Turns out I've been delinquent about this for a while now... Lets see how much I can reconstruct, separating 2014 and 2015:
The Broken Eye, Brent Weeks
Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss
Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
Independent Study,Joelle Charbonneau
Beyond the Shadows, Brent Weeks
Shadows Edge, Brent Weeks
The Testing, Joelle Charbonneau
Graduation Day, Joelle Charbonneau
Never Let Me Go, Kazou Ishiguro
I'm not going to comment on all of these,there's just too many. I think I'm also missing a couple from when I was in Israel over December/January and using a tablet for reading.
In brief:
-Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy is fantastic. I enjoyed it and you will too, if you're at least a little into fantasy.
-Cryptonomicon was great and interesting. Readers will enjoy it, especially those who like math. Quicksilver was somewhat less entertaining.
-Don't bother with Joelle Charbonneau's books. They're trash.
-Never Let Me Go is great and haunting. Readers will enjoy it.
And now for the annual counting-of-books-I've-read...
I only come up with 27! I'm going to blame it on first year of grad school, although probably I'm just making excuses. Here's hoping I get to do more reading this coming year!
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Monday, August 18, 2014
June, July, August
Can you tell I've been on a huge scifi/fantasy kick by all the 4's in the labels for this post?
WWW:Watch - Robert Sawyer
WWW:Wonder - Robert Sawyer
Neuromancer - William Gibson
The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
Earth Awakens - Orson Scott Card
Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson
Cast in Shadow - Michelle Sagara
The Black Prism - Brent Weeks
Once again I will bemoan the fact that I don't update nearly as often as would be ideal to give the best reviews of these books. In fact I'm not confident that I didn't forget some books here. I'm basing the list on the list in my library account but its pretty jumbled.
Lately I've been borrowing far more books than I've had time to read. I need to pace myself better!
Here goes:
The second two WWW books were fantastic. Only for scifi people, but I thought they explored some interesting ideas in a relatively novel (to me) way.
Neuromancer is a scifi classic and I read it because it was mentioned in Snow Crash which I enjoyed. I found Neuromancer more difficult to read, almost as if it was aimed at a different generation of people. For scifi aficionados it would definitely be worth the read.
The Way of Kings and The Words of Radiance are the first two books in the latest trilogy by my most recent favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. They are serious fantasy, but the writing and characters are fantastic. I'd recommend Sanderson for someone who'd never read fantasy before but was interested in trying it out. The Way of Kings is a bit slow - Warbreaker or Mistborn might be better to start with.
Earth Awakens is the last book in Card's pre-Ender's Game trilogy. I enjoyed it because I enjoy everything else he writes, but I'd only suggest reading this if you are very invested in the Enderverse.
I think Cast in Shadow was suggested by a friend. Its basically a mystery in fantasy format. I enjoyed the book but found the fantasy to be a bit too intense for me. This is part of a huge series but I'm not going to seek out the others.
Lastly, the Black Prism is the first in a trilogy by Brent Weeks. It reminded me very strongly of Warbreaker and I enjoyed it immensely. The sequel is the next book on my list. This book is fantasy, but again the characters and plot are engaging and the fantasy is not too overbearing.
WWW:Watch - Robert Sawyer
WWW:Wonder - Robert Sawyer
Neuromancer - William Gibson
The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
Earth Awakens - Orson Scott Card
Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson
Cast in Shadow - Michelle Sagara
The Black Prism - Brent Weeks
Once again I will bemoan the fact that I don't update nearly as often as would be ideal to give the best reviews of these books. In fact I'm not confident that I didn't forget some books here. I'm basing the list on the list in my library account but its pretty jumbled.
Lately I've been borrowing far more books than I've had time to read. I need to pace myself better!
Here goes:
The second two WWW books were fantastic. Only for scifi people, but I thought they explored some interesting ideas in a relatively novel (to me) way.
Neuromancer is a scifi classic and I read it because it was mentioned in Snow Crash which I enjoyed. I found Neuromancer more difficult to read, almost as if it was aimed at a different generation of people. For scifi aficionados it would definitely be worth the read.
The Way of Kings and The Words of Radiance are the first two books in the latest trilogy by my most recent favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. They are serious fantasy, but the writing and characters are fantastic. I'd recommend Sanderson for someone who'd never read fantasy before but was interested in trying it out. The Way of Kings is a bit slow - Warbreaker or Mistborn might be better to start with.
Earth Awakens is the last book in Card's pre-Ender's Game trilogy. I enjoyed it because I enjoy everything else he writes, but I'd only suggest reading this if you are very invested in the Enderverse.
I think Cast in Shadow was suggested by a friend. Its basically a mystery in fantasy format. I enjoyed the book but found the fantasy to be a bit too intense for me. This is part of a huge series but I'm not going to seek out the others.
