books roundup
Nov. 8th, 2014 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadEven though I have a super obsessive completist streak, I cannot catch up on book reviews for the year. I will however post what I've read so far.
MARCH BOOKS
13. Hermit's Peak, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #4.
14. The Judas Judge, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #5.
15. Under the Color of Law, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #6.
16. The Big Gamble, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #7. Kerney and his recently-discovered cop son work two ends of a case and meet in the middle.
17. Everyone Dies, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #8. Well, not EVERYONE.
18. Slow Kill, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #9.
APRIL BOOKS
19. Nothing But Trouble, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #10.
20. Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan, Audio, SF. Really good world and character building. Distasteful torture scene, really graphic for audio. Sort of unexpected, really. But the rest is really good. Set a few centuries from now, when people have chips in their heads that record their entire lives/personalities so they can switch bodies when they get damaged or old. Catholics refuse to be resleeved because they believe the soul doesn't come along for the ride. Solving murders of non-Catholics is as easy as downloading the dead person into a synthetic body and asking them who killed them. Crimes are punished by being put into storage for many years. True death can only happen if you haven't backed up your stack and you get your stack destroyed. Our hero is a merc who is hired by a super-rich super-old guy who claims he was murdered, but everyone else thinks killed himself. He lost two days of time, so he doesn't know what happened to him.
21. Death Song, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #11.
22. Dead or Alive, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #12.
23. Allegiant, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. The finale of the series. Stuff happens. I skipped two thirds of this because I got spoiled by a review somewhere and knew that something happened, so I skipped to the end.
MAY BOOKS
24. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan, SF/YA/?. Loved this. Very clever.
25. 10% Happier, Dan Harris, Self-Help. Dan Harris has a breakdown while reading the news on tv, so he explores meditation and writes a book. Very good! He's funny and charming.
26. The Martian, Andy Weir, SF. Loved this. So compelling!
JUNE BOOKS
27. Face of a Killer, Robin Burell, Oyster Books, Crime.
28. The Bone Chamber, Robin Burell, Oyster Books, Crime.
29. A Nasty Piece of Work, Robert Littell, Crime.
30. Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Rob Thomas, Audio, Crime. Loved this. Book set immediately after the end of the Veronica Mars movie. Narrated by Kristen Bell herself, so it felt very right.
JULY BOOKS
31. Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King, Audio, Crime. Narrated by my favorite, Will Patton.
32. Any Other Name, Craig Johnson. Ah, Longmire. Why did they cancel you??? I hope some other network picks up the series. At least we'll have the books.
33. Silence of the Grave, Arnaldur Indridason, Crime. I am almost done with this one, so I'm giving myself credit for this in July because that's when I read most of it.
AUGUST BOOKS
Nope. Nuthin.
SEPTEMBER BOOKS
34. Gideon's Corpse, Preston & Child, Thriller. Gideon saves the day. And has a brain tumor.
35. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, SF. Compelling, but I had so many problems with the world-building it made me sad. End of the world plague, only 0.001% of the world survives. The plot follows a handful of people who all knew or interacted with one guy, a famous actor who dies of a massive heart attack right before the plague starts. It's a musing on art and how it is necessary for humanity. It's fascinating, but again, an average SF reader will have problems with the decisions people make and the society that forms (or doesn't) in the aftermath. However, I definitely recommend it as a discussion piece. Here's the Times review, which I pretty much agree with.
OCTOBER BOOKS
36. Personal, Lee Child, Crime. Reacher goes to France and England to revisit an old foe, the sniper from way way back. Is he going to shoot one or several members of the G8 that are due to visit England in a couple weeks? Can Reacher find him before? Who's setting all this up and funding it?
I'm in the middle of a bunch of others, but I can't see making my 52 goal this year! The summertime vagueness and inability to focus enough to read has set me back. Ah well!
MARCH BOOKS
13. Hermit's Peak, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #4.
14. The Judas Judge, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #5.
15. Under the Color of Law, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #6.
16. The Big Gamble, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #7. Kerney and his recently-discovered cop son work two ends of a case and meet in the middle.
17. Everyone Dies, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #8. Well, not EVERYONE.
18. Slow Kill, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #9.
APRIL BOOKS
19. Nothing But Trouble, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #10.
20. Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan, Audio, SF. Really good world and character building. Distasteful torture scene, really graphic for audio. Sort of unexpected, really. But the rest is really good. Set a few centuries from now, when people have chips in their heads that record their entire lives/personalities so they can switch bodies when they get damaged or old. Catholics refuse to be resleeved because they believe the soul doesn't come along for the ride. Solving murders of non-Catholics is as easy as downloading the dead person into a synthetic body and asking them who killed them. Crimes are punished by being put into storage for many years. True death can only happen if you haven't backed up your stack and you get your stack destroyed. Our hero is a merc who is hired by a super-rich super-old guy who claims he was murdered, but everyone else thinks killed himself. He lost two days of time, so he doesn't know what happened to him.
21. Death Song, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #11.
22. Dead or Alive, Michael McGarrity, Crime. Kevin Kerney #12.
23. Allegiant, Veronica Roth, Young Adult. The finale of the series. Stuff happens. I skipped two thirds of this because I got spoiled by a review somewhere and knew that something happened, so I skipped to the end.
MAY BOOKS
24. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan, SF/YA/?. Loved this. Very clever.
25. 10% Happier, Dan Harris, Self-Help. Dan Harris has a breakdown while reading the news on tv, so he explores meditation and writes a book. Very good! He's funny and charming.
26. The Martian, Andy Weir, SF. Loved this. So compelling!
JUNE BOOKS
27. Face of a Killer, Robin Burell, Oyster Books, Crime.
28. The Bone Chamber, Robin Burell, Oyster Books, Crime.
29. A Nasty Piece of Work, Robert Littell, Crime.
30. Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Rob Thomas, Audio, Crime. Loved this. Book set immediately after the end of the Veronica Mars movie. Narrated by Kristen Bell herself, so it felt very right.
JULY BOOKS
31. Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King, Audio, Crime. Narrated by my favorite, Will Patton.
32. Any Other Name, Craig Johnson. Ah, Longmire. Why did they cancel you??? I hope some other network picks up the series. At least we'll have the books.
33. Silence of the Grave, Arnaldur Indridason, Crime. I am almost done with this one, so I'm giving myself credit for this in July because that's when I read most of it.
AUGUST BOOKS
Nope. Nuthin.
SEPTEMBER BOOKS
34. Gideon's Corpse, Preston & Child, Thriller. Gideon saves the day. And has a brain tumor.
35. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel, SF. Compelling, but I had so many problems with the world-building it made me sad. End of the world plague, only 0.001% of the world survives. The plot follows a handful of people who all knew or interacted with one guy, a famous actor who dies of a massive heart attack right before the plague starts. It's a musing on art and how it is necessary for humanity. It's fascinating, but again, an average SF reader will have problems with the decisions people make and the society that forms (or doesn't) in the aftermath. However, I definitely recommend it as a discussion piece. Here's the Times review, which I pretty much agree with.
OCTOBER BOOKS
36. Personal, Lee Child, Crime. Reacher goes to France and England to revisit an old foe, the sniper from way way back. Is he going to shoot one or several members of the G8 that are due to visit England in a couple weeks? Can Reacher find him before? Who's setting all this up and funding it?
I'm in the middle of a bunch of others, but I can't see making my 52 goal this year! The summertime vagueness and inability to focus enough to read has set me back. Ah well!
