Reading List

[kangeiko]

I read 52 books for 2008 [see the list here], which were a good mix of fiction and non-fiction. 50 of those I had not read before (and the two re-reads were Kim Stanley Robinson, so it's not like they were light reading!).

As usual, one of my New Year's Resolutions will be to read 50 books in 2009. And - crucially - review them. My reviews petered off quite quickly in 2008.

I even have a good idea of what will be on my reading list for 2009, and people are welcome to comment and recommend stuff to me. In non-fiction, I like hard science, early American history, pre-Civil War British and Victorian British history, genetics, environmentalism, global warming and climate change, African history and politics (usually left-leaning, although I like to read some good dissenting views as well).

Fiction-wise, I like pulpy, trashy sci-fi, grand world-building narratives, gloriously detailed historical fiction, and pretty much anything by J Winterson, M Atwood or AS Byatt.

My reading list - already purchased and sitting on my bookshelf - is thus far:

- The Scar, China Mieville
- Iron Council, China Mieville
- The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson
- Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, Susanna Clarke
- Minority Report, Philip K Dick
- Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gould
- The Earthsea Quartet, Ursula Le Guin
- The Dispossessed, Ursula Le Guin
- Evolution, Stephen Baxter
- The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene
- Critical Mass: how one thing leads to another, Philip Ball
- Chaos, James Gleick
- The Secret History, Donna Tartt
- As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela, Mark Thomas
- Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
- Identity and Violence, Amartya Sen
- Brick Lane, Monica Ali

Any others I should add to the above?

Comments

[vae]

One I recommend to everyone for historical, though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, is The Vizard Mask, by Diana Norman - Plague, Puritans, theatre, civil war and restoration. And Aphra Behn, which pretty much sold it to me to start with.

[kangeiko]

Oh, that does sound interesting, and just my cup of tea. Thanks, I will look it up!