Reading 2020 and 2021
Artemis
Andy Weir
Last book of the year, and an incredibly enjoyable one. Strong characters, believable science and lots of action meant I ripped through thisat pace.
The Rabbit Factor
Antti Tuomainen
For those of you following these various mini-reviews, you’ll know that I’ve developed a real liking for Antti’s books over the last 12 months. This is his best yet, with a very strong cast of characters, gruesome violence but all written in a way that kept a smile on my lips the whole time.
Rant
Chuck Palanhniuk
I’ve never read Fight Club, but picked this up as I love the movie and have read a few of the author’s short stories. This was a tour-de-force of imagination, with different ideas smashed together to form a narrative that never went where I expected it to. Disturbing, funny, intelligent writing.
November 2021
Skyward
Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson’s world-building is second to none, and this is a great example of a YA book that holds just enough back to keep the reader guessing, but doesn’t let that get in the way of the character or the story. Heartbreaking at times, brutal but also speckled with humour, very much recommended.
Little Siberia
Antti Tuomainen
More mayhem! More! I honestly think that all aspiring authors should read the first few chapters of Antti’s books just to see how to upend the protagonist in as efficient a way as possible. Great fun, and a great read.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Marie Kondo
Bet you didn’t see this coming. An interesting take on minimalism and how our attitidue to our living space impacts on our mood and wellbeing. Since the pandemic, I’ve been working from home and have become more aware of the impacts that my environment has on me, hence why I picked this up.
The Storyteller
Dave Grohl
I’m a big Foo Fighters fan and loved reading this. There’s a style to the writing that makes this stand out to me, as well as an energy and enthusiasm that is infectious, no matter whether it’s applied to music or writing.
October 2021
Tips From a Publisher
Scott Pack
Solid, straight-talking advice, from writing to publishing. Well worth a read. The second part of the book was cringe-worthy for me as I identified some of the mistakes I’ve made when submitting in the past, although I’m now confident I’ll avoid them in the future!
Consider Phelbas
Iain M Banks
Not my first visit to Banks’ Culture series, but I happily picked this up to inspire my work in progress. Banks is one of my favourite writers, and although the pacing of this maybe placed it as an “old” novel, I enjoyed the story and felt fully immersed in the world.
September 2021
The Oak Papers
James Canton
My first real taste of nature writing, this had a profound effect on me as I was reading it, and I started to seek out the natural history around me. Given my interests in gardening and sustainability, it was only a matter of time before I discovered this type of book – I’m looking forward to exploring more.
Mostly Harmless
Douglas Adams
Somehow, I’d avoided spoilers on this book, and found it another enjoyable tale of planet-hopping, dimension-hopping and time-hopping. What I like most about it is the sheer confidence Adams displays in his prose, even if by all accounts, he struggled writing it.
The Fifth Season
NK Jemisin
As part of my ongoing quest to better understand world-building, I picked up the first in this trilogy. Read mainly over a short holiday, I was fascinated by the world and premise. Very much, though, an introduction to the world. I suppose it means I’ll have to read the rest…
August 2021
Hungry
Jeff Gordinier
Now for something completely different. While food/memoir/biographies have never been my thing, once I started reading this I was caught in the writer’s fascination and dedication to the subject. This acted as a reminder for me to read a greater variety.
The Silent House
Nell Pattison
An unnerving thriller that takes a terrifying premise and pleasantly surprised me by building in strong characters. This isn’t just a run of the mill murder mystery, it felt just as much a commentary on modern family life within small communities.
Range
David Epstein
My non-fiction reading goes a lot slower than my fiction – but I really enjoyed this book. My performance (and attitude to) my real-world job will definitely improve after reading this, as well as giving me faith to continue my writing.
We Begin At The End
Chris Whitaker
Brutal crime that, for the first time in a while, really took my breath away with a character death. Lots of twists and turns kept me reading. I very much enjoyed this book as an introduction to the author.
July 2021
The Axeman's Jazz
Ray Celestin
Classic historical conspiracy and crime, set in New Orleans between the two World Wars. Well plotted and gripping, with a real sense of place that other books struggle with. Sometimes the different perspectives took a while to sink into my head (this is a standard failing of my brain).
