Reading in 2011

[Hypnos164]

Something of a year in review post:

91 books 35799 pages - By genre:

18 crime
21 fantasy
31 science-fiction
21 urban-fantasy

It was the first year of the eBook for me - I expect the Kindle numbers to be higher next year as I really like the eBook experience:

20 Kindle Edition
27 Hardcover
44 Paperback

New authors for me this year were:

Rating - Author
4.5 Ben Aaronovitch
4.0 Dashiell Hammett
4.0 Lauren Beukes
4.0 N.K. Jemisin
3.8 Greg Keyes
3.3 Kevin Hearne
3.0 Brandon Sanderson
3.0 Harry Connolly
3.0 Jeff Lindsay
3.0 Jim Thompson
3.0 Mark Lawrence
----- Past this point purchase of further books is unlikely -------
3.0 Jack Campbell
3.0 Mark Del Franco
2.0 C.S. Friedman
2.0 Charlaine Harris
2.0 David Louis Edelman
2.0 Ed McBain
2.0 M.K. Hobson
2.0 Mark Fabi
1.0 Andrzej Sapkowski
1.0 Charles Yu

Most read:

8 Richard Stark
7 Glen Cook
4 Dan Simmons
4 Greg Keyes
4 Iain M. Banks
4 Rachel Caine
3 Kevin Hearne
3 Peter F. Hamilton
3 Tanya Huff

Best of the year: The 5 star books

Darkwar by Glen Cook
The haunting story of Marika (a Meth pup of the Degnan Packstead); this is both an epic tale of societal change and the life story of a single individual. Despite its scope the story still manages to forge a real emotional bond between the reader and the deeply flawed Marika.

The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicle, #2) by Patrick Rothfuss
Long awaited sequel that didn’t disappoint; Rothfuss’ writing is a thing of pure joy.

The Crippled God (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #10) by Steven Erikson
The epic conclusion that shows the Erikson really did have it all planned from the start (or is faking it so well it makes no difference). The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a simply astounding achievement.

Flashback by Dan Simmons
Somehow I had forgotten just how good Simmons can be (probably because the subject matter of his last few books didn’t really interest me). This is a great piece of dystopian near future noir (which would probably have been called cyberpunk 20 years ago).

Rivers of London (Peter Grant, #1) by Ben Aaronovitch - This is "Midnight Riot" in the USA I think
Without straying too far from the sub-genre’s conventions this gets all of the elements spot on. His London feels very real, the characters are engaging and believable, the dialogue is snappy, the magic is quirky and the pace is just right.

Best of the stuff that was new to me:

Dashiell Hammett - Acknowledged classics that truly deserve the label.

Dan Simmons – Joe Kurtz novels – A little over the top at times but otherwise very impressive noir from this highly talented and flexible writer.

Greg Keyes – Kingdom of Thorn and Bone – I had the first book for ages but the cover blurb kept putting me off, what a mistake – this is a great series.

N.K. Jemisin - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – Great debut, refreshingly different fantasy. At this point I see no reason why next years reading won’t include all of her published work.

Lauren Beukes – Zoo City – This quirky South African urban fantasy really stands out. Have her Moxyland on the to buy list for next year.

Honourable mentions:

Joe Abercrombie – The Heroes – High quality fantasy war story.

Peter F Hamilton – Void series – Massive and enjoyable SF epic (read all 3 back to back)

Tanya Huff – Confederation series – Superb and varied military SF with enough “series arc” to stop the books feeling too similar.

Richard Stark – Parker series – 8 more books this year and not the slightest hint of disappointment.

Stats by Goodreads and Excel (and being a bit bored waiting to head out for New Years eve).

Happy New Year all

 

[J-Sun]

You know this (having posted on it) but just to note generally: this is a lot like the 2011 reading thread but, while that digresses into some of this territory, it tends to hew closer to strictly the top books. I don't know if this post was informational or wanting others to dive in. If the latter:

46 books ? pages (should be 47 before midnight)
43 at least nominally, predominantly SF
3 fantasy (only one finished and that a re-read)

32 novels
13 collections
1 anthology

38 mass-market paperback
3 trade paperback (containing 5 titles)
3 SFBC hardcover

(The above doesn't include the non-fiction or non-genre-fiction I've read, though there's almost none of the latter this year.)

