What books did you read in 2021?

[Miner Willy]

2 hours ago, ZOK said:

That’s a shame you didn’t like it @Miner Willy - it’s an individual thing, but I must have read it a hundred times and there are passages in there that still make me cry with laughter!

 

I think it gives you an insight into Milligan’s darker side too, some of it is too sad for words.

 

Oh, I wouldn't say I didn't like it; there were parts I enjoyed, including the darkness you mention. But I just don't think I really 'get' funny books, and this didn't turn me round on that. It's always worth trying different stuff out though: I didn't realise I loved sci-fi till Rllmuk educated me. 

 

Actually, I just realised it's not entirely true about never getting funny books: I loved Sombrero Fallout, and Puckoon actually reminded me of that on a few occasions. 

[ZOK]

23 hours ago, Miner Willy said:

Oh, I wouldn't say I didn't like it; there were parts I enjoyed, including the darkness you mention.

Acceptable!

[Ryan]

I'm re-reading Dune, I've managed 30 minutes this week of not working / being screamed at by kids / talked to by wife. That's 23 pages.

[Vimster]

15. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

Interesting satire where Adolf Hitler comes to in 2011 and becomes a media celebrity, he thinks he's on his way back to power where as everyone else thinks he's a genius comedian. Has a lot of German-specific pop culture references. The conceit wears thing after a while.

 

Spoiler

01. Timescape by Gregory Benford

02. The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

03. From Elephant To Hollywood by Michael Caine

04. The Assault On Truth by Peter Oborne 

05. Coming Up For Air by George Orwell

06. The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards

07. Beneath The Bleeding by Val McDermid

08. Fully-Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani

09. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strubatsky

10. Alphabetical by Michael Rosen

11. Shatter The Bones by Stuart MacBride

12. Sunburn by James Felton

13. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There by David Hepworth

14. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

15. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

 

[Vimster]

16. The Snapper by Roddy Doyle

Thoroughly entertaining novel, not laughed so much in ages. Fair whipped though it too. 

Spoiler

01. Timescape by Gregory Benford

02. The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

03. From Elephant To Hollywood by Michael Caine

04. The Assault On Truth by Peter Oborne 

05. Coming Up For Air by George Orwell

06. The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards

07. Beneath The Bleeding by Val McDermid

08. Fully-Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani

09. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strubatsky

10. Alphabetical by Michael Rosen

11. Shatter The Bones by Stuart MacBride

12. Sunburn by James Felton

13. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There by David Hepworth

14. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

15. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

16. The Snapper by Roddy Doyle

 

[Mercury]

13. Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

 

I really enjoyed the original book but hated the film. In fact I hated it so much it almost stopped me reading the sequel which I realised was stupid and so went for it. It starts slowly but once it gets to the main quest, I flew through it. It's basically a repeat of the first book but nothing wrong with that and the pop culture stuff was spot on for me - John Hughes, Tolkien etc.

 

Spoiler

1. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

2. Believe Me by JP Delaney

3. The Secret Barrister by Anon

4. The Sentinel by Lee and Andrew Child

5. Heartburn by Nora Ephron

6. Going the Wrong Way by Chris Donaldson

7. WIN by Harlan Coben

8. The Life Changing Magic of Sheds by Henry Cole

9. Just Like You by Nick Hornby

10. A Biker's Life by Henry Cole

11. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

12. Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Cibola Burn by James S A Corey - 4/5

2. How Not To Be a Professional Football by Paul Merson - 1.5/5

3. The Twins of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor - 4/5

4. Ian Wright - A Life in Football: My Autobiography by Ian Wright - 4/5

5. Straight Outa Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human by Romesh Ranganathan - 4/5

6. My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen - 4/5

7. I, Claudius by Robert Graves - 4/5

8. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan - 4/5

9. A Time To Kill by John Grisham - 3.5/5

10. Star Wars - The High Republic - The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soula - 4/5

11. F**k You Very Much - The Surprising Truth About Why People Are So Rude by Danny Wallace - 4/5

12. The Accidental Footballer by Pat Nevin - 4.5/5

13. Star Wars - The High  Republic - Into the Dark by Claudia Gray - 4/5

14. Munich by Robert Harris - 4/5

 

15. Fire and Blood by George RR Martin

 

Well you can put this down for 'best surprise of the year' because I absolutely lapped this up.  This is basically a history of the first Targaryen kings, from the original conqueror of Westeros - Aegon I - through to Aegon III, and on the way looking at the cruel rule of Maegor, the long, prosperous reign of Jaeharys I and the biggest single event of the book being the civil war known as The Dance of the Dragons (which I believe will be what the forthcoming GoT prequel will be based on).

