Below is a listing of the books I read in the month of May. All links go to my reviews.
1. Fire With Fire, by Charles Gannon
2. The Iron Khan, by Liz Williams
3. The Disappeared, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
4. Farthing, Jo Walton
5. Code of Conduct, by Kristine Smith
6. Insomnia, by Stephen King
7. Starfish, by Peter Watts
8. Coyote, by Allen Steele
9. Liavek, by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull
10. Little Bee, by Chris Cleve
11. A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin
12. The Dinner, by Herman Koch
13. The Public Library, by Robert Dawson
14. Hild, by Nicola Griffith
15. The Twins Platoon, by Christy Sauro
16. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
Best Book of the Month: I keep flipping between the Griffith and the VanderMeer, but I'm going to go with Annihilation. In less than two hundred pages, Jeff VanderMeer has written a spare novel that makes me wonder what would happen if Don DeLillo wrote science fiction, but wasn't permitted to use product names for effect.
Disappointment of the Month: I hesitate to say this because it feels like I am violating some sacred trust of fantasy, and this is more of a mild disappointment than a strong disappointment, but it is the shared world anthology Liavek. Some of the individual stories were strong, but I think I expected something a touch more coherent as a whole. This may have more to do with my own expectations of how the shared world would work here, but these were individual episodes, not something building to a larger singular picture. It was...fine, but I expected something different and stronger.
Discovery of the Month: Why have I not been reading Peter Watts all these years? Starfish was wonderful and everything I didn't know I wanted to read about. I've had a copy for years, but never picked it up until I was traveling and wanted another paperback to bring with me. I should have started sooner.
Worth Noting: Even though I didn't review much this month, I read a number of novels I very much enjoyed. And, I read a number of books that I really should have read years ago so I could be farther along the series than just book one. The Disappeared, Farthing, Code of Conduct, and Starfish were all quite good and now I want read more from each of those authors in each of those series.
Books and Bars: The Dinner is a nasty little book populated with unlikeable characters. I couldn't put it down.
Previous Months
January
February
March
April
2 comments:
I'm liking these recaps, especially since we get a few words about the ones you don't write reviews for. Also, these things frequently remind me about books I meant to read...like you say, things I should've read (or should've read the sequels to!) years ago.
I have Farthing but haven't read it yet. And I listened to The Disappeared a few years ago and enjoyed it...then never got around to checking out the series. D'oh!
Farthing was good.
But, the amount of books that I have which I haven't read is kind of absurd. I would go to Uncle Hugo's, pick up a stack of used books on the cheap, and they'd sit for years.
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