First off from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin (Master & Commander) series, I think I started #7 around the first of the year and I'm about to hit #13, so that's The Surgeon's Mate, The Ionian Mission, Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World (from which the movie based its plot), The Reverse of the Medal and The Letter of Marque. All wonderful books and well worth the read.
Keeping on the historical bent, I seem to recall that my mother lent A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss to me over the holidays. I may have read that one over the holiday break just before the new year, but I'll count it anyway, damnit. I might as well since I've since read Liss' The Coffee Trader since then.
Also on a historical note, I read Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. Good stuff and a good start to a new Cornwall series. Cornwall has also brought us the Sharpe series, the Grail trilogy and a number of other great period pieces.
Finally, one for (from) Shakespeare's Sister: I picked up George MacDonald Fraser's first Flashman book. What fun! A true rip-snorter in every sense of the word. Don't pick it up if you offend easily, by the way. Old Flashy is a rogue, and not in the "boyishly good looking and charming" way. No, he's a rogue in the "rape his father's lover and leave his men to die in Afghanistan but still come out a hero" way.
Speaking of Shakes, she recommended The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Greene which I picked up at the Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue in NYC when Mrs. P and I went up for the Westminster show. I had it read by the time we got back to Birmingham. Thanks for the reco, SS!
As a payback, I recommended Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I read just after the new year. Wonderful book, and still one of the best I've read so far this year. I also recommended The Plot Against America by Philip Roth as the best book to throw at the wall in frustration for looking so tantalizing but evenutally falling flat.
Someone else in Shakes' book fans recommended The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. OK, this is the best book I've read this year. Perhaps this century. I've passed this one to so many people, I'm not sure who has my copy anymore.
My only re-read this year has been Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Jake read it for the first time late last year and was blown away, so I decided to delve back into it. The last time I read it, I was in high school and while I found I hadn't necessarily missed the point the first time, it definitely resonated more strongly this time. Something about the times we live in, eh?
Speaking of resonating in today's times, I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't read Ray Bradbury's classic masterpiece Farenheit 451 until this past weekend (me, a lover of sci-fi!). I pleased to say it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. And a hell of a lot scarier.
A good segue to my normal stomping grounds, sci-fi and fantasy. About once a month I pick up another of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I think he writes about one a month, so we're even there. So far this year, I've gotten through Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards, Guards! and Small Gods - all much fun. One that was fun, but a bit sloggy was Eragon, wunderkind Christopher Paolini's first book. I enjoyed the story, but it was obviously written by a 15 year old. A smart one, one with a good chance at being a great storyteller, but a young man who needs a few more years on him.
Continuing in the fantasy vein (heh heh), my sister loaned her copy of Robin McKinley's vampirepunk tale Sunshine to me. She also lent Michael Chabon's The Final Solution which, though it's set during WWII and concerns a German Jew, is not at all what you might think. I've been longing to read Chabon's work (especially Kavalier and Clay) so it's nice to start with a tidbit like this. An apertif, if you will. Sorry, feeling all uppity.
OK, I think I'm starting to wind down now. I've only finished a couple of non-fiction books so far, though I'm in the middle of a few. I received Thomas Cahill's The Gift of the Jews as a Chri- I mean, Festivus present. I'd like to read it again with a Bible at hand. Argh, I know I've wrapped up another non-fiction, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. EDIT: I just remembered the other non-fiction, though it's more of a work related book: Refactoring by Martin Fowler. Whew, that was going to bug the crap out of me.
So, have I missed any? It seems like I've forgotten one or two - only one sci-fi!?! - and I know I've blanked on a non-fiction (WWII, maybe? EDIT: Nope, found it). But that's pretty close to complete, a lot closer than I thought it would be. I apologize for not keeping more current and actually writing more than one or two lines per book. I'll try to be better about it in the future. Speaking of which, my nightstand (and thus, future) current holds:
- The Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian. I hope Aubrey gets his commission back. :)
- Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser. The second in the series and hopefully as rollicking as the first. Did I just type out rollicking? Ick.
- Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss. A sequel to A Conspiracy of Paper. Sooooo looking forward to this one.
- Red Gold by Alan Furst. I must admit, I got on a Furst kick and blasted through all of his books but this one. Furst's problem is that each of his novels start to sound the same. They're good, but they're too similar to read back to back. I had to stop reading this one about a third of the way in and wait for my brain to tamp the others down.
- Collected Stories by Saul Bellow. Mr. Bellow died recently and I'd found that I'd never read any of his work. With all the high praise eulogies bring, I felt compelled to pick up something. I've read the first couple of stories and I'm not disappointed. Though I do get a bit depressed. Maybe it's because I was reading them during an all-night charity fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
- The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg. Quite interesing study written back in 1971 (the year I was born - ha!). While the anecdotes are dated (and at times sexist - oh, for shame!), the thinking and conclusions still hold up pretty well. I'm reading the silver anniversary reprinting and Weinberg came back and put in commentary after each chapter discussing how he thought it had held up.
- Professional Software Development by Steve McConnell. Another career-improvement type book.
- Code Complete by Steve McConnell. Yet another. Really quite good, though. If you're a developer and haven't read it, you owe it to your career to pick it up.
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. This book came highly recommended from some of the smartest people I know, so it's gotta be good, right? I'm still waiting for it to get really good....
- The Revenge of the Sith by Michael Stover. Saw the film. Enjoyed it. Had its flaws.
- A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Jake and Sean are on Bryson kicks and are trying to lure me into the web. I go willingly.
- Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta. Sometimes as I wander through the bookstore, a book shouts at me from the shelf: "READ ME!!" This is good, because I frequently get completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of books in today's megastores. This is one of those. Mrs. P and I were in B&N yesterday and Dasgupta's rookie effort just about jumped off the shelf and into my fists. After I read 451, I started this one and have been itching the whole time I've been writing this post to stop and pick it back up again. It's in my lap. Taunting me.
That's it, I'm going to go read.
Oh. And by the way, that's 26. Plus 12 in the stack. Wow, I've gone and impressed myself.
The End
