Books 2006

[bookzombie]

In 2006 I split up my 'books read' spreadsheet into three, rather than two as I had before. The categories and numbers:
Books: 129
Graphic Novels, Cartoon Books, Manga (i.e. 'quick' reads): 61
SF Story magazines (F&SF, Interzone, Asimov's): 40

As usual, the good, the bad and the disappointing.


Three of my five 'best of year' books for the annual Vector summary were quite easy. I knew as soon as I finished them that it would take something fairly spectacular to knock them off the top five. The three:
Mary Doria Russell - Thread of Grace.  I loved The Sparrow, was indifferent to Children of God but I adored Thread of Grace.
Geoff Ryman - Air.
Matt Ruff - Set this House in Order. Not really much to say about either of these Tiptree award winners (among other things in the case of Air) that hasn't already been said. Hand on heart, I would have to say that the Matt Ruff just has the edge.

My other 'best of year' books can vary from day to day, but here is my long list. The two I finalised on for my Vector piece are in italics:
*Alastair Reynolds - Pushing Ice (best pure 'hard sf' novel I read last year)
*Patricia McKillip - Something Rich and Strange (due to extensive use of Abe Books I now have all PM's novels. Now trying to trace the short stories I don't already have).
*Peter Dickinson - The Tears of the Salamander (starts a bit slow but becomes gripping)
*Lisa Randall - Warped Passages (Big Science on the structure of the universe, but very readable and very honest about the theoretical nature of some of the ideas)
*Mike Carey - The Devil You Know (I love Carey's Lucifer graphic novel series. This is his first novel, think Constantine-lite, but very entertaining for that).
*Joanne Harris - Gentlemen and Players (fun and creepy thriller, where class differences are key - something that often likely to catch my attention).
*Mary Soon Lee - Ebb Tide and other tales
*Eileen Gunn - Stable Strategies and others (these two were joint runners up for 'best single-author collection' for last year).
*Holly Black - Valiant (smashing modern fairy story)
*John Gribbin - Science: A History (as good an overview of the history of science as you are likely to come across)
*Philip Reeve - A Darkling Plain (final volume in the series that started with Mortal Engines. I know some were disappointed with this one, but I found it very satisfying).
*David Mitchell - Ghostwritten (so nearly one of my top five. It may be heretical to say so, but I found this much better than his Clarke Award-nominated Cloud Atlas).
*Stephen Johnson - Everything Bad is Good for You
*Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point (two good books about popular culture, how things become part of it and what it means! I'm not sure I am totally convinced by all parts of the arguments but thought-provoking anyway).
*Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things (as always with a collection, not every story works for me, but there are some real gems).
*Robert Charles Wilson - Spin (The other hard sf novel that really impressed me this year. Though I have to say that I am a bit confused about why this RCW novel in particular has made people sit up and take notice: it is of a piece with some of his earlier books. Still, nice to see him getting the attention he deserves).

There are many others that could have made even the long list (most of the Charles de Lint's or Scott Westerfeld's for example) but it has to stop somewhere!



*Jeremy Burnham & Trevor Ray - Children of the Stones (appalling adaptation of a cherished TV series. Bleurgh.)
*Koji Suzuki - Ring (a perfect example of a film that is far superior to the book. A waste of paper)
*P. J. Tracy - Dead Run (third in a thriller series. An 'oh, who cares' book).
*Richard Paul Russo - The Rosetta Codex (I usually like this author, but this feels like the author's notes for a novel, not the novel itself. A mess)
*Tony Ballantyne - Recursion (some good ideas, but again a bit of a shambles)
*Jack Dann - Promised Land (alternate history short stories set in 1950s-60s USA. Just couldn't warm to it)
*Gene DeWeese & Robert Coulson - Now You See It/Him/Them (a one joke, thin sf comedy-thriller)



When we were both in the same APA, peake used to argue with me about this category. His belief was that books are either good or bad, they can't be 'disappointing'. I don't agree. A disappointing book, for me, is one that I would like to like, or expected to like, or usually like the writer, but it doesn't work for me. Of course it is subjective, but so are my good and bad choices!

* Jon Courtenay Grimwood - 9Tail Fox (I loved JCG's last four novels, but this one felt like a step backwards to his violent cyberpunk thrillers that preceeded those)
* Eleanor Aranason - Ring of Swords (I have always really enjoyed ER's short fiction set in this universe, but rather like The Rosetta Codex mentioned above, this one just didn't feel like a novel, but like notes for a novel)
* Malcolm Price - Aberystwyth Mon Amour (pennski recommended this one to me, but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as she did. Just didn't quite work)
* Ken MacLeod - Learning the World (again one that I was really looking forward to but just didn't quite work for me)
* Lemony Snickett - A Series of Unfortunate Events 13: The End (I was so looking forward to this but despite some good puns and the usual mordant sense of humour it didn't really give people who had stuck with the series the resolution I think they deserved)
* Michael Chabon - Wonder Boys (I loved The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Summerland, and I had really liked the film adaptation of Wonder Boys, but the novel didn't live up to my expectations. I found myself wanting to keep shaking the lead character and telling him to just grow up!)
* Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain (I had been pre-warned about this one, because pennski was less than impressed. Most of KSR's output I've really enjoyed, even Antarctica, but this I found tedious. His heart is in the right place, but he seems to have forgotten, even more than normal, about minor things like likeable (or at least understandable) characters and a plot. I expect I will eventually read the follow up but it's not going to hit the top of my pile for a long time)