The books of 2011

1. Ordets makt och vanmakt - Jan Guillou

A piece of contemporary history, and quite revealing professional biography of a man some people love to hate. It reinforced my belief that our political leaders are crooks, and will forever be.

2. Passing Strange - Jospeh A. Citro

Many fun stories about weirdness in New England. Some gruesome, some just quirky. Too bad the writer wrote so much like a TV show, and always had those "reveals" at the end and such techniques. But, enjoyable and interesting.

3. Dao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

Since this book is so famous, I wanted to have read through it. I know some things about daoist philosophy, so not all was new. Most of the book was kind of disappointing, though. It was a mix of the banal, the dull and the trite. Maybe it needs come commentary to come alive. While some ethical aphorism were good, many were nonsensical and I think I expected something to give me food for thought and reason to think and ponder than just agreeing to or shrug and toss aside.

4. A Study in Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I'm reacquainting myself with the Great Detective, re-reading this experience of my lower teens. Quite fun as I'm right now in a Gaslight mood. Well woven tale, but structurally defective with that long interlude about the heretics in Utah and the extensive backstory of the murder. Still some more longing for that old foggy London atmosphere is with me, and I'll read some more Holmsian adventures before sated.

5. Finch - Jeff Vandermeer

Very noir. Very trippy. Slow moving, but curiously intriguing. After half the book I started to long for some explanations, though, and I liked them when they arrived. Then it became torture porn and some quite unbeliveable behaviour before the end. That leaved me kinf of unsatisfied, since yet again more possibilities opened up, and there was no resolution. I think I prefer my mysteries with some closure, even if it means that everyone is dying or dead. This felt more like the start of a new novel.

6. Kraken - China Mieville

A very off romp through the occult underground of modern London. The idea of a cult worshipping giant squid was peculiar, to say the least. A fairly decent suspense novel, but it has its flaws. The big baddie walking around an killing people is just annoying, and the structure of the book falters around the middle when the fugitive squid messiah is just shuffled around London. Funny, but not his greatest.

7. Teatro Grottesco - Thomas Ligotti

Seriously twisted. Reality itself is unsafe, and somewhat suspect when you enter this realm. Ligotti have a way to use the language to induce in you the feeling of unreality. I liked how the stories interconnected in subtle ways. This is probably the most existential kind of horror, a horror of the "Entzauberung Der Welt" of Max Weber or the alienation of Marx. A very modern gothic, and subtly American.

8. A Heritage of Stars - Clifford D. Simak

Good old Simak. Robots, high hopes for humanity and that very human way of portraing the land which is hsi hallmark. Maybe it's not really reaching out to the true vistas of sensawunda, but it's a solid effort.

9. The Book of Skulls - Robert Silverberg

Sixties. Sex. Drugs. This is a very typical Silverberg. It's also very much about race, sex and gender. I think it's also a very male book. It stays with you, for Silverberg have created real human beings with all their faults and the kind of nuerosis you would expect. What would you do to live forever? Who could endure?

10. Fool Moon - Jim Butcher

Magic and mysteries in contemporary Chocago, what is there not to love? I'm seriously surprised you could write so much stuff about werewolves. You knew from the get go what the monster was, but the whodunnit parts kept it alive. Probably the most impressive feat of writing was the pacing. Definitely a page turner, with many cliff hangers. A good mix of fun, suspense and dry wit.

11. Walking on Glass - Iain Banks

Peculiar, yet intriguing. The three stories are interconnected but it's not until the very end that it becomes clear. Even after that, though, I still don't know how it is supposed to fit together. It might be very clever, or just three stories of more or less fantastic elements that sometimes work and sometimes just feel slightly mundane. I'm not sure this book was all that interesting, but not a total loss either.

12. The Black Grail - Damien Broderick

This book is either quite smartly written, and more handle, or it might be a good but slightly muddled attempt at a sophisticated book. I found it to be interiguing, but confusing with some twists and turns of time streams and symbolic engagements. Also, I found the ending a bit flat. Even though a "Hollywood" ending would have been wrong, it still felt a bit lame. Quite interesting science fantasy otherwise.

