Books of 2011
2007
2008
2009
2010
1) Joss Wheden et al.: Serenity: Better Days and The Shepherd's Tale (paper, finished 03-15) Will had both of these, so I read them in the same evening after we finished watching Angel on Netflix.
2) Joss Wheden, Brian Lynch, and Franco Urru: Angel: After the Fall (1) (paper, finished 03-17) With all the time freed up in my evenings now that I've finished the TV shows I had queued up on Netflix, I decided to go out straight away and buy the graphic novel continuations of the same two stories I'd been watching. The Borders across the street from me didn't have the first issues of Buffy, though, so I only bought this one.
3) Larry Niven: A World Out of Time (paper, finished 03-24) One of his earlier ones, I didn't think this was as fully character-developed or engaging as more recent books Niven has written. Still quite enjoyable, though, as I always like the sweeping future-history thing, and this one mostly takes place three million years in the future.
4) Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner: Destroyer of Worlds (paper, finished 03-31) This and the next one are sequels to the two by this pair that I read last year. Again, kind of a side-story/sequel/prequel to other Known Space things I read several years ago, and interesting to see another side of those events.
5) Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner: Betrayer of Worlds (Kindle, finished 04-03) Here we come full circle and meet a younger Louis Wu, the protagonist of the Ringworld series, which was my first exposure to Niven's work. This was also the first book I read entirely on my Kindle, but definitely won't be the last. I should probably read some of my already-owned paperbacks, though, before spending more money on yet more books.
6) Stephen King: The Gunslinger (Kindle, finished 04-08) I've always liked King, so I finally decided to read his magnum opus when I saw that several of the Dark Tower volumes were available as free audio books from the Boston Public Library. Not the first one, though, so I read it on the Kindle.
7) Stephen King: The Drawing of the Three (audio, finished 04-15) Great character development as usual for King. Some odd little left/right inconsistencies as they allegedly walk north along a western coast, though, which were jarring to me, since I tend to visualize things in fairly precise ways when I read. Also, there's the annoying and all-too-common misconception that schizophrenia and multiple personalities are the same thing.
8) Stephen King: The Waste Lands (audio, finished 05-11) Third in the Dark Tower series, this one definitely illustrates King's skill at writing multiple main characters. It feels like all of them are full people, and no one is focused on more than the rest.
9) Stephen King: Wizard and Glass (audio, finished 06-17) It's always kind of funny to me that King is almost always labeled a horror writer. This one was a really excellent western, and kind of made me want to read some of the others he said had inspired him.
10) Stephen King: Wolves of the Calla (Kindle, finished 07-01) I was disappointed that the Boston Public Library didn't have this one as an audio book, and then saddened when I finished reading it and got to King's note about how the guy who'd read the previous several (superbly) had been in a traffic accident and was no longer able to read for a living.
11) Stephen King: Susannah's Song (Kindle, finished 07-20) King wrote himself into this one a bit, which shouldn't be surprising since there wasn't a fictional author with addiction problems to take the place of almost-him, as in so many others. While that's sometimes a vehicle for shameless wish-fulfillment, I think it worked pretty well in this one.
12) Stephen King: The Dark Tower (Kindle, finished 09-05) Kinda dragged through the last one, not because the writing got worse but because I cared less what happened when the group of characters started shrinking again.
13) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Time's Eye (paper, finished 09-19)
14) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Sunstorm (Kindle, finished 09-22)
15) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Firstborn (Kindle, finished 09-30 or so) These three are the Time Odyssey trilogy. Very enjoyable reads, though the end of the third one was made sadder by the knowledge that Clarke went on to write only one more book before his death.
16) Orson Scott Card: Speaker for the Dead (paper, finished 10-13) The characters and overall plot are still enjoyable, but to tolerate the quaint notions about marriage and such that Card slipped in I felt I had to imagine it having been written a few decades earlier. It becomes harder to separate him from his books now that I know what a bigoted asshole he is in real life.
17) Orson Scott Card: Xenocide (audio, finished 10-20) While the use of different voices for different characters makes these a bit more enjoyable than other audio books in some ways, the incredible talkiness of this one in particular makes the inability to skim the philosophical rambling parts rather annoying.
18) Orson Scott Card: Children of the Mind (audio, finished 10-26) Better than I remembered it being back when I read it the first time, and as an audio book, also better than Xenocide, on account of being or at least seeming less rambly.
19) David Brin: Earth (paper, finished 11-15 or so) Nice sweeping account of a possible near future. Brin is one of those writers who can write a fundamentally very optimistic story without denying the problems we face or sugarcoating anything.
20) Charles C. Mann: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Kindle, finished 12-21) Amazing new perspectives on a lot of the history of the Americas before Europeans showed up, which all too commonly gets ignored. There's a big difference between our not knowing the history of something and there being no history to speak of.
21) William Gibson: Zero History (paper, finished 12-28) I'd read his Pattern Recognition back in 2006, when I was living with my aunt and uncle in New Mexico, which was the first of his three set more in the present day than in a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia. I liked this one quite a bit more than I remember liking that, but may need to give it another readthrough. Also makes me want to check out Spook Country, which takes place between the other two and introduces a few more of the characters that featured more prominently in Zero History.
