log(book)

The 30 books I read in 2006

Cover of Moby-Dick or, the Whale.

Moby-Dick or, the Whale

by Herman Melville · published 1851 · read 2006-12-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Hard to read. Hard to like. Not my kind of thing.

Cover of The Light Fantastic.

The Light Fantastic

by Terry Pratchett · published 1986 · read 2006-12-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
One of the worst Discworld books out there, but we'll ignore it because it's part of the reason that we got the later brilliant books. Rincewind and Twoflower ineptly save the world, blah blah.

Cover of Jingo.

Jingo

by Terry Pratchett · published 1997 · read 2006-12-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Vimes and Vetinary don't conquer the world, and that's enough of a story. Casually anti-racist, casually pacifist, in Pratchett's weirdly conservative way. Nearly halfway through the Discworld series but still more in the "producing lots of hilarious jokes" mode for the most part.

Cover of A Wild Ride Through the Night.

A Wild Ride Through the Night

by Walter Moers · published 2001 · last read 2021-01-13
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Walter Moers decided to branch out and do something wildly different. Okay, maybe not wildly: there's still much absurdity going on. But it's not Zamonien. Instead, it's the story of Gustave Doré, the famous painter. Or rather, his paintings. Or rather, all of his paintings, shoved together into a rather trippy (but entertaining!) story.

Cover of The Wave.

The Wave

by Todd Strasser · published 1981 · read 2006-11-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Given a choice among classics in the "scaring the youngsters off bad politics" genre, I prefer The Wave to 1986.

Cover of Der Verdacht.

Der Verdacht

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1952 · read 2006-11-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Detective Bärlach's second case concerns a surviving Nazi doctor. As always, it's not – in the end, at least – about bringing about official justice. Dürrenmatt doesn't much care for that, or trust in it, and looking at the publishing date, he was not wrong.

Cover of Grass for his Pillow.

Grass for his Pillow

by Lian Hearn · published 2003 · last read 2021-01-17
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Enjoyable second part of the series: Our heroes encounter adversity and have to make bad choices and live with their decisions. Less comfort read than the first part, different and good. The ending is extremely stupid and sets up the exceedingly stupid cause for the drama causing part three and four.

Cover of Across the Nightingale Floor.

Across the Nightingale Floor

by Lian Hearn · published 2002 · last read 2021-01-16
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Everybody is extremely dramatic in this book. Very YA. But it stood up to a re-read surprisingly well: Young boy in faux-Japan gets his family murdered, is adopted into a clan and things escalate from there. Oh, and it turns out he's not only adopted by the rightful leader of the clan, he's also born to a long line of secret assassins and has lots of magical gifts. And everybody wants a piece of them.

Cover of Shaman.

Shaman

by Noah Gordon · published 1992 · read 2006-09-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Centuries after the first volume, the Cole family is still going strong as physicians. But how do you deal with the deafness of your oldest son if healing is your complete identity? Not particularly well, it turns out. There's a lot of room for personal growth and it is used very well. I also had the impression that the research was better (possibly because as a US American writer, Gordon is closer to the topic).

Cover of Aquis Submersus.

Aquis Submersus

by Theodor Storm · published 1876 · read 2006-09-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Theodor Storm: good. Theodor Fontane: ehhhh. This is my qualified German literature opinion.

Cover of Inkheart.

Inkheart

by Cornelia Funke · published 2003 · read 2006-08-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Inkheart understood me. It understood my dorky love for books, and how I wanted to jump into a story. It got feeling alone, and it got nerding out with others. And it made other books come to life – and I loved it for it. Some of it follows YA rules and annoyances: it's slow to develop and the protagonist is sometimes grating. But that's perfectly fine when balancing it against the imaginative story.

Cover of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl · published 1964 · read 2006-08-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Disobedient children are punished. But this is not a lame traditionally cautionary tale, no: It's a dark edgy traditional cautionary tale.

Cover of Mimus.

Mimus

by Lilli Thal · published 2003 · last read 2021-01-21
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Mimus is the wonderfully cruel tale of Prince Florin. In the struggle of two nations, the baddies use the age-old plot of suggesting peace-talks to come closer to their enemies. They capture the royal family and important court officials. Everybody is imprisoned, except Prince Florin, who is humiliatingly apprenticed to the court jester. That's the short setup. The book follows Florin in his reluctant apprenticeship to Mimus, through hardship, diplomacy, heartbreak and the realisation that life goes on.

Cover of The Physician.

The Physician

by Noah Gordon · published 1986 · read 2006-07-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
One of my earliest historical fiction books, and I loved it to pieces. It seemed so real, and so unflinching, and I dreamt about it a lot. Now I know that in many ways, it follows genre conventions and Gordon's research is … middling and in the service of drama. Oh well – I can't ask for more than enjoyment at the time of reading.

Cover of Thief of Time.

