What I’m Reading
This is a list of books I am reading or have recently read:
Currently reading:
- Microcosmic God: Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, ed. Paul Williams
- Cargo, Theodore Sturgeon
- Biddiver, Theodore Sturgeon
- Poker Face, Theodore Sturgeon
- Shottle Bop, Theodore Sturgeon
- Two Percent Inspiration, Theodore Sturgeon
- Nightmare Island, Theodore Sturgeon
- Microcosmic God, Theodore Sturgeon
- Yesterday Was Monday, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Haunt, Theodore Sturgeon
- Brat, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Golden Egg, Theodore Sturgeon
- Artnan Process, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Anonymous, Theodore Sturgeon
- Completely Automatic, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Jumper, Theodore Sturgeon
- Two Sidecars, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Purple Light, Theodore Sturgeon
- Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
Recently read ( * = highly enjoyed) :
- Inferno, ed. Ellen Datlow
- Riding Bitch, K. W. Jeter
- Misadventure, Stephen Gallagher
- The Forest, Laird Barron
- The Monsters of Heaven, Nathan Ballingrud
- Inelastic Collisions, Elizabeth Bear
- The Uninvited, Christopher Fowler
- 13 O’Clock, Mike O’Driscoll
- Lives, John Grant
- Ghorla, Mark Samuels
- Face, Joyce Carol Oates
- An Apiary of White Bees, Lee Thomas
- The Keeper, P. D. Cacek
- Bethanys Wood, Paul Finch
- The Ease With Which We Freed The Beast, Lucius Shepard
- Hushabye, Simon Bestwick
- Perhaps the Last, Conrad Williams
- Stilled Life, Pat Cadigan
- The Janus Tree, Glen Hirshberg
- The Bedroom Light, Jeffrey Ford
- The Suits at Auderlene, Terry Dowling
- Tales of Terror, Edgar Allen Poe (audio book) *
- The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Black Cat, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Pit and the Pendulum, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, Edgar Allen Poe
- Hop Frog, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allen Poe
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Edgar Allen Poe
- Platinum Pohl, Frederik Pohl (audio book)
- The Merchants of Venus, Ferederik Pohl
- The Things That Happen, Ferederik Pohl
- The High Test, Ferederik Pohl
- My Lady Green Sleeves, Ferederik Pohl
- The Kindly Isle, Ferederik Pohl
- The Middle of Nowhere, Ferederik Pohl
- I Remember a Winter, Ferederik Pohl
- The Greening of Bed-Stuy, Ferederik Pohl
- To See Another Mountain, Ferederik Pohl
- The Mapmakers, Ferederik Pohl
- Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair, Ferederik Pohl
- The Celebrated No-Hit Inning, Ferederik Pohl
- Some Joys Under the Star, Ferederik Pohl
- Servant of the People, Ferederik Pohl
- Waiting for the Olympians, Ferederik Pohl
- Criticality, Ferederik Pohl
- Shaffery Among the Immortals, Ferederik Pohl
- The Day the Icicle Works Closed, Ferederik Pohl
- Saucery, Ferederik Pohl
- The Gold at the Starbow’s End, Ferederik Pohl
- Growing Up in Edge City, Ferederik Pohl
- The Knights of Arthur, Ferederik Pohl
- Creation Myths of the Recently Extinct, Ferederik Pohl
- The Meeting, Ferederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth
- Let the Ants Try, Ferederik Pohl
- Speed Trap, Ferederik Pohl
- The Day the Martians Came, Ferederik Pohl
- Day Million, Ferederik Pohl
- The Mayor of Mare Tranq, Ferederik Pohl
- Fermi and Frost, Ferederik Pohl
- By His Bootstraps, Robert A. Heinlein (audio book) *
- Invasion, Robin Cook (audio book)
- Leiningen versus the Ants, Carl Stephenson
- The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James (volumes 1 & 2) (audio book)
- A Neighbour’s Landmark, M.R. James
- A View From a Hill, M.R. James
- A Vignette, M.R. James
- A Warning to the Curious, M.R. James
- After Dark in the Playing Fields, M.R. James
- An Episode of Cathedral History, M.R. James
- An Evening’s Entertainment, M.R. James
- Ash Tree, M.R. James
- Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook, M.R. James
- Casting the Runes, M.R. James
- Count Magnus, M.R. James
- Lost Hearts, M.R. James
- Martin’s Close, M.R. James
- Mezzotint, M.R. James
- Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance, M.R. James
- Number 13, M.R. James
- Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad, M.R. James
- Rats, M.R. James
- Rose Garden, M.R. James
- School Story, M.R. James
- Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, M.R. James
- Diary of Mr Poynter, M.R. James
- The Experiment, M.R. James
- The Fenstanton Witch, M.R. James
- Haunted Dolls’ House, M.R. James
- Malice of Inanimate Objects, M.R. James
- Residence at Whetminster, M.R. James
- Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance, M.R. James
- The Uncommon Prayer-book, M.R. James
- There Was a Man Dwelt By a Churchyard, M.R. James
- Tractate Middoth, M.R. James
- Treasure of Abbot Thomas, M.R. James
- Two Doctors, M.R. James
- Wailing Well, M.R. James
- Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction, Gardner Dozois (audio book)
