reading (the last of the 2024 books)
Jan. 1st, 2025 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorWow, again a long time since I last posted my books. I'm not sure I have everything in order. I'm not sure I didn't miss anything. But this is what I think I read.
28. Agatha Christie "Dumb Witness"
In this mystery I picked up on the major clues, but I didn't put them together correctly. It was a fun read though.
29. Terry Pratchett "Interesting Times"
I like interesting times, but as with all of Pratchett's "takes place in other country" books, it probably couldn't be published today. I feel he handled "Pyramids" and "The Lost Continent" better, but people who live in their analogs might have different opinions. I like Cohen and his band of adventurers. The older I get the more of the jokes about them make sense.
30. The Long List Anthology Volume 5
This was a good varied collection of stories. It's easy to see why most of them made the long list. Among my favorites were "Meat and Salt and Sparks" by Rich Larson, "Sour Milk Girls" by Erin Roberts, and "Thirty-Three Percent Joe" by Suzanne Palmer which has an old school feel with modern plot. This edition also made me search for more Naomi Kritzer, more on that below.
31. Connie Willis "The Road to Roswell"
Connie Willis can weave together a good story, but sometimes I wish there didn't have to be a conventional M/F romance every time. To me, it felt contrived. I didn't feel the spark between the characters who ended up the romantic focus. In fact, every one else (including aliens) had a better romantic vibe. Honestly, the whole book could have worked fine without any romance.
It does a good job of making you want to visit the desert southwest US and see some of the places mentioned. It also does a good job of representing how difficult interspecies communication would actually be. That was my favorite part of the book.
32. Naomi Kritzer "Cat Pictures Please"
This is a fun collection of short stories. They range widely style and setting. The most astounding was "So Much Cooking". I had to look at the original publication date, then I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It is funny and tragic and was prescient. There are a lot of other good stories in the book as well.
33. Naomi Kritzer "Little Free Library"
This short story has a good last paragraph hook. You probably shouldn't consider it a primer if you are thinking of starting a little library, but it's a fun story.
34. Various "Solarpunk Summers"
The quality of writing in this book isn't up to the same level as the Long List anthologies, but then again the Long List is supposed to be the best of the year. I'm glad there are authors out there trying to give a vision for a future we might be able to achieve. I'm also glad there was a conscious effort not to focus on the technology but the society that would make a sustainable world. The execution was definitely mixed, but if you're looking for something about the near future which isn't a dystopia you might be able to pick this collection up without too much coin.
35. Terry Pratchett "A Stroke of the Pen"
This is the new posthumous release of early Pratchett work which was published pseudonymously. Honestly, since it was really early work, I was expecting it to be weak. I had read "The Carpet People" and the other early work which had been previously published. I was pleasantly surprised by these stories. A few of them contain proto-concepts which would later show up in full in Discworld. They are obviously early work, but early Pratchett is as good as many published writer's mid-career work.
36. Terry Pratchett "Maskerade"
I thought I'd already read all the Discworld books, but I didn't remember a bit of this one. Maybe I somehow missed it the first time around.
37. Terry Pratchett "Feet of Clay"
I read this one immediately after "Maskerade" because I wanted to get to "Hogfather" in the appropriate season. It has been a while since I read "Feet of Clay". I remember certain scenes or bits of them, but had forgotten chunks. I'd forgotten just how much poor Colon is put through!
38. Terry Pratchett "Hogfather"
I finished my reread of "Hogfather" on the flight down to Florida. Since I've watched the movie a couple of times since I last read the book, I was surprised by small things that didn't get included in the movie. Overall they are pretty close, but the book has some additional characters and detail scenes. I think "Hogfather" gets better with repeated readings/viewings.
39. Various "Solarpunk Winters"
As with the Summer volume of this series, the quality of the writing and/or editing wasn't all there. I felt like the settings in several of the stories were a stretch. But when you're living in a dystopia it's nice to read about futures where the dystopia has happened and things are better.
40. Naomi Kritzer "Liberty's Daughter"
"Liberty's Daughter" is Kritzer's latest novel. The sections of this novel were originally published independently (or at least most of them), so there are natural conclusions at the end of each. But the novel still flows well from one to the next. The plot and setting does a pretty good job of justifying why a teenager ends up being at the center of all the various plots and manages to influence the various outcomes. I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical of this at first, but then the pieces were fit together quite well. I was completely hooked a little way in and ended up reading the second half of the book in one day.
The things brought up in the book really should be read by all those people complaining about their taxes, claiming to be Libertarian while enjoying the inherent benefits of organized government, or thinking emigrating to corporate captured Mars with save them from climate change on Earth.