13. Dune - Frank Herbert

I can really see how this made a splash. Rich cultural context and somebody actually minding about ecology. On the other hand, the prophecy stuff, mind manipulation, the worship of the strong leader is just disgusting. The characters are all strong, focused and have awesome powers of the mind due to secret training. It makes sense that this book talks to the unsecure teenager, or the emotionally stunted geek. For the rest of us, this book have a bitter aftertaste from how it handles the wooden characters, and how the shadow of totalitarianism falls heavy upon it.

14. House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds

Galaxy spanning space opera, where the protaginists take a spin around the galaxy just for fun and think nothing is spending thousands of years in suspended animation. I liked the scope, and the "murder mystery" was engaging. Reynolds still have the touch for outre space adventure. The ending was a slight let down, and the dramatic tension was deflated a bit. Considering how everything at this scale just goes over the top I'm thinking it has to be something of a let down when it ends. Al Reynolds is entertaining. It wasn't as atmospheric as Chasm City, but I liked it still.

15. Souls - Joanna Russ

Up until the very end, this was a historical story. In the end I'm not sure it meant anything that the main character was a space traveller. Also, I'm not sure what it all meant. That men are treating women badly? Yes, but probably something more. That humans are very despicable, yet can rise above it? Yes, but probably something more. That myth, power and politics interact in complex ways? Yes, but probably something more. I almost felt as if it was quite unobtrusive and almost bland, and also that I am missing something vital and am not really smart enough for this story.

16. Daoism - An Introduction - Ronnie L Littlejohn

My experiences with Xuan Wu Pai have made me curious, and this was a good introduction both to basic themes in the great daoistic tradition, and also a good overview of the historical developments. A book worth owning.

17. Beättelsen är världens språk [The Telling]- Ursula K. Le Guin

As a novel it wasn't great, since the world building was showcased by way of too much exposition. But, since the world and the culture was fascinating, it wasn't a pain to read. Very clearly this is a book about the cultural revolution in China, but also about fanaticism in general. Maybe you could say that it was about the values inherent in stories, legend and "unproductive" parts of society. It is a book about what the soul of a culture, and as such it had a beauty of a special kind.

18. The Tao of the West - J.J. Clarke

This was a very dense and academic read, but also interesting. I liked the clear statement in the preface that this would be an attempt at hermeneutics, which explained why it read like it did. The author managed to show how the different strands of daoism have influenced the West, and on how many level. I also liked the hermeneutic discussion about to what extend the daoist ideas and menatlities had been subverted, misunderstood or maybe understood quite well. The fact it showed on how many levels daoism have entered the west, it also showed how multi faceted these ideas are. Quite interesting.

19. Taoism: Growth of a Religion - Isabelle Robinet

Once again a book of a very academic character. It was quite interesting, and clearly described the historical evolution of the different strands of daoism. Having read a few books on the subject I am now getting the benefit of comparing different perspectived on the same schools or sects. The main thrust of this book is on describing the characteristics of different schools and what they have contrbuted to the stem of daoism. Also, Robinet is a big proponent of the idea that you can not talk about religious and philosophical daoism os two different things. I am bound to agree, after reading what I have done and also from my own thinking. It's a very inclusive tradition, and I now am ideas of interior alchemy together with the ritualistic parts, influence and give the backbone to much that we practice in our martial art. It's probably a very cerebral way to do it!

20. Orca - Steven Brust

Once again a very good novel of mystery. Extremely deep and convoluted conspiracies and for once Vlad just stumbled into it. I liked how his story took the backseat, and the story about the Empire was the main thrust of the book. A very nicely frame with the story being conversations and letters, which introduce lot of possibilities of unreliable narrators and good stuff like that. Brust makes very good use of the form. The last few pages, to say nothing of the very last sentence, really blew my mind. Now things are cooking!