1. Cage of Souls (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Far, far future set speculative sci-fi set mostly in a brutal prison, with an appealing aesthetic, fun characters and some great and horrifying ideas. Like many books of the genre (ATs others included) it deals with both man's inhumanity to man and the struggles of good humans to do the right thing in a situation gone dreadfully wrong.

2. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 3: Century (Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill)
A great concept with typically great writing by Moore and brilliant art by O'Neill is slightly marred by an embarrassing obsession with ludicrously hard nipples on massive breasted females, like some teenage amateur cartoonist.

3. Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
Second reading of this brilliant scifi/fantasy tale of necromancy, whodunnit murder, swords, skeletons, swearing, sarcasm and snark. Funny, action packed and fill of great characters in an interesting world.

4. Harrow the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
Phenomenal. So different from the first book, but still chock full of jet black humour, interesting characters and mind bending ideas. I have to say that I struggled to follow it at times, through a combination of reading it too fast because I was so excited by it and the intentionally fractured structure. But what a ride it was. I'm going to give it a few months and give it another read. Just wonderful.

5. American War (Omar El Akkad)
Bleak, powerful and thought provoking. The story of what war can do to a country and the ordinary people living there, through the eyes of one family. Scarily plausible and brilliantly written, that it's set in America and not Iraq or Afghanistan just adds to the impact.

6. The Future of British Politics (Frankie Boyle)
Relatively short essay with Frankie's thoughts on how politics needs to change in Britain, leavened with some of his trademark spectacular insults and nihilistic world view. Nothing surprising to anyone who has followed his recent political work, but very very funny.

7. Dogs of War (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Another AT novel, another fascinating, original and innovative sci-fi story both brilliantly written and thought provoking. Fast becoming one of my all time favourite authors.

8. Bear Head (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Sequel to Dogs of War set in part on Earth and in part on Mars, which is being terraformed by genetically modified humans and animal bioforms. Again, a brilliant story brilliantly told with themes of AI, free will, what makes a human human and populist politics. Loved it.

9. How to Survive in the North (Luke Healy)
Wonderful graphic novel interweaving 2 based on a true stories disastrous Arctic expeditions in 1912 and 1919 with one fictional tale of an Alaskan university professor trying to survive a mid life crisis in 2012. It's a lovely book, really enjoyable and warm.

10. A Memory Called Empire (Arkady Martine)
Sci-fi set in the far future in the Teixicalaan Empire, which is very much like what an aztec or other South/Central American civilization might have been like of it had left the earth. An ambassador from an independent space station culture comes to the centre of the Teix culture, a planet wide city where her predecessor has been murdered. She, with the help of her native cultural liaison, tries to solve the crime whilst negotiating the continued independence of her home from a war of annexation against the background of an stirring revolution. Great stuff, well written with some really fantastic world building and prose.

11. Walking to Aldebaran (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
A very British sci-fi novella about an expedition to an 'artifact' discovered out past Pluto, in which the makers of said artifact have "made physics their bitch". Short, funny and extremely imaginative. Highly recommended.

12. The Player of Games (Iain M Banks)
Fantastic stuff, with a lot to say about the state of our world (even more relevant today than it was when it was written) through the lens of the corrupt and decadent Empire of Azad. Can't believe it took me so long to get into this series.

13. The Problem with Men (When is International Men's Day and Why Does it Matter?) (Richard Herring)
Short essay style book about the last 10 years of his epic Twitter crusade to answer every cunt on the world who asks "When is there going to be and international men's day??!' on International Women's Day. Thoughts on toxic masculinity, male insecurity and the drive for equality. Funny and thoughtful, worth a read.

14. Ninefox Gambit (Yoon Ha Lee)
Set in an empire that derives its technological power from a combination of mathematics, faith and a very specific calendar of observances and rituals, this was quite a thing. It never really explains much to you and is at times borderline incomprehensible, but I ended up really enjoying it.

In order to crush a calendrical heresy occuring at a heavily defended nexus fort in deep space, the Hexarchate send a military maths prodigy possessed by the ghost of a 400 year old insane genocidal legendary general. They have a variety of extremely nasty sounding weapons at their disposal (carrion bombs, threshold winnowers, amputation guns etc) to do so, but is the spirit of Shuos Jedau, the undead madman, as crazy as he seems? Or is he planning something bigger? Daft as fuck but well written and didn't take itself too seriously.