New authors this year:

Iain M. Banks (have bought more but not yet completely convinced)
Jack Campbell (will likely buy more and will see)

Most read:

6 Jack Campbell (all one series)
4 A.E. van Vogt (including a duo)
4 Fritz Leiber
4 Tanith Lee (but only finished 2)
3 Timothy Zahn (all one series - a mostly re-read of the Cobra trilogy)
2 Algis Budrys, Philip K. Dick, Rudy Rucker, Bruce Sterling, Theodore Sturgeon, Ian Watson

Best of the year: Top Ten reads this year post. Of the 4/5 I've read since that post, none would make the list unless maybe Rucker's Spacetime Donuts but I think it might still just miss.

Stats by vim and awk.

Hypnos164 - you read 4 Banks books, yet none made the top list? Is that a significant sign or does it mean you read a bunch because you liked them but they were just good, rather than great?

-- Just realized the same is true for my Leiber and Lee. With those it means that I've probably read all the great Leiber and it's time to stop - what I read this year was mostly good but not great. And with Lee it means that, with some exceptions, I probably don't actually like her after all.

 

[jojajihisc]

42 books finished (4 were collections of which bits had been read already)

~27 SF (19 novels, 8 collections & anthologies)
~7 Fantasy (4 novels, 3 collections)
~6 Mainstream Literature (5 novels, 1 collection)
~1 Horror
~1 Non-Fiction

Around 180 individual short stories read.

Too many new authors to list because of this pesky short fiction habit and my only change to my top ten list would be to fit Chris Wooding's The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray in there somewhere.

 

[J-Sun]

Too many new authors to list because of this pesky short fiction habit

Hello fellow junkie. I get around that by just considering an author "new" if I get an entire book by them. For instance, I'd actually read Campbell stories before (in Analog under his real Hemry name) and, on the other hand, the Dozois annual had at least one author who was all-new to me.

 

[jojajihisc]

I'll have to formulate a short story equivalent to consider an author "new" to me. Maybe a combination of separate stories and number of pages, say, three stories and sixty pages? There is a trade-off when you consider reading multiple distinct stories vs. a single, longer, more fully developed novel. There are authors I read that haven't written much in the way of novels but have done quite a bit of short fiction. I don't know, all I can say is that many seem familiar to me now that didn't before and I haven't read any of there novels yet.

A few that feel knew to me this year:

John Kessel ("Buffalo," "The Pure Product," "The Closet")
Paul McAuley ("Second Skin," "Winning Peace," "The Choice," most of The Invisible Country)
Aliette de Bodard ("The Jaguar House in Shadow," "Age of Miracles, Age of Wonders," "The Wind Blown Man")
Flannery O'Connor (A Good Man is Hard to Find)
Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
Richard Morgan (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels)

 

[Hypnos164]

Hypnos164 - you read 4 Banks books, yet none made the top list? Is that a significant sign or does it mean you read a bunch because you liked them but they were just good, rather than great?

At this point I largely read Banks just in case he ever produces something as good as his early work again. I had a few of his books that had been sitting on the self for years (at least 10 in one case) that I decided to tackle.

Transition
The Algebraist
The Business
Surface Detail

Which for the most part were enjoyable but not outstanding. He used to be a "buy hardback and read immediately" author for me, now I don't touch his non-SF and get the SF on the grounds that I know I’ll like it but I don't expect to be amazed any more.

 

[Connavar]

I read 82 books which is my lowest number in the last 5 years which is pretty good really. in Goodreads it says 109 books but that is 82+27 Graphic novel collections.

I read most crime, general ficiton,fantasy,classics.

Most read authors show without even planning i read my favs most:

7 Jack Vance ( not all series)
3 Donald E.Westlake/Richard Stark
3 Sir Conan Arthur Doyle
3 Lawrence Block
2 Robert E.Howard
2 C.S Forester
2 Max Allan Collins
2 Sophocles (Antigone,Women of Trachis)
2 Aristophanes (Lysistrata,Thesmophoriazusae)

 

[J-Sun]

At this point I largely read Banks just in case he ever produces something as good as his early work again.

Cool - that's what I'm starting out with - I've read and directly received many recommendations about reading order but the way it's working out I got and read the first, then picked up the next three (out of order, initially, but now filled in and cheap), so will just go on in the order they were written.

books that had been sitting on the self for years (at least 10 in one case)

I have all-too many of those, myself.