2009 books
72 books read this year, including three of E.E. 'Doc' Smith's 'Lensman' series which I haven't yet written about - I'll get around to that when I've finished the entire series next year. Only a third of all this year's reads were genre, a lower percentage than last year, and I'm getting very behind on Iain M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds, something I really need to address. Also 13 by, edited by or co-authored by women, a higher percentage than last year although still much lower than I thought.
Favourite book of the year is without a doubt Roberto Bolaño's Distant Star, followed by Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North and Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. As I've said before, I'll probably be reading everything by Bolaño that becomes available, he is that impressive. Best genre novel read this year was China Miéville's The City & The City, a real mind-warper of a book.
All books:
Peter Adolphsen, Machine, 2006 [ review ]
William H. Armstrong, Sounder, 1969 [ review ]
Mike Ashley, ed., The Best of British SF 1, 1977 [ review ]
Mike Ashley, ed., The Best of British SF 2, 1977 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Wind from Nowhere, 1961 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Day of Forever, 1967 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Venus Hunters, 1980 [ review ]
The Bangkok Women's Writers Group, Bangkok Blondes, 2009 [ review ]
Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah, 1996 [ review ]
Julian Barnes, The Porcupine, 1992 [ review ]
Elizabeth Bear, The Chains That You Refuse, 2006 [ review ]
Alistair Beaton, A Planet for the President, 2004 [ review ]
Bernard Beckett, Genesis, 2006 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, Distant Star, 1988 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, By Night in Chile, 2000 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, Last Evenings on Earth, 2008 [ review ]
Richard Brautigan, The Hawkline Monster, 1974 [ review ]
Yuri Buida, The Zero Train, 1993 [ review ]
Terence Bumbly, The Museum of Unnatural History, 2007 [ review ]
Italo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, 1947 [ review ]
Jacques Chessex, The Vampire of Ropraz, 2007 [ review ]
Jim Crace, Continent, 1986 [ review ]
Cory Doctorow, Little Brother, 2008 [ review ]
Marguerite Duras, Moderato Cantabile, 1958 [ review ]
Nathan Englander, The Ministry of Special Cases, 2007 [ review ]
Jaine Fenn, Principles of Angels, 2008 [ review ]
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, 1892 [ review ]
Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees, 1953 [ review ]
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, A Human Being Died That Night: Forgiving Apartheid's Chief Killer, 2003 [ review ]
Guy Goffette, Forever Nude: A Fiction, 1998 [ review ]
Haya Hoffman, ed., A Chance Beyond Bombs, 1998 [ review ]
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932 [ review ]
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 1958 [ review ]
Carsten Jensen, Earth in the Mouth, 1991 [ review ]
Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip, 2006 [ review ]
Yasunari Kawabata, Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, 1988 [ review ]
Imré Kertesz, Detective Story, 1977 [ review ]
Imré Kertesz, Liquidation, 2003 [ review ]
Chart Korbjitti, No Way Out, 1980 [ review ]
Khammaan Khonkai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp, 1978 [ review ]
Naguib Mahfouz, Karnak Café, 1974 [ review ]
Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, 1981 [ review ]
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, 2005 [ review ]
Ian McDonald, Cyberabad Days, 2009 [ review ]
Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, 2009 [ review ]
China Miéville, The City & The City, 2009 [ review ]
Yukio Mishima, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, 1963 [ review ]
James Morrow, Shambling Towards Hiroshima, 2009 [ review ]
Sabai Muang, The Call of the Midnight Hour, 1993 [ review ]
Lewis Padgett, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, 1947 [ review ]
Robert Randall, The Shrouded Planet, 1957 [ review ]
Robert Randall, The Dawning Light, 1959 [ review ]
Adam Roberts, Salt, 2000 [ review ]
Leo Rosten, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, 1937 [ review ]
Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North, 1969 [ review ]
Mark Salzman, Lying Awake, 2000 [ review ]
Bruno Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles, 1934 [ review ]
Luis Sepúlveda, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, 1989 [ review ]
Prabhassorn Sevikul, Letter from a Blind Old Man and Other Stories, 2009 [ review ]
Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett, A Little Intelligence, 2009 [ review ]
Clifford D. Simak, Spacebred Generations, 1953 [ review ]
George Gaylord Simpson, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder, 1996 [ review ]
Vandana Singh, The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories, 2008 [ review ]
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Triplanetary, 1948
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, First Lensman, 1950
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Galactic Patrol, 1950
S.P. Somtow, The Pavilion of Frozen Women, 1996 [ review ]
Olaf Stapledon, The Flames, 1947 [ review ]
Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain, 2008 [ review ]
Kressmann Taylor, Address Unknown, 1938 [ review ]
Jane Vejjajiva, The Happiness of Kati, 2003 [ review ]
Xiaolu Guo, UFO in Her Eyes, 2009 [ review ]
Stefan Zweig, Journey into the Past, date unknown, first English publication 2009 [ review ]
Favourite book of the year is without a doubt Roberto Bolaño's Distant Star, followed by Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North and Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. As I've said before, I'll probably be reading everything by Bolaño that becomes available, he is that impressive. Best genre novel read this year was China Miéville's The City & The City, a real mind-warper of a book.