 

If you're hoping this follows the same style as the ASOIAF series, then I'm afraid you're out of luck.  It's entirely different, told from the point of view of a Westerosi maester, who has researched the writings of grand maesters, septons and courteers throughout the reign of the Targaryen dynasty.  So it's essentially like a history book.

 

A hell of a lot of friends of mine have read all the ASOIAF books, but I would probably tell more than half of them not to bother reading this as it will REALLY grate with readers hoping for another exciting saga.  But I'm a history graduate as well as a nerd so the many stories told in this interested and excited me - I loved it.

 

The challenges, tribulations, successes and failures of the monarchs, their families and indeed the ancestry of all the major Westerosi houses (Starks, Lannisters, Freys, Arryns, Tullys, Tyrells, Martells, Manderleys, Greyjoys ALL feature throughout) are explored in detail.  The many wars, betrothals, births, deaths, murders etc - each king faced many enemies and endured countless sycophants and the scale is impressive. The Dance of Dragons in particular is a tremendously exciting project to bring to the screen, with a plethora of memorable characters, both good and evil.  There's some great source material here which will hopefully make up for the rather lacklustre ending to GoT.  

 

The only real downside to this for me is that this only chronicles the first 7 Targaryen rulers.  There are another 10 to follow, and there will presumably be a 'Fire and Blood Vol II' at some point.  But this is GRRM, so 'at some point' could be a decade or so away and apparently he has some other stuff to finish before then....

 

I loved this - but I daresay that a lot of people will feel the exact opposite and won't be able to get through it.  Not because it's a hard read, but maybe because it simply won't be of interest.  But a history of Targaryen rulers chronicling the time of dragons and the history of the great houses of Westeros?  That's just my cup of tea.

 

4.5/5

[smac]

On 25/10/2021 at 15:27, ZOK said:

That’s a shame you didn’t like it @Miner Willy - it’s an individual thing, but I must have read it a hundred times and there are passages in there that still make me cry with laughter!

 

I think it gives you an insight into Milligan’s darker side too, some of it is too sad for words.

 

Yeah, Puckoon is very funny - although Milligan's humour may be considered offensive.

 

I loved it - and the first three books of the war 'trilogy', but especially Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall

[ZOK]

25 minutes ago, smac said:

 

Yeah, Puckoon is very funny - although Milligan's humour may be considered offensive.

Yes, certainly - but then it was written sixty years ago. I think you have to take art at face value, there’s no point expecting things to read as if they were written yesterday. I think I first read it as a teenager during the first flourishes of alternative comedy, and it was wildly out of step with the times then.
 

I do give Milligan a special pass however, as the butt of the jokes in Puckoon (and his war writings too) are literally everyone and anyone.

[Vimster]

17. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler - What I loved most about this was the way Chandler brought that period to life with vivid descriptions of clothes, cars, weather etc. Sometimes I find these sorts of twisty tales difficult to follow but this one draws you along with it. Great read.

 

18. A River In Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa  - I'll never complain because I only have ready-salted crisps in again. Extremely bleak, very personal account that doesn't get political. 

 

Spoiler

01. Timescape by Gregory Benford

02. The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

03. From Elephant To Hollywood by Michael Caine

04. The Assault On Truth by Peter Oborne 

05. Coming Up For Air by George Orwell

06. The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards

07. Beneath The Bleeding by Val McDermid

08. Fully-Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani

09. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strubatsky

10. Alphabetical by Michael Rosen

11. Shatter The Bones by Stuart MacBride

12. Sunburn by James Felton

13. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There by David Hepworth

14. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

15. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

16. The Snapper by Roddy Doyle

17. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

18. A River In Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa 

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Cibola Burn by James S A Corey - 4/5

