What I Read (2010)

Isn't this exciting!?!?

What I Read (2010)

Jan. 12, 2010 Death on Naboo by Jude Watson. "Ferus Olin tries desperately to keep Inquisitor Malorum from discovering the truth about Padme's children."

Jan. 21, 2010 Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe. "Collection of Poe's most famous stories. I especially like the detective ones, definitely the forebear to Sherlock Holmes."

Jan. 22, 2010 The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell. "Torchwood novel featuring Bilis Manger--plot contains neighbourhood Jack can't get into. Bit unclear but good."

Feb. 10, 2010 Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan. "The sixth W of T book--a bit slow in places, but an amazing ending when Rand makes the Aes Sedai kneel before him."

Feb. 12, 2010 Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss. "Novelization of the animated movie. Traviss always delivers surprising insight into the motivations of the characters and themes."

Feb. 17, 2010 Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu by J.K. Rowling. "Long but very good book as Harry participates in the Tri-Wizard tournament."

Feb. 20, 2010 Into the Silence by Sarah Pinborough. "Solid Torchwood book, as alien cuts out vocal cords."

Mar. 2, 2010 L'enfant des Ombres by Moka. "Beautiful cover, but story just doesn't connect."

Mar. 10, 2010 Oz: Into the Wild by Christopher Golden. "A very good Buffy book, as Oz travels to Tibet to find a cure. Interesting & original situations."

Mar. 13, 2010 Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning. "A nice bridge, as Leia finds all kinds of links to Anakin from Episode I & II."

Mar. 24, 2010 Les Club des Veufs Noirs by Isaac Asimov. "A nice, light collection of short mysteries, each set in a men's supper club."

Mar. 2010 Risk Assessment by James Goss. "Torchwood novel that introduces a great new character in Assessor Agnes Havisham."

Mar. 2010 The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft edited by S.T. Joshi. "My favorite is 'The Rats in the Walls.' The others didn't work for me as much. The annotations don't really add much."

Apr. 2, 2010 Emma by Jane Austen. "Emma is a very poor matchmaker, who keeps getting the wrong idea about couples' romantic intentions. A couple of well-drawn characters, but dull in spots."

Apr. 5, 2010 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. "A very readable and thought-provoking novel, much better than the movie."

Apr. 4, 2010 No Prisoners by Karen Traviss. "An intelligence agent gets trapped behind enemy lines and must be rescued. Great insight into 'attachment' and other ambiguities. Plot shaky."

Apr. 10, 2010 The Call of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game (Sixth Edition) by various. "Sixth edition of Chaosium's famous RPG. The rules aren't always elegant and there's some odd stuff, but I can't wait to play."

Apr. 20, 2010 The Hound of the Baskervilles & The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. "Two of Doyle's short novels in the Worth Literary Press edition. The "Sign" ends with a great, thrilling boat chase."

Apr. 20, 2010 The Undertaker's Gift by Trevor Baxendale. "Torchwood novel, starting to get formulaic."

Apr. 26, 2010 Return to Dunwich by Keith Herber. "RPG setting book for Dunwich, a decayed Mass. town. Very detailed, though hard to picture stories."

Apr. 27, 2010 SAS À Istanbul by Gerard de Villiers. "Cold war spy novel with main character "SAS" Malko, set in Turkey as Russkies have dug tunnel under Bosporus Strait. Good."

Apr. 27, 2010 New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan. "Prequel to the Wheel of Time, telling how Moraine and Siuan got raised to Aes Sedai and how Lan became a Warder. Great book."

May 2010 Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. "First book in the Thrawn trilogy--I love the opponent, epic in scope, first appearance of a lot of SW mainstays."

May 7, 2010 Consequences by Various. "Collection of five Torchwood short stories, with some loose connections. Pretty entertaining on the whole."

May 11, 2010 The English Opium-Eater by Robert Morrison. "Biography of Thomas de Quincey, Victorian-era magazine writer and "man of letters" who was famously addicted to opium. A bit boring, really."

May 12, 2010 City of the Beast by Michael Moorcock. "Kane takes a matter transmitter to Old Mars and ends up fighting blue giants to save a princess. Straight-forward, old school fantasy fun."

May 21, 2010 Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth by Karen Miller. "Anakin & Obi-Wan try to stop a bio-terror facility. Average and disappointing compared to Wild Space."

May 24, 2010 1920s Investigator's Companion by Keith Herber, et al. "New occupations & background for Call of Cthulhu. Overall a very useful book."

[DIGRESSION: In my handwritten book log, I wrote the year as "2009" for this and a few surrounding books, which just now caused a moment of panic that I'd been transcribing a log already transcribed. If anyone has the necessary device or super-power, please travel back in time and slap me upside the head.]

May 27, 2010 How I Survived My Summer Vacation by Various. "Nice collection of Buffy stories set in between Season 1 & 2. Wish they had done this every year."

June 2010 Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. "Sequel to The Eyre Affaire, as the time cops steal Thursday's husband. Good fun."

June 2010 Lord of the Spiders by Michael Moorcock. "The second Kane of Old Mars book, as Kane gets involved in a blue giant civil war. Fast moving."

June 2010 The Paperback Book by Rick Mercer. "Not as funny as hoped."

[DIGRESSION: Some people say Rick Mercer is the Canadian Jon Stewart. These people have been paid to do so by Rick Mercer.]

June 2010 Bad Twin by Gary Troup. "Lost tie-in novel, really quite good hardboiled detective story w/ good vs. evil theme that resonates."

June 13, 2010 Passages by Connie Willis. "A book about researchers looking into near-death experiences. It has a great, intriguing beginning and some good ideas, but needs an editor and more characterization."