Lastly, the Black Prism is the first in a trilogy by Brent Weeks. It reminded me very strongly of Warbreaker and I enjoyed it immensely. The sequel is the next book on my list. This book is fantasy, but again the characters and plot are engaging and the fantasy is not too overbearing.
Monday, May 19, 2014
February, March, April, May (?!)
I've been reading this semester, I swear. Its just taken a long time and the semester was... challenging. Its all over now though so I can work at my leisure and post here too!
Earth Afire - Orson Scott Card
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
WWW: Wake - Robert Sawyer
Feed - M.T. Anderson
The shitty thing is that its really been too long since I read Earth Afire to comment on it well. I think that I enjoyed it but wouldn't suggest it for anyone other than hardcore Card fans who want to know what happens.
The Mistborn series (all the Sanderson books) were amazing. Unapologetically fantasy though, so if you love fantasy check these out and otherwise stay far away. (I don't think these are the best intro-to-fantasy books, if you're looking to get into it but haven't enjoyed it in the past.)
WWW:Wake is some interesting and well written science fiction. Again, not the best for non-scifi folks, but Card fans (and other scifi fans in general) would like this.
Feed is also scifi, although its really aimed at a YA audience. If you get hung up on cliches and let-me-bang-you-over-the-head-with-how-I-can-reach-teens, don't go for this one. But if you've liked YA in the past, this is a great book and I think it brings up some interesting questions about where people thought the world was going 10 years ago, and where we are now.
Earth Afire - Orson Scott Card
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
WWW: Wake - Robert Sawyer
Feed - M.T. Anderson
The shitty thing is that its really been too long since I read Earth Afire to comment on it well. I think that I enjoyed it but wouldn't suggest it for anyone other than hardcore Card fans who want to know what happens.
The Mistborn series (all the Sanderson books) were amazing. Unapologetically fantasy though, so if you love fantasy check these out and otherwise stay far away. (I don't think these are the best intro-to-fantasy books, if you're looking to get into it but haven't enjoyed it in the past.)
WWW:Wake is some interesting and well written science fiction. Again, not the best for non-scifi folks, but Card fans (and other scifi fans in general) would like this.
Feed is also scifi, although its really aimed at a YA audience. If you get hung up on cliches and let-me-bang-you-over-the-head-with-how-I-can-reach-teens, don't go for this one. But if you've liked YA in the past, this is a great book and I think it brings up some interesting questions about where people thought the world was going 10 years ago, and where we are now.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
November, December, January
Clearly I'm terrible about posting lately, but here goes:
The Magicians - Lev Grossman
The Magician King - Lev Grossman
Allegiant - Veronica Roth
Earth Unaware - Orson Scott Card
Earth is Room Enough - Isaac Asimov
Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm missing a few books, but there's nothing to be done about that except update more often!
Both of the Grossman books are OK but not great. I enjoyed parts of each of them, and muddled through parts of each of them. If you are into fantasy, try them out. Otherwise, stay away.
Allegiant is the third in a trilogy (starting with Divergant). Seriously only read this if you've read the first two and just want to know what happens next. And even then... you might want to just read the wikipedia page...
Earth Unaware is the start of a prequel-to-Ender's Game-trilogy. I enjoyed it, but I am extremely biased when it comes to Card, so don't trust me. Read it if you enjoy scifi and/or Card's stuff, but not otherwise.
Earth is Room Enough is a collection of fantastic short stories by Isaac Asimov. I came to admire his skill after reading this book. Which says a lot because I usually hate short stories. Highly recommended, unless you hate scifi.
Warbreaker is a huge book that I found at the library when I was desperate for something to read. Sanderson has also authored Elantris which I was not hugely impressed by. Well Warbreaker has completely changed my opinion on Sanderson. I finished this behemoth in about 3 days and was very emotionally invested in the book. Only for fantasy folks of course, but if you are one you'll love it!
I re-read Persepolis while waiting for 2.5 hours at the DMV for my new license. Yes, after 7 years in this state I have finally made it official. This book is extremely well written and illustrated and tells an important story that should not be forgotten. Everyone should read it.
Aaannnnddd, now that the year is (long) over, the 2013 (approximate) count of books: 34! Which, shockingly, is 2 more than last year, although quite far from the 44 I read in 2011. Works out to ~1.5 weeks per book (~64% of a book per week)
The Magicians - Lev Grossman
The Magician King - Lev Grossman
Allegiant - Veronica Roth
Earth Unaware - Orson Scott Card
Earth is Room Enough - Isaac Asimov
Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm missing a few books, but there's nothing to be done about that except update more often!
