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davidgoldfarbHello. Anyone out there?
Thought not. Oh, well, I'll post this anyway.
In 2003 I read 56 books, down from 65 in 2002. 40 were SF or fantasy,
9 were mainstream or historical fiction, and 7 were non-fiction.
49 were new to me, 8 were re-reads. Here they are, in chronological order.
I was originally going to write something about each one, but coming
up with something intelligent to say about 56 books was way too much
work. I'll annotate a few of them.
January:
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _The Long Hunt_
Lawrence Watt-Evans, _Ithanalin's Restoration_
James Macdonald, _The Apocalypse Door_
Jo Walton, _Tooth and Claw_
Victorian pastiche featuring cannibal dragons. Need I say more?
Dave Langford, _The Silence of the Langford_
A collection of hilarious essays put out by NESFA Press. This man doesn't
win Best Fan Writer every year for nothing.
February:
Iain M. Banks, _Inversions_
Iain M. Banks, _Look to Windward
Cordwainer Smith, _The Best of Cordwainer Smith_
Cordwainer Smith, _The Instrumentality of Mankind_
Re-read these for Potlatch.
Jonathan Carroll, _White Apples_
March:
Jared Diamond, _Guns, Germs, and Steel_
Very readable non-fiction theorizing why it was that Europe conquered
the world instead of, say, Australia. Quite plausible, although I don't
have the expertise to give him a full evaluation.
Dave Duncan, _Paragon Lost_
Diana Wynne Jones, _Mixed Magics_
Crawford Kilina, _Greenmagic_
April:
"H. N. Turteltaub", _Over the Wine-Dark Sea_
Charlie Stross, _Toast_
Nicola Grifith, _Ammonite_
Tom Holt, _Djinn Rummy_
A rather lame comic fantasy most of whose jokes consist of trying to
pretend that English customs are laws of nature.
Rudyard Kipling, _Kim_.
May:
Michael Chabon, Editor, _McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales_
June:
Ruth Benedict, _The Sword and the Chrysanthemum_
A classic study of Japanese culture.
Michael Swanwick, _Bones of the Earth_
Ellen Kushner, _Swordspoint_
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, _The Fall of the Kings_
J.K. Rowling, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_
July:
Wil McCarthy, _The Collapsium_
Wil McCarthy, _The Wellstone_
These had been getting some buzz on rasfw, to my mind well-deserved.
Cool hard SF about programmable matter set in an interestingly-imagined
future; although McCarthy cheats a little: he recognizes that matter
duplication and destructive teleportation will cause tremendous strife
but sets his books after this strife has largely died down. I'll definitely
pick up the rest of this series, though.
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _Knight's Wyrd_
Thomas M. Disch, _The Priest_
Well-written, of course, and he successfully faked me out about its genre,
but the whole thing just seemed to be an excuse for a thinly-veiled
anti-Catholic screed.
Sarah and Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, _Having Our Say_
Hope Mirrlees, _Lud-in-the-Mist_
Lawrence Durrell, _Justine_
August:
Lawrence Durrell, _Balthazar_
Lawrence Durrell, _Mountolive_
Lawrence Durrell, _Clea_
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _The Stars Asunder_
Steven Brust, _The Paths of the Dead_
Steven Brust, _The Lord of Castle Black_
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _A Working of Stars_
Charlie Stross, _Singularity Sky_
Terry Pratchett, _The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents_
September:
Poul Anderson, _Mother of Kings_
A big long expansion of sagas into a historical novel with minor fantasy
elements. Doesn't really have a satisfying end, but that's history for you.
Paul Linebarger, _Psychological Warfare_
From the UC Berkeley library. A classic text on a fascinating subject,
spiced with a dry wit. (By, in case anyone doesn't know, the man who would
go on to write SF as "Cordwainer Smith".) Also contains insights I'd never
seen before into 20th-century attitudes towards Communism.
Ryk E. "Sea Wasp" Spoor, _Digital Knight_
October:
Lois McMaster Bujold, _Paladin of Souls_
Lawrence Watt-Evans, _Dragon Venom_
Diane Duane, _Wizard's Holiday_
November:
Patricia McKillip, _Ombria in Shadow_
Glenn Cadigan, _The Legion Companion_
Non-fiction about the comic book characters "The Legion of Super-Heroes",
largely interviews with past creators. Also has a lot of
previously-unpublished Legion art, much of it fan commissions. I'd
always judged Curt Swan by his rushed output in the comics, the work
here gave me a new appreciation for his talent.
Al Franken, _Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them_
Which I likely wouldn't have bought except for Bill O'Reilly.
December:
Mary Renault, _Fire From Heaven_
Pamela Dean, _The Secret Country_
Pamela Dean, _The Hidden Land_
Pamela Dean, _The Whim of the Dragon_
Go read these, then look for threads in rasfw called "Pamela Dean" for
some truly amazing discussion between Jo Walton and Graydon.
Pamela Dean, _The Dubious Hills_
Reading this right after _Whim_ made me realize one of Pamela Dean's
recurring themes: the maturing, including first encounters with
romance and sex, of an intellectually-inclined girl. It's a small
element in _Whim_, a large element in _Hills_, and is foregrounded
in _Tam Lin_ and _Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary_.
