A new “year”, is that a title?

I have looked at a few blogs during the Christmas/New Year hiatus and found that most blogs start the year with what they achieved the previous year and what they plan to do this year. I thought I would ponder on those books I have read, over many years, not just last year, that contain the word “year” in the title. I wonder if you have read the same ones that I have? Here are just a few.

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. I read this many years ago and loved it. It is a historical novel about the plague in 17th Century England. A Parcel of Patterns by Jill Paton Walsh is also a story about the plague and a romance that blossoms, but it is classed as a children’s book. I read it way back in the eighties. I thought they were very similar stories.

The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour is a play script, not a novel. This was one of the set texts for the English course in High School. The play has significance to Australians as it is about ANZAC Day. The theme of the play is the commemoration of Anzac Day and what it really means to Australians, from the point of view of the father and the son. It is a play that certainly generates a great deal of discussion.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I have read most of Margaret Atwood’s books and this one I found to be difficult to follow in some parts. The story is set in the future and is the sequel to Oryx and Crake. A waterless flood has occurred, obliterating most human life.

“Among the survivors are Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, who is barricaded inside a luxurious spa. Amid shadowy, corrupt ruling powers and new, gene-spliced life forms, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move, but they can’t stay locked away.”(http://knopfdoubleday.com/margaretatwood/)

I am not a keen reader of science fiction or, as some would call it, speculative fiction but overall I enjoyed the book although I would recommend The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacicalupi as a better novel on gene splicing.

You can listen to a podcast about this novel here.

Last year I mentioned in a post that I found this book invaluable. No it isn’t a novel but it does have YEAR in the title!

A Year in a Bottle by Sally Wise

Happy New YEAR!