Books I Have Read Recently

I've always had an image of myself just reading science fiction, but I don't think that is quite valid.  In any event, I am consciously trying to read other books as well now, including classics (that I missed earlier) and non-fiction.

Books in red are currently being read.
Books in the Kids column I read to Jordan and Connor.
   

Date

Book Kids Rerun E-book Library Author Comment
Aug 2009 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows     tick!   J. K. Rowling I knew he was a hero
Aug 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince     tick!   J. K. Rowling  
Jul 2009 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix     tick!   J. K. Rowling Emo Potter and the Tirade of the Petulant Brat
Jul 2009 Juggler of Worlds         Larry Niven
and Edward M. Lerner
 
Jul 2009 Fleet of Worlds         Larry Niven
and Edward M. Lerner
 
Jun 2009 Angels and Demons         Dan Brown Well, that certainly got silly
May 2009 Crashlander     tick!   Larry Niven  
May 2009 Tales of Known Space   tick! tick!   Larry Niven  
Feb 2009 Neutron Star   tick! tick!   Larry Niven  
Jan 2009 A Scientific Romance         Ronald Wright Very interesting
Dec 2008 The Great Time Machine Hoax         Keith Laumer  
Sep 2000
Dec 2008
Down Under         Bill Bryson Every Australian should read this book
Nov 2008 Behind the Wind         Patricia Wrightson  
Nov 2008 The Dark Bright Water         Patricia Wrightson  
Nov 2008 The Ice Is Coming   tick!     Patricia Wrightson  
Oct 2008 Ringworld's Children         Larry Niven  
Oct 2008 The Ringworld Throne   tick!     Larry Niven  
Sep 2008 The Ringworld Engineers   tick!     Larry Niven  
Sep 2008 Ringworld   tick! tick!   Larry Niven  
Sep 2008 The Anubis Gates   tick!     Tim Powers  
Aug 2008 True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier         James Frenkel (Editor)  
Aug 2008 Marooned In Realtime         Vernor Vinge  
Aug 2008 The Peace War         Vernor Vinge  
Jul 2008 The Adventures of Johnny Bunko         Daniel H. Pink  
Jul 2008 A Short History of Nearly Everything         Bill Bryson  
Jun 2008 The World's Stupidest Laws         David Crombie  
Jun 2008 Colony         Rob Grant  
May 2008 A Long Way Gone         Ishmael Beah  
Apr 2008 Rama Revealed         Arthur C. Clarke  
Mar 2008 The Garden of Rama         Arthur C. Clarke  
Feb 2008 Rama II   tick!     Arthur C. Clarke  
Jan 2008 Rendezvous with Rama   tick!   tick! Arthur C. Clarke  
Nov 2007 The Prestige         Christopher Priest Different from the movie in interesting ways
Nov 2006 Anvil of Stars         Greg Bear  
Oct 2006 The Forge of God   tick!     Greg Bear  
Sep 2006 Casino Royale         Ian Fleming  
Aug 2006 The Starcrossed         Ben Bova  
Jul 2006 Phoenix Without Ashes         Edward Bryant
and Harlan Ellison
 
Jun 2006 The Exiles Trilogy         Ben Bova  
May 2006 Birdy   tick!     William Wharton  
Apr 2006 The Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III         William Dear  
Mar 2006 A Bear Called Paddington   tick!     Michael Bond  
Mar 2006 The Watch Below     tick!   James White Great story!
Feb 2006 Captive Universe         Harry Harrison  
Feb 2006 Orphans of the Sky     tick!   Robert Heinlein  
Feb 2006 Non-Stop   tick!     Brian Aldiss  
Jan 2006              
Dec 2005 Raising Boys   tick!     Steve Biddulph  
Dec 2005 Manhood   tick!     Steve Biddulph  
Nov 2005 High Fidelity         Nick Hornby  
Sep 2005 Furious Gulf         Gregory Benford  
Aug 2005 Dune Messiah         Frank Herbert  
Aug 2005 Tides of Light   tick!     Gregory Benford  
Jul 2005 National Lampoon's Doon         Ellis Weiner Many pages too long
Jul 2005 Dune         Frank Herbert  
Jul 2005 Great Sky River   tick!     Gregory Benford  
Jun 2005 Windows Script Host 2.0 Developer's Guide         Günter Born very lightweight
Jun 2005 Across the Sea of Suns   tick!     Gregory Benford  
May 2005 In the Ocean of Night   tick!     Gregory Benford  
May 2005 Roadside Picnic         Arkady and Boris Strugatsky  
May 2005 Cryptonomicon         Neal Stephenson Great!  Wish I hadn't put it off for 4 years now!
Feb 2005 The Da Vinci Code         Dan Brown  
Nov 2004 UFO         Robert Miall  
May 2004 The Time Ships   tick!     Stephen Baxter I love this book!
Apr 2004 The Definitive Time Machine         H G Wells
(ed. Harry M. Geduld)
1924 Atlantic Edition
Mar 2004 The Time Machine: An Invention (A Critical Text)         H G Wells
(ed. Leon Stover)
1895 London First Edition (Heinemann)
Mar 2004 Mockingbird   tick!     Walter Tevis  
Feb 2004 Life of Pi         Yann Martel  
Feb 2004 Timeline         Michael Crichton  
Feb 2004 C# and the .NET Platform         Andrew Troelsen  
Nov 2003 Learning Perl (2nd edition)         Randal L. Schwartz  
Jan 2003 Starship Troopers         Robert Heinlein  
Dec 2002 Thinner         Stephen King  
Sep 2002 The Bourne Identity         Robert Ludlum Have to finish it before I see the movie!
Aug 2002 Solaris     tick!   Stanislaw Lem 45% fascinating, 45% boring and 10% missing
May 2002
Nov 2002
The Lost World         Sir A C Doyle Because of the BBC mini-series
Mar 2002 Quarantine         Greg Egan  
Mar 2002 A Programmer's Introduction to C#         Eric Gunnerson NOT a good book
Feb 2002 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire         J.K. Rowling Uh oh - when's the next one?!?
Feb 2002 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban         J.K. Rowling I guess I am hooked...
Feb 2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets         J.K. Rowling Hey, this stuff is ok...
Feb 2002 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone         J.K. Rowling To find out what all the fuss is about
Dec 2001 Time         Stephen Baxter Reminded me a lot of "The Time Ships"
Jul 2001 Reinventing Your Life         Jeffrey E. Young
Janet S. Klosko
 
