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January 04, 2010

2009 Review - Books

Books

I read 21 books in 2009. Here is the list

The Ghost - Robert Harris
Martians, Go Home - Fredric Brown
Esio Trot - Roald Dahl
Just After Sunset - Stephen King
We Think, Therefore We Are - ed. Peter Crowther
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
The Ghost Brigade - John Scalzi
Shock - Richard Matheson
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larson
Shock III - Richard Matheson
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinmann
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Zoe's Tale - John Scalzi
Double Act - Jacqueline Wilson
The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larson
House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
Flash Forward - Robert W Sawyer
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Outstanding find of the year is the Swedish author Stieg Larson, who sadly died not long after completing his 'Millennium' trilogy of crime novels. I'm currently working my way slowly through the final volume - slowly, because I know there will be no more.

John Scalzi wrote a great book called "Old Man's War" - then followed it with sequels of ever decreasing enjoyment, culminating in the final insult - "Zoe's Tale" - a book which tells the exact same story as the previous entry in the series, from a slightly different point of view. that idea can work, but needs a lot of skill. It didn't work here.

"The Hunger Games" is a real standout. It is teen fiction, but very well done, very gripping right from the beginning.

My last pick of the year is "Bad Science". Ben Goldacre's book is a must read for anyone wanting a little perspective on how we are being sold so much science crap by the media. Full of interesting facts about MMR, MRSA, homeopathy and why the Daily Mail seems to be categorizing every substance known to man into either the cancer curing or cancer causing camp.

Posted by se71 at January 4, 2010 01:51 PM

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