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Well I managed 30 books last year but this year is shaping up to be much, much busier so I'll aim for a slightly more reasonable 25 Books in 2014. Here's my Goodreads.
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Jan 2, 2014 03:00
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 04:32 |
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I forgot to update in January so here is my combined January/February reading total... it is pitiful. January 1. Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente February 2. The Bread We Eat in Dreams by Catherynne M. Valente 3. Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy #1) by Jeff VanderMeer Started off the year with a Valente double feature; Deathless follows the life of a young woman in Soviet Russia during the '30s and '40s as she becomes involved with all sorts of figures in Russian folklore; The Bread We Eat in Dreams is a short story collection and all the ones it collects are very good (especially Silently and Very Fast) but I preferred her other collection from last year The Melancholy of Mechagirl. I usually take a long time to read Valente's work, I find her writing very filling, I know that's an odd word to describe it as but it's the best one I've thought of, I can only read so much before I just have to set it aside and digest it for awhile. Also read Annihilation which is the first in a trilogy of novellas to be released this year about a mysterious "Area X", it reminded me a lot of Stalker/Roadside Picnic in that it deals with a group of unnamed individuals exploring a vaguely defined, very threatening natural site; it was really good and I'm excited to read the next two installments. ... I'm really bad at describing things.
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Mar 1, 2014 00:53
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Ursus Veritas posted:January March 4. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts 5. Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter #1) by Thomas Harris 6. The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2) by Thomas Harris 7. The Martian by Andy Weir 8. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach Started the month with Beyond the Rift and that special kind of feeling brought on by knowing that Humanity is hosed in just about every way, anyway it's probably the most honest short story collection I've ever read since it includes every short he's ever had published so you get him at his absolute freshest, nothing terrible just a few that really aren't that interesting; the takeaway is that everyone should read The Things. Read it right now. Dived in to a Hannibal double feature, a couple of nice thrillers, Silence is the better written of the two but I find Will Graham to be a much more compelling character to read about. The Martian is a rip-roaring space MacGyver story about an Astronaut left behind on Mars after an accident, features lots of science, the authenticity of I will not comment on; very fun read, would highly recommend checking it out. Stiff is a Mary Roach book, interesting look at the ways we've dealt with corpses over the ages.
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Mar 29, 2014 23:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I've asked before but never got an answer on it. Does Annihilation ever pick up? I'm not exactly sure how far into the book you were but I'd guess you probably read the first two "parts"? I'd say that stuff definitely happens, the "tunnel" is explored, there are some cool reveals and some conflict. I won't guarantee you'll enjoy it but if you were only one or two "parts" in I'd suggest reading on and giving it another shot.
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May 19, 2014 02:07
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Ursus Veritas posted:January So I read a grand total of gently caress all in April thanks to The Steel Remains and The Palace Job which were so simultaneously boring that they killed all my enthusiasm to read... May 9. Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball 10. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North 11. Talus and the Frozen King by Graham Edwards 12. The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher 13. Authority (Southern Reach Trilogy #2) by Jeff VanderMeer 14. Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh 15. Bonk by Mary Roach 16. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 17. Masters of Doom by David Kushner Came back from a long break to read Silence Once Begun, an interesting little mystery that's related almost entirely through interview, it was gripping while I was reading it but it's kind of faded from my mind since then. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is by Claire North who is Kate Griffin who is Catherine Webb; anyways Fifteen Lives follows Harry August who relives his life from the beginning after every death and chronicles, as the name suggests his first fifteen lives. I really liked this book, my only real problem with it is that it still falls into a rote good guy vs bad guy scenario but it's not a huge issue in the end because I actually kind of like how Webb ends up framing the conflict. Talus and the Frozen King is okay at best, it's very clearly just medieval Sherlock Holmes and the mystery is just kind blah, it really suffers from the Sherlock Holmes-ian issue of an insufferably smug protagonist. The Burning Dark is pretty great for the vast majority but the pacing suffers in the end as it just kind of concludes suddenly; still a pretty good sci-fi ghost story that I'd recommend checking out. Authority is if anything an even slower burn than Annihilation and mostly serves to add some background and shading to the world, I still really enjoyed it but it's not going to sway detractors of the first book. Shovel Ready is pulpy and short, kind of a tonal mix between Gibson and Morgan but ultimately pretty disappointing. With Bonk I've officially read every Mary Roach book so I guess I'll have to find real non-fiction books to read now. I re-read Slaughterhouse-Five and it's still really good, not my favourite Vonnegut novel at the moment but I'm sure it could be. Finished out the month by squeezing in Masters of Doom or the Rise and Fall of John Romero, I'm always interested in video game related topics so this was a good read. Well I feel like I made up for missing out on April but now I have nothing that I'm really psyched to start reading so this month should be fun. I'm finished with school until September so maybe if I'm feeling brave I'll try starting Worm, who knows.
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Jun 1, 2014 01:56
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Ursus Veritas posted:January June 18. The Severed Streets (Shadow Police #2) by Paul Cornell August 19. Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem 20. The Magician's Land (The Magicians #3) by Lev Grossman 21. Echopraxia by Peter Watts I should really read more but school is starting up again so we'll see how that goes. All good books this time, The Severed Streets was weird with Neil Gaiman inexplicably showing up as a character in the book and killing one of the main characters, so yeah totally weird. Gun, With Occasional Music is a PKD inspired noir story with anthropomorphic animals and heaps of dystopia for good measure, it's good but a lot a couple of the sci-fi elements that are introduced never really get included in the plot. The Magician's Land was a great end to the series, fleshed out some of the under developed characters and tied up all the loose ends, I enjoyed it. Echopraxia rules, Peter Watts rules, writing a hard scifi book about god and religion, I love it.
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Aug 31, 2014 23:04
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 04:32 |
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January 1. Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente February 2. The Bread We Eat in Dreams by Catherynne M. Valente 3. Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy #1) by Jeff VanderMeer March 4. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts 5. Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter #1) by Thomas Harris 6. The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2) by Thomas Harris 7. The Martian by Andy Weir 8. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach May 9. Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball 10. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North 11. Talus and the Frozen King by Graham Edwards 12. The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher 13. Authority (Southern Reach Trilogy #2) by Jeff VanderMeer 14. Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh 15. Bonk by Mary Roach 16. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 17. Masters of Doom by David Kushner June 18. The Severed Streets (Shadow Police #2) by Paul Cornell August 19. Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem 20. The Magician's Land (The Magicians #3) by Lev Grossman 21. Echopraxia by Peter Watts October 22. Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux 23. Acceptance (Southern Reach Trilogy #3) by Jeff VanderMeer November 24. The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes #1) by Richard Morgan 25. Foxglove Summer (Peter Grant #5) by Ben Aaronovitch December 26. The Palace Job (Rogues of the Republic #1) by Patrick Weekes GOAL : 26/25 Anyways my favourite non-2014 book of the year was Deathless, just a beautiful, haunting story that has stuck with me for the entire year. My favourite book of 2014 was Echopraxia, Watts isn't the most technically proficient but his ideas always hit home with me. Though I have to give honourable mentions to Acceptance and The First Fifteen Live of Harry August, both of which are gorgeous novels. I'm not very happy with the amount I managed to read this year, I'll have to actively try and work on that in 2015.
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Dec 29, 2014 18:37
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