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inulro77. Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Neil Gaiman encourages people to read this all the time (it's clearly the inspiration for Stardust), and several people I trust have also pimped it this year, so when I found a copy at a friend's house I borrowed it.
It's an early (1926) fantasy novel where the realm of Faerie borders an uber-rational state where the existence of Faerie is officially denied.
It's a bit whimsical, as you might expect, but it's also - very adult. It's all about repression, and how it's bad.
This was something I read because I thought I should, but came away really impressed.
78. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
The third of Stross' Laundry novels - if the world of Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos was real, it would have a bureaucracy to stop unwanted entities from other dimensions coming through.
I've not read the middle book, but this is different from The Atrocity Archive in that there's more of an emphasis on international (and inter-dimensional) espionage. I loved this slightly less than the first book, but still loved it quite a bit.
Two things made me laugh out loud and stuck with me - the iPhone has a level 5 glamour on it that makes people buy it (which would explain what happened to me), and in the first chapter Bob's train reading is a Dresden Files novel.
79. Boneman's Daughers by Ted Dekker
I bought this thriller in Thermopolis because I thought it looked good and was unlikely to remember to pick it up later. I was underwhelmed. It doesn't suck, but it wasn't quite what I expected and wasn't quite my thing.
A US naval intelligence officer has a breakdown after being tortured in the Iraqi desert. When he is shipped home, a serial killer called the Bone Man kidnaps his daughter, and the FBI think that he is the Bone Man. Meanwhile, he is complying with the Bone Man's demands in order to keep his daughter alive (which exacerbates the suspicion that he is the killer).
For me, there was too much angst about how his ex wife and daughter didn't love him, and I found the ending unsatisfying.
I won't be keeping it, so if any of you want to give it a go, drop me a line.
80. and 8.1 Ravenslea and Clouds Over Ravenslea by Pamela M Parry
These are my friend's mother's books. Other people's parents are pottering around in the garden in retirement, Lynette's mom is writing family-saga historical romances set in Devon.
I'm not very well placed to comment as they're really not my thing as I'm pretty completely allergic to anything with romance in the description. The second is much better than the first, though.
Like many small press publications, it's let down by bad editing - there are just too many commas.
I left this late because I was hoping to have another one finished today, but it's not going to happen.
December books
Non-fiction - 1
Library/borrowed - 2
I think I managed to not purchase any more books this month though.
Books in 2010 and goals for next year
I read 81 books! That's not too shabby - I was aiming for 75.
Once again I've been fortunate enough to encounter a whole lot of really awesome books. I've just had a look and I think it's going to be impossible to even try to choose favourites - I would witter at length.
So I'll make a point of choosing the most inspiring book of 2010, which was The Daily Coyote. On the strength of that book, I went all the way to the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming and was not disappointed.
My main ambition for next year is to read more poetry. Definitely.
As always, I'll be trying to shift the balance more towards non-fiction.
Did I halve the to-read pile? No, I did not. It's about a foot shorter, and a lot of the books are different. I was quite successful at reading books that have been lying around here for years.
This year I really do mean to halve the to-read pile - amongst other things, I'm also trying to keep my finances in order. Which means that some of the series which I had started to buy (Sookie Stackhouse, Dresden Files, everything by Ken Macleod) I will be more disciplined and order from the library instead.
Neil Gaiman encourages people to read this all the time (it's clearly the inspiration for Stardust), and several people I trust have also pimped it this year, so when I found a copy at a friend's house I borrowed it.
It's an early (1926) fantasy novel where the realm of Faerie borders an uber-rational state where the existence of Faerie is officially denied.
It's a bit whimsical, as you might expect, but it's also - very adult. It's all about repression, and how it's bad.
This was something I read because I thought I should, but came away really impressed.
78. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
The third of Stross' Laundry novels - if the world of Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos was real, it would have a bureaucracy to stop unwanted entities from other dimensions coming through.
I've not read the middle book, but this is different from The Atrocity Archive in that there's more of an emphasis on international (and inter-dimensional) espionage. I loved this slightly less than the first book, but still loved it quite a bit.
Two things made me laugh out loud and stuck with me - the iPhone has a level 5 glamour on it that makes people buy it (which would explain what happened to me), and in the first chapter Bob's train reading is a Dresden Files novel.
79. Boneman's Daughers by Ted Dekker
I bought this thriller in Thermopolis because I thought it looked good and was unlikely to remember to pick it up later. I was underwhelmed. It doesn't suck, but it wasn't quite what I expected and wasn't quite my thing.
A US naval intelligence officer has a breakdown after being tortured in the Iraqi desert. When he is shipped home, a serial killer called the Bone Man kidnaps his daughter, and the FBI think that he is the Bone Man. Meanwhile, he is complying with the Bone Man's demands in order to keep his daughter alive (which exacerbates the suspicion that he is the killer).
For me, there was too much angst about how his ex wife and daughter didn't love him, and I found the ending unsatisfying.
I won't be keeping it, so if any of you want to give it a go, drop me a line.
80. and 8.1 Ravenslea and Clouds Over Ravenslea by Pamela M Parry
These are my friend's mother's books. Other people's parents are pottering around in the garden in retirement, Lynette's mom is writing family-saga historical romances set in Devon.
I'm not very well placed to comment as they're really not my thing as I'm pretty completely allergic to anything with romance in the description. The second is much better than the first, though.
Like many small press publications, it's let down by bad editing - there are just too many commas.
I left this late because I was hoping to have another one finished today, but it's not going to happen.
December books
Non-fiction - 1
Library/borrowed - 2
I think I managed to not purchase any more books this month though.
Books in 2010 and goals for next year
I read 81 books! That's not too shabby - I was aiming for 75.
Once again I've been fortunate enough to encounter a whole lot of really awesome books. I've just had a look and I think it's going to be impossible to even try to choose favourites - I would witter at length.
So I'll make a point of choosing the most inspiring book of 2010, which was The Daily Coyote. On the strength of that book, I went all the way to the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming and was not disappointed.
My main ambition for next year is to read more poetry. Definitely.
As always, I'll be trying to shift the balance more towards non-fiction.
Did I halve the to-read pile? No, I did not. It's about a foot shorter, and a lot of the books are different. I was quite successful at reading books that have been lying around here for years.
This year I really do mean to halve the to-read pile - amongst other things, I'm also trying to keep my finances in order. Which means that some of the series which I had started to buy (Sookie Stackhouse, Dresden Files, everything by Ken Macleod) I will be more disciplined and order from the library instead.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-01 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-02 11:41 am (UTC)