Books read October

Eleven books read all together this month, largely made possible by rereading some eight Pratchett novels.

Natural History — Justina Robson
Humanity has split itself into a multitude of forms, better to colonise the Solar System with. Then one of the first interstellar human ships finds the remnants of an alien vessel and the secrets of FTL travel and nothing will be the same…

The Hydrogen Sonata — Iain M. Banks
This is the latest Culture novel and somewhat of a disappointment. Good, but not as good as the last one, with a bit of a copout ending.

The Case of the Gilded Fly — Edmund Crispin
The first of Crispin’s Gervase Fen’s mysteries, in which an excentric Oxford don (aren’t they all) solves murders. This one is marred by the lack of sympathy shown to the victim as well ae the mindgames Fen plays with the suspects and readers both.

The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards! — Terry Pratchett
The first eight Discworld novels, read both because I wanted something comfortable to read as well as because I wanted to re-examine the early Discworld novels. Arguably, it’s in these eight novels that Pratchett matures as a writer and the Discworld is shaped; by the time of Guards! Guards! most of the major subseries have been established.

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