Top 10 Books of 2010 and Review Recap!

Happy Birthday Daily Genoshan! DG is celebrating its second birthday tomorrow, which means it's time to recap all of the reviews from the previous year, as well as count down the Top 10 Books of 2010! Plus, as an added bonus, I'll put up the ratings for the All-Time Top 10 list!

I must acknowledge here that 2010 was a sad year, though. The goal was to hit 52 full book reviews, a jump of 10 from 2009, but we actually dropped down to 37 (wah wah). Most of that is due to the terribleness of what I'm calling the Black Fall. From September through November, DG was forced to miss 11 of 13 Fridays due to various conflicts. There were some fill-in posts, including a new feature, "Why Buy?," which will hopefully be returning soon, but those three months were hard to bounce back from. Luckily, we now have three new reviewers here at the Daily Genoshan—Thom, Melanie, and Emily—,so those worries are forever behind us! But enough of that technical stuff; let's get to the countdown!



The Daily Genoshan's Top Ten Books of 2010

10. Omega the Unknown by Jonathan Lethem—7.85

9. This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper—7.9

8. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell—8.2

7. Agaat by Marlene von Neikerk—8.29

6. Stories of God by Rainer Maria Rilke—8.39

5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon—8.67

4. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith—8.88 (Seth's 2nd straight year at the #4 spot on the Top 10 list!)

3. City of Thieves by David Benioff—8.9

2. Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters—9.17 (Ben's 2nd straight year on the Top 10 list, jumping up 6 spots from last year!

...and the #1 book of 2010...

1. The Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.57 (One of the individual Scott Pilgrim books scored a 9.81, the highest rating ever received, but the scores of the 6 books were combined for the purposes of the Top 10, as all collected editions of comic books are.)



***Honorable mentions include Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (7.7); Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith (7.62); Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven (7.59); The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket with Brett Helquist (7.58); and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (7.44)***



That leaves us with a very interesting All-Time Top 10 here at the Daily Genoshan!



ALL-TIME TOP 10

1. The Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.57

2. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer—9.56

3. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.39

4. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.33

5. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith—9.22

6. Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters—9.17

7. Tie: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan—9

9. Tie: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez; and City of Thieves by David Benioff—8.9



Those are the Top 10 books of the eligible 53 that have been rated. Now how about the worst books of 2010?



The Daily Genoshan's Worst Three Books of 2010

3. Greek Street by Peter Milligan and Davide Gianfelice—7.11

2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen—6.97

...and the absolute worst book of 2010...

1. Omega the Unknown by Steve Gerber—6.5



That's right, folks, the two versions of Omega the Unknown made the Top AND Bottom lists! Although, to be fair, the field was much closer in 2010 than in 2009. #10 on the Top Ten was .76 points lower this year, and #1 on the Bottom Ten was 2.25 points higher. Hopefully 2011's selections are a little more varied!

Well that's enough for rankings. Let's get on to the review recap! Here is what 2010 in review looked like here at DG!



January

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby—7.7
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros—7.44
Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler—Poetry not rated

February

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell—8.2
Stories of God by Rainer Maria Rilke—8.39
Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell; and Dr. McNinja by Christopher Hastings—Ongoing webcomics not rated

March

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks—7.12
Greek Street by Peter Milligan and Davide Gianfelice—7.11
The Secret History by Jean Pierre Pécau—Not rated because I worked for the publisher at the time

April

Words For Empty and Words For Full by Bob Hicok—Poetry not rated
In Search of Time by Dan Falk—7.15
Chronic by D.A. Powell—Poetry not rated

May

Agaat by Marlene van Neikerk—8.29
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steven Hockensmith—7.62
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith—8.88

June

City of Thieves by David Benioff—8.9
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon—8.67
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.58
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.36

July

Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.67
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.36
Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.68
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley—9.81 (as well as the Ultimate Scott Pilgrim Rating—9.57)
Devil Inside by Todd Stashwick and Dennis Calero—Ongoing webcomics not rated

