Core Dump 2.0

This page lists books that I’m reading, that I’ve recently read (starting roughly from January 2010), and books that I plan to read. I’ve added short comments about the books that I’ve read. Updated February 10, 2012.

Currently reading

I usually have several books on the go at the same time.

• Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge
• REAMDE by Neal Stephenson
• The Information by James Gleick

Recently read

Most recently read are listed first.

2012

• A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
  On the third reading, still one of my favourite SF novels. It has a higher idea density than almost any other SF novel I can think of.
• Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
  Another Temperance Brennan novel, and still enjoyable as ever.
• Alien Contact edited by Marty Halpern.
  Another excellent anthology from Halpern. See my review.

2011

• Supervolcano: Eruption by Harry Turtledove
  Yellowstone erupts in this first novel of a trilogy. Good stuff if you like disaster porn.
• Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
  Still remarkably readable and it hasn’t dated as badly as I thought it might. Piper’s Fuzzies and Scalzi’s Fuzzies are quite different.
• Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson
  Third and concluding book in the series that started with the Hugo-winner, Spin. It’s a much better book than Axis, and should be an award nominee next year.
• Tears of the Sun by S. M. Stirling
  Eigth in Steve Stirling’s Emberverse series. This one felt a bit padded.
• Year’s Best SF 16 edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
  I was a bit worried about this year’s edition, as the stories in the first half weren’t very memorable, but the second half of the book made up for it. Best story, “To Hie from Far Cilenia” by Karl Schroeder.
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross
  This is a sequel to Halting State, but I didm’t like it quite as much. I had trouble keeping story straight in the first half of the book. It had an inventive near-future setting, but it’s not Stross’ best work.
• A Storm of Swords by George. R. R. Martin.
  I liked this better than the second book, but I’m taking a break from the series for a month or two to get caught up on some other books.
• A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
  Second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I’m completely hooked on this now.
• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
  First book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I’m not a big fan of epic fantasy, but this is excellent. I’d forgotten how good a writer Martin is.
• WWW:Watch and WWW:Wonderby Robert J. Sawyer
  Second and third books in Sawyer’s WWW trilogy. I think this could have been cut down into one long book that would have been much more entertaining. Still, Sawyer has written one of the best treatments of emergent AI in SF.
• The Best American Science Writing 2009 edited by Natalie Archer
  A good collection of essays, although I would have liked a few more on the hard sciences.
• After America by John Birmingham
  Second book in the series that started with Without Warning. Lots of action, but not much explanation of what might have caused the disaster.
• Packing for Marsby Mary Roach
  Highly entertaining non-fiction about the nitty gritty realities of space travel.
• Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
  A collection of stories set in the near-future India of River of Gods. Excellent.
• Daybreak: Zero by John Barnes
  Sequel to Directive 51. Second book of what I assume will be a trilogy. It bogged down quite a bit with fictional politics instead of action.
• Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy
  Typical Clancy, now rendered obsolete by the death of Bin Laden. Two thirds of a good book that fell apart at the end.
• Life by Keith Richards and James Fox
  Keef’s autobiography. Fascinating read for Stones fans.
• Into the Storm by Reed Trimmer
  Autobiography of the well-known storm chaser. If you’re fascinated by tornadoes, this book is for you.
• Directive 51 by John Barnes
  Techno-thriller, disaster novel set about 15 years in the future when a mysterious organization known as Daybreak wipes out most modern technology. First of a trilogy.
• Robert A. Heinlein – In Dialogue with His Century- Volume 1 (1907-1948)- Learning Curve by Bill Patterson
  Absolutely fascination biography of the first half of Heinlein’s life. I can’t wait for the second book. Highly recommended.
• The Wave by Susan Casey
  Interesting non-fiction about big waves and the people who chase them. I’d love to see this made into a documentary – it cries out for the big screen.
• Half a Crown by Jo Walton
  The conclusion of Walton’s “Spare Change” alternate-history trilogy. A fine mix of police procedural, thriller, alternate history, and social commentary. Highly recommended.
• River of Gods by Ian McDonald
  Amazing SF set in the India of 2047. The best SF novel of the millenium so far. How this book didn’t win the Hugo is beyond me.
• Ha’penny by Jo Walton
  Second book of Walton’s “Spare Change” alternate history-police procedural trilogy. Darker and deeper than the first book.
• Farthing by Jo Walton
  First book of Walton’s “Spare Change” alternate history-police procedural trilogy. I liked this a lot.

