The books of 2017

1. Flodskörden - Simon Stålenhag

This is the follow up to Tales from the Loop. It still is robots, dinosaurs and Swedish landscapes with classic eighties artifacts. The story is engaging, the pictures are pretty. But, I'm not as engaged as before. Something is not there as much any longer.

2. The Store of the Stone - Barry Hughart

This time Master Li and Number Ten Ox is handling a less hillarious mystery. The deaths feel real and sad, and the plot is so twisted and convoluted it's hard to follow! That Number Ten Ox even writes so in the first chapter! Still, it's an adorable romp across a China that never was, filled with charm and a very Chinese feel. I still want to read more, so some day I will buy the last volume as well.

3. Pandora by Holly Hollander - Gene Wolfe

Having read An Evil Guest the other year, I wondered if Gene Wolfe had lost it. So, to be on the safe side I read one of his older books. This is a story told by Holly Hollander, a book within a book. If there are any deeper meaning to this I do not know, but it is a much better book than the other one mentioned. The mystery is interesting, the characters are engaging and feel like they act in a way that makes sense. It's a decent murder mystery. The only things I dislike is the inherent sexism in how the characters are described, and I am beginning to think the "men are from Mars, women from Venus" fallacy is the author's own. It makes me sad, but reading an extremely well written book still makes you happy.

4. The Age of Ra - James Lovegrove

I thought I had heard of James Lovegrove, and bought the book partly because of that, and partly because I expected a roaring yarn. It turned out Lovegrove has written a bunch of novels, but none are familiar, so I have no idea why I triggered on his name. The book was entertaining, but not all that deep. I guess you can say it told us no fight against unjust masters is ever in vain, but that's about it. The book was exciting, but also something of a let down. The characters were not all that believable, but I managed to suspend my disbelief. The fight against the gods was a good one, but that it all amounted to nothing was a downer. It did not make me want to read another book, as he has aparently written a whole series of "Age of" books. Decent, but nothing more.

5. Kinas förste kejsare [The first Emperror of China] - Sima Qian

Sima Qian is the father of Chinese histography, and as I found out there was a new Swedish translation of his classic Shiji, I had to read it. Sadly, it was just a selection of some pieces of the work. Happily, it was only a selection of some pieces of the work, as it sometimes is extremely tedious. A lot of the text is "Foo went to Bar, fought Quux and the number of cut of heads where ", which becomes less engaging after a while. But, some of the pieces are detailed looks at some assassination attempts or revolts, and those are more engaging. It really helped that I had vacuumed wikipedia and other sites for information on the Warring States period. Having that background made the text a lot more understandable. It's an extremely bloody history, and in contrast the Han dynasty afterward must have felt like heaven with some peace at last. So, interesting but a bit spotty, and maybe not an easy read.

6. En studie i blod - Bonnie Macbird

I loved Conan Doyle's stories when I was younger, really liked the Jeremy Brett series, and the new one from BBC. There have also been new tales about Holmes by e.g. Nicholas Meyer that I liked a lot. But, since it's such an iconic character, it's not always the pastische lives up to that iconic quality. This was a very decent attempt. I liked it a lot, and Watson was a bit more developed like he usually is in the modern adaptions. The mystery was gruesome enough, even grim and grisly at times. The only faults really were that some more "show don't tell" wouldn't have hurt. But, I liked this Holmes story.

(7). The Ceremonies [unfinished] - T.E.D. Klein

This is hailed as one of the best horror novels ever, and I've seen it on lists of recommended reading for ever. Now when I finally took it on I found it a slow slog. The start is decent, the buildup is decent, but then it just goes on and on. Some of the sexual tension is interestingly built up, but when you realize that "Rosie" is going to interrupt any hanky panky that would ruin his ritual you begin to feel the story is predictable. As it's then hundreds of pages left, it all start to become predictable. I like the idea of a reader of gothic tales becoming immersed in the gothic moods all around him. But, I must confess I felt the characters was a bit boring after a while as well. Sarr was kind of interesting, but even though we get to know more about him he always retreats into his shell again and becomes the curmudgeon. I could have used some of the story being told from the viewpoint of Deborah as well as Carol. Her I liked. I actuallly never bothered finishing this book. At page 308 of 554 I realized it would just be more of the same, and quit. Too long.