August

Each Crumbling House by Melody S. Gee—Poetry not rated
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (film) by Edgar Wright—One hundred million billion trillion
Old Man Drinks by Robert Schnakenberg—Books on how to make cocktails not rated
Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters—9.17

September

Disneystrology by Lisa Finander—Astrological coffee table books not rated
Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven—7.59

October

WHY BUY? Hybrid Bastard! by Tom Pinchuk and Kate Glasheen—WHY BUY? books not rated

November

Black Fall—No posts :(

December

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper—7.9
Omega the Unknown by Steve Gerber—6.5; by Jonathan Lethem—7.85
Little Bee by Chris Cleave—7.33
The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket with Brett Helquist—7.58
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen—6.97



And that's that! Happy New Year! I hope you're looking forward to 2011 as much as we are here at the Daily Genoshan! Keep reading, Genoshans!

Disneystrology (Lisa Finander) and Year in Review

If you're a long-time fan of the site, you might remember last year's Year in Review post. Written shortly after my 24th birthday, it recounted my writing year and laid out some of my goals. I'm pleased to announce that many of these goals have been met, and several others surpassed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Synopsis

One of the books that I recently picked up from Quirk is a fun little coffee table thing called Disneystrology: What Your Birthday Character Says About You, by Lisa Finander. As yesterday was my 25th birthday, I thought it would be fun to share what the book says about the day, September 2. My Disney character is Hop Low, the smallest mushroom in the Nutcracker Suite's Chinese Dance, from Fantasia. Now, I don't particularly like being called a tiny mushroom, but I do love Fantasia, so I guess it has some credibility. Here's what the book has to say about the little guy:

Hop Low: Your showmanship emerges at a young age. Before your talents are fully developed, your achievements already captivate others. You seek out older and accomplished mentors to help develop your skills. Focused, you work dilligently at becoming proficient in your trade, knowing exactly where you need to improve and what you must master to succeed. Others respect your efforts and surround you with positive reinforcement.
Magical Gifts: Hop Low bestows the gifts of patience, aptitude, and physical agility. With his help, you can reach your goals and take your place at center stage.
Keys to Your Success: Finding your own rhythm.
Hop Low's Story: Fantasia (1940)

So that's not too bad. Even if you don't find your Disney character accurate to your personality, it's still a fun book to check out, just to see what characters you and your friends are alleged to be. Just so you can get a better idea of what to expect in the book, here's a random sample of dates and their associated characters. Completely random. No significance whatsoever...

January 23: Mama Odie, from The Princess and the Frog
May 18: George and Mary Darling, from Peter Pan
May 26: Grand Councilwoman, from Lilo & Stitch
June 11: Mr. Soil, from A Bug's Life
July 18: Dallben, from The Black Cauldron
July 25: Luigi, from Cars
August 30: Eli "Big Daddy" Labouff, from The Princess and the Frog
September 4: Bernard, from The Rescuers

In case you're wondering about some of the big guns in the Disney Universe, Princess Ariel is October 8, Aladdin is August 7, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse are November 18. If you'd like to find out what your Disneystrology character is, write down your birthday in the comments section, or better yet, go out and pick up the book! It's not expensive, and it's a fun book to have around.

***EDIT***I will no longer be taking requests to inform people of what their birthday character is. I apologize, but the number of requests has been staggering, and a) I would love for you all to go out and buy the book, and b) I just don't have the time to get to them all. I will finish up those that I have now, but unfortunately that will be all.***EDIT***

So anyway, birthday characters aside, it has actually been an exceptionally good year. If you recall, my goals from last year, as ever, were the following:

1) Continue to perfect my craft.
2) Develop more disciplined writing habits.
3) Meet more people who were interested/working in the industries I was hoping to break into (comic books and poetry, mostly, but writing is writing).

I am proud to say that I've successfully continued on with all three of those. Achieving #1 comes from writing, reading and learning as much as possible. #2 comes from sitting down and actually producing work, which I'm excited to say has been the case this year. The past three months alone I've written close to 70 new poems, which couldn't have happened if I hadn't just sat down and started writing. #3 isn't always easy to control, but I've been very lucky in that regard the last 12 months.