Apr 2001 Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus         John Gray Because they are!
May 2001 You Just Don't Understand:
Women and Men in Conversation
        Deborah Tannen Because I don't!
Mar 2001 Destination: Void   tick!     Frank Herbert Gobbledygook
Mar 2001 3001 The Final Odyssey         Arthur C. Clarke Independence Day, starring Buck Rogers
Mar 2001 2061 Odyssey Three   tick!     Arthur C. Clarke Completely pointless - added nothing to the series
Mar 2001 2010 Odyssey Two   tick!     Arthur C. Clarke  
Feb 2001 2001: A Space Odyssey   tick!     Arthur C. Clarke Because it's Arthur's year
Feb 2001 Journey to the Centre of the Earth
(new translation by Dr.William Butcher)
  tick!     Jules Verne Because I'm going to Snæfellsjökull
Dec 2000 Halo   tick!     Tom Maddox  
Jul 2000 Catweazle tick! tick!     Richard Carpenter  
Jul 2000 Being Digital         Nicholas Negroponte  
Jun 2000 Notes From a Small Island         Bill Bryson Wonderful book
May 2000 Raising Boys   tick!     Steve Biddulph I went to see him talk at the Dorking Halls
May 2000 Running Blind       tick! Desmond Bagley Good fun
Apr 2000 The Time Machine
(Everyman Edition)
  tick!     H G Wells  
Mar 2000 Misery         Stephen King Not much different than the movie
Mar 2000 The Custodians         Richard Cowper Excellent short stories
Feb 2000 The Positronic Man       tick! Isaac Asimov
Robert Silverberg
Same again. Why did they bother?
Jan 2000 The Bicentennial Man         Isaac Asimov  
Jan 2000 The Ringworld Throne         Larry Niven Larry goes all Heinlein on us
Dec 1999 Ringworld Engineers   tick!   tick! Larry Niven  
Dec 1999 Ringworld   tick!   tick! Larry Niven Excellent
Dec 1999 The Difference Engine       tick! William Gibson
Bruce Sterling
Indifferent
Nov 1999 The Two Towers tick! tick!     JRR Tolkien  
Nov 1999 The Pool of Fire tick! tick!     John Christopher  
Oct 1999 All the Sounds of Fear         Harlan Ellison To find out what Karen Rodrigues liked
Sep 1999 The Shipping News         E. Annie Proulx Doubting Reader Pleasantly Surprised
Sep 1999 The Nick of Time         G. A. Effinger The Waste of Time
Sep 1999 The Fellowship of the Ring tick! tick!     JRR Tolkien Reading it to the kids this time
Sep 1999 Hemmingway's Chair         Michael Palin I'll have to think about this one
Sep 1999 Jizzle         John Wyndham  
Jul 1999 Hannibal         Thomas Harris Hannibal the Cannibal as James Bond -
What an amazingly bad book.
Jul 1999 The Silence of the Lambs   tick!     Thomas Harris Bloody brilliant
Jul 1999 The City of Gold and Lead tick! tick!     John Christopher Reading it to the kids this time
Jul 1999 Red Dragon   tick!   tick! Thomas Harris Brilliant
Jul 1999 The Hound of the Baskervilles         Sir A C Doyle Possibly not the best choice for my first Holmes?
Jun 1999 Rainbow Mars         Larry Niven He used to be so good!
May 1999 Flight of the Horse   tick!   tick! Larry Niven  
May 1999 Time's Arrow         Martin Amis Very clever idea!
May 1999 Traces       tick! Stephen Baxter Yes! Real science fiction! Yes!
Apr 1999 The White Mountains tick! tick!     John Christopher The kids didn't like it as much as I did. :-(
Mar 1999 The Selfish Gene         Richard Dawkins  
Apr 1999 Tales From Watership Down tick!     tick! Richard Adams Hraka Sandwich
Mar 1999 The Anubis Gates       tick! Tim Powers Bloody good!
Mar 1999 Wizards of Odd       tick! Various So many great authors - so many dud stories!
Feb 1999 Watership Down tick!       Richard Adams Excellent. The kids loved it as much as I did.
Feb 1999 Manhood         Steve Biddulph Very good! Recommended.
Jan 1999 Lord of the Flies         William Golding Is this a kids book?
Dec 1998 Destiny's Road         Larry Niven  
Dec 1998 Raising Boys         Steve Biddulph  
Nov 1998 Timescapes - Stories of Time Travel       tick! Various  
Nov 1998 Breathing Lessons         Anne Tyler I didn't like it.
Oct 1998 Involution Ocean         Bruce Sterling The last couple of chapters were ok.
1998 Dolores Claiborne         Stephen King  
Jul 1998 War of the Worlds   tick!   tick! H G Wells Ulla!
May 1998 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
  tick!
tick!
  tick!
tick!
Douglas Adams  
Apr 1998 The Accidental Tourist         Anne Tyler Quite liked it.
Mar 1998 The Time Machine II         George Pal  

 

 

Last updated 25-Jul-10 email: Kirk.Davies@pobox.com