Works I read this year.

Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob. An extraordinarily good historical novel. This giant tome was very-well researched both in terms of the historical personalities and the complexities and nuances of 18th century Kabbalism. Perhaps someday it could be made into a television series--though how do you communicate the kabbalistic ideas in a tv show? I had ruminated for the last several years about writing a novel about Shabbetai Tzvi, the spiritual forebear of her main character Jacob Frank. She covered the sect of followers of Shabbetai so thoroughly well that I don't think I can compete or add to her treatment. If I were to write such a novel, my derivative work would be analogous to Dan Brown's story compared to the vastly intellectual superior Umberto Eco's treatment of the subject in Foucault's Pendulum. In previous years I read two of her other novels in translation--Flights and Drive your Ploughs over the Bones of the Dead. Both were good, but Flights was exceptional. I see why she won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Bora Chung's collection of sci-fi stories Your Utopia. I loved this one too. One of the most keenly insightful and empathic sci-fi writers I've yet read. Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace. I'm about 4/5 done reading it and the perspectives on British Imperialism in India and Burma are eye-opening. Another worthwhile read. Ray Bradbury's collection The Illustrated Man. Meh. Decent, but not brilliant. I picked this one up from the Blind Date with a Book section at Elizabeth's books in Fremantle, Australia. I thought from the description on the brown paper wrapping that I was getting a book of Philip K. Dick stories or perhaps Isaac Asimov or Arthur Clarke. Kat Howard's Roses and Rot. Also selected via Blind Date with a Book at the Elizabeth's Books in Fremantle. Some good writing at times. I like the idea of the Faeries controlling things behind the scenes. What I disliked was the two-dimensionality of the mother figures in this book. I like my villains more complex and not just evil for evil's sake. Most toxic people I know at least pretend to be good and think of themselves as good. Andrew Sean Greer's Less. Loved this. Mostly the sense of humour of Arthur Less as he went from one mishap to another. I encountered this one via Barnes & Noble's Blind Date with a Book display in Austin.