log(book)

The 14 books I read in 2011

Cover of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

by Douglas Adams · published 1984 · read 2011-12-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
I honestly didn't enjoy the later parts of the Hitchhiker's Guide. Maybe it was the novelty wearing off, the jokes becoming too predictable? Not the jokes themselves, of course, just their general shape.

Cover of Anna Karenina.

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy · published 1877 · read 2011-12-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Funny story, actually: I had to give a presentation about Anna Karenina in school, and since the book was so terribly long, I did it entirely from online sources (and got the highest possible grade). But while looking for the passage I wanted to read out loud, I discovered that the book was super readable and so I read it … after the presentation.

Cover of Stories of Mr. Keuner.

Stories of Mr. Keuner

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1958 · read 2011-11-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Brecht's short stories – which want to educate, of course – are much more bearable than his equally educational plays. Still very much on the nose, to the degree that I thought about linking the Narnia books here.

Cover of Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher.

Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher

by Walter Moers · published 2011 · read 2011-10-01
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Well, this was an exercise in disappointment. The follow-up book to the City of Dreaming Books is strictly worse than its predecessor. It reads as if Moers needed money and so decided to make a bad B-movie following his great blockbuster. Nearly put me off reading future Moers books entirely.

Cover of A Hat Full of Sky.

A Hat Full of Sky

by Terry Pratchett · published 2004 · read 2011-09-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
More Tiffany is good Tiffany. When it turned out that Tiffany was there to stay and not just a one-off, I was so incredibly happy.

Cover of Last Chance to See.

Last Chance to See

by Douglas Adams · published 1990 · read 2011-08-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Douglas Adams presents: Humans destroying the Earth (for a change). As fun as a book on this topic can be. Well-informed, well-researched, well-written.

Cover of Lycidas.

Lycidas

by Christoph Marzi · published 2004 · read 2011-07-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Young Adult intrigue in a magical London with heaven and hell, nobility and tube rats playing their roles. Fun, but a bit on the long side.

Cover of Der Sandmann.

Der Sandmann

by E.T.A. Hoffmann · published 1816 · read 2011-06-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Early science-fiction? You may not agree, but there's an automaton that drives the protagonist insane (more or less, shush!), so I'm declaring it sci-fi, on the horror side of things.

Keks, Frau K. und Katastrophen : alle Geschichten

by Fanny Müller · read 2011-05-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Fanny Müller was hilarious to me at the time, though I wouldn't want to swear that her books still hold up.

Cover of The Threepenny Opera.

The Threepenny Opera

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1928 · read 2011-04-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
One of the last pieces from before Brecht abandoned fun and good poems, and turned to political education.

Cover of Daemon.

Daemon

by Daniel Suarez · published 2006 · read 2011-03-01
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Great AI story. I liked it a lot, 'cause I'm a nerd. It's a bit too into showing off that all the research has been done, so probably less readable to non-nerds. Though at this point, reality has caught up sufficiently that the whole thing should be fairly transparent to everybody. Chapeau, Mr Suarez.

Cover of The Good Woman of Setzuan.

The Good Woman of Setzuan

by Bertolt Brecht · published 1953 · read 2011-02-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Brecht telling you about circumstances forcing people into immoral deeds. It's peak communist Brecht, and thus unreadable and overall very annoying.

Cover of The Ring of Solomon.

The Ring of Solomon

by Jonathan Stroud · published 2010 · read 2011-01-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Prequel. I read it too late after the original series, I think, but it brought back plenty of memories of the trilogy, both good and bad ones.

Cover of Brave New World.

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley · published 1932 · read 2011-01-01
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Fun fact: It took me three tries to finish Brave New World, because the last third (or so) just had me tune out. It's interesting to contrast this work – of Huxley's youth, all convinced of things gravitating towards terribleness – to Island. He wrote Island much later in life, and it shows. What if … people could just feel good, for a bit? That would be … good?