books and books review

And so we’ve reached December and the year’s total: ninetyone books read in total, the first time since 2006 that I’ve read less than a hundred books — and even this number is somewhat inflated by my reread of the entire Discworld series. I blame my obsession with Football Manager — as well as other videogames — this past year for this, for keeping sitting behind the pc for much longer and hence reading less. I also seemed to have less energy for reading and in general 2012 was somewhat of a year of recuperation for me, for obvious reasons.

Terminal World — Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Reynolds does steampunk in a far future world where Vingean zones make high technology possible in some parts of the planet, but limits technology in others.

Outies — J. R. Pournelle
A sequel to a sequel which itself had not been half as good as the original novel, written by the daughter of one of the original writers, decades after the first sequel had come out. Nine out of ten of the books you can describe this way are godawful crap (ten out of ten if Kevin J. Anderson is the cowriter), but this is the exception. It helps that J. R. (Jennifer) Pournelle is an archaeologist and anthropologist and takes her experience into the novel. As a writer, she’s at least as good a craft person as her father, if not better.

Imperial Women in Byzantium 1025 — 1204 — Barbara Hill
An interesting look at a period of Byzantine history that saw a remarkable number of powerful women entering imperial politics. This book not just tells their story, but examines their limits and powers and the ways in which they could and could not exercise their power and how this was represented in contemporary sources.

Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, — Terry Pratchett
The first batch of Pratchett Discworld novels read in December in my ongoing reread of the entire series.

As They Were — M. F. K. Fisher
Sandra always loved M. F. K. Fisher’s writing, which is why I read this collection of essays about food, traveling and the people she met.

Small Gods, Lords and Ladies, Men at Arms — Terry Pratchett
The second batch.

Slim pickings this month and being busy at work didn’t help. Though be honest, I was reading 3-4 books at teh same time so I expect a glut of books finished in early December, but for now I’ve only read four books:

Faust Eric — Terry Pratchett
A somewhat odd Discworld novel, as it was originally published as an illustrated chapbook. Eric tries to summon a demon and gets Rincewind instead. Hilarity ensues.

Imperial Women in Byzantium 1025 – 1204 — Barbara Hill
The Byzantine Empire had a larger than usual share of female rulers, no more so than in the period Barbara Hill discusses, when for various reasons there was more room for strong minded women to influence imperial politics.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush — Eric Newby
Newby was working as a tailor in London when a friend asked him to come to Afghanistan to visit the remote north east corner, Nuristan and climb some mountains there. Despite no experience as a mountaineer, how could he refuse?

Iron Kingdom — Christopher Clark
A largely sympathetic account of the history of Prussia, trying to avoid the teleology that dogs a lot of German history, looking forward to the Third Reich.