Category: Lists
In reading, as in so many things, 2016 did not end quite the way I had reckoned it would. About halfway through the year I noticed I was near the end of several series, with more on the to-be-read shelf that I could knock out and clear space. That bookcase nearly full, double shelved, so …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2017/01/02/taking-stock-of-2016/
In 2015, I decided to read in three major science fiction and fantasy series that I had somehow missed over the previous twenty years or more. While I had been happily reading other things, they had grown into monuments of the field, and I only knew second-hand what they were all about. So I decided …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/01/05/taking-stock-of-2015/
The Science Fiction Writers of America announced the winners of this year’s Nebula Awards. Novel Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer [Laura reviewed Annihilation as part of its trilogy, and didn’t like it as much as the SFWA did.] Novella Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress Novelette “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14) Short …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/06/07/nebula-award-winners-2015/
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By Doug Merrill in Alternate History, Coming Attractions, Doug, Eastern Europe, Essay, Fantasy, Lists, Mystery, Politics, Russia, Science Fiction, Short Stories
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May 27, 2015
The good news is that at present I can buy books faster than I can read them. The bad news is that at present I can buy books faster than I can read (and review) them. Here are some new things that have appeared (somehow!) in the to-be-read pile, along with what some of my …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/05/27/to-be-read-1/
Three themes emerged in my reading this year, without great conscious intent on my part; well, four if I count getting back to a more typical number of books read. The year did not feature any births, international relocations, invasions by neighboring countries, or major changes in employment. All of that helped in finding more …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/02/taking-stock-of-2014/
Retconning, so as to have a copy of these online as well. This was a year of living hand-to-mouth after the move to Berlin. Forty-eight in total; one in German; three in electronic form, fewer now that I was no longer commuting on the Moscow subway. The year I read almost everything that John M. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/01/03/taking-stock-of-2013/
Retconning, so as to have a copy of these online as well. This was the year of moving to Moscow and out of Moscow. Most of my books were in storage the full year. Thirty-nine in total; none in German; ten in electronic form after receiving a Kindle for Christmas in 2011. The Hundred Thousand …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/01/05/taking-stock-of-2012/
Retconning, so as to have a copy of these online as well. This was the year of moving away from Tbilisi. 2666 and Hadji Murad are the books that remain most in memory from the year’s reading. Thirty-four in total; one in German; none in electronic form, as I did not yet have an e-book …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/01/04/taking-stock-of-2011/
Undemanding reading, with one or two exceptions, appears as the hallmark of 2010. Belated reaction to the economic crisis? Lack of initiative after spending several months with Count Tolstoy in 2009? Hard to say. The exceptions: Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian, a survivor’s testimony from the time of his arrest in 1915 in Istanbul to …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/01/11/taking-stock-of-2010-books/
Instead of a straight-up best-of list, a slightly more eclectic look back at what I read in 2009. Best large Russian book, Tolstoy’s big one; best small Russian book (and most scurrilous of any nationality) Moscow to the End of the Line by Venedikt Erofeev. Best fantasy, parts two through four of the Princess of …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2010/01/24/taking-stock-of-2009-books/