July was somewhat better than June in terms of actually finishing books: eight instead of five, largely because I chose easier books to read, pure junkfood in some cases.
The Naming of the Dead — Ian Rankin
Rebus has to solve the murder of a rapist while the G8 is in town. Cameo appearance by one George Bush crashing his bike in a copper.
The Red Canary — Tim Birkhead
A pop science book about genetics, the quest to breed a true red canary from its normally green stock and why this was impossible without genetical enginering the colour in. Not a subject I’d normally be interested in, but quite readable.
Theater of War Lewis Lapham
I hadn’t heard of Lewis Lapham before, but he’s an American political commentator and this is a collection of his columns during the crucial period of 2000-2003, from the stolen election to the war on Iraq. Looking back at this period seven years later it’s unbelievable that we could’ve ever been bamboozled by the clowns Lapham skewers here. And by we I mean the media and politicians rather than anybody else…
Diamonds Are Forever — Ian Fleming
First time I’ve read a Bond book. They always said that the books were entirely different from the movies and they were right. The bad guys in the book just run a simple diamond smuggling operation instead of whatever convoluted shit the ones in the movie were about.
Moonraker — Ian Fleming
James Bond helps “M” to check out if famed industrialist Hugo Drax is actually cheating at bridge, then becomes the security chief of his Moonraker project vital to the national defence of Britain…
The Man With the Golden Gun — Ian Fleming
This is where that famous quote of Fleming’s of homosexuals not being able to whistle comes from. Just one example of the, shall we say, somewhat dated attitudes towards gender, sexuality and race in these books. Not often overtly malicious, but
Carve the Sky — Alexander Jablokov
Jablokov’s first novel and one of the few cyberpunk novels that seems to have been inspired by Bruce Sterling’s Schismatrix rather than Gibson’s Neuromancer.
The Hour of the Dragon — Robert E. Howard
Howard’s only Conan novel, sort of a greatest hits version of a Conan story, set late in his career. Not bad
Carnacki the Ghost-Finder — William Hope Hodgson
The ghost detective or paranormal investigator genre of fantasy was fairly popular in Edwardian England though almost extinct since. This collection is a good example of the genre, with Carnacki going at his business semi-scientifically, experimenting yet with his knowledge still based on ancient manuscripts as much as on scientific research. Sometimes the mystery investigated is a hoax and one story is just a straightup detective puzzle, but most do feature the supernatural in some way or another, in a very Lovecraftian way.