Entry tags:
Books to go
ETA: These books have now all gone; some to new homes, others to Oxfam.
I've been having a bit of a tidy and sorting out (amongst other things) piles of books that neither K nor I think we're likely to read again (as well as the occasional duplicate). There are still some shelves I've not done, but since there are now well over a hundred books on the list and the boxes are starting to get in the way, it seems a good idea to get started. Stuff that no-one's interested in will probably go to a charity shop in a week or so to make space, but I'm happy to caretake books people actually want while I get organised.
Formatwise, "PB" means standard 180x110mm paperback, "LPB" is any larger-sized paperback and "HB" is a hardback of any size. Most of them are in one or another of the fairly-standard book sizes, but there's the odd peculiarity, as noted. Struck out items have been requested, here or elsewhere.
ETA: pretty much everything here is fiction, unless noted otherwise. Pretty much.
I've been having a bit of a tidy and sorting out (amongst other things) piles of books that neither K nor I think we're likely to read again (as well as the occasional duplicate). There are still some shelves I've not done, but since there are now well over a hundred books on the list and the boxes are starting to get in the way, it seems a good idea to get started. Stuff that no-one's interested in will probably go to a charity shop in a week or so to make space, but I'm happy to caretake books people actually want while I get organised.
Formatwise, "PB" means standard 180x110mm paperback, "LPB" is any larger-sized paperback and "HB" is a hardback of any size. Most of them are in one or another of the fairly-standard book sizes, but there's the odd peculiarity, as noted. Struck out items have been requested, here or elsewhere.
ETA: pretty much everything here is fiction, unless noted otherwise. Pretty much.
Author | Title | Format | Notes |
A E Van Vogt | The Mind Cage | PB | |
A N Wilson | The Vicar of Sorrows | LPB | |
Adam Jacot de Boinod | The Meaning of Tingo | PB | Which got its own post. But not in a good way. |
Agatha Christie | Sleeping Murder | HB | Miss Marple |
Alfred Price | The Hardest Day | LPB | Cassell book about 18 August 1940, sometimes regarded as the turning point of the “Battle of Britain” |
HB | |||
HB | |||
Ann Wroe | Perkin: A Story of Deception | LPB | Biography/Historical analysis of the life and possible origins of Perkin Warbeck |
Arthur C Clarke/Stephen Baxter | The Light of Other Days | PB | Give me the Bob Shaw short story of the same title any day. |
Audrey Niffenegger | The Time Traveller's Wife | LPB | |
Bernard Cornwall | The Winter King | PB | Signed |
Bill Bryson | Down Under | HB | Non-fic |
Bill Bryson | The Lost Continent/Neither Here nor There | HB | Two-in-one edition |
Bill Bryson | Notes From a Big Country | HB | Non-fic |
Bremner, Bird, and Fortune | You are HERE | LPB | Which is for the vicar what “Stupid White Men” is for the shrub |
Brian Aldiss | Super State | HB | |
Brian Aldiss | The Saliva Tree | PB | |
Brian Herbert | The Garbage Chronicles | PB | Serious candidate for the worst book I've ever read |
Bruce Palling (ed) | The Book of Modern Scandal | HB | Looks brand new; no idea where it came from. (Non-fic) |
Catherine Asaro | Spherical Harmonic | PB | |
Charles Birkin | So Pale, So Cold, So Fair | PB | |
Cherie Priest | Boneshaker | LPB | Enjoyable if predictable steampunk-with-zombies |
China Mieville | Kraken | LPB | Not much impressed by this |
Chris BeeBee | The Hub | HB | |
Christopher Brookmyre | Boiling a Frog | LPB | OK, but I won't be rereading it |
Christopher Brookmyre | Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks | LPB | Accidentally acquired a duplicate copy (“so good I bought it twice”) |
