Best of 2008 Picks -- April Gutierrez

The older I get, the harder it is to remember back a year and recall everything I've read during that time. Thankfully, there are the GMR archives to fill in the gaps for me! Sticking to just a handful of books, some of my favourites were. . . .

I started the year with a Christmas present, Liza Dalby's East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir through the Seasons, which was a humorous, affectionate look at a year in her life, her garden and Japanese culture. I definitely want to read more by her, particulary her non-fiction. Another winter read, the Maria Tatar-edited The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen, filled me with childhood nostalgia. Delightfully illustrated, and filled to bursting with anecdotes and facts about Andersen and the stories, this one's a can't miss for fans of Andersen or fairy tales.

Rob Thurman delivered another highly entertaining entry in her Caliban series, Moonshine. Can't wait for book four! Jim Butcher took a step sideways from The Dresden Files with the Mike Mignola-illustrated Backup. Set in the Dresden Files universe, this short story focuses on Thomas, fleshing this delightful character out further. One can only hope other characters receive similar treatment in the future.

And to close out my year, I thoroughly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's YA collaboration with illustrator Gris Grimly, The Dangerous Alphabet. Sure, it's for children, but this 26 verse poem about two adventuring tykes and their gazelle was witty, intelligent and very, very clever. And the illustrations were just marvelous!

My favourite movies of 2008, by and large, were foreign films -- and regrettably not reviewed by GMR. The Spanish movie El Orfanato is brooding and haunting, filled with a subtle, building dread -- suspense done right. It's beautifully filmed, and absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Tarsem's drop-dead gorgeous The Fall finally saw U.S. distribution in 2008, if only to art house theatres, alas. Stunning and sumptuous, The Fall confirms Tarsem's mastery of setting, colour, imagery and story telling. And the two leads, Pushing Daisies' Lee Pace and child actress Catinca Untaru, are both very appealing; the latter is one of those rare children who comes across as genuine on the screen, neither precocious nor annoying. And then there was Bruce Campbell's send up of his own oeuvre, I am Bruce. Silly, over the top and tons of fun for fans of Campbell (plus it didn't hurt that he was available for questions after the viewing, nope!).