My Favorite Books of 2013

Hot on the sexy seamed-pantyhose encased gloriously aromatic heels of my Favorite Movies of 2013 list comes a more brisk nod to my favorite reads of 2013.  The criteria to this was so simple and permissive it almost seemed pointless to write it in the first place which is exactly what forced my hand and made me take fingers to keyboard and peck this out over one sweaty lunch session [in between watching some matches of good ol’ lucha libre featuring some of my favorite luchadoras (Swoon!  How they make my heart sing!)].  My reading habits are too oblong to compile a list of favorite written works released in 2013 so instead this offers 10 things I simply happened to read in that great yesteryear.  The result is something which I hope shows off my astonishingly eclectic taste and may perhaps shoot a recommend right into your eye.

10. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: Good ol’ Steve King.  While my misspent youth was rife with Zatanna fantasies it was also filled with the works of everyone’s favorite horror maestro.  I’ve written at great length in other periodicals about the dangers of thinking King only writes horror but penning a follow-up to The Shining is definitely a move planted firmly in his roots.  Danny Torrence, the child with a psychic gift who narrowly escaped being pounded into oblivion by his alcoholic father while staying at the evil and haunted Overlook Hotel, is now all grown up and has a bit of an alcohol problem himself.  The idea of someone using booze to suppress their psychic gift (curse?) is quite clever and Dan’s story of befriending and protecting a child with a similar gift from a group of road traveling psychic vampires is one of King’s best books in years. The pages fly by with such speed it was like someone had slathered them in axel grease.  King’s lost none of penchant for sickening and thrilling within the same paragraph while Dan and Abra (the child being protected) are some of his most fully fleshed out characters in recent memory.  Not really a sequel or follow-up to The Shining in any traditional sense, this is very much its own tenacious beast.   

9. Bowie in Berlin by Thomas Jerome Seabrook: Those who know me best know I would die for David Bowie (I would even live for Bowie which in my case is a much harsher punishment).  They also know that of all his great eras – folk, glam, plastic soul, pop, neo classicist, among others – it is the Berlin era which is quite possibly my favorite.  Books about artists are a dime a baker’s dozen and I have read enough to know many of them are simply no damn good.  However author Thomas Jerome Seabrook has compiled an impressive amount of information on this era, its key players and the music and presented it in an immensely pleasurable and easy to read volume.  Keeping his opinions to a minimum, Seabrook illustrates Bowie’s life – and the life going on around him – at the time through quotes, testimony and facts and then takes an in depth look at this period’s albums (including the two Iggy Pop albums Bowie co-wrote and produced during this era) and each of their songs. It is not without its flaws (the Lodger album is sadly shortchanged) but for an in depth look into a fascinating and important time in the life of a fascinating and important artist wherein some truly timeless and brilliant music was produced this tome reads like an invaluably informative love letter. 

8. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis: This book is just as searing now as it was when originally published where it was met with much hostility and outcries of misogyny.  The tale of late twenty-something-year-old corporate hotshot Patrick Bateman as he moves through the aristocratic world of 1980’s New York City, savoring expensive clubs and restaurants and committing extreme acts of sexual deviancies, torture and murder has lost none of its impact.  To memory this is the only book I have read which I had to take breaks from at times because the violence was too strong.  It is difficult to say why this story moves me so much.  The repetitions of certain unspeakable acts never become numbing which is surely a testament to Ellis’s skill and the pop culture references and stylized dialogue are often laugh-out-loud hilarious.  Bateman’s mind is at once repellant and fascinating in its existential (gotta throw this word in there so people think I’m smart) reflection of our collective self, a reflection which is still as prescient today.  Definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart but there is something vital in these pages, something necessary Ellis tapped into which is at once naked, true, and horrifying. 

7. Rogue Angel: The Third Caliph by Alex Archer: My placement of this particular entry in the Rogue Angel series comes after American Psycho for a very specific reason.  After reading the previous tome I was in desperate need for something light and airy.  I happened upon this series whilst perusing the science fiction section in ye olde Barnes and Noble Booksellers.  The cover art intrigued because I like purdy gurls and on a drunken whim the purchase was made.  It seems I have yet another reason to be thankful for alcohol because this series is gangbusters as the kids like to say!  No gaudy urban fantasy or hackneyed erotic escapades here, these are actually clean, fun and old fashioned archeology themed adventure stories with our hero Annja Creed something of a female Indiana Jones.  Gold Eagle publishes a new book in this series every few months (the author Alex Archer is actually a pseudonym for a couple different authors) and they are addicting enough to warrant this.  I even learned a little history about something which I promptly forgot once I finished the book.  A little Witchblade, a little Tomb Raider, a little The Phantom and a lot of heart is how I would describe this escapist series and these books are definitely ones I will be snacking on in between the larger meals of more “serious” works. 

6. A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway: Hemingway’s classic (aren’t all his books classics?) about an American soldier serving in the Italian army during World War 1 and the life affirming and life destroying love he enters into with an on-duty nurse.  I will be frank in my ignorance here: my pitiful knowledge of World War 1 surely precluded me from understanding some of the deeper thematic elements here and likely prevented me from fully grasping certain character motivations.  That’s just what I get for having mashed potatoes inside my skull.  But I would posit the love story as being universal and the passion felt by those two characters as breaking free of any barriers linked to time or culture.  Most of all, I read Hemingway for the language, the prose.  Passages are constructed with an eloquence which seems all but forgotten in today’s world and the dialogue always leaves me short of breath for its splendor, which, while seeming effortless due to its purity, can be found nowhere else.  For the height of elegance in prose I have yet to find anyone who can outclass Hemingway.

5. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez: Julia Alvarez pens a sensitive and immensely rewarding story of four sisters who, along with their parents, must flee their home in the Dominican Republic and come to America.  Beginning in their adult lives, the story alternates chapters between each sister’s point of view and traces their tales back to childhood, commenting on relationships, gender politics, politics politics, racism and family along the way.  This book is something of a quiet storm which gradually overtakes the reader and the detail is so rich one cannot help but empathize regardless of how far removed they may be from the lives of these women.  The whole narrative is impeccably written and structured with precision and while the characters were so captivating that it became hard to say goodbye, it is the ending which stays with me most for its haunting and lyrical truth. 

4. Batman: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo: When the new 52 began in earnest (my favorite month of the year) everyone was all hopped up on hashish and china white heroin in anticipation for what shiny new changes and innovative storytelling would be showcased in the hallowed pages of everyone’s favorite Dark Knight detective.  I don’t think I am being controversial in saying Detective Comics was the horse to bet on for being the home run hitter in the big boat race while the character’s self-titled series seemed more the undercard.  Yet as entertaining and as Tony S. Daniel’s Detective Comics was (and is) it is truly the Batman series which presented a tale for the ages and supplied my favorite story of the caped crusader since Grant Morrison’s Batman R.I.P. from some years back.  The Court of Owls begins with a conspiracy regarding a secret cabal who for over a century has been controlling corporate and criminal enterprises in Gotham City.  Their capacity for violence to obtain their goals is seemingly unmatched and their reach goes straight to the top as Batman and Bruce Wayne soon discover.  Unlike the aforementioned R.I.P., writer Scott Snyder does not seem interested in shattering the mold but rather using the classic framework of a superhero comic book tale – especially a Batman comic book – to provide a stunning example of the form.  An eminently creepy villain, thick noir atmosphere, a mystery which intrigues in equal measures as it deepens, pages allowing the supporting cast to shine, realistic and ingenious detective work, the most badass of all superheroes never giving up and all channeled through beautiful and fluid artwork by Greg Capullo. Sounds like a classic Batman story to me. 

3. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Dark Tales by H.P. Lovecraft: H. P. Lovecraft’s stories are the lifeblood of literary horror.  His prose is a seemingly impossible combination of pulp and renaissance.  His descriptions of otherworldly and surreal terror have never been matched and have proved near impossible to adapt in any other art form.  The fears he taps into – a sickening and dawning helplessness in the face of utter and chaotic evil – is so primal and fierce that his stories seem to forever alter the minds of his readers as much as the protagonists (in this case that is most definitely a good thing).  Truthfully, one cannot go wrong with any collection of his stories and it is well advised to read them all.  This collection is affordable and includes several classics such as (of course) The Call of Cthulhu and The Shadow Over Innsmouth (though if you’re limiting yourself you should also buy something with At the Mountains of Madness).  Whether dealing with the cosmic terror or the horror lurking in dreams the master is always in top form. Love me some Lovecraft!  That’s what I say to all my homies and all my G’s in lockdown: love me some Lovecraft!

2. Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi: TV hounds will no doubt recognize Portia de Rossi from Ally McBeal and Arrested Development or perhaps as the real life wife of Ellen Degeneres.  But this is not a star bio or some type of glitzy vanity project. Rather, it is primarily concerned with recounting de Rossi’s severe struggles with anorexia and bulimia.  The work is elegant and frank and though it certainly draws correlations between this personal turmoil and the entertainment industry – her environment from an early age – it is not as interested in placing blame so much as recounting her experiences of self-inflicted horror and the ways she could finally escape and leave it behind. 

1. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes: This is the shortest read on the list and also my favorite.  I will not divulge too much of the story here because the unfolding of this tale is of particular excellence.  Briefly, our protagonist is dealing with an unexpected visit from his past which leads him down a memory trail to question a pivotal – and fatal – event which occurred in his youth.  The more he recalls the more we start to question the difference between reality and perception.  Understand this book is not science fiction or anything of the sort.  This is an honest and devastating examination of emotion, free thinking and the consequences of our decisions – no matter how thought out or impulsive.  The narrative also functions as a candid look at memory and the way we repaint the fragments of our lives to best suit an imagined and ultimately hopeless ideal.  The book is so slim it can be read in a single day (something which I recommend).  The ending felt like a large hairy fisted man had punched me in the gut.  But this denouement is not a contrived twist or cheap shock but simply a richly appropriate and wrenching conclusion to a short but impeccably crafted masterstroke of the written word.

Two quick bonus books I read a while ago but wanted to include anyway: The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel is a creepy and addicting account of some very bizarre things which or may not have happened in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960’s.  Growing Stronger is Latin singer/actress Thalia’s autobiography and is a great and surprisingly touching look at fame, artistry and the unexpected changes one goes through after achieving the highest of goals. 

And boom!  Hot and easy, we are out of there.  Books (and comic books) are such groovy things and it makes me want to commit wanton acts of grisly violence that more people do not enjoy reading.  Truthfully, I understand.  We live in a hectic, sexy and fast paced world and sometimes at the end of a long miserable day it is shockingly difficult and tiring to move one’s eyes across lines of text for great periods of time (this is especially true if one likes to pour gallons of alcoholic beverages into their system after work in order to forget the futility of their life like yours truly).  But the art of literature is still classic and still as supremely satisfying as only it can be!  I encourage you all to read more this year; acquire knowledge, savor stories, read in dark place places with electronic devices or go the old fashioned route with lanterns and ink-stained fingers!  Also, be sure to smell the books before, during and after reading.  Books smell magical.  There’s only one thing I can think of which smells greater but I’m too polite to mention it.