Last Fall I was going into my final year of USC's Master of Professional Writing program. Through the implementation of summer courses, extra credits for teaching, and other small things here and there, I ended up primarily working on my thesis those last two semesters. While it might have been fun to have more classes with my fellow writers, this meant that I had more time to write, which is always a plus. Also, as Poetry Editor for the Southern California Review, I was still seeing plenty of my fellow students. With the help of my thesis advisor, the extremely talented Amy Gerstler, I wound up finishing my thesis collection of poetry a full semester early. This meant two things: one, I was able to shop out my thesis to publishers during the Spring instead of after graduation, which we'll get back to in a bit; and two, I was free to pick up an internship. I was lucky enough to find my way into an internship with Archaia Comics, a relatively small comic book publisher based right here in Los Angeles. The time I spent there was absolutely invaluable, and I'm much more informed about the workings of that industry now than I could have ever hoped to become on my own. The real news, however, came the morning of May 13, the day before graduation, when Quirk editor Jason Rekulak, well-known as the brains behind Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, gave me a call to say that Quirk would love to publish my thesis! It was the best graduation gift possible. I headed into the summer with an insane amount of work to do to get the manuscript ready, but it was a problem I was glad to have. I can't talk too much about the book yet, but know that I put absolutely everything I have into making it something that I hope everyone will enjoy! It should be coming out next summer, so I'll let you know more closer to the publication date.

I've also been fortunate enough this past year to meet plenty of extremely talented people. Some of these include writers we've published in the Southern California Review, whom I met at a conference in Denver. Others are comic book creators whom I was very excited to meet at conventions in San Francisco and San Diego, via my friends at Archaia. The icing on the cake this past year, though, was the recent inclusion of two of my poems in the Summer 2010 edition of Disquieting Muses Quarterly, a prestigious online poetry review. Having to work constantly at my writing is sometimes exhausting, but the joy of getting an acceptance letter or email more than makes up for the hours of hard work put into each poem.

One of the most exciting things about this past year is that I'm still here writing book reviews. Thank you all so much for sticking around and reading the Daily Genoshan! By this time next year, my book will be published, and I hope to have even more projects in the works and news to discuss, but the DG will always be my first love. In the coming year I'd like to expand and use more guest reviewers, as well as introduce new features to the site, but at its heart it will always be a book review blog.

Thank you for your support, and, as always, keep reading, Genoshans!

Brian McGackin

Top 10 Books of 2009 and Review Recap!

On January 8, 2009, the Daily Genoshan put up its very first review. Exactly one year later, the Genoshan has 42 full book reviews under its belt, as well as 7 short story supplements, and 5 random updates. 54 posts in 52 weeks is not bad for the first year. (Of course, in 2010 we'll be shooting for the full 52 book reviews, but we can discuss that more a year from now.) I decided that a great way to celebrate the first anniversary of that first review, and also usher in the new year, would be to recap all the reviews of 2009, starting with the Top Ten.

The Daily Genoshan Top Ten isn't the best books that came out last year, but the best books that I read and reviewed. So yeah, it's a little subjective, and some of the books are a little old, but that's ok. After the Top Ten will be the recap—the review review—so all of you Genoshans out there can look at the books side-by-side and see if there are any that you missed by accident and might want to read. Enough out of me, though, let's get to the Top Ten!



The Daily Genoshan's Top Ten Books of 2009

10. Tie: John Dollar by Marianne Wiggins; and Candide by Voltaire—8.61

8. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters—8.89

7. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez—8.9

6. Tie: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan—9

4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith—9.22

3. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.33

2. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.39

...and the #1 book of 2009...

1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer—9.56



***Honorable mentions include Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai (8.59); The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams (8.44); Bone by Jeff Smith (8.28); The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (8.17); and White Oleander by Janet Fitch (8.04)***



It's interesting to note that, in the entire Top Ten, there are essentially only 6 authors (if you count both of Jane Austen's books as one author, I mean). It's also kinda interesting that the first and last reviews of the year—100 Years of Solitude and The Valley of Fear, respectively—both made the list. Hopefully 2010 will start and end with a bang as well!