15. The Trouble With Peace (Joe Abercrombie)
Re-read of the second in the Age of Madness trilogy, set around 30 years after the end of The Blade Itself trilogy. Just utterly brilliant gritty fantasy. Laugh out loud at times, chock full of fantastic characters and with an overarching plot spiralling towards utter carnage at all times this is one of my favourites from one of my favourite authors.

16. Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 1 (Alan Moore)
Haven't read this for decades it feels like and it's still pretty much peerless in terms of storytelling, mood and art. Brilliant stuff.

17. Foe (Ian Reid)
Not as good as I'm Thinking of Ending Things, but a great read full of what appears now to be his trademark atmosphere of tension and 'offness'. I really enjoyed it and it's meditations on relationships, personality and what makes us human.

18. Doom Patrol vol 2 (Gerard Way)
Excellent art and Way paying tribute to and following up where the legendary Grant Morrison run left off. The world's strangest superheroes try to figure out how what they are for, deal with the return of Mr Nobody and stop the end of all existence from happening at the hands of a cancelled and embittered former comic book hero. Features psychic werewolves, interspecies cat sex and tap dancing.

19. Doom Patrol vol 3: Weight of the Worlds (Gerard Way)
A bit of a drop off from vol 2, at times feeling very aimless and unstructured and being weird for the sake of it rather than to service the characters or plot. Disappointing

20. Undiscovered Country vol 1&2 (Scott Snyder)
Picked up the second volume for my birthday so went back and read the first before getting into that. Enjoyed v1 far more second time around and the 2nd volume is just as good. Some fantastically imaginative concepts and art design coupled with some great storytelling and plot. Can't wait for the next edition.

21. Use of Weapons (Iain M Banks)
Superb stuff. Effortlessly brilliant from beginning to end and even though the structure would likely have stumped a lesser writer it's so well done here that I didn't even really notice how clever it was until I'd finished it. The only criticism I have is that there aren't more books in the Culture series with even some of these characters in them.

22. Dark Knights: Metal (Scott Snyder)
Mental event comic in which the dark God Barbatos invades reality with an army of evil Batmen and it's up to the Justice League to stop them. Completely embraces the ludicrous nature of superhero comics and takes it up to 11. Great fun.

23. The Batman Who Laughs (Scott Snyder)
Sequel of sorts to the above, with Batman trying to stop the end of the world (again), going up against an evil version of himself crossed with Joker from another dimension. Again, great fun and completely aware of it's own daftness.

24. DCeased
The DC version of Marvel Zombies but far, far better. Darkseid tries to mutate the anti-life equation with the DNA of Death himself, but only succeeds in creating a bio-technological virus that spreads through both screens and blood. Everyone dies in graphic and gore-splattered ways Massively entertaining nonsense that is really only possible in this genre.

25. State of the Art (Iain M Banks)
Collection of short stories some of which are better than others - but the real treasure is the title story. The Culture visits Earth circa 1976 and considers whether or not we're worth making contact with.

26. Senlin Ascends (Josiah Bancroft)
Superb story of a man forced by circumstance to leave behind who he was to become something new in order to find his lost love in the Tower of Babel. A brilliantly realised world filled with great characters - I immediately bought the sequel.

27. The Arm of the Sphynx (Josiah Bancroft)
Sequel to Senlin and continues the brilliance of the first book, then surpasses it. Couldn't put it down.

28. Excession (Iain M Banks)
Just brilliant. Love the focus on the ships and their Minds and the idea that there's something out there in the galaxy that's both unknowable and more powerful than the Culture. The Affront were total dicks, but strangely loveable. It's weird grieving for an author thats been dead so long, with the selfish jealousy of knowing that once I've finished these books, there's no more to come. What a writer.

29. Scabby Queen (Kirsten Innes)
Wasn't sure I was going to like this as it didn't fit into my usual go to genres, but boy am I glad I read it. It takes a very talented writer to make the central character of your novel such an insufferable arsehole, but yet keep the reader wanting more. A story of the country from the 90s onward, from the perspective of all of the people who knew Clio Campbell, a one hit wonder with roots in alternative culture and the protest movement. She commits fully to nothing, uses people and projects to get what she thinks is justice for whatever movement she likes at the time and gives not a shit what damage she does to those around her for what she is trying to achieve. By the end, my impatience with her had shifted into sympathy but having known people like her, it only went so far. Far better are the cast of supporting characters, who are all brilliantly written and fully fleshed out people having to deal with the fallout of being entranced by Clio and her force of nature personality. The biggest compliment that I can pay this book is that it's reminded me of Iain Banks at his best. A stunning novel.

