year in books

Welcome to the 3rd anniversary of “A Year In Books” here at CdPdN. It’s where I chronicle and count up the books I’ve read in a given year. I occasionally comment briefly (in the comments section) on the books I read; feel free to add your own observations or recommendations!

2010:

  1. Humans – Robert J. Sawyer
  2. In Shade and Shadow – Barb & J.C. Hendee
  3. Kitty’s House of Horrors – Carrie Vaughn
  4. Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of  Whatever – John Scalzi
  5. Crazy for God - Frank Schaeffer
  6. Proven Guilty – Jim Butcher
  7. Ill Wind – Rachel Caine
  8. White Night – Jim Butcher
  9. Human Nature – Paul Cornell
  10. The Breach – Patrick Lee
  11. The Time Traders - Andre Norton
  12. Galactic Derelict - Andre Norton
  13. Digital Knight – Ryk E. Spoor
  14. Analog – April 2010
  15. Fallen Angels – Niven, Pournelle, & Flynn
  16. Game Change – John Heilemann & Mark Halperin
  17. The Two Faces of Tomorrow – James P. Hogan
  18. Cat’s Claw – Amber Benson
  19. Analog:  May 2010
  20. The God Engines – John Scalzi
  21. Heat Stroke – Rachel Caine
  22. Voices of Dragons – Carrie Vaughn
  23. Small Favor - Jim Butcher
  24. Primary Inversion – Catherine Asaro
  25. Last Call – Tim Powers
  26. Analog – June 2010
  27. Little Fuzzy – H. Beam Piper
  28. The Things That Are Not There – CJ Henderson
  29. Boneshaker – Cherie Priest
  30. Free Range Kids – Lenore Skenazy
  31. Essential Doctor Strange (vol 4) – Stern, Claremont, Etc.
  32. My Own Kind of Freedom – Steven Brust
  33. The Stench of Fresh Air – CJ Henderson
  34. Makers – Cory Doctorow
  35. Get Opinionated – Amanda Marcotte
  36. The Mountains of Mourning – Lois McMaster Bujold
  37. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls - Steve Hockensmith
  38. For The Win – Cory Doctorow
  39. Omnilingual – H. Beam Piper
  40. Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters – Malcolm Hulke
  41. Prince of Stories: the many worlds of Neil Gaiman – Wagner, Golden & Bissette
  42. Exile’s Burn – Elaine Corvidae
  43. Essential Moon Knight Vol 2 – Moench & Sienkiewicz
  44. Turn Coat – Jim Butcher
  45. The Sleep that Rescues – CJ Henderson
  46. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E: ultimate edition:  Warren Ellis & Stuart Immonen
  47. Geek Dad – Ken Denmead
  48. Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) – Gever Tulley w/ Julie Spiegler
  49. Analog: September 2010
  50. Anathem – Neal Stephenson
  51. Sunrise Alley – Catherine Asaro
  52. Spellcrash – Kelly McCullough
  53. The Clockwise Man – Justin Richards
  54. Kitty Goes To War – Carrie Vaughn
  55. The Eight Doctors – Terence Dicks
  56. Analog: July-August 2010
  57. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
  58. Discord’s Apple – Carrie Vaughn
  59. Goth Opera – Paul Cornell
  60. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes -  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  61. Analog: October 2010
  62. The Monsters Inside – Stephen Cole
  63. Red Hood’s Revenge – Jim C. Hines
  64. Wizard’s Bane – Rick Cook
  65. Alternate Generals – Harry Turtledove (editor)
  66. Med Ship – Murray Leinster
  67. Essential Defenders vol 4  – David Kraft et al.
  68. Analog: November 2010
  69. Lai Wan: Tales of the Dreamwalker – CJ Henderson

________________________

2009:

