Monday, December 30, 2013

Highlights of a reading year, 2013

It is time to draw the line after another year, one that proved to be very good throughout its days. Although once again I found myself in need of a bit more free time, I would be hard pressed to discover something to complain about, in case I wished to do such a thing. The said shrunken free time reflects on my reading and reviewing habit for the past couple of years but still 2013 proved to be a good year, especially since unlike the previous years I made better choices for the books to read. This year I had the great pleasure to join the team of the Romanian online magazine, Revista de suspans (The Suspense Magazine), as one of the editors, to attend the Romanian Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Fair, Final Frontier, and the World Fantasy Convention, two events of different scales, but equal when it comes to the great time I had at them, meeting wonderful people and feeling like I was among very old friends. All in all an amazing reading related year and not only!

With this being said, please allow me to leave you with a list (in alphabetical order by author) of what I consider to be the best books I read this year and let me wish a Happy New Year and a 2014 to remember!

“The Dragon’s Path” by Daniel Abraham


“On a Red Station, Drifting” by Aliette de Bodard

“Lurker” by Gary Fry


“Nightsiders” by Gary McMahon

“Mayhem” by Sarah Pinborough

“A Season in Carcosa” edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

“A Stranger in Olondria” by Sofia Samatar

“The Gate Theory” by Kaaron Warren

4 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

What a great list of books. I really enjoyed reading The Dragon's Path. What with the Daniel Abraham short stories I read, this novel, and all the Expanse work I read, this could easily be considered the year of Daniel Abraham for me.

I really adored On a Red Station, Drifting. It made my list as well. I am seriously considering this as one of the few stories I'll re-read this year.

Congrats on your editing gig, that is exciting!

Mihai A. said...

Thank you very much, Carl! I think that in the last 15 years in 2013 I read fewer books than in any other. But I managed to make my selection better and ended it up some wonderful readings. I really enjoyed "The Dragon's Path" book too and the group reading of it too. :)
As for "On a Red Station, Drifting" I was stunned. I mean I knew Aliette de Bodard is an enormous writer, but this novella proved without a doubt the amount of talent behind her writings. I hope she'll offer us some more such readings. :)

Carl V. Anderson said...

I had the same experience. I completed fewer books in 2013 but felt as if none of my reading time was wasted effort.

Aliette de Bodard is great. I was just listening to the latest SF Squeecast where she is a guest and it is great hearing her talk enthusiastically about an anime series she is fond of.

Mihai A. said...

I don't listen to many podcasts because I tend to lose my concentration while doing that. But I'll listen to Aliette de Bodard. Thank you for letting me know about it. :)