Well, I at least managed to keep track of what books I read this year, even if I didn't review them all. Here's the list, with occasional commentary.
Adams, Richard C. Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing.
-Research for a project I'm piddling at.
Akunin, Boris. The Winter Queen.
- A lovely surreal mystery that turns into a depressing surreal mystery at the very end. Cursed Russians!
Alten, Steve. The Loch.
Andrews, Ilona. Magic Bites.
Bear, Elizabeth. Carnival.
- For some reason I ended up reading a buttload of evaluate-gender-roles novels this year. As trends go, it's not a bad one.
Brennan, Marie. Warrior and Witch.
Buckell, Tobias. Crystal Rain.
- I owe a review of this one, which I shall write soon. It deserves review.
Budz, Mark. Idolon.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. The Sharing Knife: Legacy.
Carter, Lin. The Black Star.
Caselburg, Jay. Wyrmhole.
Cruisie, Jennifer, and Bob Mayer. Agnes and the Hitman.
- Possible the most fun book I read all year. If you're looking for something to kill an hour or two -- and possibly kill you laughing -- this would be a fabulous book to pick up.
Cruisie, Jennifer, and Bob Mayer. Don't Look Down.
Cruisie, Jennifer, Anne Stuart, and Eileen Dreyer. The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes.
Curran, Bob. Bloody Irish: Great Irish Vampire Stories.
- I'm not entirely clear whether these were original short stories or reworked folktales, but what the heck. They were pretty good either way.
Dick, Philip K. The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories.
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House.
Downer, Ann. The Dragon of Never-Was.
Duncan, Hal. Vellum: The Book of All Hours.
- More an exceedingly long bit of prose poetry than a novel, really.
Dunning, John. The Bookman's Wake.
Durrell, Gerald. My Family and Other Animals.
Finley, Charles Coleman. The Prodigal Troll.
Gonick, Larry. The Cartoon History of the Universe III.
- The other two of these are down in the reread section because I read them at a friend's house when I was twelve or so. They remain a fascinating, irreverent, and entirely biased bit of historical overview, and are grand fun. Plus he includes extensive bibliographies. Yay, extensive bilbliographies!
Griffith, Nicola. The Blue Place.
- Due to a combination of circumstances and my mother, this will forever be known in my family as "the violent lesbo book". However, we've now established that my mother likes violent lesbo books, so that's all right. I thought it was bloody good myself.
Grimwood, Jon Courtenay. Stamping Butterflies.
Harper, Tara. Wolfwalker.
Hess, Joan. Closely Akin to Murder.
Huff, Tanya. Blood Price.
Huff, Tanya. Blood Trail.
-I'm ashamed to admit it took the tv series to get me started reading these. I mean, I like Tanya's books and all, but I am a bit bored with vampires. However, these are fun, down-to-earth books with practically no Vampire Dumb attached, so I'm glad I got the push.
Jecks, Michael. A Friar's Bloodfeud.
- Proved, quite handily, that the Turkey City Lexicon applies to non-sf writers. "I've suffered for my art (and now you will too)," indeed.
King, Laurie. With Child.
Kushner, Ellen. The Privilege of the Sword.
-I found Swordspoint hard going and so approached this one with trepidation. But I shouldn't have worried. Bloody wonderful story, one I ate in a single sitting, and grand fun, and something I would heartily recommend to all the fantasy readers on my list.
L'Angle, Madeleine. Dragons in the Waters.
Lackey, Mercedes. Take a Thief.
- A brief and ultimately forgettable revisit to an author of my childhood. Turns out she was better off staying there
Lake, Jay. The Madness of Flowers.
Lake, Jay. Rocket Science.
LeGuin, Ursula. Voices.
- Insert mad fangirl babbling here. Seriously, there is no one, but no one, who does it like LeGuin, and there never will be. This is much like her Earthsea series, the clean lines and beautiful prose that so endeared her to me as a child. Read it, please.
Lisle, Holly. I See You.
Lisle, Holly. Last Girl Dancing.
- I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Lisle's paranormals. They went on swimmingly enough, they were addictive, I couldn't put them down, but -- something about the end of both books didn't work for me. Like she'd tried too hard to find the last person I'd suspect. The justification was all there, story-wise, but somehow it didn't oomph.