Both of the Grossman books are OK but not great. I enjoyed parts of each of them, and muddled through parts of each of them. If you are into fantasy, try them out. Otherwise, stay away.
Allegiant is the third in a trilogy (starting with Divergant). Seriously only read this if you've read the first two and just want to know what happens next. And even then... you might want to just read the wikipedia page...
Earth Unaware is the start of a prequel-to-Ender's Game-trilogy. I enjoyed it, but I am extremely biased when it comes to Card, so don't trust me. Read it if you enjoy scifi and/or Card's stuff, but not otherwise.
Earth is Room Enough is a collection of fantastic short stories by Isaac Asimov. I came to admire his skill after reading this book. Which says a lot because I usually hate short stories. Highly recommended, unless you hate scifi.
Warbreaker is a huge book that I found at the library when I was desperate for something to read. Sanderson has also authored Elantris which I was not hugely impressed by. Well Warbreaker has completely changed my opinion on Sanderson. I finished this behemoth in about 3 days and was very emotionally invested in the book. Only for fantasy folks of course, but if you are one you'll love it!
I re-read Persepolis while waiting for 2.5 hours at the DMV for my new license. Yes, after 7 years in this state I have finally made it official. This book is extremely well written and illustrated and tells an important story that should not be forgotten. Everyone should read it.
Aaannnnddd, now that the year is (long) over, the 2013 (approximate) count of books: 34! Which, shockingly, is 2 more than last year, although quite far from the 44 I read in 2011. Works out to ~1.5 weeks per book (~64% of a book per week)
Sunday, November 10, 2013
August, September, October
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
Every Boy's Got One - Meg Cabot
Future Boston - Edited by David Alexander Smith
Life After Life - Jill McCorkle
Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
The Naked Sun -Isaac Asimov
Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
Insurgent - Veronica Roth
The Wise Man's Fear -Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind -Patrick Rothfuss
Alright, I have been TERRIBLE about updating this lately. If I don't get this posted now I'll just keep hiding this post forever.
Not even sure when I read I, Robot but I know I liked it. Its definitely unabashedly scifi though, heads up.
In brief, Meg Cabot's book was a chick flick, as expected, which I read because I needed a physical book to read on Shabbat.
Future Boston was a book written in the 90's by a group of scifi authors imagining Boston was sinking into the ocean and writing short stories about every few years for several hundred years. It was very interesting to read about the place I live, and some of the stories were really great. Overall mediocre though.
Life After Life was recommended highly to me by a friend but I recall thinking it was 'Ok but not great'.
Robots of Dawn/Caves of Steel/The Naked Sun were nice. I really like 'historic science fiction' and while some hate Asimov, I enjoy his details! It is always interesting to see how sometimes writers just couldn't imagine things that we take for granted today (ie - the internet. In one of the books the main character cannot comprehend that a fleet of thousands of robots could communicate easily.)
I really don't remember Insurgent. I think the 3rd book is out now and I'm going to have to re-read this one, or at least skim the wikipedia page. I bet that I thought that it was Ok but didn't live up to the first book in the series (Divergent).
I'm only just starting the Wise Man's Fear, but I've read both this and the Name of the Wind before. I cannot recommend these highly enough. Read them!
And now back to work for grad school...
Every Boy's Got One - Meg Cabot
Future Boston - Edited by David Alexander Smith
Life After Life - Jill McCorkle
Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
The Naked Sun -Isaac Asimov
Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
Insurgent - Veronica Roth
The Wise Man's Fear -Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind -Patrick Rothfuss
Alright, I have been TERRIBLE about updating this lately. If I don't get this posted now I'll just keep hiding this post forever.
Not even sure when I read I, Robot but I know I liked it. Its definitely unabashedly scifi though, heads up.
In brief, Meg Cabot's book was a chick flick, as expected, which I read because I needed a physical book to read on Shabbat.
Future Boston was a book written in the 90's by a group of scifi authors imagining Boston was sinking into the ocean and writing short stories about every few years for several hundred years. It was very interesting to read about the place I live, and some of the stories were really great. Overall mediocre though.
Life After Life was recommended highly to me by a friend but I recall thinking it was 'Ok but not great'.
Robots of Dawn/Caves of Steel/The Naked Sun were nice. I really like 'historic science fiction' and while some hate Asimov, I enjoy his details! It is always interesting to see how sometimes writers just couldn't imagine things that we take for granted today (ie - the internet. In one of the books the main character cannot comprehend that a fleet of thousands of robots could communicate easily.)
I really don't remember Insurgent. I think the 3rd book is out now and I'm going to have to re-read this one, or at least skim the wikipedia page. I bet that I thought that it was Ok but didn't live up to the first book in the series (Divergent).
