End-of-Year Summary

This year I have tried and succeeded in reviewing at least two books per month. Starting from last January, I shall now present the cream of the crop, my personal choices for best things to read. In no particular order, and in categories arbitrarily dreamed up at this very moment, are the six winners of Artichoke’s illustrious prizes:

Most Humorous Funny Book of the Year: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome is one of the most amusing things that can be read. A collection of cute little anecdotes about boating, this book shows us the light, silly side to Victorian England which contains badly-behaved dogs, reverse-psychology kettles, a practical example of how hypochondria works, and what to do once the ridiculousness of the whole idea of 'getting-away-from-it-all' finally dawns on you. i.e. Get away from the river as quickly as possible and catch the next train back to civilisation. [Reviewed January 2014]

Most Easily Enjoyed Book of the Year: I said that this book would be perfect for the lavatory, and this is still the case; Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino can be dived-into with no issue whatsoever, packed as it is with numerous little sections of standalone prose that can be enjoyed like a buffet. Each is brilliant, gorgeously written and presenting clear, amazing new ways in which to look at the world around us. It’s easy to enjoy, even if it isn’t quite so easy to understand all the time. [Reviewed June 2014]

Most Surprisingly Good Book of the Year: There have been several books I’ve picked up, expecting them to be boring or terrible, only to find that they were quite a lot better than expected. The Iliad was somewhat slow, repetitive, uninteresting, and not especially enjoyable to read, so I was delighted to find its sequel, The Odyssey, to be a whole lot better. Part of this was due, I think, to the particular translation – E.V. Rieu’s Penguin edition – but nevertheless the subject of the story, the progression of the plot, the characters on display, and the climactic ending, all were very much excellent. Modern adventure stories can all learn a thing or two from this founding-stone of Western literature. [Reviewed November 2014]

Worst Book of the Year: As always, some books just aren’t as good as others, but one or two of the things I’ve subjected myself to this year were awful to the extreme. Although there were some dreadful things to wade through, some were kind of funny in just how ridiculous and stupid they were; alas this is something that could not be said for the winner of this award – Douglas Adams’ Life, the Universe, and Everything, the sequel to The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What makes me despair about this book so much, what makes it almost painful to me, is that Adams’ works were originally something worthy of praise – witty comic sci-fi that for a brief period were the finest examples of their genre – but with this attempt by Adams to resurrect his one good idea, the man had absolutely forgotten how to use his own comic genius. Everything that had made The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so great in the first place is lacking from this book, and in its place is Adams’ misguided belief that he could, and should, write something more serious, give his paper-thin characters more character - not something they were designed for - and to try and put them through something almost like an actual science fiction plot. This is not The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – it is Douglas Adams flogging a horse that had died long ago, one that clearly should have been left buried. It hurts me to say it, because the original Hitch-Hiker phenomenon was such a good thing. [Reviewed March 2014]

Most Worthwhile Piece of Fantasy Fiction of the Year: Strangely enough, I’ve read quite a bit of ‘fantasy’ this year. For one thing I made it my duty to explore the original ‘Conan the Barbarian’ stories by Robert E. Howard, some of the first identifiable pieces of this genre ever recorded (predating Tolkien’s works, whilst being instantly recognisable to any practitioners of pen-and-paper RPGs thanks to how repetitively formulaic and unimaginative every last one of them was). But these are far from being good by any reasonable definition of that word, so we must look elsewhere to award this title. The best Fantasy is not really a Fantasy at all, but a joke parody of our world and modern civilisation, of our outlooks, manners and beliefs, and its a joke that keeps on giving.

We are of course talking about the Discworld of Terry Pratchett, one of the most versatile and true-to-life imaginary constructs ever devised by a writer – and the finest example of this I encountered in 2014 was Mort. Great characters, wicked humour and an interesting plot all go together to create a genuinely funny book that carries within it a serious critique of our own attitudes to mortality, morality, and fate. [Reviewed September 2014]

Best Book of the Year: This is the big one – the book that, even if you ignore everything else recommended here, you must make every effort to experience in order to make your reading-life complete. The book that has stood out most above all others for me this year has been, without any doubt, The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard, the only full-length Conan the Barbarian novel, a rip-roaring adventure across the Hyborian Age as the former King Conan of Aquilonia is put to the test tracking down a magical item which will aid in his efforts to reclaim his throne stolen by sorcerers and usurpers who are fed up with how Conan is just too awesome to be beaten using fair means... Wait; what came over me there? Conan can’t be the best book I’ve read all year. It's too stupid an idea to entertain.

Because the Conan stories are disqualified on account of being nothing more than overly-hormonal drivel, I've looked back through my notes and realized that the best book of the year, the one I have absolutely no reservation against holding up as a shining beacon of literature, is The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, a charming little tale about a Mole, a Water Rat, a Badger and a Toad as they live their relaxing little lives by the river. The story of Toad of Toad Hall which steals the plot for most of the second half of the book is all right on its own, but really it’s the parts featuring Moley and Ratty that make this book what it is – a relaxing stroll through an unspoilt countryside, revelling in the sheer beauty of life and the world, and of the writing used to convey it to the reader. For human beings of all ages this is a wonderful thing to experience or re-experience so, if you’ve never tried it before, then maybe you could give it a go. In the words of Ratty: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.” 
And who can argue with that? [Reviewed August 2014]

       Happy New Year – and read for pleasure every now and again. You’ll appreciate it.

Bibliofaff

Adams, Douglas. Life, the Universe and Everything. Pan Books: Bungay. (1982)

Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. Vintage: Reading. (1997 [First Published 1972])

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. 49^th Ed. Methuen & Co. Ltd. (1935 [First Published 1908])

Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by E.V. Rieu. Revised Edition. Penguin: St. Ives. (1991 [First Published 1946])

Jerome, Jerome K. Three Men in a Boat. Alan Sutton: Bristol. (1989 [first published 1889])

Pratchett, Terry. Mort. Corgi: Reading. (1988 [First Published 1987])