2006 - 2007 List

Here is the list for July 2006 - July 2007:

1. Alas, Babylon Pat Frank
2. The Swarm Frank Schatzing
   
3. The Children of Men P.D. James
   
4. The Little Friend Donna Tartt
   
5. Selected Stories H.G. Wells
   
6. All the Sounds of Fear Harlan Ellison
   
7. The Feminists Parley Cooper
   
8. Conditionally Human + Walter M. Miller
   
9. The Eigth Day John Case
   
10. A Wrinkle in the Skin John Christopher
    
11. World War Z Max Brooks
    
12. Skeleton Crew Stephen King
    
13. A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller Jr
    
14. Monster Nation David Wellington
    
15. Peeps Scott Westerfeld
    
16. The Road Cormac McCarthy
    
17. Penguin Science Fiction Brian Aldiss
    
18. Yet More Science Fiction Brian Aldiss
    
19. Fields of Grief Giles Blunt
    
20. The Fifth Season David Docherty
    
21. The Death of Grass John Christopher
    
22. The Empty Bed Paul Thomas
    
23. The Mephisto Club Tess Gerritsen
    
24. The Night Watch Sergei Lukyanenko
    
25. The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham
    
26. The Chrysalids John Wyndham
    
27. The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham
    
28. Hiroshima John Hersey
    
29. The World in Winter John Christopher
    
30. Monster Nation David Wellington
    
31. Galapagos Kurt Vonnegut
    
32. Helloland Nick Walker
    
33. Dragon Tears Dean Koontz
    
34. Selected Stories Anton Checkov
    
35. Farenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
    
36. Modern Pluralism Andreas Papadakis
    
37. Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
    
38. Releasing Fat Ray D. Strand
    
39. The Prodigal Project Book II Ken Abraham & Daniel Hart
    
40. The Prodigal Project Book I Ken Abraham & Daniel Hart
    
41. Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
    
42. Black Rain Masuji Ibiuse
    
43. Forever Odd Dean Koontz
    
44. Cell Stephen King
    
45. The Face Dean Koontz
    
46. The Quiet Game Greg Iles
    
47. Blood Memory Greg Iles
    
48. Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut
    
49. Stark Ben Elton
    
50. This Other Eden Ben Elton
    
51. Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis
    
52. Dark Rivers of the Heart Dean Koontz

Nearing The End

I have a bunch of reviews written about the six books that I have read over the last week and a half, but with no computer it is kind of hard to, you know, post. Not that anyone cares. Ha!
Anyway, I've got a little over two weeks to go and only four books left to read. I think that I averaged it out to one book every four days (and I am going a book every one or two the last couple of weeks). Yes, I actually did the maths (but I also did the maths for something else that ended up with the result of six squillion or so, so doing the maths is something I just do for the hell of it.)

I have decided that for next year's 52 (which starts in two weeks, obviously) I will be endevouring to read at least 50% of them as non-fiction. Maybe learn something other than the fact that I am a sci-fi geek.

So, that being said, I'll do reviews when I get my computer back. Out of the books that I have read in the last few weeks, this is the concise version:

A Wrinkle in the Skin: Christopher is a genius.
The Eighth Day: It just was. Nothing interesting and the stupidest protagonist ever.
Conditionally Human: I love Miller. I really, really love him.
The Feminists: I think the name alone says it all, but it doesn't. Still not good though.
All the Sounds of Fear: I liked the title story, the rest were kind of okay.
H.G. Wells: How did I put this guy off for so damn long?

Have fun.

