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Haha! We just started calling our aggressive cat Tickle Me HellNo.

Best books so far in 2015:
- How to Be Both
- Civil War Land in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella
- Astonish Me
- ´³±ð°ù³Ü²õ²¹±ôé³¾
- Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes
- Seiobo There Below
- MW

Hehehe - I expect cat pics.

I've hijacked a thread which was started by someone else who has since been deleted, but which I wanted to keep for the sake of Marc's helpful list above.

Since I've been MIA for the last 18 months or so, what have I missed? What have been the great books of 2015 to date?

More importantly, what have been the great books you've read this year to date, including earlier works?

Hey!! I didn't know you were MIA so long... my contributions have also been a bit patchy D:

I am about to go on a major Lionel Shriver binge and so keeping the cava close ;) Big Brother was great and A Perfectly Good Family was readable, haha! I love her approach to writing, though: a kind of social service the way she chooses issues and reveals hard truths about them- haven't left a book of hers not feeling changed, so far :)

Really enjoyed The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer also, but MAN can Stephenson ramble!! He must be the rambliest author about! Luckily there's usually a clear break between ramble and story, his ideas are super inventive and he’s having too much fun not to join in :)

Also discovered a love of Lorrie Moore through Like Life and Bradbury through The Martian Chronicles

Lots of indie standouts including anemogram. by Rebecca Gransden and The Rooster Republic Years by Arthur Graham

David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing changed my perception of YA from “I don’t have to write for big people� since it is an amazing book in its own right.

°ä²¹³¾³Ü²õâ€� The Fall is the best philosophical novel I’ve read.

Hope there's some good stuff in the above :D

Thanks for that. I just haven't had the time/heart/health/headspace to read much for the last 18 months, but I've lately started lingering around my bookshelves again. I sense a reading binge coming back..

I added anemogram. to my TBR based purely on your enthusiasm. The GR book page blurb doesn't do it any favours, but I trust your taste in short stories!

Ruby wrote: "I added anemogram. to my TBR based purely on your enthusiasm. The GR book page blurb doesn't do it any favours, but I trust your taste in short stories! "

Looking forward to your thoughts should you get round to it :) I am pals with the author so I will ask her if it's cool to pass you a review copy :)

Over the last year or two, I've been continuing to discover how much great new horror is being written these days, mostly short stories. A lot of them I hear on podcasts like Nightmare Magazine and Pseudopod. There's also some great collections edited by Ellen Datlow as well Michael Bailey (Qualia Nous, the Chiral Mad series). It seems to me the horror story is where a lot of the most original and challenging ideas are coming from these days.

Some of the best actual books I've read this year (a couple in common with Marc, we're in another GR group together)
The Corpse Exhibition: And Other Stories of Iraq
Jerusalem
Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy
Seiobo There Below
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn
The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest
The Girl with All the Gifts
Shadowshaper

Ruby wrote: "Since I've been MIA for the last 18 months or so, what have I missed? What have been the great books of 2015 to date?"

Far more important: are you back? We've missed you :-(

For actual books you may have missed, I've just started The Traitor Baru Cormorant which has had some of my favorite reviewers at loggerheads: and since they're friends, it makes it even more interesting. Plus Max Gladstone, who is awesome himself, thinks it's pretty amazing. So, there's that.

Plus (did I mention?) Max Gladstone. I picked up Two Serpents Rise in an e-book sale, but didn't want to start it (still haven't) until I'd read Three Parts Dead, which was great. This year's entry in that series is #4, Last First Snow, so I'm a long way from caught up. None of them are really dependent on the others. The characters don't often repeat.

The Three-Body Problem was not actually 2015, as I read it last Christmas, but probably in the last 18 months, and definitely one of my favorite reads of the last few years. I haven't seen The Dark Forest, yet, but I'll be reading it as soon as I get my hands on it.

The Martian was both a much better book AND movie than I expected.

Rule 34 was also better than expected, now I have to read more Stross.

Zero Sum Game was another great find this year. Y/A, but doesn't talk down.

And now for something completely different: I finally got around to The Blind Assassin. I don't really understand why I enjoy Margaret Atwood at all, but I do and I think this might be my favorite so far.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Plus (did I mention?) Max Gladstone. I picked up Two Serpents Rise in an e-book sale, but didn't want to start it (still haven't) until I'd read Three Parts Dead, which was great. ..."

Never heard of him before, does look great, thanks.

You haven't heard of him! Start with , which is a great short story on tor.com.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "
Far more important: are you back? We've missed you :-(
..."

Nnnawww. Thanks! Yes, I'm back - I have some time on my hands right now, which as usual means there's trouble in paradise, but whatevs!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess I'm caught up now, huh?

I have come across a couple more to add to my TBR from some recent mailing lists, including my partner's recommendation of A Brief History of Seven Killings and the two new ones from Mark Z. Danielewski in the Familiar series. I'm also keen to get hold of the special edition of Slade House, and also Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel.

This thread is great--it's almost all of my fav GR recommenders in one place!

A second vote of confidence from me for anemogram., The Three-Body Problem, and The Blind Assassin!

Have been hesitant to delve into the new Mark Z series because it's supposed to be a ridiculous number of volumes...

Was thinking of developing multiple personality disorder to allow each personality to read a separate book at the same time but the sharing of the same set of eyeballs seems like a design flaw in the plan...

I think The Girl with All the Gifts was excellent. I also discovered this My Life as a White Trash Zombie.

I too am planning on reading The Blind Assassin, she has a new book out The Heart Goes Last. I want to read that one as well.

Marc wrote: "Was thinking of developing multiple personality disorder to allow each personality to read a separate book at the same time but the sharing of the same set of eyeballs seems like a design flaw in the plan... "

Curses! Back to the drawing board..