I'm only just starting the Wise Man's Fear, but I've read both this and the Name of the Wind before. I cannot recommend these highly enough. Read them!
And now back to work for grad school...
Friday, July 12, 2013
July
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
The Shoemaker's Wife, Adriana Trigiani
The Boy Next Door, Meg Cabott
1/2 of The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
I was reading the Emperor of all Maladies when I left Boston so sadly I was unable to finish it, however the first half was fantastic and I will definitely read the rest once I am home.
The Help was also amazing. The writing was great, the story was enticing and interesting and I felt like I really knew the characters well. Highly suggest this book.
The Shoemaker's Wife was pretty good in the middle, but it started slow and I felt that the end was like the end of the last Harry Potter book, ie, fanfic. Although maybe I was just disappointed with the plot.
The Boy Next Door was a terrible chick flick book. It felt like it was written to be a screenplay. Unsurprisingly it was made into a movie in 2008 which has pretty mediocre reviews. Read only if you need something quick and fluffy/contentless.
I've been reading on an e-reader lately. Its nice to have so much versatility and to loan library books from Israel, but its frustrating to read in the sun because of glare, or when the battery runs out, or the glow when the light is low, or especially on Shabbat when I cannot read it at all. If I ever repeat a trip like the one I am on now (2 months away from home) I'd bring an e-reader again, but I'll never use them regularly.
The Shoemaker's Wife, Adriana Trigiani
The Boy Next Door, Meg Cabott
1/2 of The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
I was reading the Emperor of all Maladies when I left Boston so sadly I was unable to finish it, however the first half was fantastic and I will definitely read the rest once I am home.
The Help was also amazing. The writing was great, the story was enticing and interesting and I felt like I really knew the characters well. Highly suggest this book.
The Shoemaker's Wife was pretty good in the middle, but it started slow and I felt that the end was like the end of the last Harry Potter book, ie, fanfic. Although maybe I was just disappointed with the plot.
The Boy Next Door was a terrible chick flick book. It felt like it was written to be a screenplay. Unsurprisingly it was made into a movie in 2008 which has pretty mediocre reviews. Read only if you need something quick and fluffy/contentless.
I've been reading on an e-reader lately. Its nice to have so much versatility and to loan library books from Israel, but its frustrating to read in the sun because of glare, or when the battery runs out, or the glow when the light is low, or especially on Shabbat when I cannot read it at all. If I ever repeat a trip like the one I am on now (2 months away from home) I'd bring an e-reader again, but I'll never use them regularly.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
May, June
The Angels Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson
Divergant, Veronica Roth
The Gate Thief, Orson Scott Card
The Lost Gate, Orson Scott Card
I've been reading a bit faster I think lately. Also really these are mostly great books.
The Angels Game is a prequil to Shadow of the Wind, which I loved. I have to say I felt that this one was not quite as good, but thats really not a bad thing since Shadow of the Wind was so epically good. I'd definitely suggest this to people who read fiction on a semi-regular basis.
Snow Crash was an excellent romp through 'An America so strange that you'll recognize it immediately' (Or something like that... its a quote from the cover which was actually quite apt) Its simultaneously hilarious and a commentary on modern commercial culture. And the plot/imagery/characters are great too. Definitely check out this book.
Divergant was a Hunger Games esqe book. Good, but only because thats a fantastic formula to write good books. Great for the beach.
I'd already read the Lost Gate and liked it. I enjoyed it this time too, but the second reading wasn't as good as the first. And The Gate Thief was great because its always nice to follow up with characters and because I love Card, but probably isn't actually objectively good. Read only if you like Card and scifi.
Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson
Divergant, Veronica Roth
The Gate Thief, Orson Scott Card
The Lost Gate, Orson Scott Card
I've been reading a bit faster I think lately. Also really these are mostly great books.
The Angels Game is a prequil to Shadow of the Wind, which I loved. I have to say I felt that this one was not quite as good, but thats really not a bad thing since Shadow of the Wind was so epically good. I'd definitely suggest this to people who read fiction on a semi-regular basis.
Snow Crash was an excellent romp through 'An America so strange that you'll recognize it immediately' (Or something like that... its a quote from the cover which was actually quite apt) Its simultaneously hilarious and a commentary on modern commercial culture. And the plot/imagery/characters are great too. Definitely check out this book.
Divergant was a Hunger Games esqe book. Good, but only because thats a fantastic formula to write good books. Great for the beach.
I'd already read the Lost Gate and liked it. I enjoyed it this time too, but the second reading wasn't as good as the first. And The Gate Thief was great because its always nice to follow up with characters and because I love Card, but probably isn't actually objectively good. Read only if you like Card and scifi.
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