The Spy and The Traitor
Ben Macintyre
Real-life spy stuff! What a fantastic insight into the workings of spycraft at the height of the Cold War. It’s amazing how much goes on, but is also overlooked, when espionage occurs under heaving bureaucracy.
June 2021
Blacktop Wasteland
SA Cosby
Noir at its finest, this intricately plotted book just piles the pressure and the woes on the lead, and forces him to some dark places to fight through it all.
American By Day
Derek B Miller
Witty and clever, this book takes a culture clash and uses it to shine a light on rural America, complete with all it’s wonder and deep-rooted problems.
May 2021
The Book Of Koli
M.R Carey
More dangerous plants from the writer of “The Girl With All The Gifts.” Very well written, the story drew me in and the main character’s metamorphosis from little villager to potential world changer is well done.
Welcome to Nowhere
Ciamh McDonnell
I found this through Prime Reading and enjoyed the slightly off the wall, fantastic humour of this. What if the Bullingdon boys went a bit mad?
Bear Head
Adrian Tchaikovsky
This fella is a bit of a powerhouse, it appears. The Children Of Time books are a favourite of mine, and this, complete with brain takeover, animals with human intelligence and distributed personalities… is just on the right side of insane.
April 2021
Black Widow
Chris Brookmyre
I’ve not read a Chris Brookmyre book since ‘Attack of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks”. How things have changed for his main character! Still, this has inspired me to dig more into his catalogue after reading this solid, twisty-turny mystery.
The Long Mars
Terry Pratchet and Stephen Baxter
There’s a lot to take in with this book. The numerous dimensions (now spread across two planets) are fascinating to read, but sometimes I do feel the story takes a backseat to these imagining. Am I going to finish the series though? Hell yes.
March 2021
Ego is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
I’m getting the feeling I’ll be returning to this book, which uses examples to highlight the danger of being led by ego, and the benefits of good, old fashioned hard work.
Fools Gold
Ian Patrick
Another fast paced, sometimes brutal story in the Sam Batford series. This time, with a couple of (notable!) exceptions, he seems to be more on the right side of the law. Although I do feel things might go wrong in the next book.
https://www.ianpatrick.co.uk/
Palm Beach Finland
Antti Tuomainen
You may have guessed as this appears to quickly after the last book, I really enjoyed Antti’s last book and this one is just as good. More mayhem, but no less ridiculous (in a good way), than “The Man Who Died”. Recommended.
The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander
Very direct and unapologetic, this book shows how different systems and processes in place in the USA are leading to the creation of a permanent underclass. Astonishing and thought provoking.
The Man Who Died
Antti Tuomainen
If there’s one book that captures the tone I’m aiming for in my work, this is it. Funny, offbeat but still dark, I read this as quickly as I could and still wanted more.
February 2021
The Looming Tower
Lawrence Wright
It’s taken me a while to finish this book, but I’m glad I picked it back up. A fascinating account of the years leading up to 9/11 attacks, focusing on the personalities and circumstances that formed the men who organised the atrocities.
Redbreast
Jo Nesbo
It’s been a long time since I read a Harry Hole book. I picked this up because I wanted something a bit more procedural and standard after “King”. This was ideal for that, a really fast paced and at times very dark thriller-mystery.
King of The Crows
Russell Day
What an ambitious book! Very big, very heavy and very different. While it took a while for me to get into the story, so overwhelming was the scope, by the end of this I was fully invested in the Crows and the police bringing them to justice.
January 2021
The Unquiet
John Connolly
Strange that this book falls under more comfort reading, given the horrifying subject matter, but John Connolly books never fail to entertain me, and this was no exception. Small scale, but brutal, this is dark fiction at its best.
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
Douglas Adams
I needed some comfort reading at the start of this year. So I went back to my Hitchhikers collection. On reading this, though, I realised that I haven’t got this far before. As always, this is a crazy journey, although as it’s based on Earth it feels a lot more grounded. You know, flying aside.
