lunes, 1 de enero de 2018

Mi Top 10 de 2017

Lord Jim, de Joseph Conrad (Inglaterra, 1900)

Un barrage contre le Pacifique, de Marguerite Duras (Francia, 1950)

Muerte súbita, de Álvaro Enrigue (México, 2013)

The Broken Road, de Patrick Leigh Fermor (Inglaterra, 2013)

Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, de Max Hastings (Inglaterra, 1984)

The Centurions, de Jean Lartéguy (Francia, 1960)

The Praetorians, de Jean Lartéguy (Francia, 1961)

Midnight in Sicily, de Peter Robb (Australia, 1996)

Fiesta en la madriguera, de Juan Pablo Villalobos (México, 2010)

Thérèse Raquin, de Émile Zola (Francia, 1867)

Mención honorífica [Honorable Mention]
Journey into Fear, de Eric Ambler (Inglaterra, 1940); Young Man with a Horn, de Dorothy Baker  (EE. UU., 1938); David Copperfield, de Charles Dickens (Inglaterra, 1849-50); Chourmo, de Jean-Claude Izzo (Francia, 1996); The Way Some People Die & The Galton Case, de Ross Macdonald (EE. UU., 1951 & 1959); Gaudy Night, de Dorothy L. Sayers (Inglaterra, 1935); Los mares del sur, de Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (España, 1979).

*en orden alfabético por autor [in alphabetical order by author]*

14 comentarios:

  1. This is a great list. I just finished Lord Jim myself. It is also one of my favorite books too. It might be the best book that I have read all year.

    Happy New Year's.

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    Respuestas
    1. Happy New Year to you, too, Brian. I kept wanting to reread Lord Jim so I could do a proper review of it when I stopped being lazy, but I ended up settling for buying Typhoon and Other Stories instead. A writing cop-out but still Conradian all the same!

      Borrar
  2. Can we make requests in the comments for more literary criticism? The Lartéguy novels are the ones I want to read about. Thanks in advance.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. "Literary criticism" is an affront to my new graphics-heavy "writing style." Still, the Lartéguy novels will prob. get some sort of a post this weekend: The Centurions in particular was a flat out knockout, and I feel like I'm still recovering from all the writerly pummeling I received. On that note, Happy New Year to you, M. l'amateur!

      Borrar
  3. Feliz año nuevo! Love seeing these end of year lists. Only downside is I add way more books to my radar. Glad to see Chourmo received an honorable mention! Here's to a great reading year ahead.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. ¡Gracias y feliz año nuevo a ti, Iliana! I look forward to finally finishing Izzo's Marseille trilogy this year, and hope that your year is full of similarly appealing reading plans. ¡Salu2!

      Borrar
  4. Intriguing list, as ever. 2017 was a year in which I'm not sure I've read ten books - easily the least I've read since I was three, although the length and difficulty may have changed somewhat. I've read one of your favourites and one of your runners up, both quite a while ago.
    I'm hoping 2018 sees me rediscovering my reading, and perhaps even writing mojo and I hope you rediscover, discover or conceal whatever makes it the best possible year for you. Happy New Year..!

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. I certainly hope you rediscover your reading and writing mojo as well, Séamus, as you're one of all too many of my personal faves who went on an extended blogging hiatus last year. At least you have a rock 'n' roll exemption, though! Whatever, thanks for the visit and Happy New Year to you as well!

      Borrar
  5. Hola Richard, pasé y escribí un comentario y se me chifló el cursor y quedó para la mona. O sea, este es el intento número dos.
    Ante todo: Feliz año 2018 ¡¡¡
    De tu lista conozco pocos libros. Lord Jim es uno de ellos, aunque no lo leí, así que tomo nota.
    En lo que respecta a mis lecturas 2017 te nombro dos libros. De Bow Chow " Todos contra todos y cada uno contra si mismo " y de Joyce Carol Oates " Mágico, sombrío, impenetrable ".
    Que este 2018 nos llene de lecturas y reseñas.
    Abrazo

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. ¡Hola, Mario, y feliz año nuevo a vos también! Leí algo de Oates en el pasado lejano, pero Chow es para mí un nombre/seudónimo totalmente desconocido hasta ahora. De todos modos, gracias por las sugerencias. Felices lecturas. Un abrazo.

      Borrar
  6. A great list, Richard, with quite a few titles and authors I don't know at all. I've heard Lartéguy's name but know absolutely nothing about him. Curiously, someone left a copy of Midnight in Sicily on the stoop outside our apartment building recently (it wasn't you, I suppose!) so I'd best get to that one pronto.

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    Respuestas
    1. Lartéguy's The Centurions bowled me over more than any other novel I read last year with the possible exception of the Enrigue title, Scott. Think you will love Midnight in Sicily both for its content and its muscular writing. I myself am tempted to reread some or all of it this year. I still have my copy, of course!

      Borrar
  7. Of all the books on your wonderful list, the one I've liked the most is Zola's. It is up there, in my opinion, with the other classics of "distraught" women, Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary in particular. As you may have read on my blog earlier this year, I was unmoved by poor Effi Briest, one of the few readers who felt that way. Which seems to be a common place for me to land. ;)

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. That Zola novel was a real revelation to me, Bellezza, and I hope to return to his Germinal sometime this year since I wasn't able to squeeze it in last year. I actually had the same reaction to Anna Karenina as you did to Effi Bfriest. I know it's supposed to be one of the best books ever and all, but I had to set it aside halfway through because I couldn't take the soap opera anymore! Hope to return to it later in a more "receptive" frame of mind...

      Borrar