(no subject)
June
51. Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri
52. Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton
53. Old Man's War by John Scalzi (re-read)
54. Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (re-read)
55. Last Colony by John Scalzi (re-read)
56. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
57. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
58. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
59. Path of the Fury by David Weber (re-read)
60. June 2011 Asimov's Magazine
61. Troublemaker 2 by Janet Evanovich
July
62. Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
63. Sept. 2010 Asimov's Magazine
64. July 2011 Asimov's Magazine
65. Hidden Goddess by M.K. Hobson
66. Dervish House by Ian McDonald
67. The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
68. The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell
69. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell
70. The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
71. Feed by Mira Grant
72. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
A significant amount of time in June and July was spent reading the Hugo voters' packet. In addition to the Hugo nominated Feed, Cryoburn and Dervish house, I also read all the short fiction (short stories, novelettes and novellas) and big chunks of the related works where whole books were not offered. Also read all the graphic novels/stories. This took up quite a bit of time. Also, for whatever reason, June was a re-read kind of month. Not sure why.
At this point I've worked my way through 90% of Henning Mankell's Wallander mysteries. Swedish murder mysteries are not happy fun time, but like Maj Sjowall and Per Waloo in their Martin Beck series, Mankell likes to include a lot of social commentary to keep things interesting.
Usurper of the Sun was very Japanese and very interesting. And answers the Fermi paradox by explaining that all the alien civilizations we should have been finding and contacting are probably all dead after having their suns used up by the aliens we do encounter in the novel. And the aliens are so alien the contact is basically useless.
I enjoyed Dervish House, but I wasn't as over the moon about it as a lot of the critics seemed to be. For one thing, it seemed to me that McDonald was so busy world building and fleshing out his characters that he forgot to get on with the plot until 150 pages from the end. Also, I did not like the way he handled the 2 major female characters. All the guy main characters pretty much get the success they wanted and happily ever after but one woman gets semi shunted aside by other more senior members of her family despite all the work she put into helping a family owned company succeed, but that should be okay because they did give her a job and she's got a boyfriend. And the art dealer character has her business and reputation completely irrevocably trashed, but that's okay because she loves her husband and he's just scored a major coup and they're now fabulously wealthy and can move to western europe like she wanted. This annoyed me. Which is why it was not my top choice on the Hugo ballot.
51. Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri
52. Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton
53. Old Man's War by John Scalzi (re-read)
54. Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (re-read)
55. Last Colony by John Scalzi (re-read)
56. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
57. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
58. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder (re-read)
59. Path of the Fury by David Weber (re-read)
60. June 2011 Asimov's Magazine
61. Troublemaker 2 by Janet Evanovich
July
62. Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
63. Sept. 2010 Asimov's Magazine
64. July 2011 Asimov's Magazine
65. Hidden Goddess by M.K. Hobson
66. Dervish House by Ian McDonald
67. The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
68. The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell
69. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell
70. The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
71. Feed by Mira Grant
72. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
A significant amount of time in June and July was spent reading the Hugo voters' packet. In addition to the Hugo nominated Feed, Cryoburn and Dervish house, I also read all the short fiction (short stories, novelettes and novellas) and big chunks of the related works where whole books were not offered. Also read all the graphic novels/stories. This took up quite a bit of time. Also, for whatever reason, June was a re-read kind of month. Not sure why.
At this point I've worked my way through 90% of Henning Mankell's Wallander mysteries. Swedish murder mysteries are not happy fun time, but like Maj Sjowall and Per Waloo in their Martin Beck series, Mankell likes to include a lot of social commentary to keep things interesting.
Usurper of the Sun was very Japanese and very interesting. And answers the Fermi paradox by explaining that all the alien civilizations we should have been finding and contacting are probably all dead after having their suns used up by the aliens we do encounter in the novel. And the aliens are so alien the contact is basically useless.
I enjoyed Dervish House, but I wasn't as over the moon about it as a lot of the critics seemed to be. For one thing, it seemed to me that McDonald was so busy world building and fleshing out his characters that he forgot to get on with the plot until 150 pages from the end. Also, I did not like the way he handled the 2 major female characters. All the guy main characters pretty much get the success they wanted and happily ever after but one woman gets semi shunted aside by other more senior members of her family despite all the work she put into helping a family owned company succeed, but that should be okay because they did give her a job and she's got a boyfriend. And the art dealer character has her business and reputation completely irrevocably trashed, but that's okay because she loves her husband and he's just scored a major coup and they're now fabulously wealthy and can move to western europe like she wanted. This annoyed me. Which is why it was not my top choice on the Hugo ballot.