log(book)
I'm currently behind on reviews, so don't be surprised if the recent reviews are a bit sparse.

The 21 books I read in 2015 year in books

Cover of Halting State.

Halting State

by Charles Stross · published 2007 · read 2015-08-17
★★★☆☆
Robbery of a dot-com-startup. Set in 2018, in independent Scotland. Alas.

Cover of The Martian.

The Martian

by Andy Weir · published 2012 · read 2015-08-06
★★★★★
Gods, I already knew they had chosen Matt Damon as lead role, and I can imagine him in that role so very well! Brilliant humor with hard scifi. I seriously hope they won't fuck up the movie.

Cover of Ready Player One.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline · published 2011 · read 2015-08-05
★★☆☆☆
Despite the rating and the everything, there are some redeeming things about Ready Player One: It immerses you in a dystopic future where humanity takes to a huge Virtual Reality to flee their problems (dwindling oil reserves mean poverty, starvation, slums everywhere). Its flaws lie mostly within its highly predictable storyline and the incredibly, infinitely self-indulgent nerd smugness: Urgh. Also, logical flaws: Not using proper data science and cross-referencing to solve riddles? Please, that's what every mega-corp would do! There are some instances of less-well thought out behavior like that, sometimes breaking the immersion for me. But apart from the boring overall plot, this book shines with creativity and a huge lot of 80s culture. Loved the references, loved the attention to detail[spoilers removed]. It's a feel-good book: A simple, predictable plot with lots of love to detail, enough sophistication in characters so that you actually want the good guys to win[spoilers removed].

Cover of The Rhesus Chart.

The Rhesus Chart

by Charles Stross · published 2014 · read 2015-08-04
★★★★☆
We meet Mhari again! Bob is amazingly grown-up about it. Everybody realizes they get played early on … and still: people die. A lot of them. Including Angleton. Because their opponent is a century-old PHANG.

Cover of The Apocalypse Codex.

The Apocalypse Codex

by Charles Stross · published 2012 · read 2015-08-04
★★★★☆
Bob has come far, and is now sent to the USA with Penelope and Johnny (to him: external contractors), where they have to deal with a super-charismatic Christian Cult trying to wake the Sleeper in the Pyramid.

Cover of The Annihilation Score.

The Annihilation Score

by Charles Stross · published 2015 · read 2015-08-04
★★★★☆
A book from Mo's perspective, right after the semi-break-up that concluded the Rhesus Chart! Insight into the Bone Violin, and a lot of Super Heroes.

Cover of Equoid.

Equoid

by Charles Stross · published 2013 · read 2015-08-04
★★★★☆
Of course Unicorns are terrifying when CStross himself writes about them. Short, but enjoyable, if a bit gory.

Cover of The Fuller Memorandum.

The Fuller Memorandum

by Charles Stross · published 2010 · read 2015-07-22
★★★★☆
The Fuller Memorandum details the break-up of a cultist organization and a Laundry leak, we also get to know TEAPOT and Angleton's story. We see Mo and Bob as a married couple, and Bob on his way up. Good work, to my mind a generic Laundry book if there ever was one, what with the exorcism of WW2 airplanes that escalates into horrors. Nice read nonetheless.

Cover of Overtime.

Overtime

by Charles Stross · published 2009 · read 2015-07-18
★★★★☆
Light reading. Bob has to deal with Christmas terrors from beyond. Very Charly, Much Stross, Q'thulhu.

Cover of The Jennifer Morgue.

The Jennifer Morgue

by Charles Stross · published 2006 · read 2015-07-07
★★★★☆
(This review is only to make me remember what happened in a book and why I liked it.)

Cover of Down on the Farm.

Down on the Farm

by Charles Stross · published 2008 · read 2015-07-07
★★★★☆
Bob goes visit the Funny Farm and deals with a Mainframe. I mostly loved the use of a chessboard as 2,5(?)-Turing machine.

Cover of The Concrete Jungle.

The Concrete Jungle

by Charles Stross · published 2004 · read 2015-07-03
★★★★☆
I love Detective Inspector Josephine Sullivan. And Basilisks. And everything cstross thinks about firmware, public sector management and Angleton.

Cover of The Atrocity Archives.

The Atrocity Archives

by Charles Stross · published 2004 · read 2015-07-02
★★★★★
Soo, the beginning of my favourite Stross series. You know: magic is advanced maths, powerful geeks and really powerful burocracy.

Cover of The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

by Neil Gaiman · published 2013 · read 2015-05-01
★★★★★
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is most definitely a Neil Gaiman book. It's also like a Pratchett book - a bit less humor and a bit more beauty in its sentences.

Cover of Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones.

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones

by Brandon Sanderson · published 2008 · read 2015-05-01
★★☆☆☆
People kept telling me how good the Alcatraz books are. I gave the second part a chance and I just don't see it.

Cover of Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

by Brandon Sanderson · published 2007 · read 2015-05-01
★☆☆☆☆
Despite wanting to like the book, the humour wasn't for me.

Cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

by Susanna Clarke · published 2004 · last read 2022-08-13
★★★☆☆
First book I'm really sad that I'm reviewing it only so much later: I'd have more thoughts to share if I hadn't waited so long. This was my second attempt at reading this book – I bounced off hard at the slow pace and the stuffy old men the first time around, many years ago. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. It's undeniably a very well-crafted book. It has a lot going on. It has one hell of a vibe. And parts of that resonated with me – but a lot of the time I felt like … grudgingly appreciating the vibe while wishing to be literally anywhere else in that world! It's a constant discomfort, like Kafka, but turned down to 10%. This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.

Cover of The Graveyard Book.

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman · published 2008 · read 2015-04-15
★★★★☆
I would have loved this book as a child, and I still love it as a grownup (Gaiman tends to write like that). It is paced well, written wonderfully and rings true (in a very similar way American Gods does, but a bit toned-down to the way children see the world). Technically it is a coming-of-age story. I spent a long afternoon reading it and feel a lot better for the time spent.

Cover of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

by Terry Pratchett · published 1990 · read 2015-04-01
★★★★☆
Good Omens is the result of a blessed (but not ineffably blessed) collaboration. And it produced a similarly blessed mini-series! Nothing's not to like here. The only thing that always surprises me when re-reading it is how rooted it is in the early 90s.

Cover of Infoquake.

Infoquake

by David Louis Edelman · published 2006 · read 2015-03-01
★★☆☆☆
The war is now fought in sales pitches, product demos and press releases. The life of the future, as seen by somebody who reads (but does not like) Wall Street Journal. Economy cyberpunk?

Cover of Das Känguru-Manifest.

Das Känguru-Manifest

by Marc-Uwe Kling · published 2011 · read 2015-03-01
★★★★☆
More of the same – never change a running system.