Reading List 2008
Note: I love used books; if you see something on my wish list that's cheap and used, and you want to buy it for me, by all means! :)
Gibbon's Decline and Fall
by Sheri S. Tepper
Grass
by Sheri S. Tepper
The Visitor
by Sheri S. Tepper
The Family Tree
by Sheri S. Tepper -- This firmly tongue-in-cheek tale has an astonishing twist--one that is, sadly, revealed by one of the editorial reviews on Amazon, so avert your eyes from that review. Additionally, I have found that many of the reviews from "Publishers Weekly" that are posted on Amazon as editorial reviews contain big spoilers, and I've learned to avoid reading them.
But let's focus on this book! It is an interesting reminder that, if we don't learn to control our own population through conscious limitation, and if we don't keep our environmental destruction in check, those things will be done FOR us by an outside force. Tepper's outside force was kinder and gentler than, say, widespread plague or famine, and she put forth some serious wishful thinking in this book. When our species has to face down these issues in the real world, we won't have it half so easy by the time we are forced out of denial by the wolves at the door (not that there will be any wolves left by then, because of aerial gunning, but I digress...).
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
by Barry Glassner
The Outlaw Varjak Paw
by Sf Said (illus. by Dave McKean)
I have been meaning to get around to this.
The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)
by Roger Zelazny
Note: I read them in a different format; the first five were in the book club two-volume set. The second five were individual paperbacks. The above link goes to a single volume containing all of ten. I don't know which would be better, but I am lazy with the link, haha.
This Immortal
by Roger Zelazny
Transmetropolitan Vol. 1: Back on the Street
by Warren Ellis
Note: This just goes to Vol. 1, but I read the entire series start to finish. The next two items were specials for this series.
I Hate It Here :Transmetropolitan
by Warren Ellis
Filth of the City :Transmetropolitan
by Warren Ellis
System
by Peter Kuper
Sticks and Stones
by Peter Kuper
Eye of the Beholder
by Peter Kuper
Kuper's stuff is absolutely amazing. I really really recommend the above three items, and I am hoping to someday read his Kafka graphic novels.
Raising the Stones by Sheri S. Tepper
The Bones by Sheri S. Tepper
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
After Long Silence by Sheri S. Tepper
Singer From the Sea by Sheri S. Tepper
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper - This amazing trilogy is full of action and adventure, blending sci fi and fantasy into a brilliant epic with many wonderful surprises scattered throughout. Another reviewer says that they didn't want it to end, and I agree with them! Unfortunately, the two sequel trilogies are out of print, so expect to pay a pretty penny if you want to find out what happens next (and, by the way, they were worth every cent).
Jinian Footseer by Sheri S. Tepper
Dervish Daughter by Sheri S. Tepper
Jinian Star-Eye by Sheri S. Tepper
Still Life by E.E. Horlak (alias of Sheri S. Tepper)
Northshore (The Awakeners, Vol 1) by Sheri S. Tepper and
Southshore (The Awakeners, Vol 2) by Sheri S. Tepper -- This wonderful adventure epic is set on a strange planet divided into two hemispheres by a vast, virtually uncrossable river. The dominant religion thrives on creating zombies of dead citizens; Tepper uses this part of the story to remind us that blind, unquestioning faith can be terrible and harmful. The tales conclude in an amazing, hopeful fashion that offers new ideas regarding human existence and evolution.
Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper
The Companions by Sheri S. Tepper
Six Moon Dance by Sheri S. Tepper
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood
The Tent by Margaret Atwood
Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman
World War Z by Max Brooks
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - Cory Doctorow
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, by Haruki Murakami
As She Climbed Across The Table, by Jonathan Lethem
Death for Old Time's Sake by AJ Orde
Looking for the Aardvark by AJ Orde
Blood Music by Greg Bear (I thought this was really awful)
Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem
KiNdred by Octavia Butler (very well done, but it made me cry--it's a pretty vivid look at the torture and abuse of slaves in the South)
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling
Dead in the Scrub by BJ Oliphant (aka Sheri Tepper) -- an almost old-fashioned mystery, with ecofeminist overtones and a fairly unlikeable protagonist (who seems based on the author herself, but loosely so)
Dead and the Delinquent by BJ Oliphant (aka Sheri Tepper) -- Almost autobiographical, another mystery filled with unlikeable characters on both sides
Death and the Dogwalker by AJ Orde (aka Sheri Tepper) -- Mystery novel with a more likable protagonist than the Oliphant books; these seem to all have a fairly anticlimactic conclusion
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler -- a very strange premise for a barely scifi tale where an alien blunders into late 19th century North America. The real value of this book lies in the descriptions of the horrors faced by women, minorities, and the mentally ill during that time period.
Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris -- a delightful collection of short stories with a huge variety of themes. I liked this one so much that I may gift it to mom and mom-in-law for the holidays
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell -- a rich, intense tale of tragic alien first contact, human loss, and spiritual redemption
Under the Skin by Michael Faber -- Apparently, chilling and quirky are not mutually exclusive traits. This is the story of a hunter who has been surgically modified to mimic her prey--which causes her immense physical and psychological pain in addition to her social difficulties. Might be very disturbing for non-vegetarians.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville -- A richly designed world with fantastic races of people is the setting for this steampunk action novel. Beautiful and compelling, although it got to be too "let's off the bad guys" in the end; I'd rather have seen the "enemy" turn out to have more depth than they actually did.
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin -- I did like this novel, but I'm absolutely baffled by people who say that reading it made them become anarchists. I had thought that the depiction of the anarchists' society was pretty clearly just as corruptible and corrupt as the capitalist rival society. It's a fact of human nature that a group with no official government is going to end up with the same power structures and cronyism as one without, with its members spouting the party line publicly as they privately (or even semi privately) ignore or even shit upon its values.
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon -- I'm putting this on the list because I really did try to read it, and I want to make sure I don't try it again; if I have it here, I'll remember not to check it out again. Some people really do enjoy this book, but the convoluted run-on sentences and overwritten prose just annoyed the hell out of me. By the time I'd get to the end of a sentence (half a page down, sometimes), I often couldn't tell which objects were being referred to by which prepositional phrase. If I have to re-read a paragraph five times to figure out what the hell he's saying, then I'm certainly not going to invest that kind of mental gymnastics into 775 pages of it. This man needed a strong editor--one that would break up his phrases a bit and fix the grammar a LOT. I'm disappointed, because the plot sounds REALLY cool; he just was trying way too damn hard.
Scream for Jeeves by Peter H. Cannon -- This slim collection is what would happen if PG Wodehouse and HP Lovecraft had a love child and appointed Arthur Conan Doyle its wet nurse. The stories are HILARIOUS, but make sure you're familiar with the material being parodied, or you won't get a bit of it. The essay at the end was kind of meh and very speculative, but it's not essential to the stories, so it can be skipped if you like. Also, it's out of print and going for about $130, so if you borrow it from a friend, make sure you treat it very carefully.
The Postman by David Brin -- Post-nuclear-holocaust society in the USA is saved by a mailman. That's an extremely simplified description, but I'd rather keep it simple rather than spoil it. Also, the movie IS based on this book, but the book is actually good.
Pirates of the Universe
by Terry Bisson -- this was HILARIOUS and very well written.
Death Dream by Ben Bova -- terrible, juvenile novel about virtual reality. Don't bother.
He, She and It
by Marge Piercy -- a beautiful novel with rich characterization. DO recommend!
The Dead Lady of Clown Town, by Cordwainer Smith -- a short story in an anthology; this was a beautiful tale of "subhumans" fighting for their right to be regarded as people.
Black Glass: Stories
by Karen Joy Fowler -- a delightful collection of though-provoking short stories.