Lisle, Holly. Talyn.
- This, on the other hand, oomph'd with a will. Very good strong fantasy book, easy read, powerfully written. Recommended.
Liu, Marjorie M. The Red Heart of Jade.
Liu, Marjorie M. Shadow Touch.
- I picked these up after reading irysangel rave about them, and I'm glad I did. Because fantastic romances are damned hard to find amidst the dreck, that's why. Well-written, fast-paced, with a wry humor that doesn't undercut the sometimes painful sweetness of the stories. Mmm, comfort food!
Lynch, Scott. Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Mallet, Nathalie. The Princes Of The Golden Cage.
Marley, Louise. The Maquisarde.
- A startlingly good and different book, beautifully written. And really, when was the last time you got to read about a pacifist Rebel Alliance?
Martinez, A. Lee. Gil's All Fright Diner.
McKillip, Patricia. Alphabet Of Thorn.
- Oh, but this was pretty. A book in love with words, as title and subject matter demanded it be, and one that kept me surprised. Fabulous stuff.
Moore, Christopher. Fluke.
- Christopher Moore is a sick, sick man. And I may never look at a whale the same.
Murphy, C.E. Urban Shaman.
- Probably the best urban fantasy I've read this year.
Myers, John Myers. Silverlock.
Norton, Andre. Forerunner.
Peters, Ellis. An Excellent Mystery.
Pierce, Tamora. Sandry's Book.
Quinn, Julia. Brighter Than the Sun.
Reeve, Philip. Mortal Engines.
- And this may be the best young adult novel I've read this year (barring the LeGuin, which is really unfair competition.) Perhaps a bit bittersweet for some teens, but really, I can't resist a book that starts, "It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."
Rhodes, R.M. Stephanie Doesn't Answer the Phone Anymore.
Ryman, Geoff. Air: Or, Have Not Have.
- Twisty, and definitely a slow starter, but interesting and well worth the read.
Scalzi, John. The Ghost Brigades.
Scalzi, John. The Last Colony.
Scholes, Ken. Last Flight of the Goddess.
Schroeder, Karl. Sun of Suns.
Shinn, Sharon. Heart of Gold.
- Another of the year's gender-benders, in a somewhat different vein than Carnival. Still, I'm surprised this one didn't get more attention. It had its failings, but overall what Shinn did was an excellent and compassionate look at two cultures and their assumptions.
Shinn, Sharon. The Safe-Keeper's Secret.
Sinclair, Linnea. Games of Command.
Steinmetz, Ferrett. On the Losing Side of the Dragon.
Stewart, Sean. The Night Watch.
Straczynski, J. Michael. Rising Stars Volume 3 / Rising Stars Volume 4.
- Two graphic novels, the final two, and very good ones. JMS takes a distinctly different angle at the superhero comic.
Strauss, Victoria. The Burning Land.
Stross, Charlie. Glasshouse.
- And another gender-stretcher. While Stross's pokes at modern culture could be occasionally tiresome, this is overall an excellent bit of work both as social commentary and as story. From my point of view it's far and away the best thing he's written yet.
Stross, Charlie. The Jennifer Morgue.
Thurman, Rob. Nightlife.
Thurman, Rob. Moonshine.
Vaughn, Carrie. Kitty Goes to Washington.
Watts, Peter. Starfish.
Wells, Martha. The Death of the Necromancer.
- Okay, I am officially a Martha Wells screaming fangirl. It's not that she's breaking new ground exactly (though she is, in her quiet way) but rather that she is so very on in everything she writes. I'm not sure this woman is capable of sounding an off note. But sadly, this is very nearly the last of her stuff I haven't already read. More Books, Dammit!
Whitney, Anne Wilson, and Caroline Canfield Bullock. Folk-Lore from Maryland.
Willingham, Bill. Fables Volumes 1-8.
- More graphic novels. I think oletheros may have recommended these to me, and then Dan bought them as a sort of extended birthday present. Once again, they err in trying to be too clever from time to time, but the overall humor and charm is enough to forgive the minor missteps.
Willis, Connie. D.A.
Wilson, Robert Charles. Spin.
- First time I've ever read an apocolypse novel that spanned thirty years. Wilson did it well. Less with the running and screaming, and more with the having time to contemplate the enormity of the behemoth toppling down upon you. Highly recommended.
