It has been a while since I posted anything. I was too busy last year to post regularly (I started a web design business on March 19 –Wangaratta Website Design Services – and before that, I did a six-week intensive NEIS course on starting and running a business). I had many long weeks of work, working late into the night and on the weekends. But I still managed to read 17 novels by setting aside a couple of hours on three nights a week to read. Here’s what I read:
1. Purity, Jonathan Franzen
2. The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
3. The Drowned World, JG Ballard
4. The Wall, John Lanchester
5. The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu
6. The Narrow Road To The Deep North, Richard Flanagan
7. The Old Lie, Claire G Coleman
8. Engine Summer, John Crowley
9. Wake, Elizabeth Knox
10. Clade, James Bradley
11. Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson
12. The Affirmation, Christopher Priest
13. The Swan Book, Alexis Wright
14. Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
15. Lone Wolf World, Anthony J Langford
16. Embassytown, China Melville
17. All Clear, Connie Willis.
While many of the books were science fiction written by white guys, the list has some diversity. Two of the novels were written by Indigenous Australians about Indigenous Australians – The Swan Book and The Old Lie. The Swan book was a very challenging read as it has a narrator whose life is nearly totally detached from reality. The authors came from:
- Australia (5)
- Canada (1)
- China (1)
- New Zealand (1)
- US (6)
- UK (3)
The best of the novels were The Three-Body Problem – with its unique take on first contact with aliens; A Narrow Road To The Deep North – a harrowing prisoner of war story that reeked of authenticity; The Testaments – Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, which wrapped up all the loose ends; Affirmation – a ride through what is and isn’t reality; Wake – a horror story set under a supernatural dome in a New Zealand seaside township; Embassytown – where language mistakes have bizarre consequences when communicating with aliens; and Lone Wolf World – narrated by a delusional psychopath who is full of wit and dark observations about the world.
Like last year, I aim to read 24 novels this year.
Good reading to you.
3 Responses
Very interesting!
I remember you mentioning the Affirmation: that's somewhere on my to-read list. I picked up the Wall, which sounds interesting, though honestly that's a long way down.
I really do intend to read Embassytown sooner rather than later, and I've been mulling over a Kim Stanley Robinson book, which may end up being Aurora.
After reading Connie Willis' To Say Nothing Of The Dog a few years ago, I'll probably wait quite a few more before attempting something else by her.
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu I also read and loved last year.
Your mention of Wake, by Elizabeth Knox, has me interested.
Oh, and I'm halfway through Blindsight, a first contact novel that is pretty damn good. Almost enthused to jump into another such one right after this (I do like first contact) but I think it's better to jump between topics to avoid immediately tangling stories and concepts mentally.
Is Blindsight by Peter Watts? Elizabeth Knox is a big selling New Zealand writer. Just about to start reading Machines Like Us.
A good mix there. Some interesting sounding works.A wonder you read anything with your huge workload.Glad you enjoyed my book. Thanks for putting it on your list.