Best Bookshop
The Big Green Bookshop
I've written at length about how
brilliant the Big Green Bookshop is before now, so won't repeat it here - I'll
just say that co-owners Tim and Simon are two genuinely wonderful people, the
selection of books is outstanding, and the free wi-fi is a bonus as it allows
me to tweet pictures and say "So what should I buy?"
Foyles Charing Cross Road
I queued for an hour or so on
the morning of the reopening after the big move. It was well worth it! Foyles
is a brilliantly-stocked shop with fantastically knowledgeable staff (I still
miss Kate and Jen working there, although Jen's now at Tales on Moon Lane - see
below!) including Jo from Once Upon A Bookcase. I love that they have some fantastic American
books there, while the cafe is a great place to meet people, and there've been
some superb events this year - notably the Great Bookshop Debate.
Gay's The Word
I loved Gay's The Word even before it
played a big part in one of the year's best films, the fabulous Pride! It has a
superb selection of LGBTQIA books, some fantastic events - I loved going to the 'writing for children'
one with BJ Epstein, where I first met my friend Charlie, and the This Book Is
Gay launch was fantastic. I love a bookshop with a good second-hand selection,
as well. For a second opinion on just how brilliant it is, don't miss Erica from The Bookshop Around The Corner's Indie Advent guest post.
Tales on Moon Lane
I went to Tales for the first time in January and found it a
really nice place, but didn't talk to anyone there as at the time I was still
shy. However, since my friend Jen started working there a few months ago, I've
become a fairly regular visitor and realised that as wonderful as the awesome
choice of books is, and as gorgeous as the shop itself looks, the best thing
about it is the fantastic staff. Tamara, George, Leah, Maddy, Tereze, and of
course Jen, are all lovely people who are incredibly knowledgeable about
childrens' books; it's one of my very favourite places to go. Also, they have
some brilliant events there - I missed #DrinkYA co-organiser Louie Stowell
appearing there but am told it was wonderful, while I loved Carolina Rabei's
'design a Christmas card' event there a few weeks ago, and my sister was
thrilled with the resulting card. (Speaking of cards, the staff at Tales got me a Christmas card and present which was amazingly awesome of them!) For more about Tales, don't miss this fabulous post from
Sarwat Chadda for Indie Advent!
Waterstones Piccadilly
I generally prefer indie bookshops to chains but Europe's
biggest bookshop has a huge amount going for it - a lovely (if rather
expensive) bar on the fifth floor, a great cafe on the lower ground floor, good
offers on books, and an absolutely staggering amount of choice. I've been to
more events there than I have anywhere else this year - highlights being
GollanczFest, the superb Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan discussion, and
the legendary Judy Blume, who I never thought I'd meet in person. Again (can
you see a theme?) the staff here are fantastic here, particularly Laura Main
Ellen, who runs the outstanding children's department.
Best self-published
I don't read all that many self-published books, but I
happen to have really enjoyed five this year, so I had a ready made shortlist!
Zero Sum Game by SL Huang
Superior adult thriller; imagine
Jack Reacher but with a main character who's a young woman so good at
mathematics that she's practically a superhero. Cas calculates the answer to
problems so quickly that she can dodge bullets and beat up men much bigger than
her. It's far-fetched but incredibly good fun, while the moral ambiguity we see
(Cas upsets a potential ally who's horrified by some of her tactics, and starts
to question her own behaviour) make it stand out in a crowded field. The
villain, a 'psychic with a god complex' as described by the book's blurb, is a
memorable one and this is one of the most exciting reads of the year for me.
I've just bought sequel Half Life and can't wait to read. Speaking of SL Huang, I originally got this because I really loved her short story for Book Smugglers Publishing, Hunting Monsters - it's well worth checking out!
Dirty London by Kelley York
I only picked this up because
Dahlia Adler, my go-to person for book recommendations in general and QUILTBAG
in particular, mentioned it in her End of Year Survey and it sounded
interesting. It is absolutely wonderful (if not hugely original, admittedly.)
