Comment by tra3

Couple of books from this year:

- A short stay in hell (sci-fi): A modern take on Library of Babel. Pretty dark. Quick read.

- The Burried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nominally fantasy, but not really. Great, like his other books.

- Small things like these (fiction). Set in 1900s Ireland, atmospheric. I learned about Magdalene laundries from this book.

- Parable of the Sawer by Octavia E. Butler, science fiction. Collapse of society, survival etc. Pretty bleak.

- Lonely Kind of War (biography). Author was a forward air controller during the Vietnam war. His job was to direct air strikes from jets and bombers on enemy positions and then confirm the kills. Interesting and depressing.