  1. World War Z – Max Brooks
  2. Child of a Dead God – Barb and JC Hendee
  3. Fool Moon – Jim Butcher
  4. The Year of Living Biblically – A.J. Jacobs
  5. Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
  6. The Stepsister Scheme – Jim C. Hines
  7. Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand – Carrie Vaughn
  8. The Wrecking Crew – Thomas Frank
  9. Analog – April 2009
  10. Sunken Treasure – Wil Wheaton
  11. 1984 – George Orwell
  12. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
  13. Kitty Raises Hell – Carrie Vaughn
  14. Essential Doctor Strange: v. 3 – Engelhart, Brunner, Colan, et al
  15. The Hacker Crackdown – Bruce Sterling
  16. Analog – May 2009
  17. Death’s Daughter – Amber Benson
  18. Analog - June 2009
  19. Grave Peril – Jim Butcher
  20. Singularlity Sky - Charles Stross
  21. Zappa – Barry Miles
  22. Zoe’s Tale – John Scalzi
  23. Hero of Ages – Brandon Sanderson
  24. Summer Knight – Jim Butcher
  25. Analog – July/August 2009
  26. Victory of Eagles – Naomi Novik
  27. Analog - September 2009
  28. MythOS – Kelly McCullough
  29. Death Masks – Jim Butcher
  30. Wolfkin – Elaine Corvidae
  31. The Trouble With Demons – Lisa Shearin
  32. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – Michael Chabon
  33. In The Shadows – Joseph Lidster
  34. Analog – October 2009
  35. Blood Rites:  Jim Butcher
  36. Your Inner Fish – Neil Shubin
  37. Saturn’s Children – Charles Stross
  38. The Motherhood Manifesto – Joan Blades, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
  39. Analog – November 2009
  40. Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson
  41. Dinosaur Planet – Anne McCafferey
  42. Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town – Cory Docotorow
  43. Dragons of the Cuyahoga – S. Andrew Swann
  44. The Apocalypse Troll:  David Weber
  45. Goblin Quest – Jim C. Hines
  46. The Buried Pyramid – Jane Lindskold
  47. Dwarves of Whisky Island – S. Andrew Swann
  48. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
  49. Rats, Bats & Vats – Dave Freer & Eric Flint
  50. Inherit the Stars – James P. Hogan
  51. The Rats, The Bats, and the Ugly” – Eric Flint & Dave Freer
  52. Goblin Hero – Jim C. Hines
  53. Analog December 2009
  54. Sense And Sensibility and Sea Monsters – Jane Austen & Ben H. Winters
  55. Sheepfarmer’s Daughter – Elizabeth Moon
  56. Memories of the Future: Volume One - Wil Wheaton
  57. A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K. Le Guin
  58. Goblin War – Jim C. Hines
  59. Ariel – Steven R. Boyett
  60. …And Another Thing – Eoin Colfer
  61. Analog – Jan-Feb 2010
  62. Dead Beat - Jim Butcher
  63. The Multiplex Man – James P. Hogan
  64. Waiting for Athena – John Scalzi
  65. Shatnerquake – Jeff  Burk
  66. More Information Than You Require – John Hodgman
  67. The Mermaid’s Madness – Jim C. Hines
  68. Surface Action – David Drake
  69. Analog: March 2010
  70. Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress – Shelly Mazzanoble
  71. Imago – Octavia Butler
  72. Hominids – Robert J. Sawyer
  73. Analog: May 1984

__________________________________

2008:

