Books read in 2011

Organized in three categories: Books I finished, Books I didn't finish but intend to, Books I didn't finish and don't intend to.

Books I finished

1. The Scar, China Mieville

The second book in the Bas Lag Series, it was like Moby Dick and Mos Eisley thrown in a blender. My favorite fiction book as an adult. 

*My favorite book as a teenager was Sword At Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliff, a more historical look at the Arthurian legend where Arthur was the son of a Roman father and Briton mother. Clive Owen and Kiera Knightley were cast in a movie that was no doubt somewhat based on the book, but was an utter failure.

2. King Rat, China Mieville

Debut novel by the author. Rats, the underground club scene in London, and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, nominated for the Bram Stoker award.

3. A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin. Book 5 of the Song of Ice and Fire serires, probably the fourth best in the series. Spends about 95% of the book wandering around but appears to be moving toward the resolution that ought to start happening if the author keeps the series to the planned seven book length.

4. Lone Wolf: Flight From the Dark, Joe Dever. Got through this in one day, but am by no means finished. The first in a series of hybrid pen and paper rpg and choose your own adventure. Book two is in the mail.

 Books which I intend to Finish

1. The Passage, Justin Cronin. Literary vampire apocalypse. Very similar to Stephen King's The Stand. I'll get back to this one when I feel like doing the post-apocalyptic thing. My sister in law's review, 'I hated it, but I couldn't put it down!'

2. The Electric Church, Jeff Somers. I am currently reading this, I expect to finish before starting something else. Having said that, I set it down to look at the choose your own adventure book, and only put it down to go out to dinner, then when I looked up it was half past midnight, and I was all alone. The Electric Church is a  cyberpunk tough-guy shoot-em up.

3. The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch. Renaissance Italy-based fantasy, like a Robin Hood who keeps all the money for himself. Amazing prologue, slow first chapter. Or GRRM took all my epic fantasy attention earlier in the year.

Books I don't intend to finish

1. The Unremembered, Peter Orullian. I was looking for the next big thing (cough cough! Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson cough cough!) This wasn't it. A few good concepts and some nice webisodes sold me on the first volume of the Vault of Heaven Series. It's gonna take more than that to sell me on the second.

2. The Last Light Under the Sun, Guy Gavriel Kay. I thought I'd found the answer to my sf/f question 'who is that third guy?' Flashes of brilliance and petulance. It made sense because many of the protagonists were teenagers. Halfway through the book I realized I didn't care about any of the characters. I've already bought another Guy Gavriel Kay book, which I've heard is his best, but also that his newest effort was even better than that.

*Context: The first two authors of speculative fiction that I love are China Mieville and George RR Martin. Candidates for third include Guy Gavriel Kay, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, and a handful of others.

Speculative Writer Hot List

The Top Ten

1.   China Mieville
2.   George R.R. Martin
3.   Steven Erikson
4.   Guy Gavriel Kay
5.   Brandon Sanderson
6.   Scott Lynch
7.   David Anthony Durham
8.   Robin Hobb
9.  Patrick Rothfuss
10. Joe Abercrombie


The list is only working authors in the sf/f genre that interest me.

China Mieville, I've read four of his books and loved three, would highly recommend the other. Funny thing is, I think if four people read those, they would have the same reaction, but likely loving a different three from the others.

George R.R. Martin, I'd have to say I liked Mieville better by a hair anyway, but Dance with Dragons was a dissapointment. Thankfully, I feel like the series has turned a corner and we begin the (long) homestretch in Winds of Winter...which means in like 2014.

Steven Erikson, I've heard his Malazan Book of the Fallen series described as the best fantasy series of all-time. I've heard it described as Sword and Sorcery. I've heard you have to read the first two books of the series all the way through before you're hooked. It's on my to-do list.

Guy Gavriel Kay, Currently reading my first book by Kay 'The Last Light Under the Sun'. Thinly disguised historical fiction, which is fine, since he does the research more meticulously than most authors do their world-building. Amazing with scenes that make you think deep thoughts, not as great with showing basic emotions, but really catching lightning enough to make up for it. Plus I love me a good historical fiction.

Brandon Sanderson, After taking over the Wheel of Time Sanderson has really been thrown into the big leagues it would seem. I quit halfway through his debut novel 'Elantris' a year ago, but I've only heard great things about his 'Way of Kings', which is the first of a new series.

Scott Lynch, GRRM keeps blurbing him, that's got to be worth something. Then I heard world-building comparisons to China Mieville's New Crobuzon (admittedly described as inferior, but China's #1 on this list for a reason). Plus the cover art for his upcoming looks pretty cool.

David Anthony Durham, I've read the first few pages. Sounds dark enough to keep people interested, though it seems like the UK won't even publish book three of his series that started with 'Acacia', which I bought Dalton for his birthday. Maybe that's why this guy is on the list, he's only the fourth guy I've spent money on when buying new.

Robin Hobb, I wanted a female perspective on High Fantasy, and heard this is the one to go to. I have the first book of her 'farseer trilogy', bummed that it's in the first person, but I consider myself an open-minded reader (that is, I don't limit myself to high fantasy/new weird written in 3rd person).

Patrick Rothfuss, Was the consensus heir to a Song of Ice and Fire for most awesome next series until Sanderson penned 'Way of Kings'. Also, I've heard there isn't really a point, kind of like the Conan stories, but without Conan.

Joe Abercrombie, gets this because of the other writers I'm familiar with but won't be giving a chance, his titles/cover art push him ahead.

books cont'd part 2

rediscovered this blog while thinking about make a blog about the weather. Read Under the Dome and the Scar. Under the Dome wasn't anything to write home about, though the audio book helped a lot on a solo car ride to San Jose and back. Stephen King writes small town America circa 1940-1985 really well. 2010? Not so well. But just when I thought I'd given up reading Stephen King's new material he anounces a new Dark Tower novel. Sigh.

China Mieville on the other hand hasn't dissapointed. The Scar was something of a marathon of a book, not so much for length as for pacing, the plot was kinda Moby Dickish. However, it may have been the most thought provoking novel I've read...ever? Little Daniel says that Perdido Street Station was good but too academic for fun reading, but the Scar makes Perdido Street look like the next Roland Emmerich film. Don't get me wrong, Perdido Street is probably still my favorite Mieville novel, but the Scar took thought provocation to a new level.

Haven't gotten around to the Desert Spear yet, though it's on my to do list. Here's my list of books I'm hoping to finish next:

1. Timeline, Michael Crichton. 200 pages in, fast-paced, well researched. Not too academic for fun reading.

2. The Passage, Justin Cronin. 80ish pages in, slow paced, litereary novel, vampire apocalypse.

3. King Rat, China Mieville. 20ish pages in, medium paced, modern fairy tale horror. Mieville's debut novel.

4. The Unremebered; Vault of Heaven book 1, Peter Orullian. 12% in on Kindle, Tolkien-esque high fantasy, good concept, poorly executed, probably lost me already.

Looking forward to Embassytown, Mieville's newest, though I like to stagger a (few) lighter books between Mieville novels, also Dance with Dragons is coming out this year, so I'll probably get to that sooner than I'd like.