Book Log 2011 - Summary of the Year

I didn't manage to read enough books in 2011. My annual target is 50. In 2009 and 2010 I was closer to 60. In 2011, because of writing commitments and not wanting to read while I was in the throes of a major revision, I had a big reading gap in the summer resulting in a fairly low total of 43 for the year.

So, in 2011 I read and particularly enjoyed: The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins); Desdaemona (Chaz Brenchley writing as Ben Macallan); Inda and The Fox (Sherwood Smith) - and the other two in the series are in my Strategic Book Reserve, waiting to be read. There was a new Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson book - River Marked - much anticipated and eagerly consumed. I've also enjoyed Tanya Huff's Enchantment Emporium, Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares books and the second of  Ilona Andrews 'Edge' books, though I haven't tried Magic Bites yet. That's another one in my Strategic Book Reserve. I've caught up with a few Georgette Heyers, some more enjoyable than others, but I couldn't quite make up my mind about Galen Beckett's The Magicians & Mrs Quent. It was lovely, but almost too lovely and sometimes a bit on the leisurely side.

I thought I'd like N. K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Naomi Novik's Temeraire, but though they were good, sadly neither grabbed me enough to make me read on into the rest of the trilogy/series. I was also disappointed by Fritz Leiber's Swords and Deviltry. A friend recommended this so heartily and I was so looking forward to it, but I think a lot of the 'classics' have been overtaken by more contemporary style and pacing. Maybe if I'd read it thirty years ago...

Over the past few years I've enjoyed Elizabeth Chadwick's historicals until I was put off by her website references to Akashic Records and her use of a consultant to look back into history and 'see' various scenes 'as they really happened'. It's all a bit too woo-woo for me. (For someone who reads fantasy, I'm not sure why.) I'd rather she hadn't publicised it and that I still believed her books are based on thorough research and authorial talent. Still I only have one more to read and then I'll have caught up with her whole back catalogue, so no point stopping now. It's odd, though, how something external to the words on the page can alter your attitude to a book.

Some of my 2011 books were disappointing. Mark Keating's Fight for Freedom gets a big thumbs down from me. For a pirate book not enough swash and buckle. I also tried a Peter Wimsey this year (Gaudy Night), but I have reservations about Sayers. I might try another one as people tell me Gaudy Night is atypical. I read David Weber's first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station, which was undoubtedly a fine book, but confirmed that space navy stuff (military SF) of this type is not really my thing except in rare circumstances.

I read two Terry Pratchet's this year, Unseen Academicals (late because I waited for the paperback) and Snuff (early because I now have a Kindle, so didn't have to wait for the paperback). I love Pratchett's homespun philosophy and especially when delivered via Vimes. Both books are good, but I particularly loved Snuff, though maybe not quite as much as Night Watch which is still my all-time favourite Vimes book. Close, though.

My big change this year is that I have succumbed to a Kindle. Yes, I know, I know. I LIKE dead tree books. I LOVE them. I have hundreds – thousands, even, in my possession – and that's the problem. My books are outgrowing the space I have to keep them. The designated 'library' (sounds grander than it is) is stacked with non-fiction, the landing is crammed with seven Billy Bookcases (thank you Ikea) and every available shelf in my office is overflowing with books on writing and for story research. So from now on I intend (wherever possible) to buy books electronically. What I don't intend to do is buy re-buy dead tree books in electronic format until publishers cut some kind of a deal for those of us who already own the dead-tree versions. (yeah, I know, dream on!)

2011 Reading list

1. Anne Aguirre: Killbox – Sirantha Jax #4
2. Galen Beckett: The Magicians & Mrs Quent
3. Diana Pharaoh Francis: The Cipher – Crosspointe #1
4. Georgette Heyer: These Old Shades
5. Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
6. Patrick O'Leary: The Gift
7. Georgette Heyer: Friday's Child
8. Patricia Briggs: River Marked
9. Tanya Huff: Enchantment Emporium
10. Lisa Shearin: Armed and Magical – Raine Benares #2
11. Pamela Cooksey: Joseph Wood 1750 – 1821, A Yorkshire Quaker
12. Captain Grose and others: A Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
13. Sally Prue: Cold Tom
14. Fritz Leiber: Swords and Deviltry (from the Lankhmar Collection)
15. Elizabeth Chadwick: The Running Vixen
16. Lisa Shearin: The Trouble with Demons – Raine Benares #3
17. Ilona Andrews: Bayou Moon – The Edge #2
18. David Weber: On Basilisk Station – Honor Harrington #1
19. Lisa Shearin: Bewitched and Betrayed – Raine Benares #4
20. Lisa Shearin: Con & Conjure – Raine Benares #5
21. Georgette Heyer: The Convenient Marriage
22. N. K. Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
23. Naomi Novik: Temeraire – Temeraire #1
24. Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games – Hunger Games #1
25. Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night – A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
26. Monica Edwards: The White Riders
27. David Gemmell: Legend
28. Elizabeth Chadwick: A Time of Singing
29. Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday  - Kitty Norville #3
30. Sherwood Smith: Inda – Inda #1
31. Gary Russell: The Twilight Streets – Torchwood 6
32. Linnea Sinclair: Shades of Dark – Dock Five 2
33. Sherwood Smith: The Fox – Inda #2
34. Terry Pratchett: Unseen Academicals
35. Suzanne Collins: Mockingjay – Hunger Games #2
36. Suzanne Collins: Catching Fire – Hunger Games #3
37. Mark Keating: Fight for Freedom
38. Monica Edwards: No Entry
39. Ben Macallan: Desdaemona
40. Terry Pratchett: Snuff
41. Michael Morpurgo: War Horse
42. Diana Wynne Jones: The Game
43. May Arrigan: Baldur's Bones