Wizard by John Varley was a wonderful epic adventure tale. Rich in detail without being overwritten, and a cast of characters that were very likeable. It was sort of like a faster paced Lord of the Rings, only in science fiction form. He created an amazing world filled with unique ideas, and fleshed it out with a good balance of humor, action, and romance. There are some books which, when I am very close to the end, I like to put them down and do some other activity for a while, because I'm not yet ready to say goodbye to the characters. This was one of those types of books. I definitely recommend it. One caveat: I found this recommended somewhere, but it didn't mention that it was the second book in a trilogy. However, it stands alone VERY well. I haven't read the other two books, but if you are inclined to start at the beginning, the first book is Titans, while the second is Demon.
Fledgling by Octavia Butler is disturbing and beautiful. It seems like every author out there wants to see if they can write vampire story. Many of them are garbage; Butler's is well-conceived and finely crafted, with a very unique take on the subject. It's not very long (typical of her works), and it reads pretty fast, so for folks who don't have a lot of time to read, this is a good choice. It was also the last book written before Butler's death, so it will sadly never have a sequel.
Your Symptoms are Real by Benjamin H. Natelson is a pretty good introduction on how to communicate with your doctor--or find a new one if your doctor is unresponsive to chronic problems. One interesting thing I wanted to share is that he noted that people with lactose intolerance should avoid aspartame; apparently, the immune system mistakes it for lactose, so you get the symptoms normally associated with lactose intolerance if you consume aspartame.
"The Family Trade" by Charles Stross -- a pretty good read, and is first in a series. I'll be picking up the next book in the series at the library because I liked this quite a bit.
"Fat Chance" by Deborah Blumenthal -- awful--the plot is predictable and fairly stupid, but the worst part is that the book's summary on the jacket flaps talks about fat acceptance, while the book itself portrays a fat woman who appears to accept her fat until she "sees the light" and diets herself thin (30 pounds in five weeks) and becomes a dieting evangelical.
Spares by Michael Marshall Smith:
"Once people had started suing each other for bodily harm and property damage during armed conflict, governments had avoided wars whenever possible. They were just too damned expensive, degenerating into a thousand pitched battles in courtrooms. Often soldiers couldn't turn up for important offensives because they were giving evidence in court or consulting with their press agents.”
July’s People by Nadine Gordimer -- I really didn’t like this book much. The “creative” punctuation made it irritating to read, and I just wanted to smack most of the characters.
The Family Trade by Charles Stross -- First book of “The Merchant Princes” trilogy; I liked it enough that I checked out the next two books.
Artist of the Beautiful by Nathaniel Hawthorne -- sci fi from the 1800s! Hawthorne was a visionary.
Demon by John Varley -- last in the Gaea trilogy, and a decent resolution to the epic, although the ending was predictable (but satisfying).
I haven't been keeping up, so there's a bunch to add:
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, by James Tiptree Jr. (aka Alice Sheldon) -- this is a collection of amazingly insightful short science fiction stories. Sheldon used a male alias to challenge the notion of gender roles in writing. There is an award named after her which is given for sci fi or fantasy works that explore our understanding of gender. This collection of stories is absolutely amazing, and I highly, highly, highly recommend this to just about anyone who finds that they enjoy my recommendations. I will be looking for more of her work to read.
The Hidden Family, by Charles Stross - Second book in the Merchant Princes series (apparently a six part series). It's a decent enough series; it is flawed in some ways that kind of irritate me, but I'm interested in the plot enough to keep reading to see what happens. One of the things that I don't like is that the characters, who are supposed to be intelligent people, do stupid shit to the point of caricature. Most of their problems could be solved if they would actually talk to one another instead of quietly fuming about things that could be very easily worked out. For example, the protagonist's relationship with her lady-in-waiting; the kid just needs some direction and a clear idea of what her mistress wants, and yet the protagonist is too dumb to just sit down and talk to her for fear that the girl will pout. So instead, she lets things build up until she has to be harsh about it, and that just makes it all worse. Sorry, but if I have an employee that is acting like that, we will have a discussion--a kind one--about different viewpoints being valid, and how we can compromise our different ways of doing things. Also, I'm wondering why the hell they aren't being more proactive about sending a diplomatic party to the "lost family". Instead they're just fretting and freaking out. Stupid.
