2014 was a pretty decent year for books.  It had some duds, but also some very fine reads.  For those not already aware, I re-booted my book blog, The Deckled Edge, this year.  We'll see how long it lasts this time.  I think this time around I will only do full reviews for the books I really feel like doing.  Otherwise, I'll just do a very short ( Read more... )

I realized I didn't read as many shorts as I thought so now I feel silly making a separate post.  Oh well.  Again, I bolded the really good ones and italicized the boring ones.

The Too-Clever Fox, Leigh Bardugo
Backscatter, Gregory Benford
As the Wheel Turns, Aliette de Bodard
Immersion, Aliette de Bodard
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de ( Read more... )

It was a much better year than last year.  At the end of 2012 I was rather disappointed, but I avoided that this year, partially by getting some more variety I think.  I'll follow Isis' example and bold the outstanding reads and italicize the boring.  I kept track of my short story reading for the first time, but it ended up being a bigger list ( Read more... )

2012 was a slightly disappointing year of reads for me.  Plenty were good, but very few books really blew my socks off.  For 2013 I'm going to make an effort to read more non-SFF.  We'll see if that helps.

( 2012 Books )

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson.

The first half of this book is quite good.  It follows the life of an orphan master's son as he grows up in North Korea.  How he comes to work in intelligence, his rise in the ranks, then his eventual fall into the grinding machine of the regime.  It's a very bleak and realistic look inside the reclusive ( Read more... )

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch.

I sincerely hope most of you are already reading the Peter Grant series.  If not, for shame!  :P

I found the third book in the series to just as good and engrossing as the first two.  Characters and setting were all as compelling as before.  In some ways, the book was much tighter and constrained than Rivers ( Read more... )

2012 is turning out to be a somewhat disappointing year for books.  Either the books are merely "okay", or I actively don't like them and struggle to finish.  A few of the low points:

The Audran Sequence by George Alec Effinger.

The Audran Sequence seemed so promising with an interesting world in which many nation-states have fractured and the story ( Read more... )

( List of 2011 books )

Brought Dad home for good today.  The therapists thought he'd gone as far as he could at the nursing facility so now we'll try PT from home.  He's happy to be home to say the least.  Should be a good Christmas then.

Merry Christmas everyone!  :)

It's been a month and a half since I got the implant processors and I owe you all an update.  The background noise that was so loud at first is now fading so that I'm now hearing other sounds including voices.  Noises still don't sound like they used to, but I think I'm getting used to that.  I went back to the hospital last week for another ( Read more... )