30. The Hod King (Josiah Bancroft)
Third in the Tower of Babel trilogy and yet again he knocks out out of the park - absolutely brilliant storytelling, world building and characters. So enjoyable, so compulsive and I can't wait for the next installment.

31. New York 2041 (Kim Stanley Robinson)
Speculative fiction about what the world might look like if there was a series of cascading temperature increases, resulting in the sea level rising by 50ft. Set in NY, which has become a kind of super Venice, it's more concerned with the details of the effect it might have on people, society and the economy. There's no big action sequences and no build to a final confrontation with a big bad. But it's brilliantly written, hadls some great characters in it and author I had my doubts at the start by the time I finished iti really wanted to spend more time with the world and the people in it. Great stuff.

32. The Wisdom of Crowds (Joe Abercrombie)
The third and final part of the Age of Madness trilogy, it pays off the building dread and imminent carnage of the first two books. As usual with the author, by far my favourite fantasy writer, it's bursting at the seams with great characters, brilliant dialogue and some of the bleakest, grimmest stuff in modern fantasy but leavened with a genuinely funny moments. What an ending to a great series, I can't wait for the next set which much surely be on the way. Stupendous.

33. And Away... (Bob Mortimer)
My first ever audiobook and what a cracker. Bob's memoir charting his life from his days as a cripplingly shy boy in Middlesbrough, suffering through the tragedy of his dad's death to his life changing meeting with Jim Moir and his unlikely comedy career. It's all structured around his heart op and recovery and the change it forced on him. It's, as expected, utterly hilarious and full of bizarre and brilliant moments and observations.

34. The Girl and the Stars (Mark Lawrence)
A re-read in preparation for the sequel. I don't remember it being quite as YA as it actually is, but it's a great story set in an interesting and richly detailed world. He's a decent fantasy writer, but he's not a patch on Abercrombie.

35. The Tiger & The Wolf (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
My first fantasy book of his, after loving everything he's done in sci-fi. Didn't disappoint - a world of shape changing animal people divided into different tribes and watched over by their gods march inevitably towards war. The protagonist, half wolf and half tiger, tries to escape her father, tribe and destiny but finds herself pulled ever closer to all three. Loved it. I think he might be my favourite author.

36. Salvation (Peter F Hamilton)
It's big sci-fi epic time - I've had this one on my list for a while and it did not disappoint. Mankind invents portal technology in the late 21st century and uses it, alongside advanced genetic therapies and super advanced quantum computer technology to start the colonisation of the galaxy. They are soon contacted by an alien civilisation, the Oliyx, who are traveling across the universe to meet their god at the end of time. Elsewhen, a squad of binary humans are being trained on a half deserted planet thousands of light years from an abandoned earth - training to take on the 'enemy' so that humanity can stop running.
Astonishingly great - rammed full of ideas, great characters and brilliantly written action. Immediately bought the sequel.

37. Salvation Lost (Peter F Hamilton)
Just as great as the first, jumping between story lines 10,000 years apart as mankind is horrifically subjugated in the 'present' and tries to fight back in the future.

38. The Humans (Matt Haig)
It's taken a whole year, but I think I might have just read the best book of my reading year. Not since The Road have I read something that has affected me so deeply and significantly, to the point where it had me in tears at several points. The author suffers from severe anxiety and depression (I've actually got two of his 'self-help' books which I'd really recommend for anyone who suffers from these like I do on occasion) and the idea for this story was born during the depths of a seemingly never ending panic attack. Haig began to question reality itself and the very foundation of what it means to be a functional human being. This story, of an alien taking the place of a human, has so much to say about our nature, culture and society and offers an amazing outsider perspective, questioning why we act the way we do. It reminded me a lot of The Curious Incident... providing real insight from outside of how we would 'normally' see the world. Can't recommend it enough.

I don't tend to read as much as I would like, I use audible instead for my books. Does that count?

