Books of 2007
Feb. 11th, 2008 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustIn 2007, I read 53 books:
41 were fiction
12 were non-fiction
34 were novels
4 were collections
3 were anthologies
29 were by authors I had read before
24 were by authors I had never read before
5 were first novels in a series
20 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
The Language of Power
by Rosemary Kirstein
If you ask a Steerswoman any question, she must answer truthfully. But in exchange, any question she asks you must also be answered truthfully, or else no Steerswoman will answer your questions ever again. Rowan is a Steerswoman whose investigation of a strange jewel uncovers a secret that shakes her entire world, and draws down the wrath of those who rule it. This is the fourth book in a series that is unfolding as beautifully as an origami flower, with more and more tantalising clues about the great mystery behind the world. And the Steerswomen are the perfect heroes for this story - a meld of scientist, historian, cartographer, and detective. This book didn't break my heart the way The Outskirter's Secret and The Lost Steersman did, but it was still a worthy instalment of an intriguing series.
Perdido Street Station
by China Mieville
Five years after everyone was raving about this book, I finally got down to reading it. And now I can say wow, yeah, I get it. The worldbuilding is simply stunning. The city of New Crobuzon is an incredible metropolis, home to a bizarre array of inhabitants, and full of strange wonders and decaying splendour and corrupt politics and seething rebellion, and so intricately detailed it's hard not to believe it actually exists out there somewhere. And unlike many other books in the New Weird genre, Perdido Street Station actually has a plot, a great big engine of a plot that is powerful enough to drive it through 800 pages of story. Yes, you read that right, it's a bloody monolith of a book and it took me ages to finish. But all credit to Mieville, he had me engaged through fully two thirds of it, and I suspect I was flagging towards the end from sheer fatigue rather than lack of interest. New Crobuzon is not always a pleasant place to visit, and as fantasy it is definitely on the dark side, but it stands as one of the most fascinating and fully realised worlds in fiction.
The Grey King
by Susan Cooper
When I was a kid, I read my way through the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia and many other classic fantasy stories, but somehow I missed out on the Dark is Rising series. The advent of the movie - which I was warned away from - prompted me to finally get onto it. But I read the first few books, and while they were all right, they didn't arouse in me the sense of wonder that many people clearly remembered. I wondered if it was too late for me - if this was one of those stories you had to experience in childhood. But then I got to The Grey King, the fourth book in the series, and suddenly the magic was there. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because the Wales that Will Stanton travels to feels like a world lost in time, or because of Bran and Cafall, or because the writing becomes truly lyrical, or because the triumphs are leavened with tragedy.
Recommendations:
Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan - A new collection of stories just as strange and luscious as her earlier ones.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Another childhood classic that broke my heart.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - Neo-Victorian nanopunk, not quite as joyous as Snow Crash, but full of as many head-exploding ideas.
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - This long-awaited new collection solidifies my preference for his short stories over his novels.
Some of Tim's Stories by SE Hinton - The author of The Outsiders experiments with a bold new voice and succeeds in pulling it off.
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - The alternate history world of Temeraire takes a very intriguing left turn in Africa.
Speculative Japan edited by Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis - This anthology of Japanese SF contains many brilliant gems including 'Where do the Birds Fly Now?' and 'The Legend of the Paper Spaceship'.
Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages - Her first collection of short stories, including the very rereadable Nebula winner 'Basement Magic'.
41 were fiction
12 were non-fiction
34 were novels
4 were collections
3 were anthologies
29 were by authors I had read before
24 were by authors I had never read before
5 were first novels in a series
20 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
The Language of Power
by Rosemary Kirstein
If you ask a Steerswoman any question, she must answer truthfully. But in exchange, any question she asks you must also be answered truthfully, or else no Steerswoman will answer your questions ever again. Rowan is a Steerswoman whose investigation of a strange jewel uncovers a secret that shakes her entire world, and draws down the wrath of those who rule it. This is the fourth book in a series that is unfolding as beautifully as an origami flower, with more and more tantalising clues about the great mystery behind the world. And the Steerswomen are the perfect heroes for this story - a meld of scientist, historian, cartographer, and detective. This book didn't break my heart the way The Outskirter's Secret and The Lost Steersman did, but it was still a worthy instalment of an intriguing series.
Perdido Street Station
by China Mieville
Five years after everyone was raving about this book, I finally got down to reading it. And now I can say wow, yeah, I get it. The worldbuilding is simply stunning. The city of New Crobuzon is an incredible metropolis, home to a bizarre array of inhabitants, and full of strange wonders and decaying splendour and corrupt politics and seething rebellion, and so intricately detailed it's hard not to believe it actually exists out there somewhere. And unlike many other books in the New Weird genre, Perdido Street Station actually has a plot, a great big engine of a plot that is powerful enough to drive it through 800 pages of story. Yes, you read that right, it's a bloody monolith of a book and it took me ages to finish. But all credit to Mieville, he had me engaged through fully two thirds of it, and I suspect I was flagging towards the end from sheer fatigue rather than lack of interest. New Crobuzon is not always a pleasant place to visit, and as fantasy it is definitely on the dark side, but it stands as one of the most fascinating and fully realised worlds in fiction.
The Grey King
by Susan Cooper
When I was a kid, I read my way through the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia and many other classic fantasy stories, but somehow I missed out on the Dark is Rising series. The advent of the movie - which I was warned away from - prompted me to finally get onto it. But I read the first few books, and while they were all right, they didn't arouse in me the sense of wonder that many people clearly remembered. I wondered if it was too late for me - if this was one of those stories you had to experience in childhood. But then I got to The Grey King, the fourth book in the series, and suddenly the magic was there. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because the Wales that Will Stanton travels to feels like a world lost in time, or because of Bran and Cafall, or because the writing becomes truly lyrical, or because the triumphs are leavened with tragedy.
Recommendations:
Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan - A new collection of stories just as strange and luscious as her earlier ones.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Another childhood classic that broke my heart.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - Neo-Victorian nanopunk, not quite as joyous as Snow Crash, but full of as many head-exploding ideas.
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - This long-awaited new collection solidifies my preference for his short stories over his novels.
Some of Tim's Stories by SE Hinton - The author of The Outsiders experiments with a bold new voice and succeeds in pulling it off.
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - The alternate history world of Temeraire takes a very intriguing left turn in Africa.
Speculative Japan edited by Gene van Troyer and Grania Davis - This anthology of Japanese SF contains many brilliant gems including 'Where do the Birds Fly Now?' and 'The Legend of the Paper Spaceship'.
Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages - Her first collection of short stories, including the very rereadable Nebula winner 'Basement Magic'.
