Books Of The Year

[Bill]

Right, all the critics have have had their say, every newspaper and magazine from the Sunday Times to The Spectator to Smash Hits has trotted out the usual rentaquotes to pontificate about their Books Of The Year. (Strange how often they seem to have been written by their friends.)

Now it's our turn. So...

1. What is the best book you've read this year?

2. What is the best book you've read which came out this year (paperback or hardback)?

3. What is the worst book you've read this year?

[Blodwyn Pigs Might Fly]

1. BEST THIS YEAR - Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

2. BEST FROM THIS YEAR - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

3. WORST - Has to be Man And Wife by Tony Parsons. It takes some doing to write a novel that is bad in so many different ways.

I suppose 2 and 3 could be the same. Maybe Mark Haddon shades it in both. Kids' book? Who said that?

[BrumB]

Can I have two best books and leave the other categories!

Unless by Carol Shields

I loved this book so much I read it twice. It is hard to fathom how she can say so much with such economy and apparently ordinary detail.

The Time of Our Singing by Robert Powers.

I can't understand why everyone isn't writing about Robert Powers. His writing, structure and subject matter are up there with the best of best books. He covers time, music, history, science and racism with such sophistication and lyricism that it makes you want to go on reading his prose for ever.

I've been lucky not to have read too many disappointing books this year!

[Darkstar]

Best this year - actually not one but a series - I discovered Patrick O'Brien. Of the ones I've read so far HMS Surprise is the one I like best. O'Brien has an astonishing command of language and setting, and wonderful characterisation.

Best from this year - Mark Haddon, Curious Incident. I loved this book. I thought the premise was really original and the way it was written gave me a real sympathy for the protagonist, although I'd probably find him extremely irritating in person.

Worst - the Da Vinvi Code. Wins on cardboard characters, wooden dialogue, manipulative plot, poor research etc etc etc. At least I didn't waste my money and actually buy it.

[Kate Allan]

1. What is the best book you've read this year?

THE EDWARDIANS by Vita Sackvillle-West

(So thought provoking. It's set in a particular class and time, but its simpy felt so 'true' - as if it was non-fiction rather than fiction.)

2. What is the best book you've read which came out this year (paperback or hardback)?

JACK ABSOLUTE by CC Humphreys

(I was simply so refreshed by this exciting story!)

3. What is the worst book you've read this year?

Best not comment. (Author and all that, may come back to haunt me :) )

[doesn't say much]

It's last year now, but I thought I'd contribute.

Best book I read in 2004: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Great characters, great story, great writing.

Best book published in 2004: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. Some writers have the gift of making anything they write about interesting, and Mitchell is one of them.

Worst book I read in 2004: Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre. Just couldn't get into it. It's the first book I haven't been able to finish in a very long time. Oh, and a close runner up: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. What a disappointment!

[Fred Ricketts]

'Mailman' - Robert J Lennon. Expect a film starring Jim Carrey soon - I'd guess. :)

[Granny weatherwax]

Best book this year - Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Best book which came out this year - The vanished man by Jeffery Deaver

Worst book this year - Star of the sea by Joseph O'connor

[caldron]

Best book this year - Any Human Heart ~ William Boyd

Best book which came out this year - Seven Types of Ambiguity ~ Elliot Perlman

Worst book this year - Atomised ~ Michael Houellebecq

[Tess]

Best book I read this year: East of Eden - John Steinbeck

Best book I read released this year: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke or The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Worst book I read this year: Had quite a lucky year with nothing too bad but I suppose the one I enjoyed least was Finding Myself by Toby Litt

[Grammath]

Best Book read - "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Subtle, beautifully written, great character study.

Best 2004 book - "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" by Mark Haddon.
I've raved about this at some length elsewhere. My younger brother's autistic and this really struck a chord and seemed very accurate.

Worst - Didn't read anything I thought was dreadful, but I found "Tender is the Night" the hardest going for the least reward.

[megustaleer]

The Best Book I read in 2004: The Book of Israel by Jeremy Gavron A family saga touching seven generations on four continents in only 300 pages. Unusual and interesting


The Worst Book I finished in 2004; Austerlitz by W.G. Sebold

The worst book I read part of in 2004 The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford


I don't seem to have read anything published in 2004, probably because I wait for the paperback editions to come out.