2010 Reading, Second Half
Jan. 9th, 2011 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowIn the second half of 2010 I read 61 books, bringing the year's total to 125: 20 nonfiction, 69 new fiction, and 36 rereads. The details, for anyone who cares, are under the cut.
Fiction (50):
F/SF (35): Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Earth; Patricia Briggs, Moon Called; Steven Brust, Jhegaala; Lois McMaster Bujold, Cryoburn; C. J. Cherryh, Pretender, Deliverer, Foreigner*, Invader*, Inheritor*, Precursor*, Defender*, Explorer*, Conspirator; Michael Coney, Pallahaxi Tide; Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon*, Deadhouse Gates; Robin Hobb, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest; Julie Kenner, Deja Demon, Demon Ex Machina; Jack McDevitt, Deep Six; Patricia McKillip, Od Magic, Solstice Wood; Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword; Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight; Fred Saberhagen, The Dracula Tape*; Bram Stoker, Dracula*; Charlie Stross, The Family Trade*, The Hidden Family; H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind; Connie Willis, All Clear; Gene Wolfe, Nightside the Long Sun*, Lake of the Long Sun*, Calde of the Long Sun*, Exodus from the Long Sun*
Mystery (5): Janet Evanovich, Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen; Dick Francis, Knockdown, Longshot
Romance (2): Crusie & Mayer, Agnes and the Hitman; Georgette Heyer, Faro's Daughter
Historical (1): George Macdonald Fraser, Flashman in the Great Game
Graphic Novels (4): Phil & Kaja Foglio, Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, ... and the Heirs of the Storm; Ursula Vernon, Digger, vv. 4-5
Other (3): Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha; Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time; Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
The only real standout in the fiction was Gilead. Evanovich, Crusie, Kenner, and the Foglios are basically mind-candy, but entertaining. The rest ranged from solid but unexceptional to very-good-as-usual.
Nonfiction (11):
Sciences (3): Adams & Laughlin, The Five Ages of the Universe; Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle; Simon Winchester, Krakatoa
History (4): Robin Lane Fox, The Classical World; U. S. Grant, Memoirs; Mark Mazower,
Salonica, City of Ghosts; Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran
Law and Politics (2): Warren Burger, It Is So Ordered; Epstein & Segal, Advice and Consent
Language (2): Geoffrey Nunberg, The Linguistics of Punctuation; Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Languages
Of the nonfiction, Adams & Laughlin, Grant, and Mazower were particularly informative; Winchester and Okrent were absorbing and entertaining. I was disappointed in Burger and (to a lesser extent) Fox.
I'll try to write a few reviews soon.
Fiction (50):
F/SF (35): Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Earth; Patricia Briggs, Moon Called; Steven Brust, Jhegaala; Lois McMaster Bujold, Cryoburn; C. J. Cherryh, Pretender, Deliverer, Foreigner*, Invader*, Inheritor*, Precursor*, Defender*, Explorer*, Conspirator; Michael Coney, Pallahaxi Tide; Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon*, Deadhouse Gates; Robin Hobb, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest; Julie Kenner, Deja Demon, Demon Ex Machina; Jack McDevitt, Deep Six; Patricia McKillip, Od Magic, Solstice Wood; Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword; Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight; Fred Saberhagen, The Dracula Tape*; Bram Stoker, Dracula*; Charlie Stross, The Family Trade*, The Hidden Family; H. G. Wells, The Country of the Blind; Connie Willis, All Clear; Gene Wolfe, Nightside the Long Sun*, Lake of the Long Sun*, Calde of the Long Sun*, Exodus from the Long Sun*
Mystery (5): Janet Evanovich, Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen; Dick Francis, Knockdown, Longshot
Romance (2): Crusie & Mayer, Agnes and the Hitman; Georgette Heyer, Faro's Daughter
Historical (1): George Macdonald Fraser, Flashman in the Great Game
Graphic Novels (4): Phil & Kaja Foglio, Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, ... and the Heirs of the Storm; Ursula Vernon, Digger, vv. 4-5
Other (3): Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha; Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time; Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
The only real standout in the fiction was Gilead. Evanovich, Crusie, Kenner, and the Foglios are basically mind-candy, but entertaining. The rest ranged from solid but unexceptional to very-good-as-usual.
Nonfiction (11):
Sciences (3): Adams & Laughlin, The Five Ages of the Universe; Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle; Simon Winchester, Krakatoa
History (4): Robin Lane Fox, The Classical World; U. S. Grant, Memoirs; Mark Mazower,
Salonica, City of Ghosts; Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran
Law and Politics (2): Warren Burger, It Is So Ordered; Epstein & Segal, Advice and Consent
Language (2): Geoffrey Nunberg, The Linguistics of Punctuation; Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Languages
Of the nonfiction, Adams & Laughlin, Grant, and Mazower were particularly informative; Winchester and Okrent were absorbing and entertaining. I was disappointed in Burger and (to a lesser extent) Fox.
I'll try to write a few reviews soon.
