Books Read 2009
In Progress
Abandoned
[RE-READ] Not the first time I've read this one
Seven Taoist Masters: a Folk Novel of China - trans. Eva Wong © 1990 176 pages [used: Twice Sold Tales] [taoism]
1. The New Space Opera ©2007 640 pages [used: Elliott Bay Book Co.] [science fiction: space opera anthology] [January]
The stories I enjoyed:
• "Saving Tiamaat" by Gwyneth Jones alien cannibalism
• "Winning Peace" by Paul J. McAuley artefact-acquiring mercenaries
• "Glory" by Greg Egan 6-armed Amalgam mathematician archaeologists *
• "Maelstrom" by Kage Baker Martian theatre
• "Minla's Flowers" by Alastair Reynolds sky-shielded planet, ethics of technology to ethically-immature cultures
• "Splinters of Glass" by Mary Rosenblum ice boards & moss-gathering - really cool world, but no plot or character development to speak of so mostly for Niven-loving sci fi geeks
• "The Emperor and the Maula" by Robert Silverberg Space opera Scheherazade *
• "Art of War" by Nancy Kress art history and Teli-looting-warring-creating chaos theory
2. An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales - Oliver Sacks © 1995 296 pages [loan from angerie] [non-fiction: neurology] [February]
Loved this book. An artist who lost his ability to interpret color at age 65 and began experiencing the world as light gradients. Autistic savants. A surgeon with Tourette's. A high-functioning Asperger's woman named Temple that I strongly related to. Temporal lobe epilepsy. The absence of the temporal lobe via brain tumor. Wow.
3. Grooks - Piet Hein © 1966 53 pages [loan from loopback] [grooks] [February]
4. See a Grown Man Cry, Now Watch Him Die - Henry Rollins © 1997 333 pages [poetry & autobiographical prose] [February]
"I have painted myself into the corner of a portrait of myself." - Rollins
5. Bloody Jack - L.A. Meyer © 2002 290 pages [loan from kfrye] [young adult: pirates!] [February]
fun girl power brain candy. looking forward to reading the sequel.
6. [RE-READ] Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand © 1957 1168 pages [April]
7. [RE-READ] 365 Tao: Daily Meditations - Deng Ming-Dao © 1992 365 pages [taoism] [March]
8. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin © 1968 182 pages [loan from autonomic_pilot] [fantasy] [March]
9. The Second Book of the Tao - Stephen Mitchell © 2009 200 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co. @ the Stephen Mitchell reading] [taoism] [March]
10. Mysteries of the Temple of Set - Don Webb ©2004 93 pages [loan from loopback] [May]
didn't complete the Notes section at the back. a fun and interesting intro.
11. Dragonlance Chronicles Vol. I: Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman © 1984 444 pages [loan from nplusm] [fantasy] [April]
Fizban, as played by vaxhacker, GRiN. Tika, KenderKind ... RP / Fantasy must-read - I've been surrounded by Dragonlance references my entire life and never even knew it!
12. Dragonlance Chronicles Vol. II: Dragons of Winter Night - Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman © 1985 395 pages [loan from nplusm] [fantasy] [May]
13. Dragonlance Chronicles Vol. III: Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman © 1985 380 pages [loan from nplusm] [fantasy] [May]
I liked this one the best of the 3, though all 3 are great.
14. Excerpts from Cretan Cults and Festivals - R. F. Willetts © 1962 [UW Odegaard Library] [non-fiction: ancient history] [May]
15. Excerpts from Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek Religion 2nd revised edition © 1950 [UW Odegaard Library] [non-fiction: ancient history] [May]
16. Catwings - Ursula K. LeGuin © 1988 40 pages [used: Twice Sold Tales] [children's fantasy] [May]
Adorable book teaching children to be gentle with animals.
17. feed - M.T. Anderson © 2002 300 pages [loan from kfrye] [science fiction] [May]
Brilliant. The More-More-More Acquisition Culture and Marketing Status Quo taken to the ultimate extreme.
18. The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death © 1995 387 pages [gift from khallis] [horror: anthology]
The stories I really liked and would re-read:
• Azathoth
• The Nameless City
19. Homeric Hymns - trans. Jules Cashford 224 pages [new from University Book Store] [poetry] [Dec]
20. An Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete 348 pages [used from Powell's] [non-fiction: archaeology, geology] [Dec]
21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows © 2008 288 pages [new from Bailey Coy Books] [factish fiction] [May]
22. Smoke from this Altar - Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) © 1990 75 pages [Seattle Public Library] [poetry] [June]
Includes "Decadence"
23. The City & The City - China Mieville © 2009 312 pages [new from Third Place Books @ the China Mieville reading, Lake Forest Park] [fantasy: police procedural] [June]
24. An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment - Patricia Fara © 2002 170 pages [new from Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park] [non-fiction: history] [June]
25. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi © 2006 343 pages [new from Bailey Coy Books] [military science fiction] [July]
Brilliant.