Wrede, Patricia. Searching for Dragons.
In total, I read 80 new books this year (counting the graphic novels as one book, since I tend to chew through those rather quickly). Not too bad, though an immense slowdown for me (thrice-cursed real life!)
As an avid rereader, though, the list wouldn't be complete without:
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Diplomatic Immunity.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Komarr.
Cruisie, Jennifer. Tell Me Lies.
Gonick, Larry. Cartoon History of the Universe 1.
Gonick, Larry. Cartoon History of the Universe 2.
Heyer, Georgette. The Grand Sophy.
Jarvie, Gordon. Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales.
Peters, Ellis. Dead Man's Ransom.
Peters, Ellis. The Pilgrim of Hate.
Pratchett, Terry. Going Postal.
Seafield, Lily. Scottish Witches & Wizards.
Wells, Martha. The Wizard Hunters
Wells, Martha. The Ships of Air.
Wells, Martha. The Gate of Gods.
Willis, Connie. Impossible Things.
Willis, Connie. Uncharted Territory.
Wrede, Patricia. Dealing with Dragons.
Eighteen, for an annoyingly uneven 98 books read this year. I suppose I could trot off and read two more real quick-like....
Finally, the hall o'shame.
Abbey, Lynn. Sanctuary: An Epic Novel of Thieves' World.
Aiden, Pamela. An Assembly Such as This.
Amis, Martin. Yellow Dog.
Eco, Umburto. The Name of the Rose.
Cruisie, Jennifer et al. Santa, Baby.
Marco, John. The Eyes of God.
Masterton, Graham. Night Wars.
McIntosh, Fiona. Myrren's Gift.
Park, Paul. A Princess of Roumania.
One of these was a genuinely good book that I never got back to (though it was terrible dry and hard going). Another was an anthology -- the story by the author I knew (and the reason I bought the antho) was good, the others were unfinishable. The rest, um, well, they were pretty bad. Trust me.
At any rate, that's my reading for the year, and if you made it all the way to the end you deserve a cookie. Next year: Yet More Books!
New Books 2007
Adams, Richard C. Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing.
-Research for a project I'm piddling at.
Akunin, Boris. The Winter Queen.
- A lovely surreal mystery that turns into a depressing surreal mystery at the very end. Cursed Russians!
Alten, Steve. The Loch.
Andrews, Ilona. Magic Bites.
Bear, Elizabeth. Carnival.
- For some reason I ended up reading a buttload of evaluate-gender-roles novels this year. As trends go, it's not a bad one.
Brennan, Marie. Warrior and Witch.
Buckell, Tobias. Crystal Rain.
- I owe a review of this one, which I shall write soon. It deserves review.
Budz, Mark. Idolon.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. The Sharing Knife: Legacy.
Carter, Lin. The Black Star.
Caselburg, Jay. Wyrmhole.
Cruisie, Jennifer, and Bob Mayer. Agnes and the Hitman.
- Possible the most fun book I read all year. If you're looking for something to kill an hour or two -- and possibly kill you laughing -- this would be a fabulous book to pick up.
Cruisie, Jennifer, and Bob Mayer. Don't Look Down.
Cruisie, Jennifer, Anne Stuart, and Eileen Dreyer. The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes.
Curran, Bob. Bloody Irish: Great Irish Vampire Stories.
- I'm not entirely clear whether these were original short stories or reworked folktales, but what the heck. They were pretty good either way.
Dick, Philip K. The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories.
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House.
Downer, Ann. The Dragon of Never-Was.
Duncan, Hal. Vellum: The Book of All Hours.
- More an exceedingly long bit of prose poetry than a novel, really.
Dunning, John. The Bookman's Wake.
Durrell, Gerald. My Family and Other Animals.
Finley, Charles Coleman. The Prodigal Troll.
Gonick, Larry. The Cartoon History of the Universe III.
- The other two of these are down in the reread section because I read them at a friend's house when I was twelve or so. They remain a fascinating, irreverent, and entirely biased bit of historical overview, and are grand fun. Plus he includes extensive bibliographies. Yay, extensive bilbliographies!
Griffith, Nicola. The Blue Place.
