clong's 2011 challenge

1. Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand - interesting characters and a couple of compelling scenes, but ultimately a book that fails to live up to its potential.

2. The Lees of Laughter's End by Steven Erikson - some funny moments and plenty of dark, gritty storytelling, but not as good as the best of these B&KB novellas.

3. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny - fun and unusual.

4. The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor - I enjoyed the first half, but found the second half awfully grim.

5. Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber - another entertaining read in the F&GM series, if not particularly the best.

6. Difficult Loves by Italo Calvino - great short stories, beautifully written, at times funny, at times scary, often finding new perspectives that offer insights into what it means to be human.

7. Songs of the Dying Earth by various - great idea, inconsistent execution

8. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - A re-read for my book club. One of those rare books that, the more you think about it, the better it is.

9. Six Short Science Fiction Novels edited by Groff Conklin - solid stories, the weakest being the Asimov contribution.

10. Shapers of Darkness by David B. Coe - book 4 gives us more of the same for David's series: shallow characters moving through a meticulously constructed plot.
11. Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami - I loved this book. Great characters. Great mixture of funny, scary, and surreal.

12. First Lensman by E.E. "Doc" Smith - about what you'd expect...

13. Shards of Space by Robert Sheckley - perhaps the weakest collection I've come accross to date from an author I generally enjoy quite a bit.

14. Times without Number by John Brunner - A workmanlike time travel paradox story that was much more conventional than other books I have read from this source.

15. The Killer Thing by Kate Wilhelm - better than average anti war anti imperialism yarn from the Vietnam era.

16. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper - great fun, as long as you don't think about it too much.

17. VALIS by PKD - interesting, but didn't do a whole lot for me

18. The Ultimate Threshold translated by Mirra Ginsburg - interesting Soviet scifi from the 60s; generally optimistic and a bit naive in tone.

19. Impossible Things by Connie Willis - I liked "The Last of the Winnebagos" very much, and found a few of the others to be reasonably effective, but most of these were only moderately funny and moderately entertaining.

20. Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore - fun and atmospheric--sort of Swords and Sorcery but without much actual slicing and dicing. Hints of Elric.

21. Binary Star 1 by Fritz Leiber and Norman Spinrad - two decent enough short novels from different eras.

22. The Best of Leigh Brackett - some very fine stories in this collection

23. The New Adam by Stanley G. Weinbaum - some interesting concepts, but not a good novel.

24. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula le Guin - a reread for my online book club, which didn't work as well for me this time as it had when I first read it six years ago.

25. Crystal Soldier by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - fun and entertaining, but not up there with the best of the Liaden novels.

26. Neveryona by Samuel Delany - not a particularly compelling story, but interesting characters and ideas. And much less to discomfort the squeamish than other novels from this source.

27. Wild Thyme, Green Magic by Jack Vance - A collection of Jack Vance stories, some quite early others more recent. Vance at times seems to write the same protagonist over and over, but there are a few notable exceptions. Good stuff.

28. Crystal Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Babylon 5 levels of hokeyness, and far from their best in terms of character building, but a few delicious moments and much helpful backstory.

29. The Jericho Iteration by Allen Steele - Pretty flimsy.

30. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - stunningly good, all things considered.

31. Portraits of His Children by George R.R. Martin - a few decent stories, but not really up there with his first two collections.

32. The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell - better written than RA Salvatore. How's that for damning with faint praise?

33. Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber. This kind of story doesn't get much better. Fun and funny.

34. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick - This is my seventh Dick novel to date. Except for the humor of Ubik, it offers everything else that makes Dick such an interesting author, and it gives it to us within the context of a plot that works much better than any of others I've read so far. A very good book on several levels.

35. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian - read this for my online book club. Believable if not particularly likable characters, and a nice combination of historical and nautical interest.

36. The Best of C.L. Moore - several genre defining stories, many of which are stunningly good reads. I am adding her to my "favorite authors" list.

37. All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear - Profoundly self-centered characters maim and have carnal knowledge of each other while the world completes its long standing program of falling apart around them. A few interesting ideas and images, but this turned out to be another Bear book where I really coudn't connect with any of the characters.

38. The Saliva Tree and Other Strange Growths by Brian Aldiss - a strong collection.

39. Dust of Dreams by Steven Erickson - I felt like things were really coming together in the first 3/4th of this book, but was frustrated by the end. But, as the author admits, this is really just the first half of a massive final duology, so I am leaving my mind open until I see where things go in book 10.

40. Embassytown by China Mieville - yet another bizarrely creative setting, and a decent story to tell in it.

41. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson - if there is such a thing as cozy science fiction, this is it.

42. Needle by Hal Clement - an entertaining and unusual story, if not entirely convincing.

43. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - One of those books that turn makes you laugh out loud and then cry and then scares you and then jsut leaves you stunned. Everyone needs to read a book like this occasionally to remind themselves of what fiction is supposed to be all about.

44. The Investigation by Stanislaw Lem - a strange book which is at once a mystery and much more. Some beautiful descriptive language and some insightful probing of the human psyche.

45. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - ambitious stories, well done.

46. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson - interesting setting, effective plotting, interesting but not particularly believable characters.

47. The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino - fun, but not as magical as this author at his best.

48. Blind Voices by Tom Reamy - a little bit rough in places, but imaginative and quite a good read nonetheless.

49. Emphyrio by Jack Vance - a little bit more thoughtful and a little bit less action driven thn most of Vance's novels. I liked it.

50. The Well of the Worlds by Henry Kuttner (and presumably C.L. Moore) - some inspired imagery but generally quite thin on plot and characterization.

51. In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford - I liked this more than I had expected to, although the ending was a bit of a non-event.

52. Pearls from Peoria by Philip Jose Farmer - a bit of a mixed bag, but it did include several entertaining and a couple of surprising stories.

53. Polymath by John Brunner - entertaining, if considerably less ambitious than other works I have read from this author.

54. Passport to Eternity by JG Ballard - a nice collection with no big disappointments. A few of these feel almost M John Harrisonesque (which is a good thing).

55. Up for Grabs by AA Fair - This is more straightforward than many of the Lam and Cool stories, but a fun read nonetheless.

56. The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks - some cool and clever ideas, but a bit of a muddle.

took a break from Love in the Time of Cholera to reread...

57. I Am Legend for my ibdof book club. Enjoyed it just as much this time around.

58. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - interesting, if not remotely likable characters, but not much of a story.

59. The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran - some clever and satisfying moments, but not as good as I had expected.

60. Billenium by J.G. Ballard - a strong collection

61. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link-a strong collection by an author who seems well worth getting to know better.

62. The D A Holds A Candle by Erle Stanley Gardner - Fun, but a bit too easy.

63. The Cassini Division by Ken Macleod - A well constructed and entertaining read, although I never particularly warmed to the protagonist.

64. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm - I enjoyed this, but perhaps not as much as I had expected.

65. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler - another direct, simple, powerful story from this distinctive voice.

66. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay - I was initially skeptical, then found myself caught up in the story, but then found several aspects of the ending to be unconvinving.

67. Year's Best SF 13 edited by Harwell and Cramer - a few good stories, but many of these didn't particularly do much for me.

68. The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer - not great, but better then the first book in the series.

69. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brian Sanderson - Several deeply satisfying moments, but not as strong as the prior book. Mostly this is because Jordan had left so many loose threads to be tied. But I also found the long awaited confrontation with Matt's gateway nemeses to be a bit of a letdown.