Bear's Best of 2015!
As we start to wind down 2015, I've been seeing a lot of best-of lists. You know I need everyone to know what I think. So here are mine. My favorite books published in 2015.
I'm ready for you, 2016... come at me, brah!
Have you ever read a debut novel by an author and saw in stunning clarity the respect and awards in that author's future? Chigozie Obioma's first novel gave me that vision from the first paragraph. [read more]
To begin with, the tulmultous waters on its cover are indictative of the chaos and insanity with which you'll be met once you open to its pages. This is when I'm a-okay with judging a book by it's cover. This cover is every bit as intriguing and unsettling as the story inside. [read more]
The minute I was made aware of this book's release, I knew I needed it in my hot little hands. So I found the library closest to me that was in-processing it and managed to grab the first hold spot. [read more]
The most striking thing to me about this book was the quiet Clegg managed to write into the story. A tragedy such as a fatal house fire is something that could be easily written with a dramatic air and an eye towards sensationalization. [read more]
Go out and buy this book right this very minute... if you don't want to be able to think about anything but the fuckwit that is David Miscavige and the craziness that is The Church (snort) of Scientology for as long as it takes you to read it. [read more]
Aside from the atrocities that hit you in the face early on in this book, something else stood out to me in the story of the Jurić family. Unlike other books, the action happened at the top of this book and then the rest of the pages were spent in working towards the healing of the main character and the place she calls "home". [read more]
A friend demanded I put down my current read (Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi) and pick up My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh. Because I'm confident she could kick my ass (even if it meant flying from Oklahoma to do so), I obeyed and had my local indie send me a copy. [read more]
And this is exactly what I've always loved about Atwood's work. So often it comes across to people as satire of a dystopia that we should be afraid of reaching. Too many people don't realize that... we're already there. [read more]
A few years ago, I was talking to my friend about geek culture. I turned to her and said "You know what I just realized? I think I might be a geek". She looked at me and said "You THINK?!" When I was growing up, we weren't yet an out-and-proud subculture that has it's own prominent place in mainstream culture. [read me]
#chigozieobioma #thefishermen #fatesandfuries #laurengroff #betweentheworldandme #tanehisicoates #troublemaker #leahremini #theheartgoeslast #margaretatwood #didyoueverhaveafamily #billclegg #youreneverweirdontheinternetalmost #feliciaday #theturnerhouse #angelaflournoy #girlatwar #saranovic #mysunshineaway #mowalsh