Top Ten Books I Would Like to Read in 2016

“Never argue with the surreal; there’s no winning against irrationality.”

Kate Griffin

1. Welcome to Night Vale – Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. I just started listening to this podcast, and already I am addicted to its strange blend of small-town banality and Lovecraftian horror (Lovecraft without the bigotry! hurrah!). Also, Cecil’s voice is just hypnotic. Anyway, I’d like to listen to some more of the podcast before I read the book, but it’s definitely something I’d like to read this year.
2. The Neon Court – Kate Griffin. This is the third book in the Matthew Swift series, an extended exercise in urban Gothic which is utterly absorbing. I love Griffin’s writing and I love the way her stories resonate so completely with my own experience of urban living.
3. Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho. I missed this when everyone was reading it in 2015, but it sounds like it could be deeply interesting and adventurous.
4. Ancillary Justice – Ann Leckie. I know I keep saying I am going to read this, BUT THIS TIME I REALLY AM, OK?
5. Satin Island – Tom McCarthy. I think this was on the Booker shortlist last year, and while I don’t usually go in for literary prizewinners Satin Island sounded intriguingly postmodern. If I do ever get around to reading it I think I’ll either hate it or love it.
6. Touch – Clare North. Clare North is actually the same person as Kate Griffin; I read a review of Touch over at the Book Smugglers and it sounded really, really intriguing. So I’d like to keep my eyes out for a copy.
7. Slade House – David Mitchell. At this point I will read anything Mitchell publishes. I just failed at getting around to it in 2015. (To be honest, that’s pretty much the story of 2015.)
8. Wylding Hall – Elizabeth Hand. Another novel that sounds intriguingly postmodern; I’m hoping it will be a bit like Night Film or House of Leaves.
9. Illuminae – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristof. This got amazing reviews when it was published last year, and everything I’ve read about it just screams my name. Narrated through fragments of documents? Secret government conspiracies? Romance that doesn’t compromise the selves of its characters? YES PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.
10. The Blazing World – Siri Hustvedt. This is another one which I think I’ll either love or hate; I read about it at Asking the Wrong Questions, and it sounded atmospheric and interesting. Perhaps.

(The theme for this post was suggested by the Broke and the Bookish’s weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday.)