What’s the best book you read this year?
Worst?
Favorite?
For the best (and my favorite!), I refer you to my 2010 in Review post—the top spot on my top ten list went to, of course, The Lord of the Rings, which I reread in the spring. As I walked the dog yesterday, I pondered the pre-The Lord of the Rings world; it was kind of frightening.
As for the worst? C. J. Cherryh’s The Paladin, a novel that tries to get you to sympathize with a protagonist who believes in corrective rape. Disgusting. Corrective rape is still a problem in our world; if you’ve a moment, please take it to sign this petition to make corrective rape a hate-crime in South Africa (it’s commonly used to assault lesbian women). It’ll make me feel better about having read this.
An honorable mention must go to Abby from Tyger Tyger, an annoyingly unfunny sassy best friend who absolutely infuriated me, although the book itself was decent. I hope she gets eaten by goblins, that binary-reinforcing, disrespectful, pace-destroying twit.