2. How Not To Be a Professional Football by Paul Merson - 1.5/5

3. The Twins of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor - 4/5

4. Ian Wright - A Life in Football: My Autobiography by Ian Wright - 4/5

5. Straight Outa Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human by Romesh Ranganathan - 4/5

6. My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen - 4/5

7. I, Claudius by Robert Graves - 4/5

8. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan - 4/5

9. A Time To Kill by John Grisham - 3.5/5

10. Star Wars - The High Republic - The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soula - 4/5

11. F**k You Very Much - The Surprising Truth About Why People Are So Rude by Danny Wallace - 4/5

12. The Accidental Footballer by Pat Nevin - 4.5/5

13. Star Wars - The High  Republic - Into the Dark by Claudia Gray - 4/5

14. Munich by Robert Harris - 4/5

15. Fire and Blood by George RR Martin - 4.5/5

 

16. Shagged, Married, Annoyed by Chris and Rosie Ramsey

 

Not much to say about this because it's basically their podcast in book form.  Irreverent, silly, but ultimately enjoyable and entertaining.  Not exactly a highbrow read but sometimes that's not a bad thing.  Plenty of childish toilet humour and amusing poo stories too.

 

3/5

[Miner Willy]

64. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Moving true story of a couple who lose their home and decide to walk the south coast, sleeping in a tent. Some really interesting /uncomfortable perspectives on homelessness and people's perception of homeless people.

 

65. The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson. This focuses on CRISPR gene editing and mainly on the work of biochemist Jennifer Doudna. I know nothing of this stuff, but thought it was excellent.

 

66. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I did really enjoy this, but wasn't blown away by it or anything.

 

67. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney. Fascinating book that I think I first heard of when I saw it recommended on here. Interesting to read it straight after The Code Breaker, too.

 

68. One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I posted about this in the Sci-Fi thread. I thought it was great.

 

69. The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft. I have thoroughly enjoyed books 2-4 in the Books of Babel series, but for me Senlin Ascends was the best by some way. However, Bancroft did retain control of the narrative well after expanding the scope, and he's always fun to read with good characters.

 

70. Witness X by S.E. Moorhead. Oh god, this is surely the book that will drive me to finally break my mental block on not giving up on a book once started. Right from the start I knew it wasn't for me, as I can't stand poor writing, and this has clunky dialogue full of lines people never say, boring one-dimensinal characters, and stupid plot contrivances. For some reason I carried on with it, but it never got any better. The cover says Blade Runner meets Silence of the Lambs, but it's not that: it's shit.

 

Previously:

 

Spoiler

1. Piranesi

2. The Devil and the Dark Water

3. I Love the Bones of You

4. Feral

5. Melmoth

6. The Beekeeper of Aleppo

7. Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
8. Moneyball by Michael Lewis
9. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

10. The Deficit Myth

11. Butcher's Crossing

12. Schismatrix

13. There is no Antimemetics Division

14. Lost at Sea

15. The Assault on Truth

16. A Month in the Country

17. Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea

18. The Mermaid of Black Conch

19. Bear Head

20. The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors

21. Walking to Aldebaran

22. 24 Hours in Ancient Rome

23. The Memory Police

24. The Ardent Swarm

25. Firewalkers

26. Failures of State

27. West with Giraffes

28. Command and Control

29. Conversations with Friends

30. The Panama Papers

31. The Premonition

32. Contact

33. Zone One
34. Guns, Germs and Steel
35. Creativity
36. The Midnight Library
37. A Different Drummer
38. Sunburn: The Unofficial History of the Sun Newspaper

39. Just Ignore Him

40. The Fellowship of the Ring

41. The Two Towers

42. The Return of the King

43. American Dirt

44. Cage of Souls

45. Calling Bullshit

46. We Die Alone

47. I Capture the Castle

48. The Glass Hotel

49. Many Different Kinds of Love

50. A Short History of Nearly Everything

51. The Lamplighters

52. Pushing Ice

53. Say Nothing

54. Farewell to Arms

55. Wolf Hall

56. True Grit

57. Starship Troopers

58. Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century

59. Kindred

60. Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World

61. Puckoon

62. The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer

63. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement

64. The Salt Path

65. The Code Breaker

66. Klara and the Sun

67. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World

68. One Day All This Will Be Yours

69. The Fall of Babel

70. Witness X

 

[milko]

15 hours ago, Miner Willy said:

The cover says Blade Runner meets Silence of the Lambs, but it's not that: it's shit.