Continuing with business, I thought it might also be fun to highlight the worst books of the year, though they were so painful to read that I can only bring myself to list to top (or bottom, actually) three.



The Daily Genoshan's Worst Three Books of 2009

3. The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs—4.89

2. Atonement by Ian McEwan—4.28

...and the absolute worst book of 2009...

1. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller—4.25



Those books sucked. It hurts to even think about them at this point.

Anyway, I know there are links to all of the posts over on the side bar, but they don't give you the ratings, so here for your convenience are links to all of the reviews of 2009, with their numerical ratings. The Top Ten and Bottom Three are listed here, too, in case you're super lazy and don't feel like scrolling back up.



January

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez—8.9
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold—6.5
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan—9

February

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons by Jeff Kinney—7
He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo—6.2
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling—7.9

March

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs—4.89
Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker—7.72
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers—7.57

April

Scud: The Disposable Assassin by Rob Schrab—7.72
Candide by Voltaire—8.61
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller—4.25
The New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis—7.67

May

The Hood: Blood From Stones by Brian K. Vaughan—7.19
Time and Materials by Robert Hass—Poetry not rated
Atonement by Ian McEwan—4.28

June

The Martian Tales Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs—7.89
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen—7.5
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith—9.22

July

The Dead Guy Interviews by Michael A. Stusser—6.22
Bone by Jeff Smith—8.28
Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut—7 *2009's only guest post!*
X-Men: Mutant Massacre by Chris Claremont—6.17

August

White Oleander by Janet Fitch—8.04
The Next 100 Years by George Friedman—7.8
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley—7

September

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters—8.89
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown—7.11
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels—6.5

October

John Dollar by Marianne Wiggins—8.61
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho—7.34
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai—8.59
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams—8.44
Peter & Max by Bill Willingham—7.57

November

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer—9.56
Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie—Porn not rated
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller—6.78
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9

December

The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—8.17
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.39
The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—9.33



And don't forget all the wonderful Sherlock Holmes short story reviews!

1—2—3—4—5—6—7



Phew, that was tough. I hope this guide to 2009 is helpful, Genoshans. Happy New Year, and, as always, keep reading!

A Year in Review

Now, most of these reflection-type posts happen around New Year's Day, but Wednesday was my 24th birthday, and I always associate September with the beginning of the new year anyway, so I'm gonna take this opportunity to look back on 23 and see what kind of year it was for my career, my writing, and my academic life in general.

Synopsis

This time last year I was just beginning my second semester in the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing Program. After a bust of a first semester, I was determined to get the most out of my money. My goals were fairly straightforward, but very important if I ever hoped to realistically consider a career in writing:

1) Continue to perfect my craft.
2) Develop more disciplined writing habits.
3) Meet more people who were interested/working in the industries I was hoping to break into (comic books and poetry, mostly, but writing is writing).

Last Fall I was retaking an intro class that I was forced to drop the previous semester for work reasons, as well as a Children's Literature class. At the time, I felt that the Children's Lit class was helping me make headway on goals 1 & 2, but when I look back on that semester, the idea of writing children's books was more of a sidetrack that took me away from the writing I should have been doing. I didn't take it very seriously, and never followed through on any of the projects that I hoped to send out to publishers. If I look at my "craft" as comic book and/or poetry writing, then I wasn't doing much to perfect my craft, and I don't consider finishing homework assignments to necessarily be developing more disciplined writing habits. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot, but what I learned wasn't immediately applicable to my career goals. The intro class that I was retaking, however, turned out to be much more exciting than I could have hoped. Having gone through much of the class the previous semester, I was initially dreading the course, but I hadn't considered the fact that the Fall semester meant new students, most of whom were in very similar places with their own writing as I was with mine. I was able to meet a ton of new writers, many of whom I expect to view as my peers and competition in the writing world for many years to come.