- The Miracle Workers, Jack Vance
- The Longest Voyage, Poul Anderson
- On the Storm Planet, Cordwainer Smith
- The Star Pit, Samuel R. Delany
- Total Environment, Brian W. Aldiss
- The Merchants of Venus, Frederik Pohl
- The Death of Doctor Island, Gene Wolfe
- Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm
- Souls, Joanna Russ
- A Traveler’s Tale, Lucius Shepard
- Sailing to Byzantium, Robert Silverberg
- Mr. Boy, James Patrick Kelly
- And Wild for to Hold, Nancy Kress
- Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt
- On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
- Over the River and Through the Woods, Clifford D. Simak (audio book)
- A Death in the House, Clifford D. Simak
- The Big Front Yard, Clifford D. Simak
- Good Night, Mr. James, Clifford D. Simak
- Dusty Zebra, Clifford D. Simak
- Neighbor, Clifford D. Simak
- Over the River and Through the Woods, Clifford D. Simak
- Construction Shack, Clifford D. Simak
- The Grotto of the Dancing Bear, Clifford D. Simak
- Classic Tales of Ghosts & Vampires (audio book)
- The Upper Berth, by F. Marion Crawford
- Was it a Dream?, by Guy de Maupassant
- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce
- The Lost Ghost, by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
- Man-Size in Marble, by E. Nesbit
- Dracula’s Guest, by Bram Stoker
- Luella Miller, by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
- The Phantom Coach, by Amelia B. Edwards
- The Moonlit Road, by Ambrose Bierce
- For the Blood Is the Life, by F. Marion Crawford
- The Signalman, by Charles Dickens
- The Shadow, by E. Nesbit
- The Damned Thing, by Ambrose Bierce
- The Bodysnatcher, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Vampyre, by John Polidori
- The Statement of Randolph Carter, by H.P. Lovecraft
- Song of Kali, Dan Simmons
- Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk (audio book)
- Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
- The Forbidden Zone, Whitley Strieber (audio book)
- Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction, Dan Simmons (audio book)
- Looking for Kelly Dahl, Dan Simmons
- Orphans of the Helix, Dan Simmons
- The Ninth of Av, Dan Simmons
- On K2 with Kanakaredes, Dan Simmons
- The End of Gravity, Dan Simmons
- Creepers, by David Morrell (audio book)
- A Practical Guide to Racism, C H Dalton
- The Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
- The Naked Jape, Jimmy Carr & Lucy Greeves
- Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift
- The Shadow Rising, Robert Jordan
- The Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks
- I am America (and So Can You), Stephen Colbert
- The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain *
- Time Out of Joint, Philip K Dick
- The Cambridge Quintet, John L. Casti
- Clans of the Alphane Moon, Philip K Dick
- The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
- The Mammoth Book of Monsters, Stephen Jones
- Visitation, David J. Schow
- Down There, Ramsey Campbell
- The Man He Had Been Before, Scott Edleman
- Calling All Monsters, Dennis Etchison
- The Shadmock, R. Chetwynd Hayes
- The Spider Kiss, Christopher Fowler
- Cafe Endless: Spring Rain, Nancy Holder
- The Medusa, Thomas Ligotti
- In the Poor Girl Taken by Surprise, Gemma Files
- Downmarket, Sydney J. Bounds
- The Horror from the Mound, Robert E. Howard
- Fat Man, Jay Lake
- The Thin People, Brian Lumley
- The Hill, Tanith Lee
- Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program, Joe R. Lansdale
- .220 Swift, Karl Edward Wagner
- Our Lady of the Sauropods, Robert Silverberg
- The Flabby Men, Basil Copper
- The Silvering, Robert Holdstock
- Someone Else’s Problem, Michael Marshall Smith
- Rawhead Rex, Clive Barker
- The Chill Clutch of the Unseen, Kim Newman
- The Mammoth Book of New Terror, Stephen Jones
- Fruiting Bodies, Brian Lumley
- Needle Song, Charles L. Grant
- Turbo-Satan, Christopher Fowler
- Talking in the Dark, Dennis Etchison
- The Circus, Sydney J. Bounds
- Foet, F. Paul Wilson
- The Candle in the Skull, Basil Copper
- The Chimney, Ramsey Campbell
- Dark Wings, Phyllis Eisenstein
- Reflection of Evil, Graham Masterton
- Mirror of the Might, E.C. Tubb
- Maypole, Brian Mooney
- Under the Crust, Terry Lamsley
- Tir Nan Og, Lisa Tuttle
- A Living Legend, R. Chetwynd-Hayes
- Wake-up Call, David J. Schow
- The Fourth Seal, Karl Edward Wagner
- Unlocked, Tanith Lee & John Kaine
- Closing Time, Neil Gaiman
- It Was The Heat, Pat Cadigan
- Fodder, Tim Lebbon & Brian Keene
- Open Doors, Michael Marshall Smith
- Andromeda Among the Stones, Caitlin R. Kiernan
- Flowers On Their Bridles, Hooves In The Air, Glen Hirshberg
- Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue or: Children of Marx and Coca-Cola, Kim Newman
- Among the Wolves, David Case
- Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, Richard Layard
- The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
- Watership Down, Richard Adams *
