Best of 2008 Picks -- James Stoddard

As always, I mostly read older books this year. One new one that I thoroughly enjoyed was John C. Wright's "Orphans of Chaos," the tale of five orphans who are not quite all they seem. After all these years, I finally got around to reading Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead." What an enjoyable reading experience! I can't remember when I read a book I couldn't put down, like the former. As for the latter, it's a literary gem--I want to use the word masterpiece. No wonder both books won both the Nebula and Hugo awards. I also enjoyed John Brunner's little novel "Times Without Number," and after promising myself for years to read the final volume of E. R. Eddison's Zimiamvia series, I completed "A Fish Dinner in Memison." Not as good as the other books, and Eddison isn't for everyone, but he can create remarkable scenes.

I also used www.librivox.org again this year, a website where volunteers read public domain books, and anyone can download the audio. Sometimes the readers are quite good, sometimes they aren't, but its definitely worth checking out. And worth volunteering if you have the time.