Marc wrote: "Was thinking of developing multiple personality disorder to allow each personality to read a separate book at the same time but the sharing of the same set of eyeballs seems like a design flaw in the plan... "

The plan needs a little refinement, but I think you're onto something. There's a book on my reading list from this year that had a character a little like that� Blindsight: her psyche intentionally fragmented, iirc, to allow her to better multitask. Still sharing one set of eyeballs, though.

Ruby wrote: "I have come across a couple more to add to my TBR from some recent mailing lists, including my partner's recommendation of A Brief History of Seven Killings and the two new ones from Mark Z. Danielewski in the Familiar series. I'm also keen to get hold of the special edition of Slade House, and also Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel..."

Looks like we'll probably reading A Brief History over in 21st Century Lit in December. I share Marc's reserve about the Danielewski, what's your opinion? Bats caught my eye as well, and at US$15 on Amazon, can't go wrong for such a gorgeous book.

PS, nice to have you back.

Maybe one personality could sleep while another reads or one personality could use an eyeball to keep an eye on the road while another personality uses the other eye to read....

I'll report back on success rate (just picked up the last Neapolitan novel--The Story of the Lost Child--and Three Parts Dead from the library).

Whitney wrote: "PS, nice to have you back. .."

Thanks, Whitney. How many volumes are there supposed to be in the Danielewski series?

27, I believe. The man is nothing if not self-confident.

Whitney wrote: "27, I believe. The man is nothing if not self-confident."

Ummm..... what?! Is this for real? Is he doing like a Green Mile thing, or what?

It's what he claimed. Who knows if it's actually going to happen. At least the installments of The Green Mile weren't 880 pages long.

Whitney wrote: "It's what he claimed. Who knows if it's actually going to happen. At least the installments of The Green Mile weren't 880 pages long."

After reading this though, I'm pretty convinced I NEED that series...

Whitney wrote: "It's what he claimed. Who knows if it's actually going to happen. At least the installments of The Green Mile weren't 880 pages long."

I suspect Robert Jordan could have made The Wheel of Time 27 volumes if he had avoided dying before he finished it.

Given the visual nature of the Danielewski series, maybe 27 volumes isn't that ridiculous. Think of it like a limited comic book series... (I'm still not ready to dive in, but it's on the back burner.)

I'll wait until you or Ruby have tried it on for size. Like "Only Revolutions", the question seems to be whether it's groundbreakingly original or pretentious crap. Or both.

Whitney wrote: "I'll wait until you or Ruby have tried it on for size. Like "Only Revolutions", the question seems to be whether it's groundbreakingly original or pretentious crap. Or both."

I'm expecting both, to be honest. I loved HoL, but it had its pretentious moments. I love to see writers take a risk though.

The NPR reviewer who was not so excited about Vol 1 of The Familiar is rather more ravey about Vol 2.

I forgot to mention the iClassics interactive Poe stories as a favorite read of the year, and now there's the iLovecraft stories as well. It would probably lose a lot on a phone, but it's pretty great on an iPad. Here's the YouTube trailer: . Sorry if for some reason it's not available outside the US, I don't know how to check.

I don't know either. But I'm in the UK now, and it plays fine.

Good. I hope the apps are universal as well.

Whitney wrote: "The NPR reviewer who was not so excited about Vol 1 of The Familiar is rather more ravey about Vol 2. ..."

Gargh! Must. Have. NOW....

Whitney wrote: "I forgot to mention the iClassics interactive Poe stories as a favorite read of the year, and now there's the iLovecraft stories as well. It would probably lose a lot on a phone, but it's pretty gr..."

Oh. WOW. Those look amazing! I want to rush out and buy an iPad just for iLovecraft! I really wouldn't bother on my crappy old iPhone though. I'd just be wanting the full experience.

One more thing I've really been loving lately is a few serial podcasts telling weird tales done in the format of non-fiction serials. The main problem with them is having to wait a couple weeks for each new installment.

"Tanis" takes a reference in an obscure SF story and incorporates lots of real life conspiracy theories (Markovian Parallax Denigrate, anyone?) into its story or the search for a somewhat terrifying mythical location.

"The Black Tapes Podcast" starts as one thing, but rapidly expands into a tangle of interwoven strange events.

"Limetown" is about a town founded for secretive research purpose where all the inhabitants suddenly disappeared.

"The Message" is about a group of cryptographer's efforts to decipher a message sent by aliens back in the 40's (the message that is, the story is contemporary).

Whitney wrote: "One more thing I've really been loving lately is a few serial podcasts telling weird tales done in the format of non-fiction serials. The main problem with them is having to wait a couple weeks for..."

Those sound amazing! Where do you find the time?

Podcasts, like audiobooks, can be conveniently experienced while doing many other activities. My main listening times are dog walking (I have a very energetic 70 lb dog, there is lots of walking and ball tossing), driving, and making breakfast. I discovered all these podcasts while on the tail end of a lengthy road trip, so I binged listened up to the current episodes.

I used to listen to the news in the mornings, but lately I find I prefer fictional horror to the real-life Clown Car of Terror that is the run-up to the presidential elections here.

Hey Mistress of Chaos! I've missed you, lady! Been way too busy and stressed to follow many threads but still reading as much as humanly possible. Hope all is well. Sunshine kitty says "hi" followed by her usual "fuck you". Keep in touch!

Cora wrote: "Hey Mistress of Chaos! I've missed you, lady! Been way too busy and stressed to follow many threads but still reading as much as humanly possible. Hope all is well. Sunshine kitty says "hi" followe..."

Hey Cora! Good to hear from you! I hear ya on the "busy and stressed" front :(