All books:
Peter Adolphsen, Machine, 2006 [ review ]
William H. Armstrong, Sounder, 1969 [ review ]
Mike Ashley, ed., The Best of British SF 1, 1977 [ review ]
Mike Ashley, ed., The Best of British SF 2, 1977 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Wind from Nowhere, 1961 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Day of Forever, 1967 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Venus Hunters, 1980 [ review ]
The Bangkok Women's Writers Group, Bangkok Blondes, 2009 [ review ]
Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah, 1996 [ review ]
Julian Barnes, The Porcupine, 1992 [ review ]
Elizabeth Bear, The Chains That You Refuse, 2006 [ review ]
Alistair Beaton, A Planet for the President, 2004 [ review ]
Bernard Beckett, Genesis, 2006 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, Distant Star, 1988 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, By Night in Chile, 2000 [ review ]
Roberto Bolaño, Last Evenings on Earth, 2008 [ review ]
Richard Brautigan, The Hawkline Monster, 1974 [ review ]
Yuri Buida, The Zero Train, 1993 [ review ]
Terence Bumbly, The Museum of Unnatural History, 2007 [ review ]
Italo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, 1947 [ review ]
Jacques Chessex, The Vampire of Ropraz, 2007 [ review ]
Jim Crace, Continent, 1986 [ review ]
Cory Doctorow, Little Brother, 2008 [ review ]
Marguerite Duras, Moderato Cantabile, 1958 [ review ]
Nathan Englander, The Ministry of Special Cases, 2007 [ review ]
Jaine Fenn, Principles of Angels, 2008 [ review ]
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, 1892 [ review ]
Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees, 1953 [ review ]
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, A Human Being Died That Night: Forgiving Apartheid's Chief Killer, 2003 [ review ]
Guy Goffette, Forever Nude: A Fiction, 1998 [ review ]
Haya Hoffman, ed., A Chance Beyond Bombs, 1998 [ review ]
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932 [ review ]
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 1958 [ review ]
Carsten Jensen, Earth in the Mouth, 1991 [ review ]
Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip, 2006 [ review ]
Yasunari Kawabata, Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, 1988 [ review ]
Imré Kertesz, Detective Story, 1977 [ review ]
Imré Kertesz, Liquidation, 2003 [ review ]
Chart Korbjitti, No Way Out, 1980 [ review ]
Khammaan Khonkai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp, 1978 [ review ]
Naguib Mahfouz, Karnak Café, 1974 [ review ]
Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, 1981 [ review ]
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, 2005 [ review ]
Ian McDonald, Cyberabad Days, 2009 [ review ]
Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, 2009 [ review ]
China Miéville, The City & The City, 2009 [ review ]
Yukio Mishima, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, 1963 [ review ]
James Morrow, Shambling Towards Hiroshima, 2009 [ review ]
Sabai Muang, The Call of the Midnight Hour, 1993 [ review ]
Lewis Padgett, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, 1947 [ review ]
Robert Randall, The Shrouded Planet, 1957 [ review ]
Robert Randall, The Dawning Light, 1959 [ review ]
Adam Roberts, Salt, 2000 [ review ]
Leo Rosten, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, 1937 [ review ]
Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North, 1969 [ review ]
Mark Salzman, Lying Awake, 2000 [ review ]
Bruno Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles, 1934 [ review ]
Luis Sepúlveda, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, 1989 [ review ]
Prabhassorn Sevikul, Letter from a Blind Old Man and Other Stories, 2009 [ review ]
Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett, A Little Intelligence, 2009 [ review ]
Clifford D. Simak, Spacebred Generations, 1953 [ review ]
George Gaylord Simpson, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder, 1996 [ review ]
Vandana Singh, The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories, 2008 [ review ]
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Triplanetary, 1948
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, First Lensman, 1950
E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Galactic Patrol, 1950
S.P. Somtow, The Pavilion of Frozen Women, 1996 [ review ]
Olaf Stapledon, The Flames, 1947 [ review ]
Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain, 2008 [ review ]
Kressmann Taylor, Address Unknown, 1938 [ review ]
Jane Vejjajiva, The Happiness of Kati, 2003 [ review ]
Xiaolu Guo, UFO in Her Eyes, 2009 [ review ]
Stefan Zweig, Journey into the Past, date unknown, first English publication 2009 [ review ]