Monday, July 8, 2013

Mid-year report card: what I've liked

Half of the year has passed so here's a brief run down of some favorites...so far.

Favorite novel published in 2013: Low Down Death Right Easy by J David Osborne - As good as his prior novel was this one is even better. Lean, mean, and pared down to its essential (and dangerous) parts, LDDRE is marks the arrival of one to watch.

Favorite novel coming up in 2013: The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell - I mean c'mon, it's Woodrell. Woodrell hasn't had a novel out in, what, years. The wait isn't so bad when the result is this good.A stunning first person narrative that would make a perfect reading double feature with Stephen Graham Jones' Growing Up Dead in Texas.

Favorite novel published prior to 2013: Kind of the Perverts by Steve Lowe - I've written about this one already but I'm still surprised at how much I liked this one, and how much I want to read it again.

Favorite album: Get Up! by Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite - By far this is my favorite album of the year. I've listened to it easily a couple of hundred times and continue to love it. Kick ass blues for the new millennium.

How about you? What are you reading and what have you liked?

1 comment:

Scott D. Parker said...

Favorite album: As excited as I was (still am) with the new David Bowie CD that was 10 years in the making, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories came out of left field and has taken over the bulk of my listening. Love it!

Favorite pre-2013 book: That's a tough one b/c I've only read books that were published before New Year's Day. I've enjoyed the first two books of James S. A. Corey's space opera The Expanse series, I loved learning about Superman's history in Larry Tye’s Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero, and Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 by Lynne Olson not only was a great history book, but it gave me ideas for a series of stories.

Best 2013 book - So far, Doc Savage: Skull Island fits this bill. The Expanse book 3 has been published as well.