2010

• The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton
  Conclusion of the Void trilogy. It got a bit tedious towards the end.
• The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton
  Second book in The Void trilogy. Much of this book takes place in the fantasy setting of the Void, instead of the Commonwealth and I found myself skimming large parts of the Void story.
• The HIgh King of Montival by S. M. Stirling
  Fourth in the latest sequence of Steve’s Change novels. I’m enjoying these more as the series goes along, but I wish his editor was a bit more ruthless.
• Bonk by Mary Roach
  Non-fiction about the history of sex research. This is one of the best non-fiction books about science that I’ve read in a long time. It’s also very funny.
• The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
  First in Hamilton’s Void Trilogy. Lots of world-building and plot setup in Hamilton’s always vivid style, but very much the first book of a trilogy.
• The Fuller Memorandum by Charlie Stross
  Third in Stross’ ongoing Laundry series, a blend of Lovecraftian fantasy, spy thriller, and bureaucratic satire. This one is darker than the earlier two books.
• The Prefect
  Another in Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space series, and maybe the best of the five so far.  It’s more or less a sequel to Chasm City, so it’s early in chronological order, but stands alone in its story. I enjoyed this more than some of the earlier books in the series.
• West and East: The War that Came Early by Harry Turtledove
  A direct sequel to Hitler’s War, which carries the war ahead another year or so. Enjoyable, but I hope he doesn’t stretch the series out to five or six books.
• Freedom, by Daniel Suarez.
  Sequel to Daemon, in which he moves beyond the thriller into the realm of SF and what really advanced computer technology, ultrawide bandwidth, and social networking might mean to society. One of the most thought-provoking novels I’ve read in a long time.
• Years Best SF15 edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
  If this anthology is any indication, last year was a very good year for short SF.
• Daemon by Daniel Suarez
  A fast-paced, high tech thriller that races along to set up the next book (Freedom). The tech in this one seems accurate and believable.
• Is Anybody Out There? edited by Marty Halpern
  See my review.
• The Bishop’s Man by Linden McIntyre
  Winner of the Giller Prize last year, this is a detailed character study of a priest dealing with alcohol, sexual repression, and sexual abuse. Really well written, but I think you’d have to be a Catholic or a Maritimer to fully appreciate it.
• A Taint in the Blood by S. M. Stirling
  Steve (or his publisher) is obviously going after the vampire market. Enjoyable, but you might want to wait until there’s a couple more books in the series.
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  If more fantasy novels were this good, I’d read more fantasy. I am going to read more Gaiman.
• The Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
  Final book in the first cycle of the Merchant Princes series. I really liked the series, but start from the beginning.
• Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
  Fourth in Reynold’s Revelation Space series, and the chronological conclusion. This one seemed to drag a bit – his newer books have better pacing.
• Hitler’s War by Harry Turtledove
  First in a new alternate-World War 2 series. Typical Turtledove – well thought out, fast paced, and vivid, but a bit formulaic. I liked it enough to want to continue reading the series.
• Under the Dome by Stephen King
  Too long by a third and with a weak ending, but still a compelling portrait of the evil and the good normal people are capable of in extreme circumstances. It’d make a killer mini-series.
• The Sunless Lands by Karl Schroeder
  Fourth in Schroeder’s Virga series. A vivid setting but I couldn’t identify with the main character and the ending lost me.
• Ice and Iron by S. M. Stirling
  A story collection. If you like military SF or alternate history, you should enjoy it.
• The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois
  This one didn’t live up to the quality of the first in the series, but it does have brilliant stories by Peter Watts and Robert Charles Wilson. The Halpern anthology was better.

In the queue

Roughly in the order I plan to read them:

• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• Zero History by William Gibson
• A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
• Brasyl by Ian Macdonald
• The Dervish House by Ian Macdonald
• Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
• Escape from Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
• The God Engines by John Scalzi
• Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
• Flood by Stephen Baxter
• Ark by Stephen Baxter
• Glimpses by Lewis Shiner