November's reading, some of it in connection with being a judge for the Prometheus Award and the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award:
Singularity Sky, Charles Stross. Far future space opera from 2004, a lot of cool artificial intelligence stuff. I really enjoyed it.
The Norman Conquest, Marc Morris. I often buy cheap history books when they go on sale for Kindle, and occasionally I find time to read them; this was good, well written and well-researched. Did you know that 10% of the population in Anglo Saxon England were slaves? The Normans get bad press, largely deservedly so, but one of the things the Normans did after conquering England was to abolish the slave trade.
Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies, John Oller. All about John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, etc., but also the FBI agents who tracked them down. A new book, hard to put down, suitable for people on your holiday shopping list who like true crime. The real Dillinger bears little resemblance to the character in Illuminatus! I interviewed the author and wrote a newspaper article.
A Talent for Murder, Peter Swanson. A few years ago, I read The Kind Worth Killing by Swanson, and it was one of the best crime fiction novels I'd ever read. This is the third book featuring the characters Henry Kimball and Lily Kintner.
Machine Vendetta, Alastair Reynolds. I've been hearing for years about Reynolds, supposedly a master of the new British space opera, and this new novel did turn out to be a good read. I will try to read more of his.
Earth to Moon, Moon Unit Zappa. A memoir, mostly about growing up in Frank Zappa's household. Candid and fascinating. Here is a sentence about books in Frank Zappa's personal library that might interest some of you: "The books belonging to my father have strange words like 'Sufism' and 'Kabbalah' or long titles like Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated or Science: The Wealth of Nations or Science: Novum Organum."
No comments:
Post a Comment