World War Z (Max Brooks)

World War Z. I wanted to love this story, I really did.
Zombie stories aren’t so much about the reanimated corpses as they are about politics and people. That is what makes them so good. Unfortunately you only have one of the two elements here.
A good political bent will make the relationships between the villain and the hero states vague- you can never be absolutely certain which countries they are talking about and can transcend the generations to fit the current political climate at the time of reading.
That is definitely not what you get here. What you get is a blow by blow of political relationships across the world, the enemies that are the enemies now. This means that, apart from feeling a lot like you are being hit over the head with a hefty high school text, it is soon quickly going to go out of date. In ten years it will be a period novel.
It also fails to pull you in with its characters. Sure, the idea that it is a political report is a good one, only it fails to give you a relationship with any of the characters. There is no one to care about, no actual storyline to follow. Every voice is the same, the whiney voice of the author. If this was in fact an investigation then the interview somehow managed to find people who all sounded exactly the same.
There is nothing new or original here. Even the human plight is so drearily drawn that it’s hard to really care or even picture it outside of the many zombie films or books that have come before.
And it moves terribly slowly. Slowly. So much for the human factor. Not that he has anything nice to say about people anyway. It is simple enough to skip entire chapters in order to speed up the reading without actually missing out on anything important.

And as a side note, because I can’t pull any actual evidence to support my argument, or can’t be bothered, I just wanted to say that I’m feeling some deep rooted racism coming from Brooks.
If I had to say one good thing about this book, other than the fact that the concept is interesting (even if poorly executed) I would say this- the Afrikaner plan, though abhorrent, was a clever touch. A truly horrible solution meant, I assume, to show you who you are by how you react to it.
My absolute favourite bit? The very last four words, dedication at the end- I love you, Mom.
I preferred Cell to this.

42 Down, 10 to Go

Skeleton Crew (Stephen King)

It took me a few weeks to get through the 600-odd pages of this collection of short stories, giving me the time to chew on some of the stories. I usually have two books on the go at the same time- the one that I carry around in my bag for when I have to wait for class to start or a bus or any time that I am outside of the house and am alone. Then there is the book at home. The book in my bag can take weeks to finish reading, depending on how much time I have to fill outside of the house. This is what happened with Skeleton Crew.

I have an odd relationship with Stephen King. While I love his earlier work, The Long Walk, The Stand, Insomnia, Misery, etc., I am not all that much on love with his newer works. I find his arrogance distasteful. It isn't the same sort of self importance that you will find in Kurt Vonnegut's work or even Alfred Hitchcock's films. It's a self righteousness that has only gotten worse over time. Of course, every author has to have a little of this in them.
It is clearly evident in this collection. King has something against fat people, lazy people and stupid people. Mostly fat people. You can pity them and even forgive them if you really want to, but he seems to find it impossible to move past it. He has an opinion and isn't afraid to say it. Over and over again.
That doesn't mean that his stories aren't good. He can paint a pretty picture (or pretty gruesome). He has some pretty damn good stories in there. And it is all horror all the time.
The Mist was one of my favourites for its ambiguity and it physical strength. It was 80's horror at its best, which includes ridiculous monsters that wouldn't seem out of place in a John Carpenter film. The Monkey almost terrified me. Mrs. Todd's Shortcut entertained me (I however, am one of those people who likes to know the quickest way, but will however take a different route each time to enjoy the scenery and literally smell the roses). The protagonist in The Raft pissed me off (which generally boils down to good writing). Morning Deliveries was confusing. Survivor type was though provoking. The Reach was predictable.
All in all it was a fun trip to take over a few weeks. Some of it is King at his best and some of it is King at his corniest. He wasn't always a self righteous twat. And despite my gripe that he should get out of the horror rut once in a while, he is adept at it. Unfortunately most of it is forgettable.

41 Down, 11 to Go

Peeps (Scott Westerfeld)