Specimen Days, by Michael Cunningham - Three tales, past, present, and future, tied together with a very thin thread made of Walt Whitman's beard.. Each tale is interesting and engaging, but the last one is probably the one I like best, and they are about the importance of humanity, and how greater and greater technological advances can serve to both cheapen and elevate the value of humanity and its individuals.
Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler - I took a while to think about this book, because, while it wasn't my favorite Butler, it is still a good tale. The problem I had with it was the religious angle--it seemed forced, artificial. It seemed to have very little relationship to the story itself, and I think that it could have been dealt with in two ways to improve the book: Either work it in better, having things directly happen or change because of it, or eliminate it. The story itself is really, really good. It's just that there are these little interruptions, kind of like it's saying, "Oh, and there's this religion thing by the way, don't forget that..." I'm not sure what Butler was trying to accomplish with it, but she didn't integrate it very well. However, I DO recommend the story; it's very good, and kind of scary. It apparently has a sequel, so I will put that on my "to read" list; perhaps it will make the religious angle make more sense? She also wanted to write a third book in the series, but had writer's block on the storyline, and so she wrote Fledgling instead--and then died suddenly.
The Mount, by Carol Emshwiller - This is an amazing story about a dystopian future where humans have become the "horses" of an alien race, complete with selective breeding, harness and bits, and painful stimuli to make them behave in desired ways. The novel illustrates how powerful it is when someone has been conditioned to believe that their freedoms are restricted and/or eliminated for their own good, and how difficult it can be for that person to adjust to freedom once they have it. More than that, though, it is about forbidden love, and how a pair who are closely bonded can be a powerful force in the face of immense adversity.
The Name of the World, by Denis Johnson - I am not sure why I picked this up (at the library), but it was a waste of my time. A dull novel about a dull university professor who spends his time moping around, going to staff functions, and chasing a student half his age (and not knowing what to do with her once he caught her). There is nothing interesting or insightful about this book--there is no plot, and the characters are boring.
The Clan Corporate, by Charles Stross - Third book of Merchant Princes; pretty much just look at the review for The Hidden Family.
Stations of the Tide, by Michael Swanwick. I was irritated with it at first, and while it did become more coherent, I just found it to be a fairly pointless book. The plot was sketchy, the characters were cardboard, and the Christian allegory trite. The idea of a tidal world is very interesting, but it wasn't developed very much; in fact, there were a number of neat little notions here and there, but most of them were briefly touched upon and then forgotten. I didn't hate it, but it's not a book I'd recommend for most people.
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. Now THIS book is one I'd recommend--and probably give as gifts to people. It consists of four stories, each nested in one another. They are tied together by a common thread, as each is a depiction of rising up against slavery, past, present, and future. The stories each have a character with a birthmark; Mitchell has said that the birthmark indicates that the possessor is the reincarnation of the same soul. There were a number of delightful concepts that led me to fill the book with page flags so I can go back through and write about them later. I have done part of it in a private entry; when I finish, I'll post it so everyone can see it. For now, I will just say that Cloud Atlas is a beautiful, incredible novel that I could NOT put down. I checked it out from the library, but I definitely want a copy of my own so I can flip through it again and again.
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. This is an epic adventure tale, with many characters whose interwoven stories become part of a larger picture as they learn more about one another. The separate lives they had been leading were not as separate as they realized. Essentially, seven people are making a pilgrimage to a dangerous place on a planet that is under attack by barbaric enemies of mankind. There is a deadly foe, The Shrike, that has power over time, and can kill people in an eyeblink, with no one even seeing it arrive or leave. Simmons has a compelling storytelling ability, and it was tough for me to put the book down even when I needed sleep! It ends in a cliffhanger, though, so make sure you can get your hands on the sequel when you're done. I'm making myself wait, because I have a bunch of library books to work through first.
