Well Fanciful Friends, we are coming up on the end of the year, and boy it was a wild one. Personally, not the best year I’ve ever had, with my back, ending up in the ER, physio, and strong pain meds, but reading wise? Not bad!
We are going to spend the next week or so figuring out, through a good old fashioned bracket system, what my favourite book of the year was! I shall be going through two months per post to find my favourite of each month, and then my favourite from those two months, to eventually pit the winners against each other for my favourite of the year. Let’s get to it!
In January, I read two books. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, and From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty. In the case of From Here to Eternity, I read it via Audible, which added an extra level of enjoyment, as Caitlin Doughty narrates her own books, and I love watching her YouTube channel, Ask a Mortician. So there is a level of comfort and familiarity when listening to her. It was tough to call January. I learned so much from From Here to Eternity, but ultimately, I often still think about A Head Full of Ghosts almost a year after reading it. I’ve recommended it to the Fanciful Sister as well. As such, the winner of January is A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay!
In February, I again read two books. Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes, and The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James. I enjoyed them both, so this was another tricky decision. As much as I loved the haunting, romance, historical aspects, and feminist commentary in The Haunting of Maddy Clare, the win had to go to Dead Silence. It blends two of my favourite horror films (Ghost Ship and Event Horizon) together into one beautiful book, and despite some disappointment with the ending, I absolutely treasure my time reading Dead Silence. So, the winner of February is Dead Silence.
Pitting A Head Full of Ghosts against Dead Silence was so hard, but in the end, Dead Silence had so much I love in a horror novel, and as I don’t read a lot of sci-fi horror, it also felt very fresh to me. I feel like A Head Full of Ghosts has a more important message to convey, and really urge you to read it, but in the end, I enjoyed Dead Silence more. So, the winner of January/February is Dead Silence!
I’ll see you back here tomorrow for March and April!
Farewell Fanciful Friends!
Rebecka O'Malley 