10 Books which I DEMAND you read - 2009

I have managed to read a great many books this year, thanks to being unemployed for the first time since I graduated. I read VORACIOUSLY. Sometimes I got my hands on a book which was so enthralling that I couldn't sleep until I'd read it all.

Looking back, a large majority of them were horror/thriller but that's because it's my favourite genre both book and film-wise, so if you're not a fan of the fear and chills this list may not be terribly interesting for you, sorry!

These, in no particular order, are the 10 books I have most enjoyed reading (or indeed, re-reading) in 2009. Homework for the next year is to read them yourself.

Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin.

I loved the Roman Polanski film adaptation which I saw during my first proper Horror film infatuation in my teens but had yet to read the original book. I managed to get hold of a really nice second hand copy on eBay - a lovely green leather-bound edition of horror film stories from a long time ago. It's such a creepy story, beautifully written and very "visual" - it was one of the books I stayed up all night reading!

The Birthing House - Christopher Ransom.

Completely terrifying. A genuinely nasty ghost story written about the author's actual residence which was indeed a birthing house originally. Lots of "wait a minute, what the hell?!" and "oh my god, oh my god!!" moments. Equally, plenty of gore, disgusting sex and lots of death.

Cabal - Clive Barker.

I read this the first time when I was at school I think, borrowed from the local library and really enjoyed it. I found a copy this year in a discount bookstore and bought it as a friend had recommended Clive Barker to me as an author I needed to read (I've got Books of Blood vols 4-6 but haven't finished it yet, which is why it's not on this list, but they are ace). I'm so glad I bought it because I completely fell in love with it all over again. There's a film adaptation called "Nighbreed" which is...interesting but not anywhere near as good as the book so I won't suggest you watch it - just get the book and marvel at the darkness.

Abarat - Clive Barker.

BRILLIANT first novel in a series of 5, aimed at young adults, from the wonderful Mr Barker. Oh, how I loved this, and how I longed to run away there more than once and leave this world behind. I actually read the first and second of the novels (the third is out next year and I can't wait!) this year and was hugely impressed. There were plans to have them made into films under Disney management but (luckily) due to creative differences the project is not going ahead - quite frankly, they'd ruin it. The author's sense of the weird, wonderful, macabre and beautiful are all superbly mixed together and if you like him, I can recommend these books; if you haven't read anything by him before but like your fantasy and magic then I can recommend these books too. WAY better than Philip Pullman's Northern Lights stuff.

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown.

I have a powerful need to go to Rome now I've read this. It's the novel which comes before The Davinci Code in the time-line of protagonist Robert Langdon and it's cracking. Fast-paced and exciting, thrilling and a little unnerving. Whether you have faith in a Christian God or not I think it has a lot to offer and the characters are all well written and believable. I'd read this before seeing the film and while I enjoyed that (Ewan Mcgregor, how I love thee) I felt they'd left important chunks out. I honestly didn't really like TDC the first time I read it and if you were the same, don't let that put you off reading this. When I went back and re-read that one I enjoyed it a lot more...

World War Z - An Oral History Of The Zombie War - Max Brooks.

OK, I'll be honest, I LOVE this book. I got this in 2006 and I've read it over and over again. It's just brilliant and a complete must-read for anyone who likes the Zombies! First person accounts from the Zombie War, some heartbreakingly sad, others wry and satirical, some even hilariously funny - it reads which such authenticity that, as Simon Pegg comments, you worry that Max Brooks knows something we don't. I honestly can't recommend this book enough to fans of the genre, and am very happy to see that there's a film adaptation in the pipelines! BRAAAAAIIIIINNNNSSSS!!!

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer.

The fourth and (so far!) final instalment of the Twilight Saga - I don't care what you say, I love these books. I'm not going to waste time here explaining why I like them as I did that once before on this blog and I stand by what I said then. The final part explains a great deal, sees Bella and Edward getting married, having TEH SEX, becoming parents, and fighting (well, more or less) for their lives against the Volturi. Bella FINALLY becomes a vampire in rather spectacular "vampire-human-hybrid-baby vampire teeth caesarian birth" fashion and that's all good. Also, Jacob stops trying to rape her and finds someone else to love. No, I didn't buy my copy at midnight but I did by it in the week it was released :)

Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult.

Thanks to my Mum working in a charity shop I get a lot of her books on a regular basis. I think I've read about two thirds of the work she's produced and some of it is good, some of it average and most of it has a genuine twist at the end. This novel, like so many of hers features court-room drama and characters which you vacillate between liking and loathing. But the main storyline in this is a school shooting in the same vein as "We Need To Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver (which is utterly excellent and you must read) and it's this which gripped me. It's tear-jerking, heart-warming and it's easy to relate to the main characters. Good work.

The Bitch Goddess Notebook - Martha O'Connor.

A find in the local Oxfam Bookshop which I bought on a complete whim knowing nothing about the book or the author, but thinking it would be an nice, light, easy read. I mean, I'm not one for Chick Lit or "Holiday reads" but I thought this might be a nice change from the terror and the inability to sleep with the light off. It was that, but it was so much more. Gripping, bitchy, shocking and a real page-turner. Written for anyone who was ever an outsider at school and found the company of girls her own age a bore and a horror - which I was, and anyone who ever had a friendship bond so strong that you felt that nothing could ever break it - which I did (and still do).

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J K Rowling.

What kind of Slytherin Head Girl would I be if I didn't read at least one of these a year? I've read them all several times over and then some (yes, even the 5th and least favourite of mine) and I'm still captivated from start to finish. Before the film was released this year (which was incredible - dark, angsty, genuinely scary and OH DRACO, what a beautiful young man you've become...) I re-read it and loved it. I don't need to say more on the subject, other than if you haven't read them we may need to rethink our friendship, OK?