- The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction, Mike Ashley
- Ulla, Ulla, Eric Brown
- Deathday, Peter F. Hamilton
- The Infinite Assassin, Greg Egan
- Anachron, Damon Knight
- Firewatch, Connie Willis
- At the “Me” Shop, Robert Reed
- Vinland the Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson
- A Ticket to Tranai, Robert Sheckley
- The Exit Door Leads In, Philip K. Dick
- What Have I Done?, Mark Clifton
- Finis, Frank L. Pollock
- The Last Days of Earth, George C. Wallis
- Approaching Perimelasma, Geoffrey A. Landis
- The Pen and the Dark, Colin Kapp
- Inanimate Objection, H. Chandler Elliott
- The Very Pulse of the Machine, Michael Swanwick
- High Eight, Keith Roberts
- Shards, Brian W. Aldiss
- Except My Life³, John Morressy
- Into Your Tent I’ll Creep, Eric Frank Russell
- A Death in the House, Clifford D. Simak
- Refugium, Stephen Baxter
- The Mammoth Book of Terror, Stephen Jones
- The Last Illusion, Clive Barker
- Bunny Didn’t Tell Us, David J. Schow
- Murgunstrumm, Hugh B. Cave
- The Late Shift, Dennis Etchison
- The Horse Lord, Lisa Tuttle
- The Jumpity-Jim, R. Chetwynd-Hayes
- Out Of Copyright, Ramsey Campbell
- The River Of Night’s Dreaming, Karl Edward Wagner
- Amber Print, Basil Copper
- The House Of The Temple, Brian Lumley
- The Yugoslaves, Robert Bloch
- Firstborn, David Campton
- The Black Drama, Manly Wade Wellman
- Crystal, Charles L. Grant
- Buckets, F. Paul Wilson
- The Satyr’s Head, David A. Riley
- Junk, Stephen Laws
- Pig’s Dinner, Graham Masterton
- The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
- Jesus Has Left the Building, Paul Vieira
- Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card *
- The Mote in God’s Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
- The Christ Clone Trilogy, James BeauSeigneur *
Nathan said
Excellent choice on Crime and Punishment. My favorite thing about Dostoevsky is that he gives a voice to various world views and philosophies in different characters. It’s not quite as blatant in Crime and Punishment as it is in The Brothers Karamazov though. He was totally ahead of his time as far as existentialism is concerned and nearly prophetic in his prediction of the end of Tsarist Russia.
Don Dueck said
Yes, Crime and Punishment was a good book (I just finished it). At times it was a little hard for me to follow the characters because of their unfamiliar, multiple, and sometimes very similar (at least, for someone not familiar with Russian) names. I wasn’t used to seeing people referred to by their first and middle names, so it looked like an entirely new character entered the story when the author referred to someone by their other names (“Raskolnikov, meet Rodion Romanovitch. And I’m sure you are both familiar with my dear friend, Rodya? Excellent!”)
I did notice the “voices given to various world views” with characters like Lebezyatnikov and the painter who falsly admits to the murder. I think Raskolnikov’s theory was the most interesting, though. I particularly liked this paragraph from the epilogue:
Crime and Punishment was quite a bit different in another way from many others I’ve read in the past. Dostoevsky wove some story threads very loose for a long time, making it seem like they were separate subplots unrelated to the main character until some pivotal moment when it eventually touches upon Raskolnikov’s life. I was left wondering for a long time what some characters, like Svidrigailov, had to do with anything. Most other writers (at least the ones I’ve read) seem to keep the important characters a lot closer together, story-wise, so that they don’t appear to be ancillary at first. This wasn’t a bad thing; just different.
Other things I liked about the Crime and Punishment: the way the story started and the way it ended.
It starts right away with the main character thinking about killing the old pawnbroker before establishing anything else, but without coming right out and saying it until a ways in.
Now, I knew beforehand what the story was about, but I wonder how such a story would read to someone unfamiliar with the work and not quite so jaded with decades of experience in stories involving murder.
And the ending was so perfect. After chapters and chapters of build up and mental stress and whatnot, it just falls like a hammer:
Bam! That’s it. The end. And a proper use of the “epilogue” afterwards wraps the story up nicely, telling of Raskonikov’s eventual fate (I was honestly unsure of what would happen to him until the very last page).
I don’t know is Crime and Punishment is really something I’d consider “fun” reading, which is mostly what I do since years of forced reading in high school has kind of turned me off of “heavier” books, but I recognize why it’s regarded so highly, and I’m glad to have read it.
Don Dueck said
Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow, completely sucked. Maybe one or two decent stories in it, but the vast majority were just *bad*.