Book Log 2011 - Summary of the Year

I didn't manage to read enough books in 2011. My annual target is 50. In 2009 and 2010 I was closer to 60. In 2011, because of writing commitments and not wanting to read while I was in the throes of a major revision, I had a big reading gap in the summer resulting in a fairly low total of 43 for the year.

So, in 2011 I read and particularly enjoyed: The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins); Desdaemona (Chaz Brenchley writing as Ben Macallan); Inda and The Fox (Sherwood Smith) - and the other two in the series are in my Strategic Book Reserve, waiting to be read. There was a new Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson book - River Marked - much anticipated and eagerly consumed. I've also enjoyed Tanya Huff's Enchantment Emporium, Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares books and the second of  Ilona Andrews 'Edge' books, though I haven't tried Magic Bites yet. That's another one in my Strategic Book Reserve. I've caught up with a few Georgette Heyers, some more enjoyable than others, but I couldn't quite make up my mind about Galen Beckett's The Magicians & Mrs Quent. It was lovely, but almost too lovely and sometimes a bit on the leisurely side.

I thought I'd like N. K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Naomi Novik's Temeraire, but though they were good, sadly neither grabbed me enough to make me read on into the rest of the trilogy/series. I was also disappointed by Fritz Leiber's Swords and Deviltry. A friend recommended this so heartily and I was so looking forward to it, but I think a lot of the 'classics' have been overtaken by more contemporary style and pacing. Maybe if I'd read it thirty years ago...

Over the past few years I've enjoyed Elizabeth Chadwick's historicals until I was put off by her website references to Akashic Records and her use of a consultant to look back into history and 'see' various scenes 'as they really happened'. It's all a bit too woo-woo for me. (For someone who reads fantasy, I'm not sure why.) I'd rather she hadn't publicised it and that I still believed her books are based on thorough research and authorial talent. Still I only have one more to read and then I'll have caught up with her whole back catalogue, so no point stopping now. It's odd, though, how something external to the words on the page can alter your attitude to a book.

Some of my 2011 books were disappointing. Mark Keating's Fight for Freedom gets a big thumbs down from me. For a pirate book not enough swash and buckle. I also tried a Peter Wimsey this year (Gaudy Night), but I have reservations about Sayers. I might try another one as people tell me Gaudy Night is atypical. I read David Weber's first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station, which was undoubtedly a fine book, but confirmed that space navy stuff (military SF) of this type is not really my thing except in rare circumstances.

I read two Terry Pratchet's this year, Unseen Academicals (late because I waited for the paperback) and Snuff (early because I now have a Kindle, so didn't have to wait for the paperback). I love Pratchett's homespun philosophy and especially when delivered via Vimes. Both books are good, but I particularly loved Snuff, though maybe not quite as much as Night Watch which is still my all-time favourite Vimes book. Close, though.

My big change this year is that I have succumbed to a Kindle. Yes, I know, I know. I LIKE dead tree books. I LOVE them. I have hundreds – thousands, even, in my possession – and that's the problem. My books are outgrowing the space I have to keep them. The designated 'library' (sounds grander than it is) is stacked with non-fiction, the landing is crammed with seven Billy Bookcases (thank you Ikea) and every available shelf in my office is overflowing with books on writing and for story research. So from now on I intend (wherever possible) to buy books electronically. What I don't intend to do is buy re-buy dead tree books in electronic format until publishers cut some kind of a deal for those of us who already own the dead-tree versions. (yeah, I know, dream on!)