So 2008 ended in a strange place. I was working in the film industry for a company that I'd then been with for over a year, but which didn't have any direct relationship to my writing goals. I finished the semester with group of new contemporaries, but without any real progress made towards my writing itself. When the time came to make a New Year's resolution, goals 1 & 2 were way up there.

Enter The Daily Genoshan.

Over the Christmas break, I had read the Gabriel García Márquez masterpiece 100 Years of Solitude, but knew few others that ever had. Having loved the book more than almost every other book I'd read up until that point, I needed an outlet for my overflowing praise. None of the literary forums I had found felt like the place to just be really excited about a book, so I decided to come up with a place of my own. I started The Daily Genoshan hoping that every week I would have a new book to review, honing my writing skills while simultaneously developing good habits. It didn't take right away, though. The first few months were inconsistent at best. Weeks would go by without a review. What had been set up as an outlet for my reactions to books I'd read was slowly turning into another idea on the "someday" pile.

Around April that began to change, though. I was growing increasingly dissatisfied with my day job, and knew that, if I were to leave for any reason, I wouldn't want to jump into something else that wasn't writing. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I wasn't being a writer. So I started writing more proactively, instead of the reactive way that I'd been doing it for years. I started up another website, fivebyfivehundred, which I began writing for every Tuesday. I began taking TDG more seriously, making sure that I had something to review every Friday. I was also taking classes that helped me with all three of my goals. Things started really picking up.

And then I lost my job. At the end of May, I stopped working for the company that I had been with for almost two years. Instead of freaking out and rushing around to try to find a new job that I didn't want, though, I took a breath. I examined my finances, the money I had been saving while I was working, my expenses, what things I could do without, and I dove into the world of writing as a career. I began writing articles and reviews for local newspapers while I looked for other writing jobs or assignments. I started disciplining myself to the point where I now keep strict office hours for my writing, to make sure that I keep up my level of productivity. When the decision came up, I opted not to continue my cable service so that I wouldn't have the unnecessary daytime distraction. Most importantly, I kept writing.

Now, I don't make any pretenses about the fact that, were I not still a student, this would absolutely not be possible. But I am a student, and, for now, it is possible. When I graduate in May and have to begin paying back my loans every month, it's going to be a lot different. Luckily I have an amazing support system and have people around me who are proud of my accomplishments and don't discourage me from following this dream. As long as I can pay my own rent and don't have to move back in with my mom, my family understands that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. My friends, most of whom are lucky enough to be on their own way to careers they can be proud of, have been incredibly enthusiastic about my writing, which is always helpful. I'm also lucky enough to have an amazing girlfriend who helps keep me motivated and isn't afraid to let me know if I'm being less than responsible with my time or money.

As far as my goals? This summer I had a poem published in a magazine called Phantom Lips, which isn't the largest publication in the world, but it's something. I've also been recently named Poetry Editor of the Southern California Review, which isn't too shabby. I'm still writing articles and reviews for local newspapers (one of which can be found here), but am now working on my thesis and several other projects as well. One of my new goals is to be published more in the coming year. Another is to clean up and finish some of the projects that I would like to be shopping around and showing to people. Monday it will be 8 months since my first Daily Genoshan post, and I'm glad that I've stuck with it. By my 25th birthday, I'd like to be able to look back like this again and say that I've continued to meet my goals, so I can continue to set new ones. Hopefully all of you will still be reading my humble little book review blog.

Keep reading, Genoshans,

Brian McGackin

1,000 Apologies; or, 5x500

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control—some very good, some very, very bad, and some indifferent—there will not be a book review this week.

Please feel free to visit http://fivebyfivehundred.wordpress.com/ instead. There are new posts up every day, Monday through Friday, so catch up on what you've missed so far. I'm the Tuesday writer, and tend to secretly—or sometimes not-so-secretly—write about things relevant to that date in history.

Synopsis

5x500 is genius, and full of extremely talented writers. Especially that guy who writes on Tuesday, what a catch.

Rating

1,000,000,000

Keep reading, Genoshans!