Every year, I keep a list of the books I’ve read between January 1st and December 31st. Mostly it’s for my own reference, but I know some people enjoy talking about books so I post it to my blog every year, too. The list does not include magazines, short stories, or individual comic-book issues, but it does include things like chapbooks and graphic novels/trade comic-book collections. So, without further ado, here is the list of books I read in 2015, in the order I read them:
Gifts For the One Who Comes After by Helen Marshall
The Yeti’s Hand by Daniel Braum
Nightingale Songs by Simon Strantzas
Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters by August Ragone
Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
Afterlife With Archie, Vol. 1: Escape from Riverdale by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Best Horror of the Year, Vol. Six edited by Ellen Datlow
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
These Last Embers by Simon Strantzas
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
The Thief of Broken Toys by Tim Lebbon
Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Neonomicon by Alan Moore
In the Woods by Tana French
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
Phoenix Island by John Dixon
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
Burnt Black Suns by Simon Strantzas
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
That’s 25 books this year, five fewer than my usual average of 30, probably because I spent so much time working from home last winter, which always results in less reading time. (I do the great majority of my reading on the subways.)
Looking over the list, a few patterns emerge. I read more collections and anthologies this year to make up for not reading any last year. This was also the year of my Linkathon, in which I read all the Kelly Link collections I hadn’t gotten to yet, as well as the start of my Early Kingathon, in which I intend to catch up on all of Stephen King’s classic older works. Watch for that to continue next year.
I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite book from this year’s list because so many were excellent. But I can definitely point to my two least favorites: Neonomicon, which devolves from an interesting Lovecraftian homage into just another Alan Moore wank fantasy, and In the Woods, which is beautifully written but left me frustrated and unsatisfied. I even liked The Scarlet Gospels better than both of them, and that novel has tons of problems!
That’s it for 2015, folks! I hope you and yours have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2016 that’s filled with great books!
The Shining by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s hard to believe THE SHINING was published only a little more than a year after ‘SALEM’S LOT. ‘SALEM’S LOT is an old-fashioned horror novel in all sorts of ways, but THE SHINING is a thoroughly modern one. For all King’s repeated references to Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” throughout the novel, there’s far more of Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and Richard Matheson’s HELL HOUSE in its DNA. King does an excellent job of situating us deep in the heads of the Torrance family — particularly Jack, whose history of alcoholism and proclivity for losing his temper are explored in a way that gives the reader far more empathy for him than I expected. (I had only the Jack Nicholson interpretation from the film for my base line, and we’re never given a chance to empathize with him there before he turns into a boogeyman.)
One pleasant thing I’m noticing while reading these old King novels is that there’s a lot more going on in them than I thought. That’s what I get for only being familiar with their film adaptations, I suppose. THE SHINING offers many surprises I didn’t expect, mostly in character development, in the details of the hotel and the spirits who haunt it, and in the way the pace takes its time. However, I will admit to having a few small problems with it. I was surprised how little of a role the main characters play in the climax of the novel, including one character who spends significant time, effort, and risk of life and limb to get to the hotel. Ultimately, the end of the horror comes from something outside them rather than something they do. It makes sense plot wise, all the seeds are certainly planted in advance, but it didn’t pack the emotional wallop I was hoping for. I also wanted a little more clarity on why finding the scrapbook of Overlook history in the basement fascinated Jack so much that it allowed the hotel into his mind. Lastly, I have to admit to being a little confused by the “rules” of the Overlook. It seems to be that if you died in the hotel, your spirit would become part of it, as it did with Grady and the woman in the bathtub in Room 217. But there were other spirits present that I’m pretty sure didn’t die there, such as the partygoers and Horace Derwent. Is any connection to the hotel enough for it to trap your spirit, no matter where and when you die?
But these are just nitpicks, examples of my mind trying to find the logic in something as inherently illogical as the supernatural. THE SHINING is a phenomenal and frightening novel that’s well worth the praise it has received over the decades. I’m so glad I finally read it. And now I know why Joey wanted to keep it in the freezer.
