“Why did people ask “What is it about?” as if a novel had to be about only one thing.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Because this year has already been great reading-wise.
- Becky Chambers. I need the next Wayfarer book. NEED IT NOW.
- Kameron Hurley. I loved God’s War and disliked The Mirror Empire, but I do really enjoy what Hurley does with gender and sexuality and race, so I’m interested to read more of her work.
- Zen Cho. Again, Cho seems like an author to watch in terms of diverse representation; I want to keep an eye out for her short story collection Spirits Abroad.
- Helen Oyeyemi. I love the fairytale influences in her work, and her clever, knowing use of fantastic elements in a way that doesn’t patronise the genre.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I’m not an enormous fan of literary fiction, but Americanah gave me many, many feels, and was a really interesting book to inhabit for a week or so.
- Nnedi Okorafor. I liked Okorafor’s blend of fantastic and science fictional elements in Lagoon, and I’m trying to keep an eye out for her novella Binti as well as The Book of Phoenix.
- Kazuo Ishiguro. Another litfic author; The Buried Giant was right up my alley, an Arthurian work that resonates with Middle English epics. I’d like to try Never Let Me Go next.
- Ann Leckie. The Ancillary series can’t quite live up to the hype, but they are still properly solid SF novels, well characterised with fascinating politics.
- Brian K. Vaughan. I’ve got into graphic novels for the first time this year, and, with the exception of volume 3, Saga has been awesome. I know Vaughan has written a number of other graphic novel series, so they’re high on my list.
- Victoria Schwab. I thought A Darker Shade of Magic was a really original and fascinating fantasy with environmental undertones; now I just have to get round to reading the rest of the series!
(The theme for this post was suggested by the Broke and the Bookish’s weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday.)
The English Student 