March 2008 books
This is the latest post in a series I started last November, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I've been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I've found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia.
I started the month with a trip to Cyprus, and the following weekend went to Dublin for P-Con and on to Limerick to give a lecture.
A rare picture taken at Easter weekend of the five of us together:
The long travel to Cyrpus and Limerick, and the long weekend, and the short length of the Doctor Who novelisations, meant that I red no less than 44 books in March 2008. This was my record to that date, but I've broken it a couple of times since.
non-fiction 7 (YTD 14)
The River of Lost Footsteps, by Thant Myint-U
Freedom from Fear, and other writings, by Aung San Suu Kyi
Berlitz Turkish Travel Pack (did not finish)
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become The Smartest Person In The World, by A.J. Jacobs
The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might, by Nancy Soderberg
Trillion Year Spree, by Brian Aldiss and David Wingrove
The Embarrassment of Riches: an interpretation of Dutch culture in the golden age, by Simon Schama
non-genre 2 (YTD 4)
Pass the Port: The Best After-Dinner Stories of the Famous
The Prisoner and The Fugitive, by Marcel Proust
sf (non-who) 7 (YTD 18)
Summerland, by Michael Chabon
Rogue Moon, by Algis Budrys
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology, ed. Bruce Sterling
The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Jack Dann
Halting State, by Charles Stross
Doctor Who 25 (YTD 34)
Doctor Who and the Face of Evil, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Robots of Death, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Sunmakers, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Underworld, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time, by Terrance Dicks
Time and Relative, by Kim Newman
Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Daleks, by David Whitaker
Match of the Day, by Chris Boucher
Last Man Running, by Chris Boucher
Corpse Marker, by Chris Boucher
Psi-Ence Fiction, by Chris Boucher
Drift, by Simon A. Forward
Eye of Heaven, by Jim Mortimore
Doctor Who - The Edge of Destruction, by Nigel Robinson
Doctor Who - Marco Polo, by John Lucarotti
Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus, by Philip Hinchcliffe
Doctor Who and the Sensorites, by Nigel Robinson
Doctor Who - Planet of Giants, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, by Terrance Dicks
Venusian Lullaby, by Paul Leonard
Comics 2 (YTD 3)
Transmetropolitan: Tales of Human Waste, by Warren Ellis
Fables: Legends in Exile, by Bill Willingham et al.
10,700 pages (YTD 19,600)
2/44 by women (YTD 10/75), though I don't know anything about the author of the Berlitz Turkish Travel Pack or the editor of Pass the Port
2/44 by PoC (YTD 2/75), subject to the same caveat
The best of these was Alan Garner's classic The Owl Service, which you can get here. The worst by some way are the two novelisations by Nigel Robinson of the stories we now call The Edge of Destruction and The Sensorites, which you can get here and here.
I started the month with a trip to Cyprus, and the following weekend went to Dublin for P-Con and on to Limerick to give a lecture.
A rare picture taken at Easter weekend of the five of us together:
The long travel to Cyrpus and Limerick, and the long weekend, and the short length of the Doctor Who novelisations, meant that I red no less than 44 books in March 2008. This was my record to that date, but I've broken it a couple of times since.
non-fiction 7 (YTD 14)
The River of Lost Footsteps, by Thant Myint-U
Freedom from Fear, and other writings, by Aung San Suu Kyi
Berlitz Turkish Travel Pack (did not finish)
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest To Become The Smartest Person In The World, by A.J. Jacobs
The Superpower Myth: The Use and Misuse of American Might, by Nancy Soderberg
Trillion Year Spree, by Brian Aldiss and David Wingrove
The Embarrassment of Riches: an interpretation of Dutch culture in the golden age, by Simon Schama
non-genre 2 (YTD 4)
Pass the Port: The Best After-Dinner Stories of the Famous
The Prisoner and The Fugitive, by Marcel Proust
sf (non-who) 7 (YTD 18)
Summerland, by Michael Chabon
Rogue Moon, by Algis Budrys
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology, ed. Bruce Sterling
The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Jack Dann
Halting State, by Charles Stross
Doctor Who 25 (YTD 34)
Doctor Who and the Face of Evil, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Robots of Death, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Sunmakers, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Underworld, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time, by Terrance Dicks
Time and Relative, by Kim Newman
Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Daleks, by David Whitaker
Match of the Day, by Chris Boucher
Last Man Running, by Chris Boucher
Corpse Marker, by Chris Boucher
Psi-Ence Fiction, by Chris Boucher
Drift, by Simon A. Forward
Eye of Heaven, by Jim Mortimore
Doctor Who - The Edge of Destruction, by Nigel Robinson
Doctor Who - Marco Polo, by John Lucarotti
Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus, by Philip Hinchcliffe
Doctor Who and the Sensorites, by Nigel Robinson
Doctor Who - Planet of Giants, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, by Terrance Dicks
Venusian Lullaby, by Paul Leonard
Comics 2 (YTD 3)
Transmetropolitan: Tales of Human Waste, by Warren Ellis
Fables: Legends in Exile, by Bill Willingham et al.
10,700 pages (YTD 19,600)
2/44 by women (YTD 10/75), though I don't know anything about the author of the Berlitz Turkish Travel Pack or the editor of Pass the Port
2/44 by PoC (YTD 2/75), subject to the same caveat
The best of these was Alan Garner's classic The Owl Service, which you can get here. The worst by some way are the two novelisations by Nigel Robinson of the stories we now call The Edge of Destruction and The Sensorites, which you can get here and here.