similar stuff. It's eerie writing for sure. His first book (Every Dead Thing) is pretty uneven and not fantastic, but the second was excellent and I hear the third ups the bar even more. So I'll be curious what your impressions are.

The Dresden Files is in a class all its own though. There are few novels I have enjoyed reading as much as his!

A career criminal, Parker is a classic example of an antihero, and has almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is cold, methodical, and perfectly willing to commit murder to get what he wants.

There are many timeless books about him. Unlike the discription he is very likeable. Since his world is mostly full criminal or people worse than him.

I have actully read 3/4 of the first Charlie Parker book. Not too impressive but there is potential in the writing of Connelly. So i really hope the second book is better.

 

[soulsinging]

A career criminal, Parker is a classic example of an antihero, and has almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is cold, methodical, and perfectly willing to commit murder to get what he wants.

There are many timeless books about him. Unlike the discription he is very likeable. Since his world is mostly full criminal or people worse than him.

I have actully read 3/4 of the first Charlie Parker book. Not too impressive but there is potential in the writing of Connelly. So i really hope the second book is better.

That sounds intriguing... kinda like that tv show Dexter. I'll look into it.

I almost gave up on John Connolly after that first book because it seemed so unfocused, and not to kill your desire to finish, but the ending was very unsatisfying to me. But he IS a good writer so I gave the second book a chance and it was a lot better. I'm looking forward to the third. He's very good at creating mood.

 

[Razorback]

2008 was a bit light on reading for me at 42 books. My 10 favorites, in the order read follow.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick
Diaspora, by Greg Egan
Darwin’s Children, by Greg Bear
Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
The Songs of Distant Earth, by Arthur C. Clarke
Hothouse, by Brian Aldiss
Slan, by A.E. van Vogt
Heretics of Dune, by Frank Herbert


Callahan’s Secret, by Spider Robinson

 

[DeepThought]

I'm leaving out gaphic novels. Though I have to say, read some really good ones.

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
The First Book of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
The Second Book of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
Reapers Gale by Steven Erikson
The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

 

[Shamu]

In no particular order:

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss.
The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks.
Storm Born - Richelle Mead.
Armed and Magical - Lisa Shearin.
Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews.
The High Kings Tomb - Kristen Britain.
Poison Study - Maria V Snyder.
The Blade itself - Joe Abercrombie.
Dead Reign - T. A. Pratt.
Cast in Fury - Michelle Segara West

 

[Taltos]

The top 10 became actually top 11 - and it would be even longer if I added other Stross books in here:

Randall Garrett “Too Many Magicians”
Charles Stross "The Jennifer Morgue"
Alastair Reynolds “Century Rain”
Roger Zelazny “Creatures of Light and Darkness”
Richard K. Morgan “Black Man”
Richard K. Morgan “Market Forces”
Daniel Keyes “Flowers for Algernon”
Jim Butcher “Dead Beat”
Jim Butcher “Proven Guilty”
Jim Butcher “White Night”
Jim Butcher “Small Favor”