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* denotes a book from my TBR Challenge 2011
January
1. G. K. Chesterton — Saint Thomas Aquinas
(OK, now I need the book that explains this one. It’s for laymen, sure, but early-20th-century British laymen with far more philisophical background than I have. The parts I understood were excellent)
* 2. Cory Doctorow — Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
(Interesting contemporary fantasy. Narrative structure is odd, but I think it works.)
* 3. Aldous Huxley — Brave New World
(Honestly, this seems like exactly the sort of future the typical American citizen would love to have. Let’s just say soma use seems to be widespread already. A bit terrifying. Good book.)
4. Suzanne Collins — The Hunger Games
(This was great. Good YA novels are always so gritty. Can’t wait to read the rest — tell Lauren to hurry up with Catching Fire!)
5. Charles Stross — Missile Gap
(A very gripping novella. Really not sure how to classify it or describe it without spoiling.)
6. Neil Gaiman — American Gods
(Most excellent. A tale of Americana and gods, old and new. Definitely recommended.)
7. Suzanne Collins — Catching Fire
(Hooo now that was a roller coaster. Ended up so very wee weeed at it — a compliment in this case. Already started the next book.)
8. Suzanne Collins — Mockingjay
(Ok, that’s done. You should go read this series now. It was really, really good)
February
* 9. Harry Turtledove — How Few Remain
(What would the 1880s have been like if the South had won the Civil War? Now I know, I think. This was very good. I think I might have to start reading some historical fiction, if it’s anything like this. Took me forever to read, though; big book, small type)
10. Lawrence Lessig — Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
(An excellent history of copyright law and tradition. Also an explanation of the purposes and consequences of copyrights and of modern treatment and abuse of copyrights. Did you know that originally, copyright only covered maps, charts, and books, and terms were only 14 years, which you could renew once? Now, the average copyright term is 95 years. Very highly recommended.)
March
11. Frans G. Bengtsson — The Long Ships
(This is the 7th or 8th time I have read this book since my dad lent me his copy when I was about 13. This is easily the best book I have ever read, and I can’t wait to have my own children read it when the time comes.)
April
12. Harry Turtledove — The Great War: American Front
(Sequel to How Few Remain and second book in the Timeline-191 series, this explores what World War I could have been like if the South had won the Civil War. Quite good.)
13. John Scalzi — The God Engines
(My first Scalzi read. Great novella – very quick read, and very interesting)
14. John Scalzi — The Android’s Dream
(This is an example of an excellent book. The story of an eventful week in the lives of a minor diplomat and a small pet shop owner. Also, there are aliens.)
15. John Scalzi — Agent to the Stars
(Available to read for free online, as well. I officially love John Scalzi. Another great book – that’s three for three, so far.)
16. Charles Stross — Scratch Monkey
(Interesting post-Singularity story. Good concept, but could use more polish. I think it’s one of his early stories, so I can forgive that. It’s online, too.)
17. Neil Gaiman — Anansi Boys
(Not-really-sequel to American Gods. Slow to grab my attention, but a great book once I got into it. Very different from AG, but just as enjoyable.)
18. Stephen Wallenfels — POD
(YA alien invasion/survival story. There’s talk of a sequel, which would be welcome.)
May
* 19. Walter M. Miller, Jr. — A Canticle for Leibowitz
(A history of the next 1800 years, from the point of view of a small Catholic monastery in the American Southwest. Really well done – I can see why this is on all the lists of best science fiction novels.)
* 20. Scott Westerfeld — Uglies
(Lauren has been bugging me to read this for years, now, so I finally dug it out. It seemed to take forever to grab my attention, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. Good book, though I have found myself yelling at the heroine a few times. Ready to start book 2!)
21. Scott Westerfeld — Pretties
(Just as good as Uglies, but even more exciting! The writing grows with the characters.)
22. Scott Westerfeld — Specials
(And again, the story, writing, characters, all grow and mature. One of the few series where each book is better than the one before it. The whole series is highly recommended.)
