Following on from my post on the long list, here are the Goodreads and LibraryThing ownership and ratings stats for the shortlist.

Goodreads
LibraryThing

owners
av rating
owners
av rating

American War - Omar El Akkad
70396
3.83
632
3.86

Borne - Jeff VanderMeer
50713
3.91
565
3.9

Gather the Daughters - Jennie Melamed
16643
3.66
130
3.48
( Read more... )

Annihilation, second paragraph of third chapter:Beyond, the lighthouse stood, and before that, I knew, the remains of a village, also marked on the map. But in front of me was the trail, strewn at times with oddly tortured-looking pieces of heavy white driftwood flung far inland from past hurricanes. Tiny red grasshoppers inhabited the long grass ( Read more... )

This is the second year that the BSFA has had its two-stage vote system in effect, and for the second year in succession I think it's had a positive impact particularly in this category, where some very odd stuff was showing up in the early part of this decade (like, a novel in this non-fiction category back in 2010, and a poorly written essay in ( Read more... )

Having only dipped into this, I gave it my vote for the BSFA Award (which it won); now I've read it from beginning to end, and feel confirmed in my immediate reaction that this is an excellent and beautiful guide to the craft of writing, and specifically fantasy writing, with insights not only from VanderMeer but from many others (including an ( Read more... )

This is perhaps the single most beautiful book in the Hugo Voter Packet, with lavish illustrations of the very visual subculture which it describes. I must admit it also turned around my own opinion on steampunk - I had a lot of sympathy with Marigold's father on Questionable Content, but VanderMeer and his fellow contributors have convinced me ( Read more... )

11) The Thackery T Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, ed. Dr. Jeff VanderMeer & Dr. Mark Roberts ( Read more... )

1) Veniss Underground, by Jeff Vandermeer

Having insisted in my last two reviews that I don't want to read books that make me work too hard, of course then along comes one that breaks that rule. I really enjoyed Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen (and was then very annoyed to discover I had bought only the abbreviated UK version), and although ( Read more... )

3) City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer - excellent, though I now realise I have only the short version. City narratives are always great (China Miéville being the most recent specialist; I finished reading this book in Vienna, home of The Drawing of the Dark and The Third Man) but VanderMeer plays all kinds of fascinating mind games with ( Read more... )