Thought not. Oh, well, I'll post this anyway.
In 2003 I read 56 books, down from 65 in 2002. 40 were SF or fantasy,
9 were mainstream or historical fiction, and 7 were non-fiction.
49 were new to me, 8 were re-reads. Here they are, in chronological order.
I was originally going to write something about each one, but coming
up with something intelligent to say about 56 books was way too much
work. I'll annotate a few of them.
January:
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _The Long Hunt_
Lawrence Watt-Evans, _Ithanalin's Restoration_
James Macdonald, _The Apocalypse Door_
Jo Walton, _Tooth and Claw_
Victorian pastiche featuring cannibal dragons. Need I say more?
Dave Langford, _The Silence of the Langford_
A collection of hilarious essays put out by NESFA Press. This man doesn't
win Best Fan Writer every year for nothing.
February:
Iain M. Banks, _Inversions_
Iain M. Banks, _Look to Windward
Cordwainer Smith, _The Best of Cordwainer Smith_
Cordwainer Smith, _The Instrumentality of Mankind_
Re-read these for Potlatch.
Jonathan Carroll, _White Apples_
March:
Jared Diamond, _Guns, Germs, and Steel_
Very readable non-fiction theorizing why it was that Europe conquered
the world instead of, say, Australia. Quite plausible, although I don't
have the expertise to give him a full evaluation.
Dave Duncan, _Paragon Lost_
Diana Wynne Jones, _Mixed Magics_
Crawford Kilina, _Greenmagic_
April:
"H. N. Turteltaub", _Over the Wine-Dark Sea_
Charlie Stross, _Toast_
Nicola Grifith, _Ammonite_
Tom Holt, _Djinn Rummy_
A rather lame comic fantasy most of whose jokes consist of trying to
pretend that English customs are laws of nature.
Rudyard Kipling, _Kim_.
May:
Michael Chabon, Editor, _McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales_
June:
Ruth Benedict, _The Sword and the Chrysanthemum_
A classic study of Japanese culture.
Michael Swanwick, _Bones of the Earth_
Ellen Kushner, _Swordspoint_
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, _The Fall of the Kings_
J.K. Rowling, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_
July:
Wil McCarthy, _The Collapsium_
Wil McCarthy, _The Wellstone_
These had been getting some buzz on rasfw, to my mind well-deserved.
Cool hard SF about programmable matter set in an interestingly-imagined
future; although McCarthy cheats a little: he recognizes that matter
duplication and destructive teleportation will cause tremendous strife
but sets his books after this strife has largely died down. I'll definitely
pick up the rest of this series, though.
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _Knight's Wyrd_
Thomas M. Disch, _The Priest_
Well-written, of course, and he successfully faked me out about its genre,
but the whole thing just seemed to be an excuse for a thinly-veiled
anti-Catholic screed.
Sarah and Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, _Having Our Say_
Hope Mirrlees, _Lud-in-the-Mist_
Lawrence Durrell, _Justine_
August:
Lawrence Durrell, _Balthazar_
Lawrence Durrell, _Mountolive_
Lawrence Durrell, _Clea_
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _The Stars Asunder_
Steven Brust, _The Paths of the Dead_
Steven Brust, _The Lord of Castle Black_
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald, _A Working of Stars_
Charlie Stross, _Singularity Sky_
Terry Pratchett, _The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents_
September:
Poul Anderson, _Mother of Kings_
A big long expansion of sagas into a historical novel with minor fantasy
elements. Doesn't really have a satisfying end, but that's history for you.
Paul Linebarger, _Psychological Warfare_
From the UC Berkeley library. A classic text on a fascinating subject,
spiced with a dry wit. (By, in case anyone doesn't know, the man who would
go on to write SF as "Cordwainer Smith".) Also contains insights I'd never
seen before into 20th-century attitudes towards Communism.
Ryk E. "Sea Wasp" Spoor, _Digital Knight_
October:
Lois McMaster Bujold, _Paladin of Souls_
Lawrence Watt-Evans, _Dragon Venom_
Diane Duane, _Wizard's Holiday_
November:
Patricia McKillip, _Ombria in Shadow_
Glenn Cadigan, _The Legion Companion_
Non-fiction about the comic book characters "The Legion of Super-Heroes",
largely interviews with past creators. Also has a lot of
previously-unpublished Legion art, much of it fan commissions. I'd
always judged Curt Swan by his rushed output in the comics, the work
here gave me a new appreciation for his talent.
Al Franken, _Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them_
Which I likely wouldn't have bought except for Bill O'Reilly.
December:
Mary Renault, _Fire From Heaven_
Pamela Dean, _The Secret Country_
Pamela Dean, _The Hidden Land_
Pamela Dean, _The Whim of the Dragon_
Go read these, then look for threads in rasfw called "Pamela Dean" for
some truly amazing discussion between Jo Walton and Graydon.
Pamela Dean, _The Dubious Hills_
Reading this right after _Whim_ made me realize one of Pamela Dean's
recurring themes: the maturing, including first encounters with
romance and sex, of an intellectually-inclined girl. It's a small
element in _Whim_, a large element in _Hills_, and is foregrounded
in _Tam Lin_ and _Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary_.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 04:49 am (UTC)