June 17, 2010 Missing: Coup de Foudre by Meg Cabot. "First in the series. I like the character of Jess Mastriani, and the plot is interesting."

June 2010 Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. "Book 2--good but for some reason this trilogy hasn't been as gripping as I'd expected."

June 2010 The Anubis Murders by Gary Gygax. "Interesting characters, but fails as a mystery."

July 5, 2010 Baltimore by Mignola & Golden. "A great story, dark and moody, rich in atmosphere and terse in plot and dialogue."

[DIGRESSION: I believe I've mentioned in the past that I normally read books in the order I receive them, according to a strict queue on a shelf of unread books. According to the inscription, I was given Baltimore in December of 2007, which indicates that anyone who gave me a new book today should expect me to finish it sometime in July of 2013. However, The Wife, sua sponte, claims authority to insert books at any point in the queue, which sometimes creates discrepancies.]

July 2010 The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. "Not bad, just kind of flat and over-long."

July 2010 Clone Wars Gambit: Siege by Karen Miller. "Doesn't seem to grasp the awesome scale of total war on a galactic level."

July 2010 The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. "Good depiction of Holmes, poor resolution to mystery."

July 15, 2010 Blasphemy: Art That Offends by S. Brent Plate "A great book with full-color photos and an insightful essay."

July 2010 Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. "Contains both of Carroll's stories (I find the first more charming), along with beautiful full-color illustrations and good essays."

July 2010 A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King. "Second Mary Russell book, interesting social gospel character--still not a great mystery."

July 2010 Northwest of Earth by C.L. Moore "Complete collection of pulp S.F. stories, which are extraordinarily evocative but also repetitive."

July 2010 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stiegg Larson. "A solid, intriguing mystery, great protagonists, and a hard edge make for a great thriller."

July 2010 Tarmac by Nicolas Dickner. "Interesting, original plot re: family of failed predictors of apocalypse."

Aug. 11, 2010 A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King "Interesting theological angle, and good characterization, but still fails as a mystery."

Aug. 2010 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr "Better than I expected. Faeries torment unsuspecting mortals, but protagonist can see them."

Aug. 18, 2010 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. "Memoir of raising little brother after both parents die. Extremely self-referential, but for the most part interesting."

Aug. 2010 The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. "Interesting to see what all the fuss is about. Heavy on magical realism."

Sep. 5, 2010 The Moor by Laurie R. King. "Great atmosphere and character in Lord Saban Baring-Gould, but slow moving plot."

Sep. 2010 Le Mysterieux Destin de Timothy Hunter: Initiation by Carla Jablonski. "Tim Hunter learns of his potential to be world's most powerful wizard. I really liked portrayal of Zatanna."

Sep. 8, 2010 Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan. "The Bowl of Winds is found. Good mix of characters and storylines."

Sep. 2010 Masters of the Pit by Michael Moorcock. "Very workmanlike Mars book, out of ideas for cardboard characters."

Sep. 2010 The Last Command by Timothy Zahn. "Strong, exciting end to trilogy."

Sep. 22, 2010 Persuasion by Jane Austen. "Fairly boring as heroine finally decides to hook up with sailor ex."

Oct. 2010 Ranters Run Amok by Leonard Levy. "Odd collection of essays."

Oct. 2010 Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech by Talal Asad, et al. "Big on lit-theory and post-modernism, heavy on jargon and light on substance."

Oct. 6, 2010 Secrets of New Orleans by Fred Van Lente. "Cthulhu sourcebook. Fine, but a bit dry."

Oct. 2010 Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner. "Very standard, unremarkable sword-and-sorcery tales."

Oct. 20, 2010 More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft by Joshi & Cannon (eds.). Some great stories here, including 'The Call of Cthulhu', 'Cool Air', and 'Pickman's Model.'"

Oct. 21, 2010 Shadows of Yog-Sothoth by Sandy Petersen, et al. The first Call of Cthulhu RPG campaign, involves a global adventure to stop the rise and awakening of Cthulhu. Ludicrously difficult."

Nov. 2010 Jedi Twilight by Michael Reeves. "Set on Coruscant shortly after Order 66, one of the few remaining Jedi is hunted by Vader. Pretty good."

Nov. 14, 2010 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. "A great piece of gothic literature, with memorable characters, moody settings, and a very readable plot."

Nov. 17, 2010 Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society by Douglas Farrow (ed.). "Collection of essays on religion and the state. Most argue for a gov't less hostile towards religion."

Nov. 22, 2010 The Sarmarkand Solution by Gary Gygax. "Third book with quasi-Egyptian detective. Good characters and interesting setting, but shaky as a mystery."

Nov. 23, 2010 Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. "Character studies of Japanese high school girls who become middle-aged prostitutes. Odd but okay."

Nov. 24, 2010 At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman. "A very readable collection of short essays on a wide variety of topics. The one on night owls should be circulated."

Nov. 25, 2010 The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton. Story of a bookmobile via camel in rural Kenya. Nice balance between Western & indigenous values, surprising but satisfying ending.

Nov. 27, 2010 The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde. "Third of the Thursday Next books, as she enters the realm of books and works as a stock character. Original and compulsorily readable."

Dec. 1, 2010 Tales of the Slayer Volume 2 by Various. "Another strong collection of stories on Slayers throughout history. Great Buffy time-travel story too."

Dec. 2010 The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stiegg Larson. "Second in the trilogy, the book in this case is far better than the movie."

Dec. 31, 2010 Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories by Nancy Kress. "Collection of SF stories. 'Shiva in Shadows' and 'Mirror Image' are amazing, memorable stories."