Christopher Brookmyre | A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil | HB | OK but not brilliant Brookmyre |
Christopher Brookmyre | Be My Enemy | LPB | The first Brookmyre I read; good enough to encourage me to read more. |
Christopher Evans | Capella's Golden Eyes | PB | |
Christopher Paolini | Eragon | LPB | |
Christopher Priest | The Dream Archipelago | HB | Sort-of-connected short stories |
Christopher Rowley | The War for Eternity | PB | |
Cliff Goodwin | Inspector Morse Country | HB | Looks brand new; no idea where it came from. (Non-fic) |
Clifford D Simak | Cosmic Engineers | PB | One of Simak's weakest, on the whole |
Dan Simmons | Hyperion | LPB | |
Daniel Keys Moran | The Last Dancer | PB | |
David Drake | Fireships | HB | |
David Eddings | Pawn of Prophecy | PB | |
David Gemmell | Lion of Macedon | PB | |
David Gemmell | Dark Moon | HB | |
David Karp | Sleepwalkers | PB | |
David Saperstein | Cocoon | PB | |
Eric S Nylund | Pawn's Dream | PB | |
Frank Herbert | Priests of Psi | PB | |
Fred Saberhagen | Octagon | PB | |
Freda Warrington | A Blackbird in Silver | LPB | Series of four; the first two volumes comprise a fairly standard fantasy quest, although things take a slightly different turn in the last two |
Freda Warrington | A Blackbird in Darkness | LPB | |
Freda Warrington | A Blackbird in Amber | LPB | |
Freda Warrington | A Blackbird in Twilight | LPB | |
General Sir John Hackett | The Third World War | PB | A not-very-convincing-to-me 1980's prognosis of future war |
General Sir John Hackett | The Third World War: The Untold Story | HB | |
George R R Martin | Dying of the Light | PB | |
Glenda Larke | The Last Stormlord | PB | Very poor generic fantasy, by an author who totally fails every subject from psychology to geology |
PB | |||
PB | |||
Granta | Issue 62: What young men do | LPB | |
Granta | Issue 63: Beasts | LPB | |
Granta | Issue 64: Russia | LPB | |
H Hawksley & S Holberton | Dragon Strike | HB | A somewhat later but not especially more convincing (to me) “Third World War” |
PB | The tale of a millionaire elephant who wears a dressing gown. Enjoyably silly children's book, but this is a spare and I only need one copy. | ||
LPB | |||
Jan and Ted Arundell | The Ten Dimensional Maze | LPB | About a foot square, in fact. |
Janny Wurts | To Ride Hell's Chasm | HB | |
Jeremy Dronefield | The Alchemist's Apprentice | HB | Modern Urban something-or-other |
Joel Glenn Brenner | The Chocolate Wars | LPB | About the weird internals and conflicts of Mars and Hershey (the author isn't really interested in non-merkin chocolate) |
John Lewis Gaddis | Surprise, Security, and the American Experience | LPB | Non-fic |
John Perkins | Confessions of an Economic Hit Man | LPB | Non-fic |
John Varley | The Barbie Murders | PB | Short stories; some interesting ideas, terrible writing |
Julia Gray | The Dark Moon | PB | Very generic fantasy |
Justina Robson | Silver Screen | PB | Thoughtful AI-centric scifi; not Robson's best, but pretty good. |
Karen Miller | The Innocent Mage | PB | |
Kate Elliott | King's Dragon | PB | Might appeal to fans of GRRM-style grim fantasy; I much prefer her more recent series |
Katherine Langrish | Troll Fell | LPB | OK young-teen fantasy. Signed (not to anyone). |
Keith Brooke | Expatria | PB | Part one of two; didn't inspire me to read part 2 |
Kenneth Bulmer | On the Symb Socket Circuit | PB | Serious candidate for the worst book I've ever read |
Kevin J Anderson | Climbing Olympus | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Magic of Recluce | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Magic Engineer | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Order War | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Death of Chaos | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Fall of Angels | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Chaos Balance | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The White Order | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | The Colours of Chaos | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | Magi'i of Cyador | PB | |