2011 Reading list

1. Anne Aguirre: Killbox – Sirantha Jax #4
2. Galen Beckett: The Magicians & Mrs Quent
3. Diana Pharaoh Francis: The Cipher – Crosspointe #1
4. Georgette Heyer: These Old Shades
5. Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
6. Patrick O'Leary: The Gift
7. Georgette Heyer: Friday's Child
8. Patricia Briggs: River Marked
9. Tanya Huff: Enchantment Emporium
10. Lisa Shearin: Armed and Magical – Raine Benares #2
11. Pamela Cooksey: Joseph Wood 1750 – 1821, A Yorkshire Quaker
12. Captain Grose and others: A Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
13. Sally Prue: Cold Tom
14. Fritz Leiber: Swords and Deviltry (from the Lankhmar Collection)
15. Elizabeth Chadwick: The Running Vixen
16. Lisa Shearin: The Trouble with Demons – Raine Benares #3
17. Ilona Andrews: Bayou Moon – The Edge #2
18. David Weber: On Basilisk Station – Honor Harrington #1
19. Lisa Shearin: Bewitched and Betrayed – Raine Benares #4
20. Lisa Shearin: Con & Conjure – Raine Benares #5
21. Georgette Heyer: The Convenient Marriage
22. N. K. Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
23. Naomi Novik: Temeraire – Temeraire #1
24. Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games – Hunger Games #1
25. Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night – A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery
26. Monica Edwards: The White Riders
27. David Gemmell: Legend
28. Elizabeth Chadwick: A Time of Singing
29. Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday  - Kitty Norville #3
30. Sherwood Smith: Inda – Inda #1
31. Gary Russell: The Twilight Streets – Torchwood 6
32. Linnea Sinclair: Shades of Dark – Dock Five 2
33. Sherwood Smith: The Fox – Inda #2
34. Terry Pratchett: Unseen Academicals
35. Suzanne Collins: Mockingjay – Hunger Games #2
36. Suzanne Collins: Catching Fire – Hunger Games #3
37. Mark Keating: Fight for Freedom
38. Monica Edwards: No Entry
39. Ben Macallan: Desdaemona
40. Terry Pratchett: Snuff
41. Michael Morpurgo: War Horse
42. Diana Wynne Jones: The Game
43. May Arrigan: Baldur's Bones

Book Log 1/2012 - Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth

1) 1/1/12
Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth

One of my favourite books forty years ago, I got a good deal on the three connected Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman Britain novels for my Kindle. (Yes, I know what I said about not re-buying books on Kindle that were already on my shelves but I paid no more for three than I would have done for the third one, which I did not have. What a pity the fourth one 'Frontier Wolf' doesn't seem to be on Kindle yet.)

So this was a re-reading after perhaps twenty years and in the meantime I've seen the movie 'Eagle' which is based on the book (and which I quite enjoyed despite a few diversions from the original story).

Marcus, intent on following his deceased father into the Roman legions is sent north to command a small post on Hadrian's Wall – his first command. Unfortunately it's a short command because, though he acquits himself well, he's seriously wounded in a clash with local tribes and is invalided out before his career has begun. It's while he's recovering in the villa of his elderly uncle that he's moved to buy a British gladiator, Esca, who becomes, at first, his slave and later his friend. When he hatches a plan to go north beyond Hadrian's Wall to recover the eagle of the lost Ninth Legion, Esca goes with him of his own free will.

The Ninth Hispania marched north from Eburacum (York) twelve years earlier and was never seen again, but there are rumours of the all-important Roman eagle – the legion's standard – in the hands of British tribesmen. Marcus has a vested interest because the Ninth was his father's last posting, he was second in command and no one knows what happened to him.

So in the guise of a quacksalver – a travelling occulist – Marcus heads into the wild lands with Esca to begin is search for the honour of his father's legion, learning much, not all of it pleasant or heroic, before finally achieving his aim – though things never turn out quite as imagined at the outset.

Book Log 1/2012 - Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth

1) 1/1/12
Rosemary Sutcliffe: Eagle of the Ninth

One of my favourite books forty years ago, I got a good deal on the three connected Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman Britain novels for my Kindle. (Yes, I know what I said about not re-buying books on Kindle that were already on my shelves but I paid no more for three than I would have done for the third one, which I did not have. What a pity the fourth one 'Frontier Wolf' doesn't seem to be on Kindle yet.)

So this was a re-reading after perhaps twenty years and in the meantime I've seen the movie 'Eagle' which is based on the book (and which I quite enjoyed despite a few diversions from the original story).

Marcus, intent on following his deceased father into the Roman legions is sent north to command a small post on Hadrian's Wall – his first command. Unfortunately it's a short command because, though he acquits himself well, he's seriously wounded in a clash with local tribes and is invalided out before his career has begun. It's while he's recovering in the villa of his elderly uncle that he's moved to buy a British gladiator, Esca, who becomes, at first, his slave and later his friend. When he hatches a plan to go north beyond Hadrian's Wall to recover the eagle of the lost Ninth Legion, Esca goes with him of his own free will.

The Ninth Hispania marched north from Eburacum (York) twelve years earlier and was never seen again, but there are rumours of the all-important Roman eagle – the legion's standard – in the hands of British tribesmen. Marcus has a vested interest because the Ninth was his father's last posting, he was second in command and no one knows what happened to him.

So in the guise of a quacksalver – a travelling occulist – Marcus heads into the wild lands with Esca to begin is search for the honour of his father's legion, learning much, not all of it pleasant or heroic, before finally achieving his aim – though things never turn out quite as imagined at the outset.