More than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon. This is a beautiful tale of six individuals who, together, become something more than Homo sapiens. A science fiction that eschews space drama and technical wizardry in favor of exploring what it means to be human, and, in the end, what is necessary for remaining human when one comes into unimaginable power. I definitely recommend this book.
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. A post-apocalyptic tale of a boy and his father trying to survive in a USA where all the plants and animals are dead. Normally, I find it irritating with authors create their own punctuation rules, but McCarthy is very effective in his method here, dropping quotation marks to create a greater sense of being alone in a stark land, where there are no birds or insects to create background noise. This is a story of sadness and hope, very well written and evocative. This, also, is a book I recommend.
Cold as Ice by Charles Sheffield -- Very well written space adventure with a few cool little twists. DO NOT read the "Kirkus" editorial review, however, as it contains significant spoilers--giving away the major plot twist of the book. Sheffield is an actual physicist, so he has some great technological ideas blended into this book--but his characterization is pretty darned good too. It makes some interesting points about humans exploiting a unique and potentially fragile ecosystem; I am put in mind of the battles in this area over the protection of the unique Pine Bush region. While the protection of the Pine Bush came down to one endangered butterfly (the Karner blue), many people don't realize that it contains other animals and plants that, while present in other areas of the US, are isolated populations of their kind. For example, the Eastern hognose snake and Eastern spadefoot toad are both residents of the Pine Bush, but just don't venture beyond it into other habitats. A friend of mine is studying the hognose population; he has trapped them and had them fitted with telemetry devices so that he can better understand what they are doing in the Pine Bush. Anyway, the book is pretty decent, and I recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction.
The Player of Games, by Iain Banks -- A novel set in Banks' Culture universe; the main character is a Culture citizen, which makes him able to change his body in whatever way he likes (gender, extra limbs, whatever!), and makes him almost immortal. Culture citizens that are not sentient machines tend to live about as long as they'd like. Disease and hunger are nonexistent, and accidents and murder are very rare--usually prevented by swift action by the sentient machines called drones. To occupy one's mind in such a society, many turn to intense gaming, and the protagonist is a famously excellent game player. He is recruited to make contact with a newly discovered empire that is based entirely upon a game--social and employment status, among other things, are determined by the game. The empire is a brutal one, with immense problems with slavery, abuse, famine, disease, and all those kinds of terrible things. Culture can, if an outside society requests it, absorb that society and give it all of the resources required to end its problems, but what about a society whose highest social tier values violence and cruelty above everything else, including their own lives? I did enjoy this novel, but the supposed "twist" at the very end wasn't much of a surprise; Banks couldn't stop himself from leaving "clues " that weren't so much clues as they were huge neon arrows pointing to what was really going on. It was still pretty good, though.
Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler -- The sequel to Parable of the Sower, this book was so upsetting and heart-wrenching, at least partly because, if we aren't careful, some of these things could be happening, and may happen in the future. I'm not going to give spoilers, but it is a pretty bleak tale of what happens when men are trained from birth to believe that they have a divine right to control women and to dehumanize anyone whom they can even vaguely classify as not one of their God's chosen (for such crimes as being Catholic, "heathen", gay, female, differently colored, or just having something that the other person wants). I'd like to suggest that anyone who can afford to get the book (or get it via the library) do so and read that sucker before November of this year.
The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross -- I love Stross, and this book combined some pretty bizarre elements: Math geekery/arithromancy, H.P. Lovecraft, and evil Nazi spirits possessing al Qaeda operatives, all tied together with a black ops organization in the UK that is riddled with hilariously insane amounts of good old British bureaucracy. Imagine you're trying to stop Cthulhu from being summoned, but your supervisor is on your ass because your paperclip audit came up short (not to mention the new cover sheets on the TPS reports...)! This was a very quick read, action-packed, and both disturbing and clever. The math geekery did taper off some after the first couple of chapters, fortunately for me--I had to dig out this to figure out some of the references.