Fiction List

Here is my list of the top fiction books I read and enjoyed this year. Tomorrow I'll give you the nonfiction. I kept careful track this year (well, mostly; I may have missed a few). These are the ones worth reading.

1. JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'd read The Hobbit years ago (I think in grade 7) but I didn't remember much more than the riddle scene. When the movie came out, I decided to read it again. I enjoyed it, so I decided to finally try The Lord of the Rings. I loved them. Tolkien was a genius and these may go down as my favourite books ever.
2. Brandon Sanderson, books 1-3 of the Alcatraz series; the first Mistborn book; Warbreaker; Steelheart. I discovered Sanderson thanks to a friend telling me that last year's Christmas concert didn't have enough beheadings; he was taking a line from one of the Alcatraz books. Alcatraz are for children; that's where I started, then moved to the others. Sanderson is a fantasy writer and his books are well written. He creates worlds that are not quite Earth and are consistent to themselves. I think they might be next on the list for my nephew.
3. Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant; Interesting Times; and Jingo. Pratchett was my main author last year; this year I slowed down a bit from reading his books (there are still more; I just got distracted by other books). He's still one of my favourite authors, and was my primary introduction to fantasy as an adult.
4. Madeleine L'Engle. I re-read several of her books at the beginning of the year. She's a very good writer and I still enjoy her stories.
5. Okay, these are only sort-of fiction, and I wasn't sure what list to use. I read 2 books from the "Chosen Daughters" series. They're fictionalized biographies, or biographical fiction. The main characters (and most of the others) are real, and the overall structure is real, but the details are fictional. They're really good, and a great way for preteens and teens to learn about people and times throughout Christian history. Anyway, I read Against the Tide by Hope Irvin Marston and Dr. Oma by Ethel Herr.

Those were my favourite fiction books this year. There were more, and for the most part they were good, but not on my top book list.

And...and honorable mention to a TV show (I know, I know...it doesn't belong here, but I'm not starting a new list for one program). This year I started watching Doctor Who (in fact, I'm watching it as I write this). I'm up to season 4, with the 10th doctor (so the new stuff, not the original). My advice: don't start or you'll never be able to stop. I get the DVDs from the library and watch them fairly steadily. Even when it's really, really odd, or really, really sad, I can't stop. I'm still not sure whether to blame or thank my friend for introducing me to the program.