Early Riser by Jasper Fforde, TP $23
Let me first say how truly devastated I am to not be seeing you all this holiday season. I have never in my entire life not been in Winnipeg for Christmas and Christmas at Whodunit? is one of my very favorite times of year. We’ve made the very difficult decision to be apart in this strange and awful year, and I hope we can all keep having the strength to make those hard decisions until, as I keep telling Penny, people aren’t sick anymore.
Onto happier matters (aka, driving my brother crazy)! Every year Michael firmly sets down the Book of the Year rules and every year I am forced to break them a little bit, but I edit the newsletter and I am older, so there. Before I tell you about my official book of the year, let me tell you about the book that meant the most to me this year and the book that I loved the best.
The last time I saw my father was less than a week before he died. He was in the hospital but he was reading up a storm and on that last visit, we sat quietly as we both read. I was reading The Rook by Daniel O’Malley, Hannah’s book of the year from 2019 and one Dad enjoyed as well. I loved it, that strong heroine with an unpronounceable Welsh first name who is faced with the impossible task to save herself and the world. If you still haven’t read it, and you like supernatural thrillers, raise a diet ginger ale in Jack’s memory and enjoy.
I knew I would love Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas and I also knew Michael would give me a hard time if I picked it as my favorite, so instead I will tell you that this is the most stunning series I have ever read and if you are at all interested in historical mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, or supporting non-white non-male writers, you must read this series. We’ve got all five books in stock in trade paperback.
And now to my official pick. It ticks all the boxes. Not in a series. Published this year. In trade paperback. And if I’ve written about it before, you’ll have to forgive me because it’s been A Year. I know that Jasper Fforde isn’t for everyone. His stuff can be a little odd, a little esoteric. But Early Riser is really a fantastic book and so appropriate to read in the winter of a pandemic. Imagine a world where only certain people are awake in the winter while the rest of the world has a peaceful hibernatory season. Now imagine what happens when that hibernatory season goes amok in a small town in Wales. It’s so well-written, so funny, and as we are staring down our own winter of discontent, will give you a lot to think about.