28. Agatha Christie "Dumb Witness"
In this mystery I picked up on the major clues, but I didn't put them together correctly. It was a fun read though.
29. Terry Pratchett "Interesting Times"
I like interesting times, but as with all of Pratchett's "takes place in other country" books, it probably couldn't be published today. I feel he handled "Pyramids" and "The Lost Continent" better, but people who live in their analogs might have different opinions. I like Cohen and his band of adventurers. The older I get the more of the jokes about them make sense.
30. The Long List Anthology Volume 5
This was a good varied collection of stories. It's easy to see why most of them made the long list. Among my favorites were "Meat and Salt and Sparks" by Rich Larson, "Sour Milk Girls" by Erin Roberts, and "Thirty-Three Percent Joe" by Suzanne Palmer which has an old school feel with modern plot. This edition also made me search for more Naomi Kritzer, more on that below.
31. Connie Willis "The Road to Roswell"
Connie Willis can weave together a good story, but sometimes I wish there didn't have to be a conventional M/F romance every time. To me, it felt contrived. I didn't feel the spark between the characters who ended up the romantic focus. In fact, every one else (including aliens) had a better romantic vibe. Honestly, the whole book could have worked fine without any romance.
It does a good job of making you want to visit the desert southwest US and see some of the places mentioned. It also does a good job of representing how difficult interspecies communication would actually be. That was my favorite part of the book.
32. Naomi Kritzer "Cat Pictures Please"
This is a fun collection of short stories. They range widely style and setting. The most astounding was "So Much Cooking". I had to look at the original publication date, then I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It is funny and tragic and was prescient. There are a lot of other good stories in the book as well.
33. Naomi Kritzer "Little Free Library"
This short story has a good last paragraph hook. You probably shouldn't consider it a primer if you are thinking of starting a little library, but it's a fun story.
34. Various "Solarpunk Summers"
The quality of writing in this book isn't up to the same level as the Long List anthologies, but then again the Long List is supposed to be the best of the year. I'm glad there are authors out there trying to give a vision for a future we might be able to achieve. I'm also glad there was a conscious effort not to focus on the technology but the society that would make a sustainable world. The execution was definitely mixed, but if you're looking for something about the near future which isn't a dystopia you might be able to pick this collection up without too much coin.
35. Terry Pratchett "A Stroke of the Pen"
This is the new posthumous release of early Pratchett work which was published pseudonymously. Honestly, since it was really early work, I was expecting it to be weak. I had read "The Carpet People" and the other early work which had been previously published. I was pleasantly surprised by these stories. A few of them contain proto-concepts which would later show up in full in Discworld. They are obviously early work, but early Pratchett is as good as many published writer's mid-career work.
36. Terry Pratchett "Maskerade"
I thought I'd already read all the Discworld books, but I didn't remember a bit of this one. Maybe I somehow missed it the first time around.
37. Terry Pratchett "Feet of Clay"
I read this one immediately after "Maskerade" because I wanted to get to "Hogfather" in the appropriate season. It has been a while since I read "Feet of Clay". I remember certain scenes or bits of them, but had forgotten chunks. I'd forgotten just how much poor Colon is put through!
38. Terry Pratchett "Hogfather"
I finished my reread of "Hogfather" on the flight down to Florida. Since I've watched the movie a couple of times since I last read the book, I was surprised by small things that didn't get included in the movie. Overall they are pretty close, but the book has some additional characters and detail scenes. I think "Hogfather" gets better with repeated readings/viewings.
39. Various "Solarpunk Winters"
As with the Summer volume of this series, the quality of the writing and/or editing wasn't all there. I felt like the settings in several of the stories were a stretch. But when you're living in a dystopia it's nice to read about futures where the dystopia has happened and things are better.
40. Naomi Kritzer "Liberty's Daughter"
"Liberty's Daughter" is Kritzer's latest novel. The sections of this novel were originally published independently (or at least most of them), so there are natural conclusions at the end of each. But the novel still flows well from one to the next. The plot and setting does a pretty good job of justifying why a teenager ends up being at the center of all the various plots and manages to influence the various outcomes. I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical of this at first, but then the pieces were fit together quite well. I was completely hooked a little way in and ended up reading the second half of the book in one day.
The things brought up in the book really should be read by all those people complaining about their taxes, claiming to be Libertarian while enjoying the inherent benefits of organized government, or thinking emigrating to corporate captured Mars with save them from climate change on Earth.