  1. The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
  2. The Cradle of Saturn – James P. Hogan
  3. The Price of Paradise – Colin Brake
  4. The Genesis Machine – James P. Hogan
  5. Rebel Fay – Barb and JC Hendee
  6. Robots and Empire – Isaac Asimov
  7. Edenborn – Nick Sagan
  8. Lamb – Christopher Moore
  9. Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson
  10. Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
  11. Old Man’s War – John “the guy who taped bacon to the cat ” Scalzi
  12. Kitty and the Midnight Hour – Carrie Vaughn
  13. The Android’s Dream – Scalzi
  14. Spin – Robert Charles Wilson
  15. Rockets, Redheads, and Revolution – James P. Hogan
  16. Agent to the Stars – Scalzi (available for free online – click the title!)
  17. The Outstretched Shadow – Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
  18. The Moor – Laurie R. King
  19. Farthing  – Jo Walton
  20. Kitty Goes To Washington – Carrie Vaughn
  21. A Secret Atlas – Michael A. Stackpole
  22. Crystal Rain – Tobias Buckell
  23. Lord of the Isles – David Drake
  24. Iron Man – Peter David
  25. The Ghost Brigades – John Scalzi
  26. Kitty Takes A Holiday – Carrie Vaughn
  27. The Beatles – Bob Spitz
  28. Through Wolf’s Eyes – Jane Lindskold
  29. The Disunited States of America – Harry Turtledove
  30. Reiffen’s Choice – SC Butler
  31. O Jerusalem – Laurie R. King
  32. Sun of Suns – Karl Schroeder
  33. Kitty and the Silver Bullet – Carrie Vaughn
  34. Four and Twenty Blackbirds – Cherie Priest
  35. Little Brother – Cory Doctorow
  36. Essential Avengers, Volume 2 – Stan Lee, Don Heck, Roy Thomas, John Buscema
  37. Starfish – Peter Watts
  38. Magic Lost, Trouble Found – Lisa Shearin
  39. The Incredible Hulk – Peter David
  40. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom – Cory Doctorow
  41. Armed and Magical – Lisa Shearin
  42. Touch of Evil – CT Adams and Cathy Clamp
  43. Lyra’s Oxford – Philip Pullman
  44. Boomsday - Christopher Buckley
  45. I Love You Beth Cooper – Larry Doyle
  46. Codespell – Kelly McCullough
  47. 2033:  The Future of Misbehavior – Nerve.com editors
  48. Black & White – Lewis Shiner
  49. In the Garden of Iden – Kage Baker
  50. Jennifer Government – Max Barry
  51. Hal Spacejock -  Simon Haynes
  52. Me of Little Faith – Lewis Black
  53. Orphans of Chaos – John C. Wright
  54. In The Midnight Hour – Patti O’Shea
  55. Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson
  56. Flash – LE Modessit
  57. Darkness of the Light – Peter David
  58. InterWorld – Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
  59. Elantris – Brandon Sanderson
  60. Soul – Tobsha Learner
  61. Justice Hall – Laurie R. King
  62. Eastern Standard Tribe – Cory Doctorow
  63. The Captain’s Honor – Daniel and David Dvorkin
  64. The Last Colony – John Scalzi
  65. Playing For Keeps – Mur Lafferty
  66. The Good Fairies of New York – Martin Millar
  67. The Game – Laurie R. King
  68. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
  69. Locked Rooms – Laurie R. King
  70. Watchmen – Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
  71. The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
  72. M is for Magic – Neil Gaiman
  73. Dawn – Octavia Butler
  74. Outrageous Fortune – Tim Scott
  75. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
  76. Fragile Things – Neil Gaiman
  77. Dreams from my Father – Barack Obama
  78. Living Dead in Dallas – Charlaine Harris
  79. Adulthood Rites – Octavia Butler
  80. War for the Oaks – Emma Bull
  81. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
  82. Jumper – Steven Gould
  83. Storm Front – Jim Butcher
  84. Dinosaur Planet Survivors – Anne McCaffrey

I kind of like this project; both so I can remember what exactly I read, but I kind of want to see exactly HOW MANY I manage to put down in a given year. It helps me justify having as many books around as I do (not that being a bibliophile requires any justification!).

Please feel free to chronicle your own reading exploits below…I can always use recommendations!

28 Responses to “year in books”

  1. 1
    chuck Says:

    “Mistborn” – Brandon Sanderson

    I got this one in my email this week for signing up for the new Tor Books newsletter. They’re apparently launching a newly designed site, and are giving away free e-books (well, PDF files) to drum up page counts.

    Yay, free books.

    This’ll keep me going at lunchtime for a few weeks, I imagine.

    -chuck

    February 15th, 2008 at 11:45 am
  2. 2
    chuck Says:

    Jennifer – you’ll like the “Kitty” series from Carrie Vaughn. I can tell you this now, even though I haven’t finished the first one yet.

    A hip, snarky, single girl werewolf who has a late-night call-in radio show about supernatural problems; it also looks like the author’s trying to set her up with either one of the local vampires, or perhaps the werewolf/vampire hunter guy…not sure yet.

    It’s fun, kinda like the early anita blake books, perhaps a little more econonomical and clever on the prose. You should read it.

    February 27th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
  3. 3
    chuck Says:

    couple more comments.

    I’m starting to really like Scalzi, not just because he once taped a piece of bacon to a cat, then took a picture of it and posted it on the internet.

    “Old Man’s War” was really clever; who can resist a novel whose first line is:

    “I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the Army”

    It’s basically the typical “boys go off to war” novel, except the boys are all older than John McCain. Then the get new super-bodies (and deal with all the ramifications of such) and go out and fight aliens.

