What's your High Five Reads of the year??

[SJHigbee]

So the year is rapidly approaching its close... So what are your top 5 spec fic reads, so far? C'mon guys - fess up!
For starters, I've REALLY enjoyed:-
'The Modern World' by Steph Swainston
'I Shall Wear Midnight' by Terry Pratchett
'Empress of Mars' by Kage Baker
'Sum: Tales from the Afterlives' by David Eagleman
'Cryoburn' by Lois McMaster Bujold

[Ropespor]

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

[SJHigbee]

Many thanks Nicholas, for taking the time out to share your fav five reads of the year, so far... But I notice that 33 OTHER people have viewed this thread so far - without commenting. Any other takers? It would be interesting to see just HOW different our tastes are - or if there are one or two books that keep cropping up in that very small list.

[ScrewMoonshine]

Sadly, I think five may be greater than the total number of specualitive fiction novels I've read all year! I haven't been reading as much of late, and most of what I have read has been literary magazines rather than books. Plus, I don't keep a list of books I read, so I can't even give you a list of the few I've read in 2010!

All I can give you is that Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs stands as a highlight of this past year's reading.

Robert Orme

[Greybeard]

In no particular order,

A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Would not be in the top five except for its place in the series, but it's still fun.
The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Sterling
The Shah Nama (or variant spellings) by Ferdowsi. It's the Persian national epic, and well worth reading.
The Daughter of the Forest by Judith Marillier

Honourable Mentions:

Mythology by Thomas Bullfinch
The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Hammer's Slammers by David Drake

This year I reread The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs for the first time in a couple of decades. It was still fun, but it hasn't managed to weather the years as well as many other books of the same time.

My best read of the year wasn't science fiction or fantasy. but a short novel by Joseph Conrad with a title I can't post. Some of you will have identified it by now.

There are still three weeks left to the year, and this list may change by then.

[Ropespor]

Greybeard: At WFC last month I picked up the Complete Hammer's Slammers V. 1, and was thrilled to have it signed by both Drake and Gene Wolfe, who wrote a brilliant introduction. Drake is one of our treasures!

A Joseph Conrad novel the name of which you can't post? Hmmm. I'm intrigued; I honestly don't know it.

[Greybeard]

Oh, Drake is brilliant. I bought the first two volumes in ebook format at WebScription books (which I believe Baen owns) for six dollars apiece. I'm sure I paid six bucks for the first paperback (which is less than half of the first volume) back in the '80s.

This is the Conrad novel in question. He considered it his best, and I have to agree. But that title is unfortunate.

[SJHigbee]

I'll have to track down the Conrad - I haven't read it. And I'll second the Judith Marillier - she is a FINE fantasy writer...

[Samuel Mae]

Hmm--i've got three...

Well, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson is definitely my number 1 read this year.
Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne, the first in his Robot Wars' series, was far more compelling than i thought it would be. I'm just about to start the second book in the series.
Inferior by Peadar O Guilin was also pretty good.

And my mind's running blank. There've been other books i've enjoyed, but none that've really stood out to me. I think next year i'm going to keep a list of all the books i read (or start and can't finish), along with some notes about what i thought of them.

[ScrewMoonshine]

And my mind's running blank. There've been other books i've enjoyed, but none that've really stood out to me. I think next year i'm going to keep a list of all the books i read (or start and can't finish), along with some notes about what i thought of them.

Same here. It's good to keep track of what you've done for the year, and there are times where I really wish I had handy a list of all the books I've read. These boards actually used to have a thread for each year where we would all list our reading for the year, but it never really became a hit. Who knows, maybe we can revive the practice.

Robert Orme

[PaulMc]

I didn't read much this year, busy with other things. Shortest "books read" list I've had in years. Still though, I can't recall five without my list handy.

I will say Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword and the Fred Saberhagen retrospective collection, Of Berserkers, Swords and Vampires were my favorites.

[David J. West]

This WAS a tough year to nail down, (I'm only counting books I read for the first time not rereads) but...

Bitter Steel by Charles Allen Gramlich
Rage of the Behemoth by various
The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
Swords & Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
Elric of Melnibone by Micheal Moorcock

yep theres a pattern there

[SJHigbee]

Riiight... we're now rolling down to the end of 2011 (can't believe that I'm saying this - WHERE has the year gone??) So - what your 5 fav reads of 2011? Here's mine so far...

Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts - an amazing, funny, poignant and at times savage book by someone writing at the height of his powers... Unique and thoroughly enjoyable.
The Radleys by Matt Haig - a DIFFERENT take of vampires. Really - exploring contemporary suburban British life through the lens of a vampire family desperately trying to blend into the magnolia landscape. Funny and dark.
The Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn - not read anything by him before, but I now understand why his name comes up regularly on forums, etc with respect and affection. A cracking, enjoyable read that used a familiar idea and took it into some refreshingly unexpected directions.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - lots of interest in this book - it certainly snagged me in the first paragraph and though there were flaws, I found the whole world and main characters very well written and memorable.
Makers by Cory Doctorow. Always fiendishly difficult to write near future stuff that is convincing, without being doom-laden and/or a tad dreary. Doctorow has produced an entertaining, thought-provoking read about where our technology may well be going.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:-
Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee. Mention of Ray Bradbury has been made in connection with this book - and I definitely felt she had caught the creepy otherness that Bradbury engendered in this atmospheric Maine tale.
Empress of Mars by Kage Baker. Tragically, we lost this wonderful, underrated writer right at the start of the year - but this roistering space opera romp has all her zest and humour, along with her wonderful imagination.
Engineman by Eric Brown. The story starts fantastically well - I'm not totally in agreement with where Brown takes it, but the world is hauntingly good and has stayed with me since I read it. Not bad for someone with a goldfish memory...
And yes - I do write notes on every book I read, along with reviews for a fair sprinkling of them. What about you, though? Even if you don't keep notes - which books have stayed with you during the year?

[Jaqhama]

I haven't read any pure SF or fantasy novels this year.
What I have read a lot of are cross genre, hybrid novels with a touch of SF/F or horror mixed in, and I'm happy to recommend a few of them.

Patient Zero by Jonathon Maberry

Fragment by Warren Fahy

The Breach by Patrick Lee

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey

Dead Six by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari