This year was quite a good one for reading. At least in terms of numbers. I read 132 books, which is higher than in each of the previous two years. A lot, however, were rereads — form Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, from Frank Herbert’s Dune series, and a number of Georgette Heyer novels offered at 99p on Kindle.
Of the books I read, 40% were science fiction, 23% mainstream, 12% fantasy, and the rest from a variety of other genres. 62% were by male authors and 35% by female authors (a bit down from previous years, to be honest). The books were from 20 different countries, with the UK (46%) and US (36%) predominating. Other countries included Sweden, Madagascar, Japan, Spain, Russia and Colombia, among others.
The full list of books I read is below, listed alphabetically by author.
The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders (2019, USA)
Dearly, Margaret Atwood (2020, Canada)
Use of Weapons, Iain M Banks (1990, UK) reread
Snow, John Banville (2020, Ireland)
A Last War for the Oriflamme, William Barton (2011, USA)
Acts of Conscience, William Barton (2011, USA) reread
Crimson Darkness, William Barton (2014, USA) review
America City, Chris Beckett (2017, UK)
Spring Tide, Chris Beckett (2018, UK)
Two Tribes, Chris Beckett (2020, UK)
Tomorrow, Chris Beckett (2021, UK)
Civilisations, Laurent Binet (2019, France)
Binary System, Eric Brown (2017, UK)
The Ice Garden & Other Stories, Eric Brown (2019, UK)
Murder by Numbers, Eric Brown (2020, UK)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Martian Menace, Eric Brown (2020, UK)
Magnus, George Mackay Brown (1973, UK)
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brookes (1977, USA)
Children of the Thunder, John Brunner (1988, UK)
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1966, Russia)
Widowland, CJ Carey (2021, UK)
The Identity Matrix, Jack L Chalker (1982, USA) reread
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, KJ Charles (2021, UK)
The True Queen, Zen Cho (2019, Malaysia) review
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (2020, UK)
Wanna Get Lucky?, Deborah Coonts (2010, USA)
Reading Backwards, John Crowley (2019, USA)
Nova, Samuel R Delany (1968, USA) reread review
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K Dick (1962, USA) reread
The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer 27: The Call of Moloch, Jean Dufaux, Christian Cailleaux & Etienne Schréder (2020, Belgium)
Diaspora, Greg Egan (1997, Australia)
Mortal Remains, Christopher Evans (1995, UK) reread review
Daniel Martin, John Fowles (1977, UK)
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1985, Colombia)
Devil’s Road, Gary Gibson (2020, UK)
Exile’s End, Carolyn Ives Gilman (2020, USA)
Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915, USA)
The Fine Art of Invisible Detection, Robert Goddard (2021, UK)
Pincher Martin, William Golding (1956, UK)
The Ordinary, Jim Grimsley (2004, USA) review
The Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield (2021, Canada)
V2, Robert Harris (2020, UK)
Settling the World, M John Harrison (2020, UK)
Rocketship Galileo, Robert A Heinlein (1947, USA) review
Space Family Stone, Robert A Heinlein (1952, USA)
The Door into Summer, Robert A Heinlein (1957, USA) review
Orphans of the Sky, Robert A Heinlein (1963, USA)
Podkayne of Mars, Robert A Heinlein (1963, USA)
The Past Through Tomorrow, Robert A Heinlein (1967, USA) review
Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1, Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson, Raúl Allén & Patricia Martín (2020, USA)
Hellstrom’s Hive, Frank Herbert (1973, USA) reread review
God Emperor of Dune, Frank Herbert (1981, USA) reread review
Joe Country, Mick Herron (2019, UK)
Simon the Coldheart, Georgette Heyer (1925, UK)
The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer (1940, UK) reread
Penhallow, Georgette Heyer (1942, UK)
The Grand Sophy, Georgette Heyer (1950, UK) reread
Sylvester, Georgette Heyer (1957, UK) reread
April Lady, Georgette Heyer (1957, UK) reread
Venetia, Georgette Heyer (1958, UK) reread
Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (1966, UK) reread
Cousin Kate, Georgette Heyer (1968, UK) reread
The Trellised Lane, Fiona Hill (1975, USA)
The Practical Heart, Fiona Hill (1975, USA)
The Wedding Portrait, Fiona Hill (1975, USA)
Love in a Major Key, Fiona Hill (1976, USA)
Sweet’s Folly, Fiona Hill (1977, USA)
The Love-Child, Fiona Hill (1977, USA)
The Autumn Rose, Fiona Hill (1979, USA)
Whatever, Michel Houellebecq (1994, France)
Submission, Michel Houellebecq (2015, France)
XX: A Novel, Graphic, Rian Hughes (2020, UK)
The Stars are Legion, Kameron Hurley (2017, USA)
Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (2021, UK)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson (1962, USA)
The Stone Sky, NK Jemisin (2017, USA)
The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez (2020, USA)
Wheel of Time 7: The Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan (1996, USA) reread
Wheel of Time 8: The Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan (1998, USA) reread
Wheel of Time 9: Winter’s Heart, Robert Jordan (2000, USA) reread
Some Kind of Fairytale, Graham Joyce (2012, UK)
Valkyrie’s Song, MD Lachlan (2015, UK)
The Art and Soul of Dune, Tanya Lapointe (2021, USA)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson (2005, Sweden) reread
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson (2006, Sweden)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson (2007, Sweden)
The Master of Liversedge, Alice Chetwynd Ley (1966, UK)
At Dark of the Moon, Alice Chetwynd Ley (1977, UK)
The Mock Marriage, Dorothy Mack (1991, USA)
The Courtship of Chloe, Dorothy Mack (1992, USA)
Nocilla Lab, Agustín Fernández Mallo (2009, Spain) review
Master of Paxwax, Phillip Mann (1986, New Zealand) reread
The Fall of the Families, Phillip Mann (1987, New Zealand) reread
War of the Maps, Paul J McAuley (2020, UK) review
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985, USA) review
Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell (2020, UK)
Highland Fling, Nancy Mitford (1931, UK)
Christmas Pudding, Nancy Mitford (1932, UK)
Wigs on the Green, Nancy Mitford (1935, UK) review
Pigeon Pie, Nancy Mitford (1940, UK)
The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford (1945, UK) review
Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford (1949, UK)
Conundrum, Jan Morris (1974, UK)
Sweet Harmony, Claire North (2020, UK)
The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa (1994, Japan) review
The End of the World Might Not Have Taken Place, Patrik Ouředník (2017, Czechia)
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (1946, UK)
The Dark Side of the Sun, Terry Pratchett (1976, UK) reread review
Discworld 1: The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett (1983, UK) reread
Discworld 2: The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett (1986, UK) reread
Return to the Enchanted Island, Johary Ravaloson (2012, Madagascar)
On, Adam Roberts (2001, UK)
Purgatory Mount, Adam Roberts (2021, UK)
The Switch, Justina Robson (2017, UK) review
Heroes and Villains, Lewis Shiner (2017, USA)
Z-Boys in the Robot Graveyard, John Shirley (2012, USA)
The Destiny Makers 2: Morning of Creation, Mike Shupp (1985, USA)
Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford (2021, UK)
Still Waters (Sandhamn Murders 1), Viveca Sten (2008, Sweden)
Robot Artists & Black Swans, Bruce Sterling (2021, USA)
Olive Kitteredge, Elizabeth Strout (2008, USA)
Terminal Boredom, Izumi Suzuki (2021, Japan)
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor (1971, UK)
Walking to Aldebaran, Adrian Tchaikovsky (2020, UK)
By Force Alone, Lavie Tidhar (2020, Israel)
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (1937, UK) review
Demon Princes 2: The Killing Machine, Jack Vance (1964, USA) reread
Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh (1928, UK)
Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson (2012, USA)
In the Empty Quarter, G Willow Wilson (2021, USA)
Robot, Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg (1973, Poland)
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham (1951, UK)
The Midwich Cuckoos, John Wyndham (1957, UK)
I bought a couple of ebook omnibuses, hence the number of titles by some authors. I also decided to work my way through the oeuvres of William Barton (a favourite, who has made most of his output available as ebooks, including unpublished works) and Robert A Heinlein (no, I don’t know why, either). Some of my reading choices were also down to what ebooks were offered at 99p on Kindle each month.
Reviews of some of the books listed above may also appear here over the next few months (I have a bit of a backlog). But no promises. I will post a best books of the year post in the next week or so.
ETA: Links to pieces on the few books I’ve written about are now included.
