A feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the head like this before.
My second year doing this. I plan to be a bit smarter about my choices and to incorporate more non-fiction into the list. With any luck, I’ll do much better than the eighteen books from 2008.
-K
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 107
Year Published: 2008
Summary: J.K. Rowling goes back for one more bite at the apple (albeit for charity) with these works of meta-fiction which provided clues and plot points for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Author: George Crile
Pages: 560
Year Published: 2003
Summary: A larger-than-life Texan Congressman and an acerbic, but smart, CIA case officer become the main players in conducting the largest covert operation in CIA history – an armed insurrection by the mujahideen against the Soviet 40th Army and the Afgan communist government.
Author: Jasper Fforde
Pages: 384
Year Published: 2003
Summary: Thursday Next, Litera Tec, is drawn into an extortion scheme when one of Britain’s Most Wanted manages to work his way into Bronte’s Jane Eyre and hold its main character for ransom.
Author: John Lewis Gaddis
Pages: 352
Year Published: 2005
Summary: Noted Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis presents a well-written, concise narrative providing an overview of the Cold War.
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Pages: 352
Year Published: 2004
Summary: Part cyberpunk, part space opera, Elizabeth Bear’s debut novel tells the story of Jenny Casey, a former Canadian Armed Forces pilot and her struggles to find out why, after 25 years, her former boss seems intent on recruiting her for a VR simulation project involving cyborgs.
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 192
Year Published: 2002
Summary: Neil Gaiman presents the wonderful adventure of Coraline, a precocious little girl who, while bored one day, discovers what exactly lies behind the door tucked away in the corner of the living room. What happens next is an adventure involving lost souls, games, and an exploration into the meaning of “bravery.”
Author: Steve Martin
Pages: 224
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Steve Martin presents a well-written, touching biography of his years as a stand-up comic. From working at Disneyland selling guidebooks to his performances in front of stadium-sized crowds as “King Tut,” Martin brings his wit, self-deprecation and honesty to one of modern comedy’s truly remarkable stories.
Author: Robert Asprin
Pages: 200
Year Published: 1978
Summary: It was supposed to be a practical joke, but when a demon, Aahz, is summoned in a display of high magic, things go horribly wrong. Soon, Garkin, the summoner, is dead. Aahz has lost his powers and Skeeve, the magician’s apprentice is finding out the world is a lot more complicated and that imps, deveels, dragons and madmen are all too real.
Author: Robert Asprin
Pages: 217
Year Published: 1980
Summary: Aahz and Skeeve journey to the kingdom of Possiltum, where they hope to land Skeeve the cushy job of Court Magician. Unfortunately, when they get there, they learn their first asssignment: stop an army about to invade Possiltum, or die trying.
Author: Christopher Moore
Pages: 336
Year Published: 2009
Summary: Christopher Moore returns in this delightful re-telling of Shakespeare’s King Lear from the point of view of the Fool. When Lear wishes to retire, he sets in motion events which will eventually tear his kingdom apart. Only Moore’s talent can turn one of Shakespeare’s most epic tragedies into a black, but hilarious comedy.
Author: Naomi Novik
Pages: 416
Year Published: 2007
Summary: The Temeraire series continues as Captain Will Laurence and his eponymous dragon are hardly back home when they are sent to the Cape Colony in Africa. In their absence England’s dragons started falling ill, and their only hope rests on a mysterious cure found deep within the jungles.
Author: Tom Clancy
Pages: 480
Year Published: 1984
Summary: Captain Marko Ramius attempts to defect to the United States with the newest addition to the Soviet Navy – the ballistic missile submarine Red October. Tom Clancy’s Cold War thriller follows the progress of a CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, who divines Ramius’ intentions and gets swept up in the mission to a far greater degree than he could imagine.
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 320
Year Published: 2008
Summary: Neil Gaiman tells the story of Nobody Owens, an orphan whose family was murdered, and his childhood being raised in a graveyard. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Gaiman’s tale creates an enticing world where ghosts, vampires and others all play a role in young Bod’s rise to adulthood.
Author: Mario Acevedo
Pages: 288
Year Published: 2007
Summary: What appears to be a quirky, fun twist on the private detective subgenre quickly becomes a lukewarm, plastic story with a vampire detective, a dryad and, most disturbingly, only incidental mention of nymphos. Acevedos manages to stretch the “supernatural P.I.” to its breaking point in this novel that is neither good enough, nor bad enough, to warrant even a sympathetic reaction.
Author: A.J. Jacobs
Pages: 416
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Esquire magazine reporter A.J. Jacobs embarks on an unusual project: to try and follow, as literally as possible, all of the rules and laws as listed in the Bible. What he discovers along the way is well-written, thoughtful and pretty funny.
Author: Pat Conroy
Pages: 576
Year Published: 1980
Summary: Pat Conroy’s seminal novel of life at the fictional Carolina Military Institute introduces Will McLean, a cadet in the class of 1967 and world-class slacker. As McClean begins his senior year, the Institute admits its first black cadet in the school’s history and Will is given the task to shepherd him through the harrowing experience that is a cadet’s plebe year.
Author: Michael Moorcock
Pages: 192
Year Published: 1972
Summary: An albino emperor, Elric rules the ten thousand year-old island nation of Melnibone, but not as his people would wish. When his cousin, Yyrkoon, attempts to usurp the throne, Elric makes a bargain with Arioch, a Lord of Chaos, and starts down the path which will take him all over the Earth.
