I failed almost completely at blogging for most of last year, but that doesn't mean I didn't read anything. In the hopes of returning to more regular posting this will be a quick catch up post listing all of the books I've read since my last book post in April.
- The Gunslinger (revised edition), by Stephen King
- The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King
- The Waste Lands, by Stephen King
- Wizard and Glass, by Stephen King
- The Little Sisters of Eluria, by Stephen King
- The Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King
- Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King
- Song of Susannah, by Stephen King
- The Dark Tower, by Stephen King
- The Dark Tower Omnibus Edition (comic), by Robin Furth
- Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
- Authority, by Jeff VanderMeer
- Acceptance, by Jeff VanderMeer
- Star Wars: Ahsoka, by E. K. Johnston
- The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells
- The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells
- The Murderbot Diaries: Rogue Protocol, by Martha Wells
- The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy, by Martha Wells
- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
- The Oracle Year, by Charles Soule
- The Seamstress, by Frances de Pontes Peebles
- Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
- The Power, by Naomi Alderman
- Disobedience, by Naomi Alderman
- Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler
- Bloodchild, by Octavia E. Butler
- Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler
- Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler
- Wild Seed, by Octavia E. Butler
- Mind of my Mind, by Octavia E. Butler
- Clay's Ark, by Octavia E. Butler
- Patternmaster, by Octavia E. Butler
- Watching Porn, by Lynsey G
- The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi
- Machine Learning, by Hugh Howey
- Paper Girls, issues 1-20 (comic), by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
- Sex Criminals, issues 1-20 (comic), by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
- Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Infinity Gauntlet (comic), by Jim Starlin
- We Stand On Guard issues 1-6 (comic), by Brian K. Vaughan
- The Poppy War, by R.F. Kuang
- Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King
- Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz
- The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg, by Deborah Eisenberg
The main take-away from this list for me is that eBooks from the library dramatically increase the amount of reading I do. So that's pretty great. More specifically I'd like to call out a few items from the list for special mention.
I re-read the Gunslinger books for the n-th time and still really enjoyed them. I hadn't re-read anything in quite a while and was pleased to find I still like to do that.
I can't believe I'm just finding Octavia E. Butler. She's fantastic. Superb writing all around. I'm going to read the rest of her books soon. Her short stories in Bloodchild were especially enjoyable, and I really liked her "Parable" books too. Her Patternist series was epic!
My favourite standalone books of the year were Warlight (Ondaatje continues to be fantastic), The Seamstress (surprisingly gripping), and The Power (really interesting ideas). And if you string them all together the Murderbot Diaries novellas make an excellent full-length novel that was super fun.
I'm currently in progress on the enormous collection of short stories from Deborah Eisenberg. They're excellent but it's a long and dense collection so I'm moving slowly. I'd compare them favourably to Alice Munro -- excellent stories about real people and their feelings.
More reading to come!
