Best Books I Read in 2015:

This year I read 68 books.  These are what I consider the best of the list (in the order I read the books).

     1.      Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (2009) William Morrow

Richard Mayhew has a good heart and a harpy for a girlfriend.  He is almost hit by a girl who collapses, bleeding on the sidewalk.  He stops to help her and slips through reality into a world he can’t imagine existed.  He lands in Neverwhere, home to the girl, Door, who he helped. She turns out to be a noblewoman who is dedicated to finding whomever it was who killed her family, no matter the cost.  A wild and wonderful ride through a land only Gaiman could imagine.

     2.      All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (1992) Alfred A. Knopf

A beautifully written post-modern western about a young Texan and his friends decide to make a tour of northern Mexico, before having to settle down to ranch life.

     3.      The Round House by Louise Erdrich  (2012) Harper

The wife of a tribal judge is raped on the reservation.  Her son discovers that it happened at the round house.  He and his friends pursue the mystery, but the solution costs more than anyone expected.  Won the National Book Award

     4.      The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger (2010) Harry N. Abrams

A woman encounters a bookmobile one night that contains every book she has ever read.  The bookmobile disappears and she starts a search for the bookmobile. That turns into an obsession, as she for her memories.

   5.     Another Life by Andrew Vachss (2008) Pantheon 

In the final Burke novel, the man for hire that strikes terror in the hearts and minds of pedophiles, must find the two-year-old son of a Saudi Prince, and return him to his family.  The payoff is the medicine necessary to save the Prof and a clean slate for Burke’s current family.  What the kidnappers don’t know is that Burke can channel Wesley, the killer that saved Burke more than once.  They don’t stand a chance.

    6.     Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008) Grand Central Publishing 

In Stalin’s Soviet Union, the loss of a child is no crime.  But Leo Demidov is not convinced the child was not murdered.

A war hero with a beautiful wife, he lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents.  His only ambition has been to serve his country.  For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated.  He is demoted and denounced by enemies he didn’t know he had.

In a country where officially they live in paradise, it is a crime against the Soviet state to suggest that a serial killer is in their midst.

7.  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood  (1998) Knopf 

Speculative fiction at its scariest best.  After a second American Civil War caused by environmental disasters and a declining birthrate, a breakaway Republic of Gilead enforces a totalitarian theocracy enforcing rigid social roles and enslaves fertile women. Those in the elite levels are allowed to have handmaids to bear children to perpetuate their families.  This is the story of how one such handmaid, Offred, refuses to forget her husband, her child or even her name.

8.  Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane (1996) William Morrow 

Boston can be dark, especially if the Irish mob is after you.  Kenzie and Gennaro try to protect a prominent psychiatrist.  But there is more darkness hidden in secrets than they can possibly expect.

9.  Waiting by Ha Jin (1999) Pantheon Books

The human condition in modern China.  Every year, a doctor in the Chinese Army visits the village wh3ere he was born, hoping to end his arranged marriage.  Each year he returns to the nurse he loves, having to postpone his engagement once again.  They have been waiting eighteen years.  This won the National Book Award.

10. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1996) Alfred A. Knopf

Lyra, a girl whose uncle, Asriel is magical, follows kidnappers who have taken her friend Roger and gone north.  Where there are clans of witches and armored bears who rule the snowy lands.  Lyra is fierce and persistent and will not stop looking for her friend, not even when she finds him in her evil stepmother’s clutches.  This makes her the perfect champion to fulfill Asriel’s scheme to build a bridge to a parallel world.

Non-Fiction: Ten Rules of Writing by Elmore Leonard, illustrated by Joe Ciardiello

An unforgettable and hilarious list of rules for writers.

 

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton (1993)

Anita Blake covers the city of St. Louis, re-animating the dead for families to get one last piece of needed information, and killing the undead who have broken the law.  But she must confront her feelings for the city’s master vampire, one of the creatures she has sworn to destroy.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The First Death by Laurell K Hamilton (2008) Marvel

Where the vampire hunter helps the police find a serial killer of children.  But she needs help and calls on a supernatural hitman to solve the case.

Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman (2008) Doubleday Childrens

Lee Scoresby is a Texan, and an aeronaut.  He’s won a balloon and is learning to fly it.  He floats into the far north and lands on an island and finds three corrupt enemies, including a killer who is his nemesis.  He forms an alliance with the armored bears to help him win an old-fashioned gun fight.  You meet them next in The Golden Compass.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1996) Alfred A. Knopf

Lyra, a girl whose uncle, Asriel is magical, follows kidnappers who have taken her friend Roger and gone north. Where there are clans of witches and armored bears who rule the snowy lands. Lyra is fierce and persistent and will not stop looking for her friend, not even when she finds him in her evil stepmother’s clutches. This makes her the perfect champion to fulfill Asriel’s scheme to build a bridge to a parallel world.

Agent 6 by Tom Robb Smith (2012) Grand Central Publishing

The third book in the Child 44 trilogy.  Leo Demidov’s wife and two adopted daughters are invited to travel to New York City, but Leo is forbidden to travel.  This ends in tragedy and Leo’s request to investigate is denied.  So he goes after agent 6 in a roundabout fashion, first travelling to Afghanistan, and eventually to the streets of New York.

The Exile by Diana Gabaldon, illustrated by Hoang Nguyen 

Jamie returns to Scotland to his clan, welcomed with mixed feelings.  His father wants his son to swear loyalty and serve the clan.  The war chieftain wants him gone.  And the mysterious Claire, thought by Jamie’s godfather is sent by the Old Ones, seems drawn to Jamie.

Arrowsmith by Kurt Busiek & Carlos Pacheco (2004) WildStorm

A reimagined World War I where dragons and magicians are involved in the war.

The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith (2009) Grand Central Publishing

A follow-up to Child 44, Stalin is dead and those struggling for power will use any means necessary to replace him.  Khrushchev writes a secret speech indicting Stalin as a corrupt tyrant, promising change in the Soviet Union.  Leo Demidov has to deal with the consequences of what he has done before.  He and his wife are raising two girls they rescued, but at the cost of the death of the girl's parents.  And someone is intent on vengeance against them all.

American Widow by Alissa Torres, illustrated by Sungyoon Choi (2008) Villard

A story about loss, about 9/11 about the panic caused throughout the world, especially those who lose spouses because of hate.

On the Accidental Wings of Dragons by Julie Wetzel (2015) Crimson Tree Publishing

Paranormal fantasy romance.  A woman, whose brother is the king of dragons, is thrown into a dungeon.  There is a man chained to the wall.  She has no voice and cannot speak the magic that could save them, but still, she unchains him, and they escape.  Only she is attracted so strongly to him it is a distraction as they run for their lives.

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson (1995) Little Brown

Two different women are killed across the country from each other.  Only this time there are two different killers collaborating to make solving the cases harder than ever.

The Poet's Survival Guide by LB Sedlacek (2006) self-published

A short practical guide with glossary and definitions so a poet can submit the right kindf of poem to paying markets.

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech (1972) HarperCollins

The sequel to Love That Dog, the poor cat takes the brunt of everything bad that happened to the dog.  Humorous and fast paced poems will bring laughter and tears to your eyes.

Tale of Sand by Jim Henson & Jerry Juhl (2012) Archaia Entertainment

Mac can fix anything, except his predicament.  A tale from Jim Henson’s archives.  This tale of a man on the run, encountering the absurd in a desert, provides a glimpse into the mind of a genius storyteller.

Waiting by Ha Jin (1999) Pantheon Books

The human condition in modern China.  Every year, a doctor in the Chinese Army visits the village where he was born, hoping to end his arranged marriage.  Each year he returns to the nurse he loves, having to postpone his engagement once again.  They have been waiting eighteen years.