So the last book queue I posted at the beginning of this year had 12 books on it, and I’ve made great strides against that list. Only 4 remain, and I’m halfway through one of those. I’ve also read at least 7 other books that weren’t on that list (mostly Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga books, of which only the first was on the original list). With only 3 books remaining, I’m looking to fill up the immediate queue again.
Holdovers
The four remaining books from my last queue…
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond: It’s been a bit of a slog. Two weeks of reading, and I’m still only about halfway through it. However, it’s gotten better as I’ve read. It still hasn’t quite overcome the bad first impression, but there is at least some interesting stuff going on now. I plan to nail it down this week.
- Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville: I admit, this is getting ridiculous. This has been in the queue, even sitting on my shelf, for years. I will definitely get to this one this year.
- Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter: I’m making such good progress this year, but I have a feeling that if I start this, even if I’m reading every day, it will take me a long time to finish it off. It’s a 900+ page book, with small type and dense material that I’m sure I’ll really enjoy, but which will totally break the momentum I’ve built up this year. Definitely in 2012 though!
- Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon: Trashy noir novel by Pynchon? Sounds awesome (also apparently being adapted by Paul Thomas Anderson for the screen, so I want to read this before that movie comes out). This one hasn’t even been on the list that long though, so it’s not a big deal that it’s a holdover. Will definitely get to it this year.
Vorkosigan Saga
I started Lois McMaster Bujold’s long-running series of science fiction novels mostly (but not solely) chronicling the adventures of the physically diminutive but mentally gifted Miles Vorkosigan. So far this year, I’ve read 7 novels in the (loosely connected) series. I’ve got a whole stack of other books just waiting on my shelf now too… and Bujold just released a new one last year, so there’s always the chance of more books in the future! I don’t know if these are the nerdiest books I’ve ever read, but referring to them as the Vorkosigan Saga certainly makes it seem so… In any case, this is what I’ve got left in the series. I’m trying not to read too many of these in a row – I can already sense that I’ll be a bit bummed when I finish the series because I very much enjoy spending time with these characters:
New Stuff
Pretty self explanatory:
- Readme by Neal Stephenson: I’ve already posted about this several times. Stephenson is probably my favorite author, so of course a new novel will immediately jump to the top of the queue (even though it’s a 900+ page behemoth). Comes out in September.
- The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge: I’ve also posted about how much I’m looking forward to this one, another book in Vinge’s Zones of Thought universe (not really a series, though maybe, kinda, sorta). This one comes out in October and will probably jump to the top of the queue after I finish Reamde.
- The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi: A science fiction heist story. I am so there.
- Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale: The first in a series of crime novels by Lansdale, whom you may know from his work on Bubba Ho-Tep (a book/movie where a black JFK and an old Elvis fight a mummy in a modern-day Texas retirement home). I’m not anticipating a book that’s quite that crazy, but this series seems to get some good reviews, so I’ll check it out…
So that’s 15 books right there, which should keep me busy through the end of the year. Of course, new books will undoubtedly be added (especially since I’ve just noticed that there’s no new non-fiction on the list) and so on, but that is the way of the book queue.