Yet another vampire book I am afraid. Peeps isn't normally the sort of thing that I would pick up and read- not only is it about vampires but it has also been slotted into the Young Adult genre (which I no longer belong in, unfortunately). It was one of those books that someone else suggested, giving me enough reason to buy it.
But these aren’t regular vampires we’ve got here and this can be interesting to people who are no longer considered ‘young adults’. The writing is at times a little too simplistic for the older generation and the language the characters use can be grating- but that is the way that the kids speak these days. Westerfeld’s vampires, or Peeps (parasite-positives), are cannibalistic monsters who hate the day light and some of them even hate crucifixes, but that’s all because the parasite that they have contracted has evolved to make them hate the things that they once loved. The vampirism as a disease things isn’t new, yet coupled with the even numbered chapters of parasitic descriptions that curdle the stomach, it makes for an interesting read. It can even be an interesting learning experience.
This is Cal’s story. He’s a recently infected carrier, someone who does not display the side effects but enjoys the benefits. He works for the Night Watch (a name that unfortunately was used without any hint of cynicism or sarcasm) and is searching for the few people that he had infected without knowing it. Along the way he meets a girl that he adores, but whom he cannot even kiss without passing along the disease and turning her into a Peep. He’s destined to live a life of celibacy because only 1% of the population is immune like him. Of course something has got to go wrong, and that is where we step in.
It was a fun ride while it lasted, good for a rainy afternoon. If you do read it though, you may never want to eat a steak again.

40 Down, 12 to Go

Update

I've been a bit lax when it comes to blogging. Not that anyone cares because no one reads this, but just in case...
I have still been reading- will I make my 52 books this year? I think so. I have a random collection of books waiting to be read, one that I have almost finished and a yearn to read. I go through stages where I won't read a book all week because there are things standing in my way (ie. assignments) and there are weeks where I will devour up to four books (then the head ache kicks in).
I find it a little depressing that I will only just make the 52 books. I really ought to read more. And more and more and more. It feels lazy. If I lived to 50 and only read 52 books a year I would only be able to read 1192 more books, and I am sure there are a lot more than that that I want to read. Not including non-fiction.
I have a bunch of books on order (most importantly Is the Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant) and I want to read more. Feed me, Seymore.
Okay, off topic. I'll start updating more now. Cheers.

The Night Watch (Sergei Lukyanenko)

I'm not all that sure what it was that made me decide to read The Night Watch. I saw the movie at the store once and thought 'gee, that'll probably be absolutely ridiculous' and never bothered watching it. And to be perfectly honest I am not one to read fantasy or vampire novels all that often. Sure, I watched Buffy and Angel, but that could have more because of Whedon's skill. It is just that I am more of a sci-fi/horror person, if you want to get down to semantics.

So I basically went into this with a rather cynical mind, and when I finished it the next day I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Day Watch. I was an enthralling novel with engaging characters and thought provoking ideas.

Sometimes it became a little convoluted and the writing was a little stilted (though I blame that on the translator, not the writer). What I really enjoyed was the cultural differences- in this case there was no generational gap- the stereotypical view of a drunken Russian as portrayed by a Russian!

I had one major problem with this book- the ending. I hated the ending. It wasn't completely out of the blue, predictable even, but I just didn't like it. At all. But the book is still worth the read.

29 Down, 23 to Go

Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham)

Day of the Triffids had been on my must read list for an exceptionally long time because I remembered watching the film as a child and being utterly terrified (keep in mind that I was one of the only children not to freak out at The Dark Crystal). When I found out that it was based on a book I just had to read it- so when I discovered it at the second hand bookstore a few weeks ago I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
I think to anyone who has read anything that I have written, especially about the subjects of books, should know that I have a thing for post apocalyptic novels written in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and on the rare occasion the 80’s. I always thought that it was just because of my obsession with the end of the world, the desolation of humanity and my fear that even though at present we are the dominant species we will one day become obsolete. And in part it may be that- but following on the heels of The World in Winter it has become clear to me that the thing that I like about these stories is that they are character driven. It isn’t about the story, it isn’t about how the world ends. It is about how people survive and act when all governing bodies are removed and people are left to their own devices. Whether they sink or swim. Whether they become savages or try and remain civilized. It is about how the author thinks people will cope when the only people they have to rely on is themselves.
I fully understand how the triffids terrified me so much- they are barbarous plants- but they are merely plot devices and secondary to the characters.
Wyndham makes some fabulous points about science (especially about satellites, which I have always found a little creepy and invasive) and the human condition. I especially liked his attack on people thinking that the US was going to come and save the day- fifty years later people are still holding onto that same ineffectual thread.
When I got to the end I wanted to read me, I wanted Elspeth’s History of the Colony to be a sequel.
Of course parts of it are outmoded, such as gender perceptions (though Coker’s soliloquy about feminism was pretty close on the mark) but Wyndham manages to squeak through cleanly by pointing out the stupidity in such modesty or habits and foreseeing much of what would happen to certain movements.
And his references to a specific war could have been more general to allow people to relate better to it later on, allowing for a change in the enemy of future generations.
Still, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The World in Winter (John Christopher)

