The Online Home of Author Chad Lutzke
  • Home
  • About
  • Published Work
  • Cover Design
  • Blog: Write-Brained Leftovers
  • Contact
  • Bleeding Page Podcast
  • AI artwork

Top Reads in 2019

12/31/2019

4 Comments

 
Like a lot of readers who frequent Goodreads, I set a goal this year. I failed that goal. Chalk that up to a mixture of being too busy and not carving out enough time to read. But I would like to make a small list highlighting my 5 favorite books I did read this year, in no particular order:
Picture
PARADISE SKY - Joe R. Lansdale
I don't necessarily like westerns. I don't hate the genre, but I'm just not that interested unless it's films like TOMBSTONE or THE HATEFUL EIGHT or BONE TOMAHAWK. Something with nontraditional grit, which Lansdale has done here expertly so. PARADISE SKY is the epic adventure of a black cowboy and his quest for redemption, survival, and revenge. It's dark. It's hilarious, and it's a must read. Don't let the western tag fool you if you tend to steer clear of that sort of thing. I'm seeing a boost in mashup westerns (the weird and the horrific), with John Boden's WALK THE DARKNESS DOWN (see below) helping pave that way again.

Picture
WALK THE DARKNESS DOWN - John Boden
You can check out my review on Cemetery Dance Online, but here are a few of my thoughts from said review:  Boden presents unique, otherworldly visuals and characters in this Wizard of Oz-esque, Tolkienish adventure that feels more like Joe Lansdale-meets-80s-body-horror-meets-Gunsmoke. The pages turn easily and quickly as we wait to see what other oddball characters or events he presents. And of course, there’s justice that needs bringin’, and any reader who’s started the read will be anxiously awaiting that outcome...This feels new, unpredictable, and fresh.

Picture
PEACEABLE KINGDOM - Jack Ketchum
Not only one of the best books I read this year but in my top 4 single-author collections ever. It's both brutal and heartbreaking
. If you've ever read Ketchum then you know how disturbing a single line in one of his stories can be, and this book proves it time and time again. I learned a lot about short storytelling from PEACEABLE KINGDOM.

Picture
MY BEST FRIEND'S EXORCISM - Grady Hendrix
A female-centric coming of age set in the 80s regarding a group of girls and one of them becoming possessed. Again, I'll point you to Cemetery Dance Online for my full review, but there's an excerpt: The aging punk rocker in me should hate this book. The testosterone-fueled machismo in me should be chopping wood or building car engines while reeking of onions and beer to compensate for the time spent reading about a group of young girls toting Trapper Keepers and spooning plushies in their rainbow-filled bedrooms. But here I am, singing its praises with my Dayglo flag held high. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Picture
CRICKET HUNTERS - Jeremy Hepler
Another great coming-of-age tale. Hepler does a fantastic job of switching timelines within these pages, making each one a story on its own that you can't wait to get back to rather than dumping background info as fluff when all we really want to do is get on with the story. A great roller-coaster of a ride, this one. And with the last fourth of the book I couldn't turn the pages quick enough.


4 Comments

    Archives

    December 2022
    December 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Proudly powered by Weebly