2011 Books Read and Films Seen

Again, for the sake of posterity, the lists of books that I read and films that I saw in 2011:

2011 Reading List (Out of 4 Stars)
China Mountain Zhang (Maureen F. McHugh, 1992) ***

• Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell, 2004) *****
• Cyberabad Days (Ian McDonald, 2009) ****
• Embassytown (China Miéville, 2011) ***
• Faust: Part One (J.W. von Goethe, 1808; trans David Luke, 2008)
• Filaria (Brent Hayward, 2008) ***
• Fleetwood (William Godwin, 1805)
• The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, 2008) [reread]
• King Lear (Shakespeare, 1603-1606)
• Neuromancer (William Gibson, 1984) [reread]
• Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005) [reread]
• Paradise Lost (John Milton, 1667/1674) [reread]
• Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki, 2010)
• Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen, 1811)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R. Covey, 1989/2004)
• Spin (Robert Charles Wilson, 2006) *** 1/2
• Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay, 2010) ***
• Walsingham (Mary Robinson, 1797)

Read more . . .

2010 Books Read and Films Seen

A new year has begun, so it's time to clear the Reading and Films Seen lists. For posterity's sake, the 2010 lists are transferred here.

For my favourite books, short fiction, films, and music of 2010, go to Favourites of 2010.


2010 Reading List (Out of 4 Stars)
Absolution Gap (Alastair Reynolds, 2003) *** 1/2
Asimov's Science Fiction (Jan. 2010) *** 1/2

• Asimov's Science Fiction (Feb. 2010) ***
• Asimov's Science Fiction (Mar. 2010) ** 1/2
• Asimov's Science Fiction (Apr./May 2010) *** 1/2
• Beggars in Spain (Nancy Kress, 1993) ***
• Blue Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson, 1996) ****
• Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, 2009) **
• The Burning Skies (David J. Williams, 2009) *** 1/2
• The City & The City (China Miéville, 2009) *** 1/2
• Dreaming in Books: The Making of the Bibliographic Imagination in the Romantic Age (Andrew Piper, 2009) *** 1/2
• The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, 2008) *** 1/2
• I Am Legend (Richard Matheson, 1954) *** 1/2
• The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969) ****
• Little Brother (Cory Doctorow, 2009) ***
• The Machinery of Light (David J. Williams, 2010) *** 1/2
• The Mirrored Heavens (David J. Williams, 2008) *** 1/2
• Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005) ****
• The New Space Opera 2 (Dozois and Strahan, eds., 2009) ***
• The Quiet War (Paul McAuley, 2009) ** 1/2
• Redemption Ark (Alastair Reynolds, 2002) ****
• Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson, 1992) ***
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell, 2010) *****
• The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009) *** 1/2
• Wordsworth Translated: A Case Study in the Reception of British Romantic Poetry in Germany 1804-1914 (John Williams, 2009) ** 1/2
• Year's Best SF 15 (Hartwell and Cramer, eds., 2010) ***

Read more . . .

Book Reviewing and Blogging

Recently, a fair amount of discussion (and debate) on book reviewing and blogging made its way across the SF&F blogosphere. I found this discussion intriguing and informative, and so wanted to collect and organize the various comments here.

Author Mark Charan Newton cast the first stone with his blog post, What Makes a Good Book Blogger? (From a Writer's Point of View).

Some book bloggers/reviewers responded (reading the comments for these posts expands the discussion significantly):

• King of the Nerds

• Fantasy Book News & Reviews

• Neth Space

• The World in the Satin Bag

The discussion also led to blog posts on the issue of reviewing from 2008:

• OF Blog of the Fallen: 1 March 2008 and 10 December 2008

• Jeff VanderMeer (29 March 2008)

• Hal Duncan (8 June 2008)

Finally, James at Speculative Horizons posted his excellent and helpful tips on blogging and reviewing: Things I've learned about blogging.

2009 Books Read and Films Seen

Now that it's a new year, I need to clear the slate for my reading and film lists, but I wanted to ensure that both lists did not just dissolve away into cyberspace never to be seen again (by me, at least).

My "best of" lists for 2009 readings and films are here.

Read more . . .