The 2016 list of books I have read

This years books have a strange mixture in it. Some really short ones like “Neverwhere” and one really long one like Infinite Jest.

There was no really bad book this year where I totally regretted reading it, but the “Kingkiller Chronicle” is very close to disappointment. Only worse was “The Magicians”.

On the other hand the last book of the “Three Body” problem was exceptional good.

The big positive surprise this year was the “Culture” series from Iain M. Banks. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of them in the coming years.

Kim Stanley Robinson: Aurora

The year started of with a solid Sci-Fi book. Robinson is always good for some epic sci-fi opera and that one hit right on the spot. A wonderful story about going to the stars and what awaits us there. The only thing negative was the the end which felt a bit lackluster. I still recommend it.

Kim Stanley Robinson: 2312

This book sat on my reading shelf for quite some time since I heard about it. So after I read Aurora I thought why not read this one too. This is less a sci-fi opera than a local drama about humanity in the future and how it copes with environmental and social issues. While not bad, I wasn’t convinced overall and it felt a bit a drag and too long.

Lev Grossman: The Magicians (The Magicians #1)

This book was a hard read. On one hand it has a really interesting concept on how magic works. Nothing is easy, this is really hard to study with a billion exceptions and rules. But on the other hand this idiotic behavior of all the characters in this book really made me want to throw up and really put me off to continue reading it. Especially when I got warned that it only gets worse. I would not recommend this book.

Ernest Hemingway: A Moveable Feast

To recover from the previous book I picked up a classic and this one got recommended to me for a proper Hemingway. And it was really good. There is not much else to say. Highly recommend it to get a view of how Hemingway as a person was back in his Paris days. Really great.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (Culture #1)

There are authors that can write and construct this amazing universe and characters where you just feel perfectly at home. Where everything is just amazing and interesting from the first page to the last and this is one of that. The Culture Universe is something amazing as compare to all the other sci-fi books the humans are not this struggling small group that has to fight the big evil and survive. No humans are this old long time space race that is just superior and in this setting Iain M. Banks wrote this wonderful story. Really highly recommended.

Robert J. Sawyer: Starplex

Pulp fiction sci-fi. Nothing spectacular, nothing bad either. If you have just nothing else to read and really like sci-fi then this is a book you can read. Else I would skip it. There is better sci-fi out there (like the Culture series).

Patrick Rothfuss: The Kingkiller Chronicle

Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1)

Patrick Rothfuss: The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2)

This is like this fantasy series that everyone at some point talks about. The one where everybody waits for the third book (will it ever come?). So I sort of had to read it. But, oh boy, while epic on one hand, it really feels like some basement dwelling fedora wearing neckbeards fantasy. There is just as much white knighting that one can handle. The only bright points are the moments where the story goes to the point where the storyteller does not tell the story but where things happen in the right now. There could be something great inside. Or not? I don’t know. I would not recommend this. My recommendation will come only if the third part delivers. In the current form you can skip it. The short parts of really interesting things are too overshadowed with this “I can do everything” character. Or again, is this all just made up?

China Miéville: Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon #1)

When I read “The City & The City” from the same author last year I was really blown away by it and so I picked up this book and it was really good. Again you have this other world style fantasy that is just not what your average fantasy is. A bit of steam-punk feeling all over it with fantastic beings and an amazing story. I really recommend this one.

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose

Since Umberto Eco has died I told myself that I really need to read one of his books. A lot of them are really long and complex ones so I decided to go with the one where I already knew the movie. The books is of course much different, and in my opinion so much better. But I have to warn that his writing style is very complex and difficult. This is not something you just read, you really have to concentrate to read this one and not miss about some minor things.

Biggest issues, all the characters looked like the film characters in my head. Anyway, recommended.

Richard Preston: The Demon in the Freezer

The only non-fiction book this year is this one and it read more like thriller than a matter of fact book that it is. If you want to read about the smallpox and the weaponized bio war world you really must read this book. Highly recommended.

David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest

The book. This one thousand plus page bible of literature. It has it’s own subreddit. It gets discussed to all ends and over again. It appears on pretty much every “you should read those books” list. So I read it. And this was a roller coaster ride I had never before. In the beginning I wanted to stop reading it, throw it away and write the most flaming review of how shit it is. But then it started to make sense. Things came together, all those story elements, all those characters. And then you start to realize that this novel has footnotes. More footnotes than any non-fiction book I have ever read. Footnotes that in itself are hundred page long stories. (and I recommend to read them or the story will make less sense). And then it ends and you ask yourself. That is it? That was really cheap. You feel cheated. Do I recommend this. Yes and now. Are you willing to really really read. Again this is a book that is really complex. Long sentences, difficult words, very complex story. It is written very well indeed. Yes, I would recommend it. After all it left the biggest impression of all the books I read. And if I can’t stop thinking about a book, the book did something right.

Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere

A short story. Apparently done for a TV show, but the book is like an extended version. As usual very well written, like all his books. And really short. You can read that in a view days without any problem. So if you need a quick read, here it is.

Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt

Good 15 years ago I started reading this book and then I stopped. I still have no idea why I stopped, but I did. So finally I read it and it was really good and interesting. Following the same characters through an alternate history was a real joy. Yes there are some parts that drag along a bit too much perhaps, but at the end it was a great book. A proper Kim Stanley Robinson book.

Alastair Reynolds: Poseidon’s Wake (Poseidon’s Children #3)

The year were trilogies end. This trilogy has its strange moments, and the second book was at parts very strange. But the third one picks up nicely and brings the story arch to a nice end. I would say that it was amazing, but it was solid and good.

Cixin Liu: Death’s End (Remembrance of Earth’s Past/Three Body #3)

The Three Body problem books really build up. Each one was an amazing book, but the third one was by far the best and brings a great conclusion to the whole story. Sci-Fi from a different point of view, very well written. Highly recommend them.

Iain M. Banks: The Player of Games (Culture #2)

The second book from the Culture series and another amazing story. I have note that no culture story is connected to each other. The universe is the same, but the stories are all stand alone, so you can read them in whatever order. This one is as amazing as the first one. Very different story, different characters, but as amazing and as great as the first one. Highly recommend and I am looking forward to read more of this series.

Tom Wolfe: The Right Stuff

So I did not read just one non-fiction story. I read this one too. Quite some time ago I saw the movie which was really long started really strange but was really good. Then I found out that there is actually a book behind this, so I had to read that of course. A really interesting read about the Mercury program, the astronauts who were in it and the other test pilots in other high altitude programs. How the US was rattled by the Russians succeeding all over and they falling behind. Great book, really worth reading it. And I also recommend the movie.