 

Oh bugger, I wavered over that with it's dubious claim and 99p price but ultimately went for it and put it on the pile of to-read Kindle books. Hmm, I'll make it not very high up the collection!

[Miner Willy]

44 minutes ago, milko said:

 

Oh bugger, I wavered over that with it's dubious claim and 99p price but ultimately went for it and put it on the pile of to-read Kindle books. Hmm, I'll make it not very high up the collection!

 

You're 99p down, but can still save yourself 5h of your life!

[little che]

4 hours ago, Miner Willy said:

 

You're 99p down, but can still save yourself 5h of your life!

Yes it's bobbins. Good premise , terrible execution, risible ending.

[Miner Willy]

1 minute ago, little che said:

Yes it's bobbins. Good premise , terrible execution, risible ending.

Oh god, I actually forgot about the ending. Fuck me that was dreadful; maybe the worst part of it!

[lolly]

17. Children of time -Adrian Tchiakovsky

Vernor Vinge must be getting royalties from this one as there's more than a passing resemblance to " A deepness in the sky" . Still well put together and  it's an easy enough read , curious to see where the sequel goes too, but won't because I want to start reducing my pile of shame, not increase it.

 

 

Previously :

Spoiler

1.best served cold -Joe Abercrombie

2. Ancillary Justice- Ann Leckie

3.the 5th Season - N.K. jemisen

4. All you need is kill-

5 To kill a mockingbird- Harper lee

6. Pompeii- Robert Harris

7.D-Day through German eyes Volumes 1&2 - Holger Eckhertz

8. There is no antimemetics division

9 Fight Club- Chuck Palahniuk

10.Mortal engines-Philip Reeve

11.Dune- Frank Herbert

12. The 1st 15 lives of Harry August- Claire North.

13.The Obelisk Gate- N.K Jemisen

14. Iron Coffins- Herbert Werner

15. The Fifth Head of Cerberus- Gene Wolf

16. Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood

 

[little che]

Just totted up my reading for this year ..50 paper or Kindle books and one audiobook. I've a book on the go now and a few more I'll get through by year's end so I imagine I'll match last year's number of 55.

absolute recommendations:

Apeirogon...just incredible. A work of art .

 

Piranesi...lots of love on here and absolutely worth the love .

 

Hamnet. ..first rate historical fiction.

 

I'm going to tackle Lincoln highway soon which given the word of mouth might well join the above mentioned recommendations.

 

[lolly]

18.Left of Bang - Patrick Van Horne & Jason A Riley

 

It's a guide for marines /military personnel specifically to identify the signs of something bad happening, IED, ambush etc  by observing key indicators in local indigenous populations  and is useful  in self defence type scenarios. Talks about OODA (Observe ,Orientate, Decide, Act)  loops and traffic light systems and has some interesting aspects but a lot of it boils down to "trust your gut" , if it doesn't feel right in a situation, it probably isn't and as most of us are not LEO or military it's probably best to GTFO of whatever scenario is setting off alarm bells, assuming we can.

 

Previously:

Spoiler

1.best served cold -Joe Abercrombie

2. Ancillary Justice- Ann Leckie

3.the 5th Season - N.K. jemisen

4. All you need is kill-

5 To kill a mockingbird- Harper lee

6. Pompeii- Robert Harris

7.D-Day through German eyes Volumes 1&2 - Holger Eckhertz

8. There is no antimemetics division

9 Fight Club- Chuck Palahniuk

10.Mortal engines-Philip Reeve

11.Dune- Frank Herbert

12. The 1st 15 lives of Harry August- Claire North.

13.The Obelisk Gate- N.K Jemisen

14. Iron Coffins- Herbert Werner

15. The Fifth Head of Cerberus- Gene Wolf

16. Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood

17. Children of time -Adrian Tchiakovsky

 

[Stopharage]

Will type some thoughts about these when I’m on my laptop.
 

 35. In Black and White by Alexandra Wilson 

36. The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence

37. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat by Jenny Kleeman

38. My Life in Red and White by Arsene Wenger

39. This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise
 

Spoiler

1. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. 

2. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam.

3. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

4. Doggerland by Ben Smith. 

5. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson.

6. Malorie by Josh Malerman

7. We Are Bellingcat by Elliot Higgins.

8. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A.Cosby

9. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

10. Step by Step by Simon Reeve

12. Firewalkers by Adrian Tchaikovsky

11. Wallking to Alderbaran by Adrain Tchaikovsky

12. Firewalkers by Adrian Tchaikovsky

13. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener

14. Press Reset by Jason Schreier

15. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

16. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

17. The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism by Peter Oborne

18. The Premonition by Michael Lewis

19. Hungry by Grace Dent

20. Many Different Kinds of Love by Michael Rosen

21. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

22. The Mixer by Michael Cox

23. Whose Game is it Anyway? by Michael Calvin

24. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

25. To be a Machine by Mark O'Connell

26. Alien 3 by William Gibson

27. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

28. Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle

29. The Gaffer by Neil Warnock

30. Greenlights by Mathew McConaughey

31. The Accidental Footballer by Pat Nevin

32. The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

33. Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee

34. And Away by Bob Mortimer

35. In Black and White by Alexandra Wilson 

36. The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence

37. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat by Jenny Kleeman

38. My Life in Red and White by Arsene Wenger

39. This Fragile Earth by Susannah Wise

 

[lolly]

19 . Station Eleven

Saw that they've made a series of this and decided I better read it before  my curiosity gets the better of me and I spoil it for myself.And I'm glad I did , it's a wonderful post apocalypse tale and a little of an unusual angle. There are callbacks within the book to earlier events which are quite nicely done  and for the 1st half at least there's a sense of melancholy that kind of reminded me of Omar El Akkad's "American War". It kind of loses that in the 2nd half  but is still decent going. The ending seems to set up a pretty obvious sequel and I'd have a slight concern, there is a reference to the 1st book of another trilogy

Spoiler

The Passage by Justin Cronin

and for me, that went to shit pretty quickly  and dragged the entire series down despite the  decent 1st book (like the latest star wars trilogy!?)so  I've allowed my view to be tainted here somewhat.

 

Anyway, previously:

Spoiler

1.best served cold -Joe Abercrombie

2. Ancillary Justice- Ann Leckie

3.the 5th Season - N.K. jemisen

4. All you need is kill-

5 To kill a mockingbird- Harper lee

6. Pompeii- Robert Harris

7.D-Day through German eyes Volumes 1&2 - Holger Eckhertz

8. There is no antimemetics division

9 Fight Club- Chuck Palahniuk

10.Mortal engines-Philip Reeve

11.Dune- Frank Herbert

12. The 1st 15 lives of Harry August- Claire North.

13.The Obelisk Gate- N.K Jemisen

14. Iron Coffins- Herbert Werner

15. The Fifth Head of Cerberus- Gene Wolf

16. Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood

17. Children of time -Adrian Tchiakovsky

18. Left of Bang-Patrick Van Horne & Jason A Riley

 

[Vimster]

Last two books of the year:

 

19. An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle For Domination by Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang - an account of what was going on inside Facebook roughly between the run up to the 2016 US presidential election and the aftermath of the 2020 one, drawn together from interviews with what the intro claims was over 1000 people. Can imagine this being turned into a drama by someone in the future, with Zuckerberg the engineer only concerned with getting as many people as possible using Facebook for as long as possible, and Sheryl Sandberg being responsible for most of the business end and advertising. All the senior staff were out of their depth and had no clue beyond their narrow and privileged upbringings.

 

20. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyer - entertaining crime novel based in Edinburgh with an investigative journalist getting caught up in a murder case of a surgeon. Dryly funny, more about the quality characters than a super-twisty plot.

 

01. Timescape by Gregory Benford

02. The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

03. From Elephant To Hollywood by Michael Caine

04. The Assault On Truth by Peter Oborne 

05. Coming Up For Air by George Orwell

06. The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards

07. Beneath The Bleeding by Val McDermid

08. Fully-Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani

09. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strubatsky

10. Alphabetical by Michael Rosen

11. Shatter The Bones by Stuart MacBride

12. Sunburn by James Felton

13. Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There by David Hepworth

14. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

15. Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

16. The Snapper by Roddy Doyle

17. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

18. A River In Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa 

19. An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle For Domination by Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang

20. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyer

 

And that's it. At least I managed 20 this year.