    “Android’s Dream” is also shaping up to be fun read – I’m really starting to get a sort of “American Adams” vibe from this guy – lots of fun, kind of absurd situations and ideas (a future religious sect involving ritual bowhunting known as the Nugentians? classic!). All wrapped around a great little “race to find the thing” story.

    Lots of nods to other classic sci-fi authors; both of these stories owe a lot, either in structure or simple little references, to Heinlein. Still, any of these stories could be easily enjoyed by someone who’s really not into scifi at all.

    February 29th, 2008 at 8:29 am
  4. 4
    chuck Says:

    R/R/R – Hogan: just started it the other night; collection of essays and short stories. Not bad. Once I finish it, I ought to be through the box of Doug’s books for the year.

    Agent to the Stars – yeah, another Scalzi book – what can I say, I like this guy. I figure I’ll burn through his whole catalog this year easily. This one’s actually his “practice” novel that he wrote just to prove he could; never sold it to a publisher, and has since put it online for all to see. The latest in my “lunchtime reading” series….

    March 5th, 2008 at 9:19 am
  5. 5
    chuck Says:

    a few I wasn’t necessarily fond of:

    A Secret Atlas – picked this one up because I liked the cover, mostly. It wasn’t a “bad” book per se, but took its sweet time getting around to things happening, and then, once things got rolling at all, it became really episodic; “this happened to this guy, this happened to that guy, prince goes “muah, ha ha”, rinse, repeat…” Colleen liked it more than I; perhaps I missed the throughline, as I was sick through most of the reading. I may try it again sometime. Thinking about it, though, I never quite got into the world the author was trying to build; I’ve no doubt he has all sorts of ideas about how it fits together, but he didn’t communicate it so well, at least to me.

    “Lord of the Isles” – another one of those free books from Tor; not awful, but definitely the least of the offerings so far. I think there were just too many pieces on the board overall to keep me into it; the world was better realized, though still kind of a mish-mash of stock fantasy tropes, and the secondary characters are infinitely more interesting than the “Chosen One” boy hero, which is never a good sign.

    April 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
  6. 6
    chuck Says:

    crossing over the 50 books line…

    highlights since last time:
    Little Brother – Cory Doctorow All sorts of people are raving about this one, and rightfully so. The book’s nominally a YA title, but that’s not a knock against it at all – a great meditation on privacy and civil rights issues, especially in terms of electronic surveillance. Read it; you’ll learn something!

    I Love You Beth Cooper – Larry Doyle The night after graduation, through the eyes of the nerdy class valedictorian who used his speech to proclaim his love for the school’s head cheerleader. The perfect novelization of the movies John Hughes should still be making.

    Codspell – Kelly McCullough – third in a great series; the adventures of a minor power in the Greek Pantheon; in a world where the gods fused magic with modern information technology and computing (code, after all, is much more efficient than blood rituals!).

    June 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
  7. 7
    chuck Says:

    Orphans of Chaos – a lot of interesting ideas; in fact, enough ideas for a couple of entirely different books. Any of the following ideas would make the great hook for a novel:

    • A teenage girl with the ability to perceive and project herself into 4-D space
    • A war between two supernatural forces with the earth in the balance
    • An S&M thriller with lots of tying up and spanking
    • The Greek pantheon running a modern English boarding school for nefarious purposes
    • A group of plucky teenagers, each with a special power, fighting for freedom from their captors, who have opposing special powers
    • A discussion of complex theology and geometry?

    When ALL these ideas are wedged into one 300 page book, though, it gets kind of muddled.

    July 1st, 2008 at 7:08 am
  8. 8
    chuck Says:

    In The Midnight Hour – Another free book; Oh, Tor, why must you trick me into reading smutty romance novels laced with vague sci-fi supernatural elements? Free books, I know. There might actually have been a decent story with romantic elements here, but instead, the whole “plot” business was pushed into the deep background to make room for the graphic “undulating passion”.

    And it’s a shame, because the story, fleshed out a little bit, would probably have been really good…if they’d spent as many pages on the big plot developments and confrontations with the threatening (but barely present, sadly) adversary as they did on the smutty, smutty smut.

    The plot points in this book were treated with about as much gravity as the stereotypical “Hey lady, plumber here – need your pipes cleaned?” setup in a bad porn movie.