26. Specials - Scott Westerfeld © 2006 372 pages [new from Bailey Coy Books] [young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction] [July]
Brilliant.
27. Proust was a Neuroscientist
28. Dave Barry's Greatest Hits - Dave Barry © 1988 287 pages [used from Twice Sold Tales] [humor] [October]
p.20 "I realize I am generalizing here, but, as is often the case when I generalize, I don't care."
p. 173 "[...] the usual reaction upon encountering an insect is to want to smash it with a rock. That's certainly my immediate reaction, although there are certain insects I would prefer to use a flame-thrower on, such as those large tropical-style spiders that appear to be wearing the pelts of small mammals."
29. Extras - Scott Westerfeld © 2007 417 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co.] [young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction] [August]
Brilliant.
30. To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis © 1998 493 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co.] [chaos theory time travel science fiction] [August]
This book is AMAZING. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes any kind of fiction, with no caveats.
31. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) - Jerome K. Jerome [Project Guttenberg: MOBI for Kindle] [humor] [Nov]
32. Succession: The Risen Empire - Scott Westerfeld © 2003 349 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co.] [space opera] [September]
If you loved Ringworld or Integral Trees or any of Larry Niven's work without character developer and plot builder Jerry Pournelle, READ THIS.
33. Succession: The Killing of Worlds - Scott Westerfeld © 2003 336 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co.] [space opera] [September]
34. The Apprentice Adept: Split Infinity - Piers Anthony © 1980 356 pages [loan from Ian MacLeod] [fantasy] [November]
I hate Piers Anthony. Like as much as I can hate someone I've never met. I think he's a monumental jack ass - his hate of fans, his constant references to rape in his books when his daughter is a survivor of rape, the way he characterizes women... This book doesn't change that opinion. As with the few other books I've read of his, the world is fantastic and the prose is compelling. The female characters ... really bother me. He's got a bad case of Heinlein Captain Kirk Mary Sue in that every woman in the book wants to have sex with the male lead who is neutral-neutral passive indeterminate reactive. Bah. In spite of this, I love a good immersive world, and so wound up liking the book. Hmph.
35. Peeps - Scott Westerfeld © 2005 312 pages [new from Elliott Bay Book Co.] [young adult biological science fiction] [November]
36. Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse - Victor Gischler © 2008 324 pages [loan from czochalski] [post-apocalyptic distopian fantasy] [November]
37. The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey - Kenneth Blanchard, Willian Oncken, Jr., Hall Burrows © 1989 130 pages [loan from Stani] [non-fiction: business] [Dec]
38. The Apprentice Adept: Blue Adept - Piers Anthony [loan from Ian MacLeod] [fantasy] [Nov]
39. The Apprentice Adept: Juxtaposition - Piers Anthony © 1982 358 pages [loan from Ian MacLeod] [fantasy] [Dec]
40. The View from your Window - Andrew Sullivan © 2009 [gift from kfrye] [photos]
Non-books
1. the invisibles: say you want a revolution by Grant Morisson, etc. © 1996 [loan from loopback] [comic book] [January]
2. Little Journeys Vol. 2: Famous Women by (El)Bert Hubbard (II) © 1928 [5th Ave Top Pot] [travel journal] [March]
3. StoryPeople Vol. I: Mostly True by Brian Andreas © 1993 [Fireworks] [art & aphorisms] [February]
4. StoryPeople Vol. II: Still Mostly True by Brian Andreas © 1994 [Fireworks] [art & aphorisms] [January]
5. StoryPeople Vol. III: Going Somewhere Soon by Brian Andreas © 1995 [Fireworks] [art & aphorisms] [February]
6. StoryPeople Vol. VI: Hearing Voices by Brian Andreas © 1998 [Fireworks] [art & aphorisms] [January]
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez [loan from autonomic_pilot] too violent for me
7. Desolation Jones by Warren Ellis, J. H. Williams III © 2005 [loan from nplusm, Seattle Public Library] [comic book] [March]
8. Cretan Studies Vol. VII © 2002 [UW Suzallo-Allen Library] [archaeology] [April]
9. Excerpts from Cretan Studies Vol. VI © 1998 [UW Suzallo-Allen Library] [archaeology] [June]
10. Excerpts from Cretan Studies Vol. V © 1996 [UW Suzallo-Allen Library] [archaeology]
11. O'Reilly's MAKE magazine vol. 19 © 2009 [Madison Market Co-op] [engineering]