Thief of Time

by Terry Pratchett · published 2001 · read 2006-07-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Mysterious monks who keep things running behind the scenes! Time shenanigans! And also foreshadowing of Pratchett following up more on his philosophical leanings. Not the best Discworld book but still lots of fun.

Cover of Clouds of Witness.

Clouds of Witness

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1926 · read 2006-06-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
This was just as fun as I remembered. Peter's mother appears a lot (always a good thing), and his brother is a total idiot. Peter does his thing and I love everything about it. The story is a bit inconsequential, but we're here for the dialogue, not some pesky murder mystery.

Cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

by J.K. Rowling · published 2005 · read 2006-06-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Imagine being 14 when this book comes out, and being just not quite good enough to read it in English. So you have to wait for painful months while your mother (your own mother, the traitor) reads it in English and can then threaten you with spoilers.

Cover of The Lives of Christopher Chant.

The Lives of Christopher Chant

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1988 · read 2006-05-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Chrestomanci was my first encounter with the phenomenon that is Diana Wynne Jones. I liked the books – they seemed to strike the tricky balance between whimsy, absurdity, and having an actual plot. I can still remember how Christopher starts going into other worlds, touching things to make them solid. It's a great image.

Cover of The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear.

The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

by Walter Moers · published 1999 · read 2006-05-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This is where Moers proved he was a wizard. It's not his best book, but it's absolutely outstanding nevertheless. The tour through the 13½ lives of Cpt Bluebear is amazing, astounding, sparkling with fantastic ideas as if it had been written by 13 creative geniuses instead of just one.

Cover of Der Glanz des Mondes.

Der Glanz des Mondes

by Lian Hearn · published 2004 · read 2006-05-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
As set up by the previous book, everybody is being stupid and then there is a lot of battling and death. Not a fan.

Cover of Ein Trümmersommer.

Ein Trümmersommer

by Klaus Kordon · published 1982 · read 2006-04-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Honestly, I've always preferred Kordon's other book on 1945, "Der erste Frühling". But if you don't want to read a trilogy, then this is the next best thing. Kordon is reliably good at making teenagers understand what teenagers in other times experienced.

Cover of Das Kartengeheimnis.

Das Kartengeheimnis

by Jostein Gaarder · published 1990 · read 2006-04-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Similar to Sophie's World, a teenager is dragged into a mysterious philosophy course – this time accompanied by a journey. There's a mysterious dwarf and a tiny book that preaches at us, because that's how Jostein Gaarder rolls. It's exactly what you'd expect if you know any of his books.

Cover of Die Räuber.

Die Räuber

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1781 · read 2006-03-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Criticising society by telling a tale of bandits, as one does.

Cover of The Witches.

The Witches

by Roald Dahl · published 1983 · read 2006-03-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
This is a book that made me feel uncomfortable and unliked as a kid, and made me very hesitant to read any Roald Dahl ever again. Everything is gritty and dark and dangerous, and that seemed to seep into the world around me.

Cover of Der Ruf des Reihers.

Der Ruf des Reihers

by Lian Hearn · published 2006 · read 2006-03-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Concluding the series, we get the "15 years later" book we never wanted. Things fall apart. Then they fall apart some more. There's a lot of death to go around, much of it by backstabbing.

Cover of Kabale und Liebe.

Kabale und Liebe

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1784 · read 2006-02-01
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Schiller at his worst, arguably. I had to read this in school, and I had read it beforehand, and at no point in time I could seem to care.

Cover of Der Schimmelreiter.

Der Schimmelreiter

by Theodor Storm · published 1888 · read 2006-02-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
How would you discuss the conflict between old superstitious beliefs ruling the country and scientific enlightenment doing its thing? A ghost story? Well, that's what Storm thought, too.

Cover of Inkspell.

Inkspell

by Cornelia Funke · published 2005 · read 2006-01-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
More Inkworld shenanigans: Meggie now reads herself and others into the story, and also has to deal with the original author, who turns out to be very annoying. The story builds extremely slowly and I enjoyed it mostly for the worldbuilding. The characters are – with one exception – unimpressive and not exactly enjoyable.

Cover of The Diaries of Adam and Eve.

The Diaries of Adam and Eve

by Mark Twain · published 1906 · read 2006-01-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Not the height of hilariousness, but solidly funny – might have been my first humorous take on the Bible?

Cover of Witches Abroad.

Witches Abroad

by Terry Pratchett · published 1991 · read 2006-01-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
By a wide margin the earliest Pratchett book that I can give five stars. It's still part of his silly phase, and it predates Night Watch by eleven years, but there's a hard core, flinty and unwavering and willing to punch you in the feelings. In particular, it punched feelings I needed punched. Compared to later Witches books, the whole "people don't always want what they need" arc is soft and fluffy, of course, and it's not what drew me. No: what's stuck in my head is the final scene in the mirror, with Granny and her sister. It's powerful and I'm happy to ignore a book full of Oz references to get there.