Books read in 2010

Here are the books that I read last year (re-reads are marked with an R) :

Fantasy / Horror
The Last Argument of Kings (Joe Abercrombie) - very good
The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaimain) - good
Necronomicon (H.P.Lovecraft) - anthology of stories, pretty good
Dead Until Dark (Charlaine Harris) - a very light read
Wormwood (G.P.Taylor) - strange, but good

Historical / History
The Eagle's Conquest (Simon Scarrow) - good
The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood) - good
Rubicon (Tom Holland) - very good
Catullus The Complete Poems (Catullus) - interesting

Crime / Thriller
The Lonely Skier (Hammond Innes) (R) - ok
The Medici Secret (Michael White) - ok with silly ending
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson) - good, a pageturner
The Empty Chair (Jeffery Deaver) - good, another pageturner
A Question of Belief (Donna Leon) - good

General
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) - ok
Travels with my Aunt (Graham Greene) - good
The Behaviour of Moths (Poppy Adams) - good
The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery) - ok
The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende) - ok, good in parts

RPG Books
Victoriana (Cubicle 7) - good apart from some typographical issues
Runequest II Core Rulebook (Mongoose) - good, best version since RQ2

Audiobooks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

Books read in 2009

Here are the books that I read last year (re-reads are marked with an R):

Fantasy
A Storm of Swords, 2: Blood and Gold (George R.R. Martin) - excellent
A Feast for Crows (George R.R. Martin) - very good
The Blade Itself (Joe Abercrombie) - good
Before They Are Hanged (Joe Abercrombie) - very good
Fatal Revenant (Stephen Donaldson) - good

Historical
The Accusers (Lindsey Davis) - quite good
Centurion (Simon Scarrow) - very good
Imperium (Robert Harris) - excellent

Crime/Thriller
The Death of Dalziel (Reginald Hill) - good
Strange Affair (Peter Robinson) - good
Child 44 (Tom Rob Smith) - good; first half is very good
The Messenger of Athens (Anne Zouroudi) - good

Classic (19-th century)
Barchester Towers (Anthony Trollope) - very good
The Professor (Charlotte Brontë) - quite good

General
The Believers (Zoë Heller) - good
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini) - good
The Other Hand (Chris Cleave) - very poor. The worst book I read this year.
Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) - ok
Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh) (R) - quite good
Miss Hargreaves (Frank Baker) - quite good

Non-fiction
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Kate Summerscale) - quite good
The Planets (Giles Sparrow) - very nice coffee table book

Books read in 2008

No, this year wasn't any more productive than last year as far as blog posting goes. Anyway here are the books that I read last year, (re-reads are marked with an R):

Fantasy
Harry Potter: Books 5-7 (J.K. Rowling) - very good
Elric [Fantasy masterworks #17] (Michael Moorcock) - good

A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin) - excellent
A Clash of Kings (George R.R. Martin) - excellent
A Storm of Swords, 1: Steel and Snow (George R.R. Martin) - excellent

Science fiction
The Chrysalids (John Wyndham) (R) - good

Crime
The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett) - good
The Interpretation of Murder (Jed Rubenfeld) - quite good

Thriller
Night of Error (Desmond Bagley) (R) - entertaining
Archangel (Robert Harris) - quite good
Stalin's Ghost (Martin Cruz Smith) - ok

Historical
Roma (Steven Saylor) - pre-imperial ancient Rome, not bad.
Sharpe's Fortress (Bernard Cornwell) - entertaining

General
The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga) - not bad, but not sure it was worth the Booker prize.
The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) - good characters, but very strangely written. About 250 pages too long and mawkishly sentimental. Overall poor.
The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) - quite good. I liked the first half more than the second half.
Suite Française (Irène Némirovsky) - good, but not as great as the hype might suggest.

Non-fiction
Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson, David Relin) - inspiring story, but poorly written.
Joel on Software (Joel Spolsky) - amusing book on managing software development.

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.