    Why can’t we have BOTH the interesting plot and the graphic sexuality?

    After wading into a couple of these romance novels (paranormal or no), no one can ever tell me that “proper” women don’t use pornography – they just take it in a slightly different format.

    Wanna know what else is weird? I can’t for the life of me figure out what the title of this book had to do with the story…

    July 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
  9. 9
    chuck Says:

    Me of Little Faith: Lewis Black discusses religion. Equally sarcastic, cynical, and, oddly, reverent. Not quite as good as Nothing Sacred, but still worth a look.

    August 5th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
  10. 10
    chuck Says:

    Well of Ascension – I’m really enjoying Sanderson’s work, even if I didn’t expect to – Mistborn was one of the first of the Tor free books, and one of the pleasant surprises in that particular promotion. The characters are basically archetypes, but you still find yourself involved in them, and their well-established, but still mysterious world (which I’m sure will be expounded upon in coming volumes).

    That, and the guy writes action scenes well; all frentic motion and opposing forces, but in a way the reader can coherently follow.

    This second book in a series falls into the not-done-nearly-enough category of “well, the good guys won – now what?”; and makes it work, and opens up a few doors to further adventures.

    I’m currently working through his first novel, Elantris; it’s not at all related to the mistborn books, but has the same flavor, with all sorts of political intrigue and cleverly implemented magickal systems.

    August 5th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
  11. 11
    chuck Says:

    The Captain’s Honor – cleaning out the crawlspaces, found this OLD Star Trek TNG tie-in novel….oh, was it bad.

    August 24th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
  12. 12
    chuck Says:

    Fahrenheit 451 – 34 years old, and I’ve never read this one before; who’d have thought? Interesting read, and filled a gaping hole in my experience.

    September 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
  13. 13
    chuck Says:

    Watchmen – reading it yet again (mostly in anticipation of the upcoming film version that will almost certainly disappoint); every time, I find something new and interesting. If you haven’t read this GN yet, do yourself a favor, track it down now.

    September 25th, 2008 at 9:37 am
  14. 14
    Joy Bedwell Says:

    My favorite author is Nickolas Sparks. Try a few of his books if you didn’t already read them.
    Joy

    October 25th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
  15. 15
    chuck Says:

    Dreams from My Father: Yeah, I started this one right after the election, but it’s been moldering in my stack for a while now. Having read both President-Elect Obama’s(I still love the sound of that) books, I can say I like this one a lot better than Audacity of Hope, which kicked off this year’s reading list.

    AoH was clearly a “hey, I’m running for president!” book; an excellent example of one (I’ve read a bunch of these, and most are pretty awful), but still very guarded and not particularly personal; more an outlay of vague policy, than the “get to know the candidate” book that these are usually billed as.

    DfmF, on the other hand, is something else entirely; a personal story told well, and, unlike most books by politicians, unguarded. You really get a feel for who the author is, and how he thinks.

    I guess that’s because it wasn’t written by a politician, it was written by a law student who hadn’t yet seriously considered entering politics. I won’t say there’s anything particularly shameful admitted to in the book, but there are a few things that might (and some would argue, did) come back and bite him on the ass later. Kudos for Obama for not burying this little book he wrote years ago, and letting new readers discover it.

    November 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
  16. 16
    chuck Says:

    Dinosaur Planet Survivors: I’ve had this paperback lying around for probably fifteen years; I picked it up at a thrift shop or something. I waited so long because I was probably a bit McCaffrey’d out when I got it, and I always half-intended to pick up “Dinosaur Planet” and read it first. Never happened.

    The book was just okay.

    I’m leading off the new year with WWZ, which is way better so far.

    January 2nd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
  17. 17
    chuck Says:

    Child of A Dead God – Another January, another Hendee “Noble Dead” book; I’ve been keeping up with this series for at least four years now. They’re all pretty much “extruded fantasy product”, but it’s good EFP; and it has vampires and a telepathic wolf – did LotR have vampires and telepathic wolves? I don’t think so.

    January 15th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
  18. 18
    chuck Says:

    twilight – so yes, I managed to scrape up a copy to see what the fuss was about; I won’t say it’s the worst book I ever read (I’d probably say that was The Legend of Rah and the Muggles); at least all the subjects and verbs agreed. I also can’t say that it’s the transcendent experience (as millions of pre-teen girls will tell you), or that it’s even particularly good.

