peteryoung | 2008 books

85 books read this year, of which 51 were SF – a much higher percentage than last year. It's been a busier year than previously in other areas of my life which has cut down my reading of actual books (and I still haven't got round to Matter), but on the other hand my online short story reading has gone up exponentially. I'd guess that all this accounts for falling well short of 100 this year.

Top 10 of 2008 (alphabetically):
Martin Amis, Heavy Water
Bruce Chatwin, The Viceroy of Ouidah
Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others
Thomas M. Disch, Camp Concentration
Graham Greene, Brighton Rock
Ken MacLeod, The Night Sessions
Ian McDonald, Brasyl
Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Christopher Priest, The Dream Archipelago

I'm not going to pick a favourite of the year because that'd entail some pointless hair-splitting between Brighton Rock, A Canticle for Leibowitz and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Two of these were re-reads, but all three were equally memorable as probably being the whole point behind the invention of the typewriter.

All books:
Soazig Aaron, Refusal, 2002 [ review ]
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 1958 [ review ]
Brian Aldiss, ed., A Science Fiction Omnibus, 2007 [ review ]
Martin Amis, Einstein's Monsters, 1987 [ review ]
Martin Amis, Heavy Water, 1998 [ review ]
Isaac Asimov, Martin Greenberg & Joseph D. Olander, eds., 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories, 1978 [ review ]
Paul Auster, Timbuktu, 1999 [ review ]
Paul Auster, Man in the Dark, 2008 [ review ]
J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World, 1962 [ review ]
William Blake, An Island in the Moon, 1784 [ review ]
John Brunner, From This Day Forward, 1972 [ review ]
William S. Burroughs, Junky, 1953 [ review ]
Andrew Cartmel, Foreign Devils, 2002 [ review ]
Bruce Chatwin, The Viceroy of Ouidah, 1980 [ review ]
Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others, 2002 [ review ]
Arthur C. Clarke & Frederik Pohl, The Last Theorem, 2008 [ review ]
John Clute, The Disinheriting Party, 1973 [ review ]
Julie Czerneda, ed., Packing Fraction & other Tales of Science & Imagination, 1999 [ review ]
Thomas M. Disch, Camp Concentration, 1967 [ review ]
Thomas M. Disch, 334, 1972 [ review ]
Bob Dylan, Tarantula, 1966 [ review ]
Harlan Ellison, All the Sounds of Fear, 1973 [ review ]
Harlan Ellison, The Time of the Eye, 1974 [ review ]
Harlan Ellison, Troublemakers, 2001 [ review ]
Christopher Evans, Capella's Golden Eyes, 1980 [ review ]
Richard Evans, ed., Peter Davison's Book of Alien Monsters, 1982 [ review ]
Richard Evans, ed., Peter Davison's Book of Alien Planets, 1983 [ review ]
Nuruddin Farah, From a Crooked Rib, 1970 [ review ]
Neil Gaiman, Coraline, 2002 [ review ]
Stefan Grabinski, The Dark Domain, 1993 [ review ]
Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, 1938 [ review ]
Romesh Gunesekera, Reef, 1994 [ review ]
Harry Harrison, ed., Nova One, 1970 [ review ]
Harry Harrison, ed., Nova 2, 1972 [ review ]
Harry Harrison, ed., Nova 3, 1973 [ review ]
Harry Harrison, ed., Nova 4, 1974 [ review ]
Thomas Healy, I Have Heard You Calling in the Night, 2006 [ review ]
Elina Hirvonen, When I Forgot, 2005 [ review ]
Raymond F. Jones, This Island Earth, 1952 [ review ]
Graham Joyce, Black Dust, 2005 [ review ]
A.L. Kennedy, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains, 1990 [ review ]
Nancy Kress, Dogs, 2008 [ review ]
Henry Kuttner, Fury, 1947 [ review ]
Henry Kuttner, The Best of Henry Kuttner / The Last Mimzy, 1975 [ review ]
Paul Levinson, Borrowed Tides, 2001 [ review ]
Jack London, The Call of the Wild, 1903 [ review ]
Ken MacLeod, The Night Sessions, 2008 [ review ]
Ian McDonald, Brasyl, 2007 [ review ]
Paul Melko, Singularity's Ring, 2008 [ review ]
Paul Melko, Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods, 2008 [ review ]
J.T. M'Intosh, World Out Of Mind, 1953 [ review ]
Farah Mendlesohn & Graham Sleight, eds., Foundation #100: the Anthology, 2007 [ review ]
Walter M. Miller, Jr. A Canticle for Leibowitz, 1960 [ review ]
Walter M. Miller, Jr. The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. / Dark Benediction, 1980 [ review ]
Joseph Millard, The Gods Hate Kansas, 1964 [ review ]
Yukio Mishima, Patriotism, 1966 [ review ]
Ward Moore, Lot & Lot's Daughter, 1953/4 [ review ]
Walter Mosley, The Wave, 2006 [ review ]
Nerve.com, 2033: The Future of Misbehavior, 2007 [ review ]
Amélie Nothomb, Loving Sabotage, 1993 [ review ]
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949 [ review ]
Doris Pilkington, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, 1996 [ review ]
Christopher Priest, The Dream Archipelago, 1999 [ review ]
Ayn Rand, Anthem, 1938 [ review ]
Rick Raphael, The Thirst Quenchers, 1965 [ review ]
Derek Raymond, A State of Denmark, 1964 [ review ]
Frank M. Robinson, Through My Glasses Darkly, 2002 [ review ]
Salman Rushdie, East, West, 1994 [ review ]
Harold M. Sherman, The Green Man, 1946 [ review ]
John Sladek, Alien Accounts, 1982 [ review ]
Paul Smaïl, Smile, 1997 [ review ]
Dean Wesley Smith, Captain Proton: Defender of Earth, 1999 [ review ]
S.P. Somtow, Bluebeard's Castle / The Other City of Angels, 2001 [ review ]
S.P. Somtow, Dragon's Fin Soup, 2002 [ review ]
Sōseki Natsume, The 210th Day, 1915 [ review ]
Gertrude Stein, Blood on the Dining-Room Floor, 1948 [ review ]
Jean Teulé, The Suicide Shop, 2007 [ review ]
Jim Theis, The Eye of Argon, 1970 [ review ]
Ian Watson, The Embedding, 1973 [ review ]
Ian Whates, ed., Time Pieces, 2006 [ review ]
Ian Whates, ed., disLOCATIONS, 2007 [ review ]
Tim Winton, Blueback, 1997 [ review ]
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 1921 [ review ]
Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Door Through Space, 1961 [ review ]
Anne Zouroudi, The Messenger of Athens, 2007 [ review ]