The Book Vipers discussion

What was your favourite read of 2017? More importantly, why did you like it?

Its tough to pick but Prezident Scumbag!: A Sick Bastard Novella had me laughing big time and reminded me of the young ones

I had a few but in fiction the one that sticks with me most is My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. It has a great character in Turtle and is at times shocking and disturbing, but it's one that kept me thinking about it long after I turned the last page.
In terms of Non Fiction, I'd say Radium Girls by Kate Moore. It was well researched and written, rarely has a book made me so angry about a historical event that I am powerless to change

I've had a few 5-star books, but my favourite(s) are probably Binti and Home by Nnedi Okorafor. I have absolutely fallen in love with Okorafor's writing this year - along with her fresh approach she is just such a superb writer, combining great craft with passion and objective.


For non-fiction, it has to be SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard. Beard combines top-level scholarship with an absorbing writing style and a completely uncompromising resistance to bullshit. Note the recent spat on Twitter when Nassim Nicholas Taleb tried to argue against the historical presence of black people in Britain and Mary Beard bitchslapped him and his acolytes to kingdom come.

I was away from home and through serendipity, I came across Was by Geoff Ryman. I'd never heard of the book or the author, but I started reading it and loved it. It's a very imaginative mishmash of a fictional character, a dying man, on a road trip looking for the "real" Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, plus a fictional L. Frank Baum, fictional speculation about the "real" Judy Garland, oh, and amazing bits about the history of Kansas. It's sad, very grim in places, a bit bleak, but a very moving story of characters, "real" and imaginary, in different times and places, all trying to marshal enough brains, heart, and courage to find a way home or at least someplace like home.

Karen wrote: "I was away from home and through serendipity, I came across Was by Geoff Ryman. I'd never heard of the book or the author, but I started reading it and loved it. It's a very imaginati..."

Such a good book! I'd recommend everything by him I've read - The Child Garden, Air, 253

I think if I have to pick just one it has to be The Glass Palace. It’s the final part of the Ibis trilogy and you really do need to read the first two parts before this one. It’s set in Burma, India and Malaya in the late 19th century and is an epic historical novel. I think I liked it so much because I was so engaged with the characters and their struggles brought the political upheavals to life.