1. A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin) - 4/2/21
So this was fine. Enjoyable enough read and held my attention all the way through. I like the structure, different chapters for different characters, and the different strands and arcs of the story. Ultimately, though, I didn’t think it was that special. Certainly not an all-timer like a lot of lists make out.

I hear that it gets better with books 2 and 3, but then dips in quality with 4 and 5. I’ll give it a gap before tackling A Clash of Kings.

HI

hylian_elf wrote:

Diluted Dante wrote:

Does it count if rather than reading them, I'm judging them by their cover?

As long as you have read the cover first.

Oh man... The EFFORT!! HUMMMPPPF

January
The Second World War Vol.4 by Winston Churchill

Feb
The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem) by Liu Cixin

Mar
Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern) by Anne McCaffery
A History of the Crusades Vol.1 by Steven Runciman
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Apr
The Second World War Vol.5 by Winston Churchill

May
The Second World War Vol.6 by Winston Churchill
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Where Have All The Bullets Gone by Spike Milligan
The Master and Margerita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugadsky

June
Fall : The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston
A Very English Scandal by John Preston
Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer
Gengis Khan:Life, Death and Resurrection by John Man

July
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevski
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein

August
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman

September
The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi

October
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin   (s)

November
Missile Commander  by Tony Temple
Mythos by Stephen Fry

December
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

(s) - short story collection

Raiziel wrote:

Oh go on then, though this will almost certainly hollow out the old book thread.

It doesn’t really matter, does it? One book thread’s as good as another. Let the old one sink, or repurpose it as a bookporn thread.

I'm enjoying A Game of Thrones a lot but I fear that I will steam on ahead and will have to wait a bit for The Winds of Winter or whatever the 6th book will be called, and years and years and years for A Dream of Spring or whatever the 7th and hopefully last book will be called.  By which time I will probably have forgotten most of what had happened up to that point.  So maybe I should have just waited to start the damned series.

I've not had a chance to read anything this year. Anytime I've not been working I've been with the kids and of an evening I'm so tired my eyes close almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.

3.
Finished Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam.  It’s this month’s book club read, so I’ll wait until the month is out before I say too much about it but, spoiler alert! I really quite enjoyed this one.

3. Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
Second reading of this brilliant scifi/fantasy tale of necromancy, whodunnit murder, swords, skeletons, swearing, sarcasm and snark. Funny, action packed and fill of great characters in an interesting world.

More books recently finished:

4.
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.  The lone survivor of a time travelling murderer teams up with burned-out journalist to track down and confront her attacker.  It’s wilfully confusing at times, telling much of its story in a nonlinear fashion, and makes no attempt to explain its fantastical conceit, but I liked it.  Beukes writes well, and I enjoyed the banter between the two protagonists.  It’s often very filmic.

5.
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon.  I don’t really know what this is.  It’s certainly not a novel, at least not in a traditional sense.  A man steps out of his house one evening, climbs a hill and, beneath the stars, he contemplates his life.  Suddenly his consciousness departs his body and, for the entirety of the “narrative”, transports itself across time and space, witnessing the evolution of alien civilisations and eventually the evolution of the entire universe itself.  Ultimately the traveller is confronted with the Star Maker, the creator of everything.  It’s completely bonkers, and absolutely not for everyone.  I thought it was fascinating, but I don’t think I’d risk recommending it to anyone.

Also finished:

6.
The Fold by Peter Clines.  Smoosh together Lovecraft and Cronenberg’s The Fly, add in a big dollop of pop culture references and you probably get something like The Fold.  It’s a lot more fun than it sounds, though, certainly not as heavy as its influences.  It’s the second book in Clines’ Threshold series (each book is stand-alone but set in the same universe), and I enjoyed this one enough that I’ll get around to the other two at some point.

7.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.  Finished this one yesterday and it kinda broke my heart.  The story of a mentally disadvantaged man who undergoes experimental treatment to increase his cognitive capacity.  It’s told entirely through the progress reports he makes before, during, and after the treatment, and we witness his transformation and the emotional difficulties that come with it.  Regarded as a classic, and rightly so.  Of all the books I’ve read recently, this is the one I most heartily recommend others pick up.

You do read a lot! Like Webbins and his films. And Moot and his ‘games’.