2008
2009
2010
1) Joss Wheden et al.: Serenity: Better Days and The Shepherd's Tale (paper, finished 03-15) Will had both of these, so I read them in the same evening after we finished watching Angel on Netflix.
2) Joss Wheden, Brian Lynch, and Franco Urru: Angel: After the Fall (1) (paper, finished 03-17) With all the time freed up in my evenings now that I've finished the TV shows I had queued up on Netflix, I decided to go out straight away and buy the graphic novel continuations of the same two stories I'd been watching. The Borders across the street from me didn't have the first issues of Buffy, though, so I only bought this one.
3) Larry Niven: A World Out of Time (paper, finished 03-24) One of his earlier ones, I didn't think this was as fully character-developed or engaging as more recent books Niven has written. Still quite enjoyable, though, as I always like the sweeping future-history thing, and this one mostly takes place three million years in the future.
4) Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner: Destroyer of Worlds (paper, finished 03-31) This and the next one are sequels to the two by this pair that I read last year. Again, kind of a side-story/sequel/prequel to other Known Space things I read several years ago, and interesting to see another side of those events.
5) Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner: Betrayer of Worlds (Kindle, finished 04-03) Here we come full circle and meet a younger Louis Wu, the protagonist of the Ringworld series, which was my first exposure to Niven's work. This was also the first book I read entirely on my Kindle, but definitely won't be the last. I should probably read some of my already-owned paperbacks, though, before spending more money on yet more books.
6) Stephen King: The Gunslinger (Kindle, finished 04-08) I've always liked King, so I finally decided to read his magnum opus when I saw that several of the Dark Tower volumes were available as free audio books from the Boston Public Library. Not the first one, though, so I read it on the Kindle.
7) Stephen King: The Drawing of the Three (audio, finished 04-15) Great character development as usual for King. Some odd little left/right inconsistencies as they allegedly walk north along a western coast, though, which were jarring to me, since I tend to visualize things in fairly precise ways when I read. Also, there's the annoying and all-too-common misconception that schizophrenia and multiple personalities are the same thing.
8) Stephen King: The Waste Lands (audio, finished 05-11) Third in the Dark Tower series, this one definitely illustrates King's skill at writing multiple main characters. It feels like all of them are full people, and no one is focused on more than the rest.
9) Stephen King: Wizard and Glass (audio, finished 06-17) It's always kind of funny to me that King is almost always labeled a horror writer. This one was a really excellent western, and kind of made me want to read some of the others he said had inspired him.
10) Stephen King: Wolves of the Calla (Kindle, finished 07-01) I was disappointed that the Boston Public Library didn't have this one as an audio book, and then saddened when I finished reading it and got to King's note about how the guy who'd read the previous several (superbly) had been in a traffic accident and was no longer able to read for a living.
11) Stephen King: Susannah's Song (Kindle, finished 07-20) King wrote himself into this one a bit, which shouldn't be surprising since there wasn't a fictional author with addiction problems to take the place of almost-him, as in so many others. While that's sometimes a vehicle for shameless wish-fulfillment, I think it worked pretty well in this one.
12) Stephen King: The Dark Tower (Kindle, finished 09-05) Kinda dragged through the last one, not because the writing got worse but because I cared less what happened when the group of characters started shrinking again.
13) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Time's Eye (paper, finished 09-19)
14) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Sunstorm (Kindle, finished 09-22)
15) Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter: Firstborn (Kindle, finished 09-30 or so) These three are the Time Odyssey trilogy. Very enjoyable reads, though the end of the third one was made sadder by the knowledge that Clarke went on to write only one more book before his death.
16) Orson Scott Card: Speaker for the Dead (paper, finished 10-13) The characters and overall plot are still enjoyable, but to tolerate the quaint notions about marriage and such that Card slipped in I felt I had to imagine it having been written a few decades earlier. It becomes harder to separate him from his books now that I know what a bigoted asshole he is in real life.
17) Orson Scott Card: Xenocide (audio, finished 10-20) While the use of different voices for different characters makes these a bit more enjoyable than other audio books in some ways, the incredible talkiness of this one in particular makes the inability to skim the philosophical rambling parts rather annoying.
18) Orson Scott Card: Children of the Mind (audio, finished 10-26) Better than I remembered it being back when I read it the first time, and as an audio book, also better than Xenocide, on account of being or at least seeming less rambly.
19) David Brin: Earth (paper, finished 11-15 or so) Nice sweeping account of a possible near future. Brin is one of those writers who can write a fundamentally very optimistic story without denying the problems we face or sugarcoating anything.
20) Charles C. Mann: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Kindle, finished 12-21) Amazing new perspectives on a lot of the history of the Americas before Europeans showed up, which all too commonly gets ignored. There's a big difference between our not knowing the history of something and there being no history to speak of.
21) William Gibson: Zero History (paper, finished 12-28) I'd read his Pattern Recognition back in 2006, when I was living with my aunt and uncle in New Mexico, which was the first of his three set more in the present day than in a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia. I liked this one quite a bit more than I remember liking that, but may need to give it another readthrough. Also makes me want to check out Spook Country, which takes place between the other two and introduces a few more of the characters that featured more prominently in Zero History.