(8). Camelot 30K [unfinished] - Robert L. Forward

Let's face it, a Robert Forward book is not something you read for the literary qualities. I knew that going in. But, this was actually duller that I expected. For the 150 pages I read, half the book, it was all just humans experiencing an alien culture by remote controlled robots and telling each other what they found. Even the highly exotic and peculiar environment at 30K and the strange chemical reactions that would allow life an those freezing temperatures would not make sit sit up and take notice. It was just dull.

9. I museets dolda vrår [Behind the Scenes at the Museum] - Kate Aktinson

This is a big sprawling family saga, and for most of the time it's not a happy one. I liked how you got to see Britain during the twentieth century, and how it could be to live through the wars and all that. But, I really did not like the characters in this book. They all cheated on each other, fought or said disparaging things to their kids. Nobody was ever nice to another. What saved it for me, was the end where Ruby was united with her sister Patricia and lived happy and had succeeded as a poet. The way it was written with interludes from earlier generations, was very interesting. It is a text written from an perspective of an objective and all knowing narrator, but it turns out the narrator is highly unreliable and even have surpressed her own memories of some events. Contentwise it was depressing sometimes, and a bit too long. Structurally, it was a marvel and very good.

10. Euthyfro [Euthyfron] - Plato

Time to get back to reading Plato! This time one of the so called aporetic dialogs. It's Socrates and Euthyfro who discuss what piety is. It's a good showing of the dialog form, and how to clarify terms by discussing their meaning and use. I was not aware this has spawned a classic question in theology about the ethics about doing the righteous. Socrates is not too barbed in his replies in this one, and the argumentation not too hard to follow.

11. Laches - Plato

In this dialog they topic is courage. What is courage, and how to teach virtue is what they discuss in this text. I really liked how the different characters questioned each other in this one. Not only was Socrates the one driving the discussion, and it added not only a certain feel of being there, but also alleviated a bit the feeling of Socrates taunting the characters he's talking to. I found the argument easy enough to follow, and I liked the amount of references to literature and contemporary events. Sometimes you enjoy the window into ancient Attica as much as the philosophical conent.

12. The Devil Wives of Li Fong - E. Hoffmann Price

Having read Barry Hughart, I was curious about this tale as well. It was filled with more stereotypes, was less complicated in plotting and less inventive and funny. But, the concept wasn't bad, and the intrigue was decent and felt period correct and setting sensible. I was a bit annoyed by the bad guys being so unrepentantly bad, but this is a pulp yarn and I guess nothing more can be expected. Fun, but I wish there were more books by Hughart instead.

13. Foundation [unfinished] - H. Beam Piper

Piper is one of those authors from the so called "golden age" that I have been thinking of reading, but never getting around to. This collection felt like a decent start. After reading two stories I put the book aside, as the colonialism and racism really grated on me. Also, the tradition in some sf circles of preaching about the evils on government really bugs me. If it's a character trait of the protagonist it's one thing, but when it is clearly the author going on and on about hir personal bugbears, then I fade out. Sorry. Some old sf might be historically significant, but not a great read.

14. The House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Boddard

Often I find people writing about angels either have a tiresome rant about the fight against hierachies and order, or a idealized and unicorn like view of the perfect immortals that drive their writing. Aliette de Boddard does not. She is crafting an intriguing mystery which manages to be mostly about characters instead of plot or place. She also manages to make Morningstar, first of the Fallen, extremely charismatic and convincing without the traps I first mentioned. She is clearly very smart, and a good writer, as she manages this and also manages to say something quite interesting about colonialism. It was not a roaring yarn, and it was not a gripping thriller. It was something else, and I think it was something larger. I liked it. The question that lingered in my mind was about Asmodeus. Was he actually playing straight there in the end, or was there ulterior motives?

