This got started when I wondered if you could do a “Twelve Days of Christmas” list with books and graphic novels. Turns out you can, if you play a little fast and loose with the rules.
Here then is a list of some of my favorite books and series, in case you were looking for a reading list for next year. And the year after that. And…well, as near as my limited math can figure, if you read six of these a year, you’re good for the next twelve years. You’re welcome.
Twelve Girl Genius Volumes
Twelve books in and the story is still hilarious and amazingly intelligent, and Phil Foglio’s artwork never stops being funny. The entire series is available online for free, but I always wait until I can buy a paper copy to read it, and it’s always worth the wait.
Eleven Collections of Sandman (counting Endless Nights)
What can I say about Sandman that hasn’t already been said? Groundbreaking, brilliant, heartbreaking in places, it’s all wonderful. I included the bonus book Endless Nights in the list partly because it has some of my favorite artwork in the whole series. Also I needed it to be eleven books, because I already had a number ten for the list. Ahem. Moving right along…
Ten Years of Serenity Rose
Aaron Alexovich just this month finished ten years of his beautiful web comic Serenity Rose. An omnibus edition will be available in mid-January (sooner if you’re one of the people who threw money at the kickstarter to get it printed, and yes I did, and yes I’m that big a fan.) The entire series is also available online for free at heartshapedskull.com.
Nine Awesome Bone Books
Whether you read them in color or the original black and white, these are great books. I heard them described once as “Disney meets Lord of the Rings” and that’s pretty close. The artwork might trick you into thinking they’re kids’ books, but then the violence and nightmares kick in and you realize they’re for grown-ups. Plus there’s a lot of subtle humor that would go right over kids’ heads.
Eight Empowered Trades
I’ve fangirled all over this website about Adam Warren’s art in general and this series in particular. The eighth book just came out yesterday. Expect a review of it next week. Prepare for more fangirling.
Seven Books of Narnia
This series is a classic for a reason: the word “timeless” really applies here. It doesn’t matter how old the books are, the story still speaks to children and grown-ups alike. To this day I’ve never yet found a magical world I wanted to visit quite as much as Narnia. (And I don’t care what the publishers are doing nowadays; you read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe FIRST, or you’ll spoil the story.)
Six Chronicles and Legends
These two trilogies introduced me to Dragonlance, and were part of the reason I played D&D in college. They’re all just good sword-fighting, magic-throwing, kender-pilfering fun. (There are also at least six books of great short stories in the Dragonlance world, so if you’re looking for bite-sized chunks of Dragonlance instead of novels, you can swap those books for these. )
Almost! Five! Whole! Trilogies!
The fourteenth book in C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series was just released this year. I adore the books, I love the alien Atevi, and I think the writing is brilliant and the whole story epic. They’re a bit of a wade though; yes you get assassins and betrayals and space battles and a lot of running for your life, but you also get history and politics and science and language. Be prepared to work hard to read this one.
Four (decent) Guide Books (stop after the fourth book. Trust me)
No seriously. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is a landmark in funny, intellegent science fiction, but only books one through four. The next book after that went off the rails. And the next book after that is perfectly fine, but isn’t written by Douglas Adams. Stick to the first four.
Three Books of Bas-Lag
China Mieville has created this gorgeously disturbing world, and filled it with equal parts steampunk (sort of) and magic (kind of) and aliens (at least I think they’re aliens.) The series is sometimes called New Crobuzon, after the largest (and most corrupt) city. I can’t stress how beautiful the descriptions are, and how horrifying sometimes. I keep hoping he’ll come back to this world, three books isn’t enough.
Two Craft Sequence novels
I read Three Parts Dead back in January, and it remains the best book I’ve read all year. The sequel, Two Serpents Rise, was just released, and it’s on my Christmas list. I hope to have a review out soon after that; if I like it half as much as the first book I’ll be throwing praise all over the website.
And the best book of sci-fi stories in theeeee wooooooorld!
This book was a present to my sister and me from our parents about twenty years ago. I think every time I read a short story collection, I’m hoping it’ll be as good as this one. A few have come close, but David Hartwell did an amazing job when he picked the stories. This book was my first introduction to Larry Niven, John Varley, Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolfe, Robert A. Heinlein, Frederik Pohl, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, and many many more great authors. I read the paperback copy into pieces years ago, and my sister and I each went out and found our own hardback copies, that’s how much we loved it.
Have a very merry everything, everybody.