- Due to a combination of circumstances and my mother, this will forever be known in my family as "the violent lesbo book". However, we've now established that my mother likes violent lesbo books, so that's all right. I thought it was bloody good myself.
Grimwood, Jon Courtenay. Stamping Butterflies.
Harper, Tara. Wolfwalker.
Hess, Joan. Closely Akin to Murder.
Huff, Tanya. Blood Price.
Huff, Tanya. Blood Trail.
-I'm ashamed to admit it took the tv series to get me started reading these. I mean, I like Tanya's books and all, but I am a bit bored with vampires. However, these are fun, down-to-earth books with practically no Vampire Dumb attached, so I'm glad I got the push.
Jecks, Michael. A Friar's Bloodfeud.
- Proved, quite handily, that the Turkey City Lexicon applies to non-sf writers. "I've suffered for my art (and now you will too)," indeed.
King, Laurie. With Child.
Kushner, Ellen. The Privilege of the Sword.
-I found Swordspoint hard going and so approached this one with trepidation. But I shouldn't have worried. Bloody wonderful story, one I ate in a single sitting, and grand fun, and something I would heartily recommend to all the fantasy readers on my list.
L'Angle, Madeleine. Dragons in the Waters.
Lackey, Mercedes. Take a Thief.
- A brief and ultimately forgettable revisit to an author of my childhood. Turns out she was better off staying there
Lake, Jay. The Madness of Flowers.
Lake, Jay. Rocket Science.
LeGuin, Ursula. Voices.
- Insert mad fangirl babbling here. Seriously, there is no one, but no one, who does it like LeGuin, and there never will be. This is much like her Earthsea series, the clean lines and beautiful prose that so endeared her to me as a child. Read it, please.
Lisle, Holly. I See You.
Lisle, Holly. Last Girl Dancing.
- I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Lisle's paranormals. They went on swimmingly enough, they were addictive, I couldn't put them down, but -- something about the end of both books didn't work for me. Like she'd tried too hard to find the last person I'd suspect. The justification was all there, story-wise, but somehow it didn't oomph.
Lisle, Holly. Talyn.
- This, on the other hand, oomph'd with a will. Very good strong fantasy book, easy read, powerfully written. Recommended.
Liu, Marjorie M. The Red Heart of Jade.
Liu, Marjorie M. Shadow Touch.
- I picked these up after reading irysangel rave about them, and I'm glad I did. Because fantastic romances are damned hard to find amidst the dreck, that's why. Well-written, fast-paced, with a wry humor that doesn't undercut the sometimes painful sweetness of the stories. Mmm, comfort food!
Lynch, Scott. Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Mallet, Nathalie. The Princes Of The Golden Cage.
Marley, Louise. The Maquisarde.
- A startlingly good and different book, beautifully written. And really, when was the last time you got to read about a pacifist Rebel Alliance?
Martinez, A. Lee. Gil's All Fright Diner.
McKillip, Patricia. Alphabet Of Thorn.
- Oh, but this was pretty. A book in love with words, as title and subject matter demanded it be, and one that kept me surprised. Fabulous stuff.
Moore, Christopher. Fluke.
- Christopher Moore is a sick, sick man. And I may never look at a whale the same.
Murphy, C.E. Urban Shaman.
- Probably the best urban fantasy I've read this year.
Myers, John Myers. Silverlock.
Norton, Andre. Forerunner.
Peters, Ellis. An Excellent Mystery.
Pierce, Tamora. Sandry's Book.
Quinn, Julia. Brighter Than the Sun.
Reeve, Philip. Mortal Engines.
- And this may be the best young adult novel I've read this year (barring the LeGuin, which is really unfair competition.) Perhaps a bit bittersweet for some teens, but really, I can't resist a book that starts, "It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."
Rhodes, R.M. Stephanie Doesn't Answer the Phone Anymore.
Ryman, Geoff. Air: Or, Have Not Have.
- Twisty, and definitely a slow starter, but interesting and well worth the read.
Scalzi, John. The Ghost Brigades.
Scalzi, John. The Last Colony.
Scholes, Ken. Last Flight of the Goddess.
Schroeder, Karl. Sun of Suns.
Shinn, Sharon. Heart of Gold.
- Another of the year's gender-benders, in a somewhat different vein than Carnival. Still, I'm surprised this one didn't get more attention. It had its failings, but overall what Shinn did was an excellent and compassionate look at two cultures and their assumptions.