London has been hiding her sexuality for a long time but gets into a fake relationship
with new friend Wade when she realises he's gay. Unfortunately rumours start to
spread about her, with lots of girls believing she's a slut, and while this is
happening she's also having to deal with her younger sister's rapidly
disappearing psych medications and her unpredictable father. This has one of my
favourite romantic relationships of the year (I'm kicking myself for not
finishing it until after I'd published 'best pairings' as it would definitely
be in there) but where it really excels is in the portrayal of London's
relationship with her sister Jasmine, which feels incredibly realistic. I love
the way that London's relationships with both her love interest and her sister
change over the course of the book, and will definitely be reading more from
York.
The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf by Nick Bryan
Fun crime novel,
technically adult but with huge appeal to YA readers. It's about a mismatched
duo, veteran private detective John Hobson and new work-experience girl Angelina
Choi, forced to work together to solve a murder which seems to have been committed
by a wolf after Choi gets put in charge of creating a social media profile for
her new boss and gets overeager. I really enjoyed the interplay between the
central couple of characters here, and it's a fun detective story with an
excellent plot. I'm looking forward to reading their next adventure.
One Song Away by Molli Moran
Sweet, warm and tender NA
about a girl who moves back to her home town after failing to make it as a
country singer in Nashville, then persuades the boy she always had a crush on
to pretend to be her boyfriend so her mum will stop trying to set her up with
people. Wonderful chemistry between leads Sophie-Claire and Jake make this a
must-read, while I also loved the way Molli Moran captured small-town life so
well.
GLAZE by Kim Curran
Arguably cheating slightly, as it was
self-published in paperback and e-book but Jurassic London brought out a
gorgeous hardback edition. Kim Curran's dystopian novel, set in the very new
future where over-16s can go on Glaze, a social network which you're pretty
much always on, is superb. After being banned from Glaze due to false
accusations about her behaviour at a protest, Petri is desperate enough to get
a new chip fitted with help from a hacker - but quickly finds out it's giving
her more information than she should be getting, and Glaze may be more
dangerous than her mother, the founder, had ever realised. This is a totally
believable extension of current social networking and of trends on the internet,
with great characters (including a stunning villain with interesting
motivations) and a superb climax.
Best Adult
The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham
Abraham's epic
fantasy sequence, The Dagger and the Coin, keeps getting better and better. Following several
main characters, each brilliantly portrayed, this is a stunning read. By far my
favourite ongoing adult series.
We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
This is a really hard one to write without spoilers! All I'll say, plotwise,
then, is the very very start. Rosemary has just moved to college. Everyone
there seems to want to talk about their families, but Rosemary keeps quiet
about hers. She misses her older brother and her sister, who both disappeared
from her life many years ago, and still has slight hopes of reconciliation -
but will they ever return to her life, or are past mistakes too big to recover
from? It's a gripping story with a perfectly-paced plot which makes you want to
find out more and more about what happened to Rosemary's sister Fern, in
particular. With fabulous characters and exquisite writing, this is a
beautiful read and makes you think about families, about choices, morality and
so many other things, raising some massively thought-provoking questions.
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson
Sensationally
good historical crime, set in the Marshalsea prison in 1727. Hurled in there
due to his debts, gambler Tom Hawkins is left desperately trying to solve a
recent murder, partly to get his freedom and partly because his new cell-mate
Samuel Fleet is the chief suspect. Tom and Fleet are incredible characters,
with Fleet one of the most complex and fascinating I've seen for years, while
the prison, with the Master's Side being almost like a village for those who
could scrape together money to pay for it, and the Poor Side being a stinking
pit, is brought brutally to life.
Vicious by VE Schwab
Two college roommates manage to
discover that by creating near-death experiences, they can endow themselves
with superhuman powers. Ten years after things go horribly wrong, Victor breaks
out of prison and tries to stop Eli from eradicating all other ExtraOrdinaries.
Arch-enemies Victor and Eli are an incredibly compelling pairing, the plot has
lots of twists and turns, and the excitement level here is through the roof!
Stunning fun.
Zero Sum Game by SL Huang (See self-published section for my
thoughts on this.)
2015 releases I've read already
(I've read about 20 of this year's releases, thanks to a mixture of hugely generous publishers, borrowing some books that were out in the US last year from Debbie when she got them at BEA, and spending a bit more money than I'd planned over the last few days. These are the ten that stand out!)