June
* 23. Judith Lindbergh — The Thrall’s Tale
(Good grief that took me a while. This was really good period Viking fiction. The story of the settlers of Greenland, from the point of view of two slaves and a seeress of Odin. Definitely a heck of a counterpoint to The Long Ships)
July
* 24. Frank Herbert — Dune
(Stood up to the constant hype I’ve heard my whole life, which surprises me. Definitely very information-dense — I feel like I need to go back and reread it immediately.)
* 25. Cormac McCarthy — The Road
(I think I can safely say I really liked this)
August
26. Jim Shepard — Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories
(I really liked this, but it began to drag about halfway through. Each story is individually very good, but they all have a similar feel and mindset to the point where it bogs down. Worth reading half and then revisiting later for the rest.)
27. Mike Yost and Jeff Wilser — The Man Cave Book
(Every bit the amazing work of literature it appears to be. Highly inspring)
28. Joe Haldeman — Forever Peace
(Spiritual successor to his Forever War. I enjoyed it, though War seemed more cohesive.)
29. John Scalzi — Old Man’s War
(I can definitely see the similarities to Starship Troopers and The Forever War [the similarities are the reason I was interested in this book in the first place], though OMW seems a lot less self-aware and analytical of its society than the other two are. Still, a very enjoyable book – I have yet to find a Scalzi book I don’t love.)
September
30. China Miéville – Perdido Street Station
(Love the mix of fantasy and steampunk. Good setting, good characters, good story.)
31. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
(This is a children’s book, but you should probably read it anyway. Gaiman says he wanted to write this for 25 years, but kept putting it off until he was a better writer, and it shows.)
32. Richard P. Feynman – Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!
(I loved this. Halfway through, I read a review of it that claimed some of the stories – and the book’s very existence – put the lie to RPF’s storied claims of humility, but I think that was unfair. I think he simply enjoyed a good adventure, and even more if he could tell a good story about it. The fact his stories often showcased his own cleverness was a side effect, I think. He didn’t seek recognition on anything more than a one-on-one, personal level. This book does an excellent job of showcasing the curiosity and way of thinking that many of us would do well to cultivate)
33. Isaac Marion — Warm Bodies
(I’m not sure I liked the ending — too abrupt, among other things — but the rest of the book was so very good that I really don’t care. Excellent read.)
November
34. Cherie Priest — Boneshaker
(Another steampunk setting. Took a while to get into this, but it was decent.)
35. Kenneth Oppel — Airborn
(More steampunk [well, airships at any rate], and a really great book. Kept me glued for hours when I woke up in the middle of the night last night)
* 36. Ursula K. Le Guin — Rocannon’s World
(Took me an extraordinarily long time to read this short book, but I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.)
37. Jack London — The Call of the Wild
(My first non-scifi classic in… a significant period. I always like to pick one up; I’m usually surprised how much I like them, given my normal fare. For those of you who didn’t have to read this in school, it’s the story of a Canadian sled dog, told from the dog’s point of view. Recommended read for sure.)
38. Ursula K. Le Guin — Planet of Exile
(#2 in the Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle. On a planet with a 60-Earth-year orbital period, high-tech offworld colonists are stranded and attempting to coexist with the native Bronze Age culture. I enjoyed it.)
39. Ursula K. Le Guin — City of Illusions (#3 in the Hainish Cycle. Kind of odd and difficult to describe, but I liked it. Classic scifi is great.)
40. George Pelecanos — D.C. Noir
(I loved this anthology of noir short stories. They are all set in, and written by authors from or living in, Washington, D.C. I’m looking forward to following up with Baltimore Noir, which Lauren got me for Christmas 2011.)
December
41. Vernor Vinge — A Fire Upon The Deep
(I’ve been meaning to get to this book for quite a while. Vinge posits a setting where the Milky Way and it’s outlying regions are described by Zones of Thought; many races have reached the Technological Singularity [or multiple singularities], but only as they explore outward from the Unthinking Depths and Slow Zone that comprise most of the galaxy proper, where thinking machines and posthuman mental augmentation simply aren’t possible. The Beyond is home to most of the still-recognizable races [including many humans], and the surrounding Transcend is occupied by the godlike Powers. The other major setting is a single planet inhabited by a fascinating medieval civilization that I probably shouldn’t say too much about, since you are going to go read this!)
