Little Toy Robot

At the beginning of the month, I mentioned some reading goals for January.

Nymphomation, by Jeff Noon
Has been read, and I commented on it here.

Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan
I thought this book lived up to the hype. As promised, it was an intense mixture of Sci-Fi and noir, with a ton of ideas packed into a fast-moving plot with some engaging characters. And one really bizarre sex scene. I look forward to Broken Angels even though I hear it’s not as good, simply because I look forward to Morgan’s universe unfurling some more. If the story is half decent I’ll be happy.

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
I’ve read all the stories and notations for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first 12 short stories. The early stories and novels, in which Holmes is practically decadent, are my favorites. I am going to skip over the Memoirs (which I just reread last month!) and continue reading a story a day. I have to admit that I find “Sherlockian scholarshop” in which the stories are reconciled with the theory that Sherlock Holmes was real to be extremely unappealing, though I do enjoy the historical notes, illustrations, and period photographs.

Falling Angel, by William Hjortsberg
I still haven’t gotten this in the mail yet. Damn you, random eBay guy! Damn you!

Vergil in Averno, by Avram Davidson
After 50 pages, I am bumping this book, the second in the Vergil trilogy, from my reading list, returning it to the library, and never trying to read it again. Davidson was a horrible novelist, and at his worst he is so fumbling and digressive with his prose that it is, to me, unreadable. It’s a shame, because The Phoenix and the Mirror actually wasn’t that bad.

Not Quite Dead Enough, by Rex Stout (two Nero Wolfe novellas)
The title novella is quite excellent, an intriguing mystery that develops with quite a twist as Archie dreams up a rather shocking way to lure Wolfe out of retirement. It is WWII and Wolfe, an extremely fat and lazy man, has put aside his detective business to train himself to be a soldier in the army and kill some Germans. Fortunately, for his own sake as well as the sake of the Allied forces, Wolfe is convinced he can contribute to the war effort in more appropriate ways. The second novella, “Booby Trap,” follows chronologically on the heels of the first but is a bit more humdrum.

Natural History, by Justina Robson
I haven’t read this yet. I’ll probably start it over the weekend.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 15th, 2005 at 1:42 am and is filed under books.