Shinn, Sharon. The Safe-Keeper's Secret.
Sinclair, Linnea. Games of Command.
Steinmetz, Ferrett. On the Losing Side of the Dragon.
Stewart, Sean. The Night Watch.
Straczynski, J. Michael. Rising Stars Volume 3 / Rising Stars Volume 4.
- Two graphic novels, the final two, and very good ones. JMS takes a distinctly different angle at the superhero comic.
Strauss, Victoria. The Burning Land.
Stross, Charlie. Glasshouse.
- And another gender-stretcher. While Stross's pokes at modern culture could be occasionally tiresome, this is overall an excellent bit of work both as social commentary and as story. From my point of view it's far and away the best thing he's written yet.
Stross, Charlie. The Jennifer Morgue.
Thurman, Rob. Nightlife.
Thurman, Rob. Moonshine.
Vaughn, Carrie. Kitty Goes to Washington.
Watts, Peter. Starfish.
Wells, Martha. The Death of the Necromancer.
- Okay, I am officially a Martha Wells screaming fangirl. It's not that she's breaking new ground exactly (though she is, in her quiet way) but rather that she is so very on in everything she writes. I'm not sure this woman is capable of sounding an off note. But sadly, this is very nearly the last of her stuff I haven't already read. More Books, Dammit!
Whitney, Anne Wilson, and Caroline Canfield Bullock. Folk-Lore from Maryland.
Willingham, Bill. Fables Volumes 1-8.
- More graphic novels. I think oletheros may have recommended these to me, and then Dan bought them as a sort of extended birthday present. Once again, they err in trying to be too clever from time to time, but the overall humor and charm is enough to forgive the minor missteps.
Willis, Connie. D.A.
Wilson, Robert Charles. Spin.
- First time I've ever read an apocolypse novel that spanned thirty years. Wilson did it well. Less with the running and screaming, and more with the having time to contemplate the enormity of the behemoth toppling down upon you. Highly recommended.
Wrede, Patricia. Searching for Dragons.
In total, I read 80 new books this year (counting the graphic novels as one book, since I tend to chew through those rather quickly). Not too bad, though an immense slowdown for me (thrice-cursed real life!)
As an avid rereader, though, the list wouldn't be complete without:
2007 Rereads
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Diplomatic Immunity.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Komarr.
Cruisie, Jennifer. Tell Me Lies.
Gonick, Larry. Cartoon History of the Universe 1.
Gonick, Larry. Cartoon History of the Universe 2.
Heyer, Georgette. The Grand Sophy.
Jarvie, Gordon. Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales.
Peters, Ellis. Dead Man's Ransom.
Peters, Ellis. The Pilgrim of Hate.
Pratchett, Terry. Going Postal.
Seafield, Lily. Scottish Witches & Wizards.
Wells, Martha. The Wizard Hunters
Wells, Martha. The Ships of Air.
Wells, Martha. The Gate of Gods.
Willis, Connie. Impossible Things.
Willis, Connie. Uncharted Territory.
Wrede, Patricia. Dealing with Dragons.
Eighteen, for an annoyingly uneven 98 books read this year. I suppose I could trot off and read two more real quick-like....
Finally, the hall o'shame.
2007 Unfinished
Abbey, Lynn. Sanctuary: An Epic Novel of Thieves' World.
Aiden, Pamela. An Assembly Such as This.
Amis, Martin. Yellow Dog.
Eco, Umburto. The Name of the Rose.
Cruisie, Jennifer et al. Santa, Baby.
Marco, John. The Eyes of God.
Masterton, Graham. Night Wars.
McIntosh, Fiona. Myrren's Gift.
Park, Paul. A Princess of Roumania.
One of these was a genuinely good book that I never got back to (though it was terrible dry and hard going). Another was an anthology -- the story by the author I knew (and the reason I bought the antho) was good, the others were unfinishable. The rest, um, well, they were pretty bad. Trust me.
At any rate, that's my reading for the year, and if you made it all the way to the end you deserve a cookie. Next year: Yet More Books!
posted at 01:00 AM on 01/01/08
by kat -
Category: General
Stumble It!
Comments
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11/04/11 06:13 AM
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