Translation means doing violence upon the original, it means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes.- Professor Playfair (Babel by R.F. Kuang)
A few years ago, I was gifted a Kindle. That, plus a Libby account tied to my local library, re-opened a world for me. I do my best to keep up with my local book club, but when I can’t, I look at the Hugo/Nebula winners and work through my queue. I read some great books this past year, and here are a few that stood out.
Babel by R.F. Kuang (Nebula 2022) - By a landslide, this was my favorite book of the year. It’s a magical historical fiction centered on linguistic-based magic. The premise? You engrave words from two different languages into silver, and whatever meaning is "lost in translation" manifests as a magical force. I'm sold. While the magic is fascinating, it’s only one layer of the story. The primary theme is imperial exploitation, how children from poorer parts of the world who are fluent in foreign languages become a resource to mined.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall (Nebula Nominated 2024) - I was slow to get into this one at first. It’s set in a semi-modern world where the old gods were cataclysmically destroyed by new ones just before the story begins. The main character has made a deal with a devil for powers and accidentally binds a highborn man into her shadow to save him from an assassination attempt. Now, she has to get it all sorted out. By the halfway point, I was having a blast. It’s a fun, unique magical adventure.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (Nebula Nominated 2022, Hugo Nominated 2023) - A feel-good book about a battle-hardened orc warrior who is done with the weary road; she just wants to open a coffee shop and be left alone. Of course, she can't be, because the world assumes a battle-hardened orc must have something more sinister afoot. She doesn't. Just let her sell some coffee and have a bard play at open mic night! It’s a wonderfully silly book with very low stakes.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (Book Club) - A fast, simple read from the local book club. It’s a story of friendship between two women who haven’t seen each other since college. A senator’s wife reaches out to her old friend for help because the senator has two kids from a previous marriage who spontaneously combust when they get upset. She really needs a nanny. It’s a quirky story that glosses over some complexity, but a quick, fun read is exactly what I needed.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - Back in 2023, I went on a bender and read a dozen classic sci-fi public domain books, but somehow I missed this one. How could that be? Regardless, this book is a classic for a reason. If you enjoy the foundations of science fiction, you’re going to like this.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - I read this to my kids as a bedtime story last year. While I’m a Tolkien fan, I’m not a "read once a year" fan, more like "once a decade." The kids loved the humor of the book most of all. Their favorite part was when the company arrives at Beorn’s house; Gandalf tells a story while, every ten minutes, another pair of dwarves walks in until the whole group is there. They also got a kick out of how often Tolkien mentions how rotund Bombur is. Afterward, we watched the 1977 animated film. I am aware of no other movies that tell this story.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Nebula 1985, Hugo 1986) - My uncle gave me this book when it first came out, and I loved it. I’ve since read almost every book and novella in the Ender/Shadowverse, all the way through The Last Shadow. It was interesting reading it to my kids, who are now older than I was when I first discovered it. It is a brutally violent book, and I’ll admit I had a parental instinct to "edit" as I read aloud, but I refrained. Having so recently finished The Last Shadow, it was striking how much better written I think Ender’s Game remains compared to the latest works. It was, and is, a masterpiece.
To all the authors, thanks for writing.