Steal Like An Artist
Austin Kleon
This was a quick read, which definitely is a consequence of this being an expanded blog post. However here brevity is not a bad thing, as it gets to the points and gives a number of actions that are easy to implement, which other books often forget. It inspired me to continue investigating others work, and to keep learning.
America City
Chris Beckett
I’m a fan of Chris Beckett’s Dark Eden trilogy, and picked this up on the strength of those books. Far more down to Earth, this read like a warning of an all-too-plausible future. Beckett manages to pull off a tricky near-future setting, with numerous links to the present day, and takes logical steps over the future of social media, political discourse, and climate.
December 2020
The Snow Song
Sally Gardner
I devoured this story. Totally unlike anything I’ve read for a long time, everything about this book just worked. I loved the setting and the main character, and have reserved a permanent place on my bookcase for it.
A Very Fahrenheity Christmas
Various
Some short and sweet Christmas tales from various celebrated authors. Despite their age, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them. It goes to show, quality never goes out of fashion.
Say Goodbye When I'm Gone
Stephen J. Gold
A brutally violent noir tale, which jumps between characters, time periods and locations at a blistering pace. Sometimes reading like a collection of different stories that shared a character or two, I would have liked to spend more time on the history of the ‘big bad’ in Hawaii. I really enjoyed the writing style and the setting and look forward to reading more from the author.
Stephen J. Golds (@SteveGone58) / Twitter
This is How You Lose The Time War
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
An interesting, twisting novella that really drew me in, after I’d wrapped my head around the format. Two rival factions constantly fighting throughout multiple realities gave the writers a massive playground and I can feel the fun they had exploring it through the text. I did struggle initially to follow the narrative as the format skipped between prose and letters, but feel rewarded for my perseverance.
November 2020
White Noise
Don Delillo
My first read of a Don Delillo book, and I was mesmerised. I wonder if the underlying messages were lost on me, but this thorough examination of death, the messages around it, and what it means to face up to them really made me think. My favourite character? The Nun in the penultimate chapter.
Write. Publish. Repeat.
Sean M PLatt, Johnny Truant, David Wright
It’s taken me a long time to get back to this, as I struggled with it the first time. Not because the advice isn’t great – there’s some really good thoughts in here on marketing and staying away from trends and fads – but because it’s underwritten by the just write loads message, which just makes me feel guilty about my output.
Books Archive – Sterling & Stone (sterlingandstone.net)
Going Short
Nancy Stohlman
As I’ve moved into more short fiction recently, and following a recommendation, I picked this up on Kindle. A quick but insightful read, I plan to apply the tricks within to some of my own work. Less of a ‘how to write’ and more of a ‘how to write this.’
https://nancystohlman.com/
Revenger
Alistair Reynolds
My first taste of this writer. I got this because I wanted to see how an experienced writer went about world building. It turns out, with a heavy dose of ‘mentor and mentee’ for the first few chapters. The pace of the story never gives up, and even when the characters are ‘learning’ there’s still a lot of conflict.
http://www.alastairreynolds.com/
The Vital Abyss (Novella)
James S.A. Corey
I can’t get enough of The Expanse, and I went through this novella as quickly as any of the other books. The main character, who it took me longer to place in Expanse world than it should have, is well written and it offers a interesting back story to one of the most devious characters in the series.
https://www.jamessacorey.com/
October 2020
Stoned Love
Ian Patrick
Short snappy sentences are the order of the day in this sequel to the excellent Rubicon. While the plot for the sequel wasn’t as tight as the previous book, the main character is one of the strongest I’ve seen in similar stories.
https://www.ianpatrick.co.uk/
Cloud Atlas
David Mitchell
Imaginative and ambitious, this is a mammoth book that I very much enjoyed. The stylistic changes alone make this a must read, and I enjoyed seeing an author at the top of his game balance the different genres within the book.
https://www.davidmitchellbooks.com/
Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race
Reni Eddo-Lodge
A powerful book with an important message, I can tell this book will impact on my thinking . The writing is also excellent, urgent and persuasive, but never too complicated lest it detract from the message.
http://renieddolodge.co.uk/