Books Read: April 2017

Much delayed and without the normal commentary. Here's April.

1. Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough
2. The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi
3. Chalk, by Paul Cornell
4. The Ghost Line, by Andrew Neil Gray and J.S. Herbison
5. Certain Dark Things, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
6. Mapping the Interior, by Stephen Graham Jones
7. Final Girls, by Mira Grant
8. Blood of Tyrants, by Naomi Novik
9. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, by Tamora Pierce
10. All That Outer Space Allows, by Ian Sales
11. The Harrowing of Gwynedd, by Katherine Kurtz
12. Madness in Solidar, by LE. Modesitt, Jr
13. Bridging Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
14. The Photo Ark, by Joel Sartore
15. The Nix, by Nathan Hill
16. The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel
17. This Census-Taker, by China Mieville

Books Read: March 2017

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Empire Games, by Charles Stross
2. Greedy Pigs, by Matt Wallace
3. The Sport of Kings, by C.E. Morgan
4. Killing Gravity, by Corey J. White
5. All Systems Red, by Martha Wells
6. Grantville Gazette: Volume II, by Eric Flint (editor)
7. Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire
8. Feedback, by Mira Grant
9. Earth and Space: Photographs from the Archives of NASA
10. Much Loved, by Mark Nixon
11. Impersonations, by Walter Jon Williams
12. Otherworlds: Visions of Our Solar System
13. Proof of Concept, by Gwyneth Jones
14. Amberlough, by Lara Elena Donnelly


Best Book of the Month: Amberlough.

Disappointment of the Month: Proof of Concept.

Discovery of the Month: Still Amberlough. Holy crap it's good.

Worth Noting: If you're a fan of astronomy, I'd recommend checking of the Otherworlds photography book.

Gender Breakdown: 6 of the 14 books I read in March were written by women. This brings my total for the year to 23 of 44, or 52.27%.


Previous Reads:
January 
February

Books Read: February 2017

Now that another month has come and gone, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
2. Lightning in the Blood, by Marie Brennan
3. Sweet Lamb of Heaven, by Lydia Millet
4. The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
5. We Love You, Charlie Freeman, by Kaitlyn Greenidge
6. River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey
7. LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
8. Sudden Death, by Alvaro Enrique
9. Buffalo Soldier, by Maurice Broaddus
10. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
11. The Complete Peanuts: Vol 26, by Charles M. Schulz
12. Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose
13. The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
14. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson


Best Book of the Month: The Stars Are Legion is fucking amazing.

Disappointment of the Month: I would say that My Name is Lucy Barton was a disappointment (because it was), but I also didn't have any sort of positive expectations for a novel from Elizabeth Strout. I'd previously read her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, now this one is in the Tournament of Books. It's a miss for me.

Discovery of the Month: Damn close for me in the running of best book is Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing.

Worth Noting: For years I've referenced a book that I read as one of the crazier titles / concepts for a novel, which would be George Bush, Dark Prince of Love (written about the first President Bush, this is a real book). Well, Lydia Millet wrote it and now I've read a second one of her books

Gender Breakdown: 11 of the 14 books I read in February were written by women. This brings my total for the year to 17/30, or 56.66%.


Previous Reads:
January

Books Read: January 2017

Now that another month has come and gone (and then yet another has come and gone because I'm so late in getting this up) let's take a look at the books I read in January

1. Standard Hollywood Depravity, by Adam Christopher
2. Order to Kill, by Kyle Mills
3. The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon
4. Agents of Dreamland, by Caitlin R. Kiernan
5. The Last Days of New Paris, by China Mieville
6. Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick
7. Grief is the Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter
8. The Warren, by Brian Evenson
9. Arcanum Unbounded, by Brandon Sanderson
10. Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
11. Black Wave, by Michelle Tea
12. The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
13. Miniatures, by John Scalzi
14. A Time of Omens, by Katharine Kerr
15. Brother's Ruin, by Emma Newman
16. The Autumn Republic, by Brian McClellan

Best Book of the Month: It's always a delight to read more Deverry.

Disappointment of the Month: I'm reading through the short list of the Tournament of Books and Grief is the Thing With Feathers did not hit with me. It's a weird combination of prose and poetry and it's not for me.

Discovery of the Month: There's a part of me that thinks I could potentially be friends with Anna Kendrick. Independent of that, I really enjoyed her memoir.

Worth Noting: My wife has told me that I need to read The Magicians for several years now and I finally broke down and read the book. It's not that I don't trust her, it's more that I keep having other things out from the library to read or review,

Gender Breakdown: 6 out of the 16 books I read in January were written by women, which is a huge step back from the last two years of finishing over 50%, but it is only one month and the first of the year and since I'm posting this so late, I can tell you that February was much stronger and flipped almost entirely the other way.