Thursday, October 31, 2013

More Books Again

So, I went back.  And I found a few books on sale last week on my way back from Vermont.  I got:

Firewall - another Wallander book, so I've read 2 and have 5 more;
Operation Napoleon - by Arnaldur Indridason.  Icelandic author, though this isn't part of the Jar City/Draining Lake series.
Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium - copyright 1916
The Execution Channel - Ken MacLeod
The Given Day - Dennis Lehane
The Chinese Bell Murders - Robert Van Gulik.  I think this is a Detective Dee book.
The Yard - Alex Grecian
Thunderstruck - Erik Larson
The Forgery of Venus - Michael Gruber
The Saskiad - Brian Hall
The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss
The 1985 & 1987 Annual World's Best SF - Wollheim.  This is a MMPB series.
Beasts; The Deep; and Engine Summer - John Crowley.
Beyond Singularity - an anthology by Dozois.

I've read The Years Best Fantasy Stories Vol. 3; The Years Best SF Vol. 21; The Outfit; Little SisterThe Boy In The Suitcase; and Beyond Singularity. I'm wavering between Wolf Hall and Nemesis right now.

Little Sister was excellent Raymond Chandler.  His writing is lyrical, evocative, and all-around awesome. I read these just to read them. I spent almost the whole drive back from Vermont thinking about how to write a fantasy story in something similar to Chandler's style.  I think I sorted out how it could work, but I'm not sure if I could pull it off.  5/5
Fantasy Stories 3 was interesting as an indication of changing taste in short fantasy fiction (and fantasy in general).  It was also a Lin Carter ego trip book.  3/5
Years Best SF 21 was typically great; I don't understand why anyone and everyone even marginally interested in SF doesn't read these. 5/5
The Outfit was just like a Jason Statham movie, or vice versa.  I'd read another one. 3/5
The Boy in the Suitcase had some issues in character development (almost all the bits were there, but in the wrong order, IMO), but I'd chance another book by the authors.  3/5
Beyond Singularity had a lot of repeat stories, and no Vernor Vinge, which is just weird and wrong.  And the stories were kinda weird, actually.  A lot of them were really far future, I think, which made the Singularity just a historical event, and not a real point in the story.  2/5

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