[Stopharage]

Managed my 40 book target with Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It's about a rock band in the 70's who rise to fame and success fairly rapidly. They're then joined by a charismatic, waifish muse who they end up making an album with. It's largely written in the words of the various band members and lackeys and is pretty entertaining throughout. 

[Jamie John]

Well done to everyone who's been reading this year

 

I managed only 15 books in 2021, but at least that's better than the 6 () I read in 2020. I'll make a thread for 2021 in a bit.

[Miner Willy]

71. Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley. Strange but enjoyable sort-of sci-fi novel. I liked the mystical tone and slow development of the narrative.

 

72. The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M Graff. Recommended on here (thanks @Stopharage) and well worthy of the praise. I listened on Audible and it was as good as anything I've read this year.

 

73. Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole. Excellent analysis of our fucked up land ownership situation and some sensible suggestions for how to address. Recommended.

 

74. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. It's a while since I read Three Body Problem, but I slotted right in with this. I really, really enjoyed it - more so than the first book. I thought the central 'dark forest' theme, when revealed near the end, was inspired.

 

75. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. Also recommended on here and another excellent read. Bizarrely, I don't think I really knew very much about Churchill before reading this. What a fascinating character - I should learn more!

 

76. Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbery and Catherine Green. Written by two of the scientists who made the Oxford vaccine, this offers a brilliant understanding of the processes they went through and how they were able to develop a vaccine in a year when previous efforts have taken so much longer. I thought it was really great and would highly recommend.

 

So that's me done for the year, and a great set of books to finish with. The Only Plane in the Sky joins Piranesi (the first book I read in 2021) as the pick of the bunch.

 

Previously:

 

Spoiler

1. Piranesi

2. The Devil and the Dark Water

3. I Love the Bones of You

4. Feral

5. Melmoth

6. The Beekeeper of Aleppo

7. Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
8. Moneyball by Michael Lewis
9. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

10. The Deficit Myth

11. Butcher's Crossing

12. Schismatrix

13. There is no Antimemetics Division

14. Lost at Sea

15. The Assault on Truth

16. A Month in the Country

17. Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea

18. The Mermaid of Black Conch

19. Bear Head

20. The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors

21. Walking to Aldebaran

22. 24 Hours in Ancient Rome

23. The Memory Police

24. The Ardent Swarm

25. Firewalkers

26. Failures of State

27. West with Giraffes

28. Command and Control

29. Conversations with Friends

30. The Panama Papers

31. The Premonition

32. Contact

33. Zone One
34. Guns, Germs and Steel
35. Creativity
36. The Midnight Library
37. A Different Drummer
38. Sunburn: The Unofficial History of the Sun Newspaper

39. Just Ignore Him

40. The Fellowship of the Ring

41. The Two Towers

42. The Return of the King

43. American Dirt

44. Cage of Souls

45. Calling Bullshit

46. We Die Alone

47. I Capture the Castle

48. The Glass Hotel

49. Many Different Kinds of Love

50. A Short History of Nearly Everything

51. The Lamplighters

52. Pushing Ice

53. Say Nothing

54. Farewell to Arms

55. Wolf Hall

56. True Grit

57. Starship Troopers

58. Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century

59. Kindred

60. Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World

61. Puckoon

62. The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer

63. The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement

64. The Salt Path

65. The Code Breaker

66. Klara and the Sun

67. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World

68. One Day All This Will Be Yours

69. The Fall of Babel

70. Witness X

71. Skyward Inn

72. The Only Plane in the Sky

73. Who Owns England?

74. The Dark Forest

75. The Splendid and the Vile

76. Vaxxers

 

[Ste Pickford]

Shout out to all the other slow readers out there!  I've managed #2 now (doing a drawing each time to motivate me to read more / faster).

 

Finished the coloured in version of From Hell.  I was deliberately limiting myself to no more than a chapter a day, as it's heady stuff.  I don't think the colour added anything really, and detracted from that power of the black and white art in places, so not sure I'd recommend this version, but it's nice to have it in hardback.

Chapter 8, page 40 remains the most awesome page turn in comics.