I don’t know where to start with this novel- it is exactly the sort of thing that I thoroughly enjoy reading. The basic premise is to due to natural solar fluctuations a new ice age has dawned on the northern hemisphere (keep in mind this was released in 1962, many, many, many years prior to the conception of that piece of tripe that you are comparing it to). This isn’t so much about the disaster that it wreaks on the world, but more about the people and how they react to it and one another. This is the sort of book that I would have loved to have studied when I was at university (and even now if I could think of a viable reason other than desire). It is rich in meaning, exploring gender roles, racism, politics, colonization, loyalty, customs, social status and a variety of other themes.
I should think that I would ceased to be amazed at the generational gap that is clear and present in novels of this era and the ones that precede it, but I cannot help it. When confronted with a man who is distant and little more than fond of his children I can’t help but be amazed at how far feminism has progressed (and I say feminism because allowing men to tap into their emotions is part of my egalitarian ideals). But it is so common that it becomes less of a problem the more you encounter it.
It is well written and frustrating, the characters acting in ways that makes you want to beat them over the head with the book itself, which itself means that they are fleshed out enough to make them believable, even if a little old fashioned (well, I was born eighteen years after this was written).
Though racism towards Blacks (I am not sure what is politically correct) is not as pronounced these days (I acknowledge that it still exists) it was interesting to see the way in which Christopher portrayed the reversal of fortunes. Racism did present itself but not to the extent in which it perpetuated through the ranks of the Whites.
It wasn’t even the fact that it was a post-apocalyptic novel that made this enjoyable- it was his portrayal of the world from a liberal point of view way back when. I will be tracking down more of his books.


24 Down, 28 To Go

Monster Island (David Wellington)

I ordered a copy of Monster Island based on two factors: this review and the fact that I love zombie movies and fiction.
The thing about this novel is that it drew me in right away, the narrators wit prevalent from the get go and at one point it even made me tear up!
The story is mainly a first person narrative by Dekalb (a UN Weapons Inspector) and his search through Manhattan for the AIDS medication needed by the warlord who has his daughter at that very moment in Somalia. He is accompanied by a group of young Somali girls who are heavily armed to Manhattan to retrieve the only available stash of drugs that combat HIV where he encounters not only the usual hoard of zombie but also Gary, who found a way to become one of the living dead but keep his faculties intact.
The first person narration made it easier to understand, the character voicing all the things you are wondering, from why the dead don't just eat themselves to why they were walking down a dark tunnel in a city full of the undead, an element of hilarity in the tone that he uses. However I didn't feel much empathy (or sympathy) for Dekalb and his plight, he wasn't a very likeable character.
Gary, the smartest dead man, however, is one of the vilest characters that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Its biggest failing, in my eyes, is that it wasn't one of those books that I just had to sit up until three in the morning to finish. This could have something to do with the fact that I know it is the first part of a trilogy and I can'’t get the second installmentnt until September (unless I read it online, which I don'’t want to do) Or it could be that parts of it seemed disturbingly reminiscent of Stephen King'’s latest, Cell. I am not sure which came first, Monster Island or Cell (I think it was Monster Island, published in blog format), nor do I expect them to be completely independent of each other because zombie ideas can only go so far, but much of it felt too similar to one another. If I did have to say which was the better of the two, Monster Island wins hands down.
I did feel a little cheated by the ending, but when you think about it, it makes. I can't wait to get my hands on Monster Nation.


23 Down, 29 To Go