I’m fortunate enough to work with Jeff Bay, who gives me his filtered list of favourite books as he reads them. This is a list of the books I’ve read this year while on the bus to and from work. I’ve included a rating out of 5 and a couple of words in review occasionally. All were from Jeff with the exception of Black Lunged Captain which my brother gave me. I would recommend reading anything with 3 or over.
I would say I am looking forward to what he gives me in 2012, but sadly the dream is over. Jeff just bought a Kindle.
House Of Suns by Reynolds, Alastair (4/5) - Awesome space opera.
John Dies At The End by Wong, David (4/5) - Very funny, pretty bizarre horror.
The Demolished Man by Bester, Alfred (3/5) - Worth reading if only for the incredible predictions from the 50’s alone.
The Warded Man by Brett, Peter V (5/5) - Looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
Nation by Pratchet, Terry (3/5) - Enjoyable but fairly uneventful.
Dreadnought by Priest, Cherie (4/5) - Suprised how much I enjoyed this crazy road trip with zombies.
Old Twentieth by Haldeman, Joe (4/5) - I will read anything by Joe Haldeman.
Demolition Road by Mcdonald, Ian (4/5) - The devil playing snooker? Guitar playing aliens? Yep.
Earth by Brinn, David (5/5) - Amazed this has yet to be made a movie.
All You Need Is Kill by Sakurazaka, Hiroshi (3/5) - Groundhog Day with aliens and mech suits.
Little Brother by Doctrow, Corie (3/5) - groan
Implied Spaces by Williams, Walter Jon (5/5) - Cover has a guy with a sword and a cat on it.
This Is Not A Game by Williams, Walter Jon (2/5) - after Implied Spaces I had huged expectations. Sad face.
Metrophage by Kadrey, Richard (3/5)
The Windup Girl by Bacigalupi, Paolo (4/5)
The City And The City by Miéville, China (2/5) - This seemed to go on forever.
King Rat by Miéville, China (3/5) - Cool concept, enjoyed it.
Way Of The Shadows by Weeks, Brent (5/5) - One of my favourite authors, action from start to finish.
The Jennifer Morgue by Stross, Charles (2/5) - Had a hard time finishing this.
Halting State by Stross, Charles (1/5) - Did not finish this, not to my taste at all.
Agent To The Stars by Scalzi, John (4/5) - Very funny.
Blood Sucking Fiend by Moore, Christopher (3/5)
Cordelia’s Honour by Bujold, Lois Mcmaster (4/5) - Reminded me of Star Trek a LOT.
The Blade Itself by Abercrombie, Joe (4/5) - Loved this trilogy, action and violence all the way through.
Before They Are Hanged by Abercrombie, Joe (4/5)
Last Argument Of Kings by Abercrombie, Joe (4/5)
Gateway by Pohl, Frederik (3/5) - Was waiting for something to happen, then the book ended. Still, interesting concept.
Kraken by Miéville, China (2/5) - Rather dissapointed with this, thought it would be awesome.
Sandman Slim by Kadrey, Richard (3/5) - Fast paced, funny, quite violent.
Daemon by Suarez, David (4/5) - Was very sceptical about these two books but they were really great.
Freedom by Suarez, David (4/5)
The Black Lung Captain by Wooding, Chris (5/5) - Firefly lives on in an alternate universe!
Solaris by Lem, Stanislaw (3/5) - Very slow, bizarre amount of time spent describing the planet. Cover had George Clooney kissing someone on the front which bumped it’s score up.
Damnation Alley by Zelazny, Roger (2/5) - This took all of 90 minutes to read from cover to cover, did not really enjoy it though.
The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo by Larsson, Stieg (3/5) - Good, but not THAT good. Way too long, guessed the story a hundred pages in.
Makers by Doctrow, Corie (2/5) - If I rolled my eyes any harder and more often while reading this they may have fallen out of my head.