    There was a plot buried in there somewhere, one that a skilled writer might have been able to do something with. But not this one.

    The main characters are entirely unsympathetic; edward may be a sparking (!) god physically, but is also a stalker with bi-polar issues, serious problems maturity and stilted, awkward speech patterns. Bela is, by all rights, a hot nerd chick who is vastly intelligent and has six decent guys fawning all over her between every class, but considers herself boring and ordinary and claims nobody likes her; it’s hard to get invested in, especially when these characters get together, and the book portrays the relationship as healthy.

    Buffy did this better in season two, and correctly played the “naive young girl and older bad boy” relationship as a bad idea.

    The only character I kind of liked was Alice, but since her big “vision of the future” was revealed in the final pages, I guess she’s not long for the world.

    The book wasn’t super painful, but it’ll probably be a while before I dive into any of the others – where if I understand correctly, all the authors weird sexual hang-ups and “proper” gender roles really boil up.

    Might be an interesting trainwreck, but I’m not ready for it yet.

    January 28th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
  19. 19
    chuck Says:

    Essential Doctor Strange: volume 3: Collecting 30-odd issues of “Doctor Strange” (plus a couple from “Tomb of Dracula” that tied in) from roughly 1975-1977.

    Exquisite weirdness – The Master of the Mystic Arts battles deranged Ex-bishops, Lords of the Undead, Satan himself, planets made of worms, and just for the hell of it, a space dragon he just happened to run into while going somewhere else, for no plot related reasons other than the fact that Doctor Strange spending two pages fighting a space dragon is the coolest thing ever.

    Oh, and Doc Strange gets cockblocked by Benjamin Franklin during a bicentennial-inspired time travel adventure. I wish comics were still this cool.

    April 2nd, 2009 at 7:52 am
  20. 20
    chuck Says:

    catching up on the last couple of months:

    Death’s Daughter: bought this book primarily because I’ve had a long-time TV crush on the author (she played Tara Maclay on Buffy), but was pleasantly surprised by reasonably solid urban fantasy, even if it veered a little in to SatC territory occasionally – do we really need to talk that much about shoes and designer bags, Amber?

    Zappa: Always enjoyed Zappa’s music, loved his testimony to congress in the PMRC business way back. Interesting book, even if it turns out that the great artist was also kind of an asshole.

    Zoe’s Tale: Another one of this Year’s Hugo nominees I’ve actually read. Retells “The Last Colony” story from the perspective of Zoe, teenage daughter of the protagonists. Good stuff. Write faster, Scalzi!

    Wolfkin: bought this from the author (signed) at RavenCon this year. It’s more romance-flavored Extruded Fantasy Product, but competent EFP, with all the courtly intrigue, buckling of swashes, and dark mysterious heroes you could ever want.

    July 21st, 2009 at 8:44 am
  21. 21
    chuck Says:

    Your Inner Fish: worth a whole post on it’s own.

    August 18th, 2009 at 8:49 am
  22. 22
    chuck Says:

    Saturn’s Children: taking me to 4 for 5 in reading this year’s Hugo nominees (just Anathem left), is this fun solar system spanning mystery taking place a couple of centuries after humanity died out, leaving it’s android servants to carry on civilization. It offers plenty to think about regarding freedom, prejudice, and personhood, as well as plenty of neat hard sci-fi stuff about space travel and AI.

    Also, lots of robot sex.

    My favorite bit, however, is the minor aside where Stross turns the evolution/creationism debate on it’s head: the androids have mostly ironclad proof that they were “intelligently designed” by a Creator race, yet a “Church of Evolution” (complete with Prophets Darwin, Gould and Dawkins) arises to deny this proof, believing that something to efficiently designed as themselves had to evolve from ‘lesser’ forms.

    August 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
  23. 23
    chuck Says:

    Dinosaur Planet – amongst all the RavenCon 09 swag, we picked this one up from a used bookseller. Lots of stuff in Survivors makes sense now. One niggling problem: if you’re going to make the big reveal “These are EARTH DINOSAURS on this ALIEN PLANET!”, don’t call your book Dinosaur Planet!

