checkers65477 | Books of 2008

I'll start off the year with a book post. I've read lots of good ones recently.

If you've never read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, rush out right now and get a copy. It's that good.

Written in 1988 by a Brazilian author, it tells of a boy--his name is divulged in the first sentence, then never mentioned again, I believe--who is a shepherd in Spain. After a dream about hidden treasure, followed by a visit to a fortune-telling gypsy and a chance meeting with a man who claims to be a king, the boy decides to sell his sheep and travel to the pyramids in Egypt to search for this treasure. Along the way on his quest he meets up with an assortment of people, including a man who is an alchemist. The journey is a life-changing process for the boy and for everyone he meets. But the plot of the book isn't the most important thing here.

This book made me think about my life in a way I don't often take the time to do. We all have a Personal Legend, says the book, something we were meant to do. We can determine our own journey--and our life's meaning--by listening to our hearts and finding the courage to make necessary changes. The blurb on the cover calls The Alchemist "dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom" and it is. It's a slim 167 pages, includes some magical realism, a little symbolism, and offers much food for thought. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those contemplating making a change or who are on the cusp of making life decisions.

I was worried about Robin McKinley's book Chalice.

I'm a huge fan of Robin McKinley's writing, but her previous book, Dragonhaven, was not the book for me. I couldn't make it past page 50 or so. So I was relieved to find Chalice a delight: lush and lovely, with very cool magical elements in the setting. I have a whole new respect for bees and the people who keep them, after reading this book and The Secret Life of Bees. Chalice probably won't appeal to most younger readers, but teens and adults who enjoy McKillip-like fantasies should find it terrific.

The Hunger Games.

I can't think of anything to say about The Hunger Games that hasn't already been said by someone else. It's not a perfect book, but it's terribly compelling. I couldn't put it down and everyone I've given it to, to read, has felt the same. This one's going to be tremendously popular. It's by Suzanne Collins.

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is really different.

I liked it. I LOVED his narration of the audiobook. My favorite part was the ending. It satisfied me, for reasons I don't quite understand. I suspect I wanted a more normal life for Bod and was glad he had the opportunity to go out and find one, in the end.

I read around 70 books this year. My favorites were: Book of A Thousand Days (Hale), Mort (Pratchett), Tomorrow, When the War Began (Marsden), Melusine (Monette), Speak (Anderson), People of the Book (Brooks), Frederica (Heyer), Airborn (Oppel), HIs Majesty's Dragon (Novik), The Willoughbys (Lowry), House of Many Ways (Jones), Dreamhunter (Knox), The Secret Life of Bees (Kidd), Nation (Pratchett), Rapunzel's Revenge (Hale), Moccasin Trail (McGraw), Chalice (McKinley), The Hunger Games (Collins), and The Alchemist (Coelho).

All in all, a great reading year.