L E Modesitt, jr | Scion of Cyador | PB | |
Lance Parkin/Mark Clapham | Beige Planet Mars | PB | |
Lisanne Norman | Sholan Alliance series (Six novels) | PB | Mediocre scifi adventure series; credit where it's due, the author does at least have a rationale for inter-species fertility |
Louise Cooper | Our Lady of the Snow | HB | |
Margaret Doody | Aristotle Detective | PB | |
Marjorie Bradley Kellogg | Reign of Fire | PB | |
Marshall Goldberg | Disposable People | PB | |
Maurice Collins | Eccentric Contraptions | LPB | A book of pretty pictures of assorted antiquated items, most of which aren't eccentric, and many of which don't really qualify as contraptions. |
Melanie Rawn | Dragon Prince | LBD | |
Michael Cobley | Seeds of Earth | LPB | Volume 1 of an OK-but-not-brilliant sci-fi trilogy |
Michael Coney | Friends Come in Boxes | PB | |
Michael Marshal | The Straw Men | LPB | (aka Michael Marshall Smith) does nasty non-sci fiction about serial killers |
Michael Moore | Stupid White Men | LPB | Non-fic |
Michael Palin | Hemingway's Chair | PB | |
Miles Harvey | The Island of Lost Maps | HB | Disappointingly dull book on a potentially interesting topic |
Milos Stankovic | Trusted Mole: A soldier's journey into Bosnia's heart of darkness | HB | Pretty horrifying memoir of a soldier/translator/occasional spy's experiences working for the UN in Bosnia |
Mitch Cullin | Tideland | LPB | Made into a film by Terry Gilliam; it certainly suits his style. |
Peter F Hamilton | The Reality Dysfunction | PB | Promising beginning |
Peter F Hamilton | The Neutronium Alchemist | HB | So-so middle |
Peter F Hamilton | The Naked God | HB | Lousy cop-out ending |
Peter Way | Sunrise | PB | |
R A Macavoy | Damiano's Lute | PB | |
Raymond E Feist | Prince of the Blood | LPB | |
Rebecca Skloot | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | LPB | Excellent piece of popular science/social reporting |
Robert Jordan | The Eye of the World | PB | |
Roger Simon | Show Time | HB | A book about the weirdness of American political races in 1996. |
Sarah Prineas | The Magic Thief | LPB | Bookcrossing Book. OK young-teen fantasy. |
Sarah Prineas | The Magic Thief: Lost | LPB | Bookcrossing Book. OK young-teen fantasy. |
Scott Lynch | Red Seas Under Red Skies | HB | I thought “Locke Lamora” was only so-so, and was notably less enamoured of this sequel |
Sergei Lukyanenko | The Day Watch | LPB | All four books in the trilogy are OK, but I don't feel a need to keep this one (the only one I bought rather than borrowing) |
Stephen Baxter | Space | One each of PB and HB, both to go | |
Stephen Baxter | Traces | HB | Short stories |
Stephen Baxter | Exultant | LPB | |
Stephen Baxter | Titan | PB | |
Stephen Donaldson | Lord Foul's Bane | HB | |
Stephen Donaldson | The Illearth War | PB | |
Stephen Donaldson | The Power that Preserves | PB | |
Stephen Donaldson | The Wounded Land | PB | |
Stephen Donaldson | The One Tree | PB | |
Stephen Donaldson | White Gold Wielder | PB | |
Terry Brooks | Running with the Demon | HB | |
Terry Jones | The Knight and the Squire | PB | |
Tim Burton | The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy | PB | In which Burton tries to be Edward Lear, and fails hard |
Toni Sortor | The Book of Clean Jokes | LPB | Filled with hilarious japes like... no, there aren't any good enough to be worth the effort of retyping. |
Tony Ballantyne | Recursion | PB | |
Vera Chapman | The Enchantresses | PB | |
LPB | |||
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