Author: David McCullough
Pages: 768
Year Published: 2001
Summary: David McCullough details the life of John Adams, from his days serving as a member of the Continental Congress, through his tenure as Vice-President and later President of the United States, to his end, at age 90, fifty years after America declared her independence.
Author: George R.R. Martin
Pages: 704
Year Published: 1996
Summary: The first volume in the epic Song of Fire and Ice saga, A Game of Thrones introduces Westeros, a medieval setting in which summers and winters can last for years at a time. When King Robert Baratheon’s chief councillor, Jon Arryn dies, he summons his old friend Ned Stark, lord of the Northern citadel of Winterfell, to be Arryn’s replacement. Once in court, however, Stark begins to unravel a royal secret devastating enough to rend the kingdom apart.
Author: Ian Flemming
Pages: 272
Year Published: 1959
Summary: In 007′s sixth outing, a chance encounter coming back from a mission leads to Bond’s eventual assignment to track down Auric Goldfinger, a wealthy businessman suspected of smuggling gold out of the United Kingdom in order to devalue its currency. However, that’s not the half of it as Bond discovers.
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 378
Year Published: 2001
Summary: It all begins with a tortured ghost, but soon Harry’s closest allies are being attacked by a raging Nightmare and he uncovers an occult conspiracy designed to bring about one thing – his death.
Author: Cory Doctorow
Pages: 208
Year Published: 2003
Summary: Cory Doctorow’s debut novel is a third generation cyberpunk tale of murder, mystery and mayhem, all taking place within the confines of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. When Julius is murdered, he becomes convinced of a plot to take over his ad-hoc’s beloved Haunted Mansion attraction and embarks on a very eccentric investigation.
Author: Richard Dawkins
Pages: 416
Year Published: 2006
Summary: Richard Dawkins’ seminal work, The God Delusion is an indictment of not only organized religion, but also of the entire concept of God. Written from with a scientist’s rational view, Dawkins examines the various arguments for the existence of God, and explores the possible ways in which religion and God might fit in a Darwinian world.
Author: Terry Prachett
Pages: 210
Year Published: 1983
Summary: The first novel of Terry Prachett’s Discworld series introduces Rincewind, a drop-out magician from Unseen University carrying one of the eight great spells in his head. Through a series of events, Rincewind finds himself escorting Twoflower, the Disc’s first tourist and finding himself in more danger than he thought possible.
Author: Michael Chabon
Pages: 464
Year Published: 2007
Summary: Set in an alternate United States where the land around Sitka, Alaska has been set aside as a Jewish homeland, Michael Chabon’s hard-boiled tale is brilliantly realized and a wonderful mixture of politics, intrigue, conspiracy and redemption.
Author: Fred Kaplan
Pages: 336
Year Published: 2009
Summary: Author Fred Kaplan’s survey of 1959 covers everything from Castro rising to power in Cuba, the invention of the integrated circuit and free jazz, to William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch and Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, and along the way, argues that last year of the 50′s was the true source of the revolutions that followed.
Author: Ian Flemming
Pages: 192
Year Published: 1960
Summary: In this short story collection Flemming’s James Bond finds himself in five separate mini-adventures ranging from tracking down a courier’s murderer, to investigating a smuggling operation in Italy.
Author: Terry Pratchett
Pages: 272
Year Published: 1986
Summary: The adventure continues in this second Discworld novel as wizards and astrologers notice a new, red star in the sky getting larger every day and Rincewind, who holds one of the Great Spells from the Octavio is “recruited” to help save the world.
Author: William Gibson
Pages: 288
Year Published: 1984
Summary: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” With those words, Gibson’s seminal near-future noir crime novel and cyberpunk pillar kicks off as we’re introduced to Case, a hacker and drug addict recruited to break into the computers of an ancient and wealthy family. But for what purpose?
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 371
Year Published: 2002
Summary: Wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Having instigated a war between the White Council and the vampires of the Red Council, Dresden is forced to enlist the aid of the Fae. Coincidentally, a mysterious woman hires Dresden to prove she didn’t murder a man whose death has already been ruled an accident.
Author: John Scalzi
Pages: 320
Year Published: 2007
Summary: John Scalzi’s vision draws from Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Haldeman’s The Forever War in an imagining of the universe as a cold and hostile place in which humans must fight for the right to colonize and therefore, thrive. When John Perry turns seventy-five, he enlists in the Colonial Defence forces to get a chance at a new life, but little does he know just how short that new life might be.
Author: Naomi Novik
Pages: 384
Year Published: 2009
Summary: Napoleon invades England in this, Temeraire’s fifth adventure, as his captain, Will Laurence, finds himself branded a traitor after the preceding events. Called upon to serve his country once more, Laurence finds himself torn between his honor and his duty, while Temeraire continues his efforts to see dragons treated more as citizens and less as animals.
Author: Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Pages: 288
Year Published: 2009
Summary: The follow-up to 2005′s Freakonomics presents us once again with studies using the tools of economic analysis to show us, among other things: why suicide bombers should buy life insurance, why prostitution is a seasonal vocation, and why it’s better to drive home drunk than walk home drunk, but the safest thing is to do neither.
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Pages: 448
Year Published: 2009
Summary: In this alternate history, Europe stands on the brink of war in 1914, much as it did in our time, but in this world, the camps are divided between those who build mechanical dreadnoughts and those who genetically engineer them. All it will take is a single murder set off the powder keg.
Author: Stephen King
Pages: 656
Year Published: 1975
Summary: Stephen King’s classic novel of a vampire who slowly takes over a sleepy New England town, only to be confronted by a writer recently returned to his childhood home is just as much an indictment of small town culture as it is a work of horror and an excellent read.
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