    Goblin Quest – snagged this whole series at C&C books from the going-out-of-business sale. The story of a lowly goblin who rises above his standard station as low-level RPG encounter fodder. Silly, light, and fun.

    Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Take most of Jane Austen’s original text, add the undead, some ninjas, and a handful of anachronistic double-entendres, publish. It works surprisingly well, retains Austen’s wit amidst the mayhem, and actually fills in a couple of Austen’s plot inconsistencies. I enjoyed it tremendously.

    September 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
  24. 24
    chuck Says:

    been a while…rolling into 2010:

    looks like the beginning of the year; new entries from Vaughn and the Hendees, like always. Good stuff all around there.

    Crazy for God: memoir from one of the guys who got the whole evangelical anti-abortion movement going, paving the way for Falwell, Roberston, etc; then turned away from it, because it left a bad taste in his mouth. interesting reading, offering insight into that particular subculture.

    Ill Wind: first of a series by Rachel Caine; kinda lukewarm toward it (veers a little close to “paranormal romance” rather than “urban fantasy” for me), but figured I’d read it, since the author’s the GoH at RavenCon this year.

    Human Nature the novel upon which the excellent two parter from Doctor Who: Series 3 (relaunch) was based, only this novel featured the 7th Doctor rather than the 10th, (though it did feature one of the shape shifting aliens pretending to be the 10th Doctor…weird).

    Time Traders/Galactic Derelict: Couple of time travel adventures written in the late 50s by a woman who chose a male sounding pen name to get published. Interesting stuff from a cultural artifact perspective, and in the way time travel is taken as a complete given by everyone, but the rest of the tech (like spaceships and beam weapons) is taken as completely incomprehensible by the characters.

    February 11th, 2010 at 8:36 am
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    chuck Says:

    Digital Knight: neat little first novel with vampires and werewolves and psychics and databases. Enjoyable diversion, but what’s really cool is that the author himself dropped a comment on this very blog thanking me for reading.

    February 13th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
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    chuck Says:

    Game Change: the book with all the dirt on the 2008 election. Didn’t learn much I hadn’t already heard at the time (well, except for the Edwards sex tape stuff – ew); but then, this is a “book of the blog” project, and I tend to run in the same internet circles as the authors. Good read, though, as it has all the goodies in one place.

    The God Engines: Scalzi tries his hand at fantasy in a small-press novella. Very interesting ideas. Still a space opera, but that’s not a bad thing. What surprised me is how terribly bleak it all was, but then, that’s not a problem either (given my HP Lovecraft kick these last couple of weeks).

    March 10th, 2010 at 10:09 am
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    chuck Says:

    well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? – a few highlights I haven’t made mention of in the blog proper:

    Voices of Dragons: Carrie Vaughn’s first published young adult novel; worth the read.

    Boneshaker: steampunk, airship pirates, and zombies…what’s not to like? Great story.

    Makers: very Doctorow story about all kinds of ideas, though at it’s heart, it’s about the pleasure of improvising with the materials at hand and turning someone else’s trash into something useful, affecting, and important.

    Dawn of the Dreadfuls: the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Without the direct connection to Austen’s prose, this story actually works a bit better than the original mash-up (which was still quite enjoyable, really). Even though it’s still got the Bennetts as characters, it feels less a stunt and more an attempt to write a legitimate Regency novel with horror elements. Zombie stories are almost always an attempt to comment on some element of society using the metaphor of monsters – which is probably why Austen’s social commentary meshed so well with mobs of undead craving brains to begin with. So, worth the read, even if the whole literary-monster mash-up genre is probably close to played out.

    Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters: an old novelization from almost 40 years ago of a 3rd Doctor serial featuring the first appearance of the Silurians, who recently cropped up again in the current Matt Smith series.

    May 26th, 2010 at 10:01 am
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    chuck Says:

    Alternate Generals: An anthology of alternate military history that totally defeated me. I’ve owned this volume for probably a decade, and never finished it, until now, but only by technicality (I pretty much skimmed the last half). Turtledove edited – and while I generally love his stuff, I found myself bored to distraction with this one – it’s less historical exploration and more fetishizing militarism and the loneliness of command…and mostly terribly dull.

    Also, the cover promised Roman Centurions driving panzer tanks…the book delivered no such thing!

    August 26th, 2010 at 7:38 am

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