Books read in 2007

Well, I didn't manage to do much blogging last year; hopefully 2008 will be more productive. Anyway here is a list of the novels that I read in 2007. All of the fantasy novels were good and the rest were generally fairly good. (Rereads are marked with an R).

Fantasy

The First Book of Lankhmar (Fritz Leiber)
The Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe)
Mordant's Need (Stephen Donaldson) (R)
Harry Potter: Books 1-4 (J.K.Rowling)
Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson)


Science Fiction

Speed of Dark (Elizabeth Moon)
Hunting Party (Elizabeth Moon)
Orbitsville (Bob Shaw) (R)
Orbitsville Departure (Bob Shaw) (R)
Cosmonaut Keep (Ken Macleod)
Lurulu (Jack Vance)
To Live Forever (Jack Vance) (R)


Historical and Detective

Aristotle Detective (Margaret Doody)
The Iron Hand of Mars (Lindsey Davis)
Towards Zero (Agatha Christie) (R)
The Surgeon's Mate (Patrick O'Brian)


Classic (19-th century)

Agnes Grey (Anne Bronte) (R)


Thriller

The Spoilers (Desmond Bagley) (R)
The Righteous Men (Sam Bourne)

The Book of the New Sun

The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe (Fantasy Masterworks #1) contains "The Shadow of the Torturer" and "The Claw of the Conciliator", the first two books of the highly regarded four book series. They are set on the Urth in the far future, and relate the reminiscences of Severian, a journeyman of the guild of torturers. As with all Wolfe's books, they are very well-written, and are full of ambiguities and layers of meaning. They contain many interesting characters, strange events and vivid images.

As much as I admire Wolfe's books I do find them quite frustrating to read, mainly because of their strangeness and the way that the plot darts off in unexpected directions; they almost make me long for simple linear plots. However, the Book of the New Sun is perhaps his most accessible series and is definitely worth reading.

The First Book of Lankhmar

The First Book of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (Fantasy Masterworks #18) comprises the four books "Swords and Deviltry", "Swords against Death", "Swords in the Mist" and "Swords against Wizardry". Each book contains a number of short and longer stories, relating the adventures of the Gray Mouser, an accomplished swordsman and thief, and Fafhrd, a giant barbarian warrior. The stories are fantastical, witty and often entertaining, but I found it hard to really identify with the protagonists, possibly because of the short story form. Overall though, the stories are interesting, the writing is good, and the book is worth reading.

Jane Eyre

With BBC TV currently showing "Jane Eyre", I thought I'd make a few comments. Ruth Wilson is excellent as Jane and Toby Stephens makes a good Rochester; although he is probably too handsome for the role (Rochester is supposed to be ugly), a problem shared by most adaptations. They didn't really spend enough time on Jane's childhood, which is a shame as it is important for understanding of her character. Overall it has been pretty good, but the book, which is wonderfully dramatic, passionate and poetical, is ten times better than any TV series or film of it yet produced.

Spurred on by the series to re-read "Jane Eyre", I then subsequently proceeded on to "Villette". Less dramatic than J.E., this poignant book, with its charming character sketches, is a study of loneliness, unrequited love and depression. It has a famously ambiguous ending (which I've always taken to be sad). A deeply moving book, it is arguably Charlotte Bronte's finest novel.

The Runes of the Earth

"The Runes of the Earth" by Stephen Donaldson (first volume of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant"). In the trilogy "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever", Covenant, who is a leper, is transported to the Land, where his white gold wedding ring has magical powers and he struggles against the manipulations of Lord Foul, the Despiser. In the trilogy "The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" he returns in the company of Dr Linden Avery to a Land blighted by Sunbane and once again battles with Lord Foul.

After a gap of 20 years we finally have another series of books set in the Land. The first volume of which focusses on Linden as she tries to come to terms with Covenant's death and is once more caught up in Lord Foul's machinations. A complex vibrant literary fantasy - excellent, as one would expect since everything he writes is good. If you haven't read any Thomas Covenant books before then start with the first one "Lord Foul's Bane", or if SF is more your thing then his Gap series is equally good, in a dark and twisted sort of way.

Fantasy novel reviews

Here's a very brief review of various fantasy novels and omnibus editions that I've read recently:

"The Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny (Fantasy Masterworks #6). The first series of five Amber novels collected in one volume (there's a second series also consisting of five novels). Wonderfully rich and inventive fantasy, telling the story of Prince Corwin as he investigates the byzantine plotting by his family to grab the vacant Amberite throne. Excellent.

"The Earthsea Quartet" by Ursula K. Le Guin (Penguin books). The four novels "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore" and "Tehanu" in one volume. The classic story of Ged as he learns the nature of magic and becomes Archmage of Roke, fighting evil and struggling with the consequences of his own actions on the way. Don't be put off by the fact that this is aimed at younger readers, nor by the poor TV mini-series based on the first two books. Very good, a classic.

The Demon Princes by Jack Vance

Having recently bought a number of collected/omnibus editions of various science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought I’d briefly review them here.

The Demon Princes is a series of five SF books written by Jack Vance: "The Star King", "The Killing Machine", "The Palace of Love", "The Face" and "The Book of Dreams", which have recently been republished in two volumes by Orb. The books were originally written between 1964 and 1981, and tell the story of Kirth Gersen as he tracks down the five so-called "Demon Princes", notorious criminals who murdered his family.

Although the early novels are slightly dated (the mention of slide rules in SF novels always amuses me), the books are always entertaining and often amusing. Of particular note are the excerpts at the start of many chapters and the footnotes, which explain various cultural and linguistic details, often raising more questions than they answer. Vance describes many wonderfully diverse cultures, pokes fun at the various social and sexual mores that Kirth encounters as he travels across the galaxy, and enjoys puncturing pomposity wherever it occurs.

Overall a “must-read” for Vance fans and a good read for anyone genuinely interested in science fiction.

C++ Book Recommendations

The following books are essential reading for C++ programmers and all of them repay repeated reading:

• Bjarne Stroustrup. The C++ Programming Language (third edition). The classic book on C++ with extensive coverage of the various language features.
• Scott Meyers. Effective C++.
• Scott Meyers. More Effective C++. These two books by Meyers are packed full of good advice on how to use the features of the language and avoid numerous C++ "gotchas".
• Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Orientated Software. The classic text by "The gang of four" on patterns in object-orientated programmes.
  

Stroustrup's book describes the features of C++ and the motivation for their inclusion in the language. Meyers describes how you should use the features and how to get right the details of your code. Finally, Design Patterns looks at the bigger picture of how objects in object-orientated software interact with each other, focussing on patterns of interaction that recur in many successful systems. Reading all four books in the order given will improve the quality of your C++ coding (unless you are already an expert coder of course).