Books I read in 2011

[vilakins]

I wrote pitifully little in 2011 but I read about 80 books. I can only list 69 of them here because almost all came from the library and my on-line reading history isn't complete (for the first time ever): several just say "no information available". I have no idea what's missing. The Patrick O'Brian books I own, the entire collection bought second-hand, and I just inserted those at intervals.

I've bolded the ones I liked best, but really, I enjoyed all of them but one which I stopped reading fairly early on and therefore deleted from the list. I doubt I'll read as many this year I now have a Proper Job, but it's a good trade-off.

Feel free to ask me about any. :-)

Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold
Hereville [graphic novel] : how Mirka got her sword - Barry Deutsch
The professor's daughter [graphic novel] - Joann Sfar & Emmanuel Guibert
Klezmer Book one Tales of the wild East [graphic novel] - Joann Sfar
Ash - Malinda Lo
Nemesis - Lindsey Davis
I shall wear midnight - Terry Pratchett
Ovid - David Wishart
Germanicus - David Wishart
Stork raving mad - Donna Andrews
Desolation Island - Patrick O'Brian
The beekeeper's apprentice, or, On the segregation of the queen - Laurie R King
Click here for murder - Donna Andrews
The architecture of desire- Mary Gentle
Orthe : Chronicles of Carrick V - Mary Gentle
The Marlows and the traitor - Antonia Forest
Access denied - Donna Andrews
One of our Thursdays is missing - Jasper Fforde
Un Lun Dun - China Miéville
Kraken : an anatomy - China Miéville
The Fortune of War - Patrick O'Brian
The thuggery affair - Antonia Forest
A monstrous regiment of women - Laurie R King
Last rites - David Wishart
Dangerous notes - Gillian Bradshaw
Island of ghosts - Gillian Bradshaw
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow murders - John Mortimer
Agnes & the hitman - Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
The beacon at Alexandria - Gillian Bradshaw
The wrong reflection - Gillian Bradshaw
The king's dragon - Una McCormack
The Surgeon's Mate - Patrick O'Brian
Render unto Caesar - Gillian Bradshaw
Don't look down - Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer
Wild ride - Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer
Cleopatra's heir - Gillian Bradshaw
Packing for Mars : the curious science of life in the void - Mary Roach
Night of the living Trekkies - Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall
The sand-reckoner - Gillian Bradshaw
Among others - Jo Walton
Embassytown - China Miéville
The Ionian Mission - Patrick O'Brian
A vote for murder - David Wishart
The river of shadows - Robert V S Redick
Dark north - Gillian Bradshaw
The way through the woods - Una McCormack
Delete all suspects - Donna Andrews
The real macaw - Donna Andrews
The wise man's fear - Patrick Rothfuss
One for the money - Janet Evanovich
First test - Tamora Pierce
Treason's Harbour - Patrick O'Brian
A letter of Mary - Laurie R King
The realms of the gods - Tamora Pierce
One for the money - Janet Evanovich
Page - Tamora Pierce
The adventures of Tintin [graphic novel] - Hérge
Matter - Iain M Banks
The moor - Laurie R King
Lady knight - Tamora Pierce
Justice Hall - Laurie R King
Squire - Tamora Pierce
Parthian shot - David Wishart
Two for the dough - Janet Evanovich
The Far Side of the World - Patrick O'Brian
Dogsbody - Diana Wynne Jones
The changeover - Margaret Mahy
Food for the fishes - David Wishart (in progress)

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

You might want to correct the title of the post. :) (I'm pleased that I wrote out a cheque this morning and managed to put the right year on it!)

I've read five of those books:

"I Shall Wear Midnight", which was as good as all Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books have been. They are better than all but a few of his adult Discworld novels, which is very high praise indeed. They fall into the category of those books which are intended for young readers but are far too good to be wasted on them. :)

The two Una McCormack Doctor Who tie-ins, both of which I enjoyed.

Mary Gentle's "The Architecture of Desire", which I enjoyed but which is not perhaps quite up to the level of her very best work (which for me would include "Rats and Gargoyles", "Golden Witchbreed" and "Ash"). I haven't read "Orthe : Chronicles of Carrick V", but I've read both "Golden Witchbreed" and "Ancient Light" independently. I had to do a websearch to find out that "Chronicles" is a collected edition rather than another book which I'd somehow missed. I thought that "Golden Witchbreed" was brilliant, but I didn't like "Ancient Light" at all (I thought that it was confusingly written and I hated the ending).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I really should have noticed that typo.

I wish I'd stopped with 'Rats and Gargoyles'. 'The Architecture of Desire' soured me on the Crow's character, and though I enjoyed the alien society in the Golden Witchbreed books, I wasn't happy about where it went in the end either. I like C J Cherryh's Foreigner stories better. I plan to reread the ones I've read and catch up on the rest.

The Tiffany Aching books are great. They rank with the Witch and Watch books for me.

I'd like to read more of Una McCormack's books but that's all they have in our library. I'm going to see if Fishpond (our local version of Amazon) has some, especially the Cardassian one.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Like you I've only read Una's two Doctor Who books, in my case because her other books are based on shows that I'm not familiar with. I've not read any C J Cherryh. So many authors, so little time. :) (The main reason for that is my Internet addiction.)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Fishpond is a great name for a bookseller's.

[pebblerocker]

I'm starting at the start with the Foreigner series too, in between other things. I joined the readingtogether comm because someone was organising a read-through of the first book and hosting twice-weekly discussion posts on her journal; that was a lot of fun, though difficult to time things so that I'd read the right chapters, no more or less, when the discussion post came around. Would you be interested in group reads through the rest of the series? I think the others who participated might like to carry on, if I ask them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I would! That'd be great. My reading's slowed down a bit since I got a job, naturally enough, but I'd like to do that. [makes note to order next book] I've read three, but so long ago I don't mind rereading. :-)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I howled at the end of Cryoburn! I mean I know he wasn't getting any younger but still... Aaagh!

I love Diana Wynne Jones' books and it is sad that there now won't be any more.

The beekeeper's apprentice, or, On the segregation of the queen - Laurie R King
How was this for you? I've read a short story using the same main female character in an anthology my husband bought me for my birthday. I wasn't at all happy about her take on Holmes.

I might try the Thursday series if it is as entertaining and meta as his Nursery Crime novel, the Fourth Bear. A decent mystery with a very odd fantasy setting.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I know. Will there be any more Vorkosigan books now Miles may be more restricted in his travel, I wonder. :-(

At least I hve a lot more of hers to read. I do enjoy them.

Actually I love the Russell/Holmes series! He seems very much Holmes to me, and if he's going to fall for a woman, it would be one very like him, as she is. At least they keep the romance out of it and concentrate on the mysteries.

Thursday Next is fun! Very fantastic and AU and funny too.

[luinielle.livejournal.com]

'Agnes and the Hitman' was a fun read, wasn't it. And I really enjoyed 'Packing for Mars'.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

'Agnes and the Hitman' was a riot! I read two others of theirs on its strength.

'Packing for Mars' was so good and so entertaining I gave it to Greg to read and he loved it too.