15. To Reign in Hell - Steven Brust

Once more a book about angels. Once again a very well written book, but this time I did not finish it. The idea was intriguing, and well thought out. If someone can take something like a war in heaven among the angels and make something interesting out of it, it would be Brust. Sadly I felt most of the people where very symphathetic individuals and I felt sad when they started to become enemies. As they all wanted to be friends, and the animosity was created by other wanting to saw discord, it hurt to read how people who loved each other acted like idiots I felt it was maybe a little too close to reality, where heresay and rumour gets treated like truth and gospel, and people rally against each others on loose grounds. A well written work, but too sad to read.

16. The Black Monday Murders vol 01 - Hickman/Coker

A murder uncovers a conspiracy behind the global capitalism as an occult society that pulls the strings of riches by magic fulled by blood. It's not a far fetched idea to see economy as magic, and the story is dark and moody and well drawn. Lots to like in this comic. But, it's a slow burner and after the first volume we have basically just learned about the stakes, and now the conflicts can bloom. I'm not sure I want to look out for vol 02, and this could be a drawn out and expensive affair. Kind of topical, really.

17. This book sounded interesting based on the text on the back. When I started to read it, it was filled with allusiuons to back story never explained and terms that meant nothing. After a while it got tiresome. Now I had read more than half, and now it actually started the plot where the back cover blurb left off. Yeah, this was slow. For a few days I did not read any, and then the slow slog just turned my off and I decided not to read anything more. Sadly, as the Monte Cristo story is a good basis, and I think there were some interesting points about feminism in there, but I just could not be bothered.

18. The Business - Iain Banks

This books is another take on world capitalism behind the scenes. Considering the author was a socialist, it was a very intersting setup. The characters were interesting, and even the ones you did not like were understandable. The plot flowed easily, and I really felt like I got to know the protagonist. If there was anything that was less than stellar, it might be the end felt a bit forced. Why did she leave her life to go live in the Himalayas? But, on the other hand it made sense. I liked it much more than many other books I've read this year.

19. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - H.P. Lovecraft

This is not the first time I've read this story, and it's a short one for a novel, but gets its own entry anyway. Once again I'm reminded of the way HPL varies his voice for the story. He is very precise and the parts of the narrative where events are known and clear are described very clearly, and then he hints a lot at more going with Curwen and his associated. I find it works better in this longer form to build up suspens in some of his shorter works where it more comes across as avoiding to actually tell us anything. Still, there are oddities in the narrative, but I must confess that while it's a bit weird we get to read nothing about what happens after the doctor reads the incantation, the fact things seems to have changed after he recuperate from his fainting does make your imagination go wild, which is always a good thing.

20. Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson

There was so much talk about this novel that I had to read it, and I was curious about Stan's arguments for the impossibility of generation ships. I think he is on to something. It was a bit depressing, and the last chapter with Aurora swimming was a bit tedious, but otherwise I liked it. The characters were interesting enough, and the masterstroke was to have the ship AI write the book. That way some info dumps and rambling thoughts about consciousness fit right in.

21. Shadowland - Peter Straub

I've had this book for ages, but not gotten around to reading it. It was weird, but I think I liked it. It reminded me of The Magicians by Lev Grossman, but without the whining protagonist. There were also some of the same kind of vibes I got from The Books of the Art by Clive Barker. Very dark urban fantasy, about magicians fighting a battle of phantasms and you never really know what is illusion and what is real. I think there is a reason I like the movie The Prestige and Lord of Illusions so much. The borderline between illusions and magic fascinate me. I still wonder why the narrator is, and how on earth the kids parents took the experience of having their kids killed and almost burned to death in a mansion with a older mad man. Magic, I guess.

22. Patter Recognition - William Gibson

It took ages to finish this book, but every time I picked it up it was easy to get going again. That's kind of strange, as it's a very slow burn for long. There is a mystery, and there are conspiracies and other suspense, but it's not a thriller. I did like it, though. The main character is very engaging, even though she suffers from all kinds of neurosises and act strange sometimes. I guess it's a book that talks about our modern society, about sub-cultures on the net and how the old and new money still runs like a river underneath the surface events and chat online. Maybe it's all about patterns we see, and do not see, in how we interact in society. Very hard to describe this book with an elevator pitch.