2011: The Wilderness Days Part 1

Here goes the beginning of a countdown of everything I read last year. As I’ve said before, I don’t have dates for the books I read in the first half of 2011. However what I do have is one big long list. So the first book I read in January 2011 was…

1) The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov (published 1959). A short sci-fi novel about time-travel, memorable for the central conceit of a time-travel elevator – each floor takes the main character to a different century. I’ve only read Asimov’s short stories before, but I get the impression this wasn’t one of his best.

2) The Walking Dead, Volume 2: Miles Behind Us, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (graphic novel).
2011 was the year that I was swept up in the modern zombie contagion, with The Walking Dead comics and subsequent TV adaptation at the forefront. (Funnily enough I’ve been reading The Walking Dead again today ). Kirkman’s elevator pitch for the comic is simple: this comic is a zombie film that doesn’t end; the characters must continue, must strive for survival, must keep going after the credits have stopped rolling. At its heart, this black and white series is about what humanity’s really like when it’s forced into a corner: the characters in this book are constantly making horrible choices in order to survive another day. If you like horror in any shape or form, this book is for you. Expect to see plenty more in the list later on…

3) The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood (published 1986).
It’s been a year since I read this book but I still remember being shocked. Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian tale that has more than earned its place on the bookshelf next to Brave New World and 1984. Atwood argued vehemently that this isn’t a work of science-fiction. She’s wrong, but that’s beside the point. Sci-fi or not, that doesn’t make this book any less gripping: the feminist story of a world where women’s lives are tightly controlled. The main character doesn’t even have a name; she goes by the moniker “Offred” to mark her as property of the man of the house.

4) The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag, by Alan Bradley (published 2010).
One of my great discoveries of 2010 was the Flavia De Luce series of mysteries. This is the 2nd in the series – start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Very funny, very readable, these novels follow the adventures Flavia, a precocious 10-year old with a penchant for poisons and a knack for solving mysteries. Flavia was memorably described by one journalist (link lost, sorry folks!) as a cross between Nancy Drew and The Addams Family. A lot of the stuff I read is aimed at a niche audience: comicbook heroics and horror romps. But this series of books is one I recommend to anyone who enjoys reading.

Books 5, 6, 7 and 8 were Strangers in Paradise: Happily Ever After, Vimanarama, Dororo Volume 3 and Fables: The Mean Seasons – all reviewed here, here, and here – presumably early on in the year and still feeling virtuous about blogging.

So there you have it - I began the year with a mixture of sci-fi, horror, manga, fantasy and mystery. And that's just January/February...