The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell
No spoilers, but
if you want a heart-stopping, tear-jerking, utterly incredible read, pre-order
this story of a Japanese teenager's struggle with ALS. A truly outstanding
book, up there with The Art of Being Normal and The Sky Is Everywhere as one of
the best three contemporaries I've read in the last five years.
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie
Berry
Seven schoolgirls try to cover up the deaths of their headmistress and
her brother to avoid being sent home. This reads like an Alan Ayckbourn farce -
fast paced, frenetic, and incredibly funny. I loved it!
Bloodstone by Allan Boroughs
Boroughs follows up his
exciting post-apocalyptic adventure, Ironheart, with a stunning sequel here as
India and mentor Verity head to Antarctica. With all the action of book one but
more humour, much more character development, and a hugely emotional ending,
this is superb, and puts the series right up there as one of the best ongoing
MG series around.
Demolition Dad by Phil Earle
Renowned YA author Phil
Earle, best known for his gritty contemporary books, moved towards the lighter
end of things with last year's brilliant The Bubble-Wrap Boy. His first MG book
is the story of a boy in a fairly boring British town whose dad is a demolition
expert - knocking things down on building sites Monday to Friday, and taking apart
opponents in the wrestling ring on Saturdays.
It's a warm, funny and tender story about a boy's hero worship for his
father, with a wonderfully heartwarming ending. An excellent read; I can't wait
for more MG from Phil Earle!
The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone
Pullmanesque debut
tells the story of Molly, a Romany girl, and her protective wildcat Gryff.
Forced to take on the sinister Dreamsnatcher, she's plunged headlong into a world
of secrets, magic and prophecies. Massively exciting and chilling in all the
right places, this is a superb series-starter.
Captive by AJ Grainger
Exciting kidnap story with a great
central romance - I'm not normally a fan of Stockholm Syndrome type-stuff but
the chemistry between Prime Minister's daughter Robyn and her captor makes this
a hit, while the revelations of the web of corruption she's caught up in are
perfectly tied.
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Nelson's second book
is worth the four year wait. This dual
narrative jumps back and forth between Jude's point of view as a damaged sixteen-year-old,
working with an irascible sculptor, and her twin brother Noah's point of view
as a thirteen-year-old discovering his sexuality. As the novel progresses, we
learn more about why the twins, so close earlier in their lives, are barely
speaking by the time they're sixteen. Just as expected from the author of the
magnificent The Sky Is Everywhere, this is both gorgeously written and is
seriously emotional.
We Are All Made Of Molecules by Susin Nielsen
Academically
brilliant thirteen-year-old Stewart and fourteen-year-old Ashley, queen bee of
her class, end up as a family when Stewart's widower father and Ashley's mother
move in together. Stewart's still grieving for his mother and Ashley is trying
to hide the fact that her father left them because he's gay. Seeing the pair try
to get on with each other and cope with issues at school is both hilarious and
deeply moving at times.
Nearly everything else on
this list was hugely anticipated by me before I read it. This was a random read
which I picked up after Helen Boyle was kind enough to give me a proof at
#ProseccoYA one Tuesday night in November. I got it that Tuesday, read it on
the Wednesday, and fell so utterly in love with the outstanding voices of both
narrators and the incredibly strong cast (with particularly superb portrayals
of the three parents here) that I reread it just a day or two later, before
passing my proof onto another blogger because I want as many people as possible
to read this one before its May release.
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
Stunning fantasy about a seventeen-year-old girl who is the
embodiment of a goddess and instantly kills anyone she touches except the
prince who's immune to her. Forced to be the court executioner, she's feared
and loathed by nearly everybody, until a new guard comes to the court... This
is an exceptionally good read; hugely exciting and with some incredible twists,
plus an absolutely brilliant love triangle.
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
My thoughts on
this are pretty well known to anyone who follows me on Twitter, and again I'm
worried about spoilers. I'll just state that it's up there with The Last Leaves
Falling and The Sky Is Everywhere as one of the best three contemporaries I've
read in the last five years.
Coming tomorrow, my top 15 MG reads of 2014!
Thank you so much for including DIRTY LONDON on your list! :)
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