Books read in 2012

[vilakins]

This is a slightly incomplete list as I know I read more swap books from the local second-hand bookshop but I can't remember them all. I've bolded my top three. The first is there because although I hated the murder aspect the description of the artist character is just brilliant; the other two are highly recommended although they're very different. As for the struck-out one, I've been meaning to post about that before it goes to the SPCA shop; next up!

The list

Two for the dough - Janet Evanovich
Parthian shot - David Wishart
The game - Laurie R King
Sing vila in the mountain - Amelia Batistich
Dogsbody - Diana Wynne Jones
Alchemy - Margaret Mahy
Food for the fishes - David Wishart
The changeover : a supernatural romance - Margaret Mahy
Dark Lord of Derkholm - Diana Wynne Jones
Snuff - Terry Pratchett
Locked rooms - Laurie R King
The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making - Catherynne M Valente
Powder and patch - Georgette Heyer
The nutmeg of consolation - Patrick O'Brien
Beware of God - Shalom Auslander
The reverse of the medal - Patrick O'Brien
Full moon - Michael Light
Invader - C J Cherryh
The letter of marque - Patrick O'Brien
The language of bees - Laurie R King
A grave talent - Laurie R King
The thirteen-gun salute - Patrick O'Brien
These old shades - Georgette Heyer
Saucer - Stephen Coonts
The Conquest - Stephen Coonts
The masqueraders - Georgette Heyer
Perilous planets - Brian Aldiss
Clarissa Oakes - Patrick O'Brien
The wine-dark sea - Patrick O'Brien
The Morgaine saga - C J Cherryh (3 in 1)
The riddle-master of Hed - Patricia A McKillip
Captain Corelli's mandolin - Louis de Bernières
A soldier's duty - Jean Johnson
Rifling through my drawers - Clarissa Dickson Wright
The god of the hive - Laurie R King
Years in the making - L Sprague de Camp
The magicians - Lev Grossman
The Laertian gamble - Robert Sheckley (appallingly bad; see next post)
To play the fool - Laurie R King
3 2nd-hand SF collections whose titles and editors I've forgotten and have since swapped
Devil's cub - Georgette Heyer
The commodore - Patrick O'Brien
The yellow admiral - Patrick O'Brien
Major Pettigrew's last stand - Helen Simonson
Ready player one - Ernest Cline
Pirate king - Laurie R King
Valor's choice - Tanya Huff (in progress)

A full-time job meant that my usual 80 or so has dropped to about a book a week on average. Feel free to ask me about any.

Inspired by usuallyhats, I did some basic analysis.

27 female authors
24 male authors

  3 contemporary detective
  2 contemporary fiction
  8 fantasy
10 historical
  7 historical detective
  4 historical romance (I'm trying Georgette Heyer on various people's recs)
  2 non-fiction
11 science fiction

Comments

[jhall1]

I was wondering that too. I read a review somewhere a year or so ago, and it sounded really intriguing.

I haven't read any of the books on the list. I've read one or two short stories by Sheckley though in anthologies, years ago. I remember them as "laugh out loud" funny. Maybe he's one of those writers who is very uneven, or maybe he can;t write well at novel length.

(I was going to respond on LJ, but gave up!)

[vilakins]

I really enjoyed it; give it a go!

Some of the reviewers on Amazon thought he was going for funny this time but he missed by parsec or two. Most agreed with me that it was a load of crap. I did like his old stuff; pity.

I like your icon!