Book 50: Tatja Grimm's World (Vinge)

Disappointing Vinge. But it was his first novel, so maybe that's why. Some exciting scenes, but none of the "wow" factor of "A Fire Upon the Deep" or "A Deepness in the Sky". And his attempts to avoid "as you know, Bob" setups are kind of clumsy (but I guess at least he tried). And neologistic abbreviations are so annoying ("art'ry" for "artillery" -- yeesh!). Stephenson does this too, with "phant'sy". Stop banging me on the head with etymology, you smug jerk!

So that's fifty books! And before December!

Book 49: H.M.S. Surprise (O'Brian)

Another great Aubrey/Maturin. Very exciting battles and espionage. And Dil was an affecting character, despite her short stay in the story.

Book 48: Darwinia (Wilson)

Reasonably OK. Wilson's books seem to get better in the order he wrote them. Unfortunately, I'm reading them in reverse order! The one standout for me in this book was his establishing Lovecraftian monsters in a hard SF environment.

Book 47: Post Captain (O'Brian)

Second Aubrey/Maturin. Crammed with plot and excitement. Maturin's wool suit and bees were hilarious.

Book 46: Going Postal (Pratchett)

Very good. Usual Discworld wackiness, but with a motivating good-versus-evil plot and some character development more believable than Moist von Lipwick's name.

Book 45: Chronoliths (Wilson)

Very good. Similar to "Spin" in that it describes what happens to realistic characters after a science-fictiony incident in the near future. Not quite as good as Spin.

Book 44: The Ionian Mission (O'Brian)

Ninth in the series.

Book 43: The Tin Princess (Pullman)

Pretty good. Competent, but not very special.

Book 42: The Tiger in the Well (Pullman)

Very engaging, engrossing novel. Sally's plight is real and gripping. The climax is not as spectacular as it could have been, but I think that's the point and the meaning of the title: Sally can't solve all her problems herself.

Book 41: The Shadow in the North (Pullman)

Another Sally Lockhart story. Not gripping, but fairly interesting.

Book 40: The Catalans (O'Brian)

A more serious (for some meaning of "serious") novel than the Aubrey/Maturin books. Excellent sense of people in a place. And of particular characters -- especially Xavier and his crisis.

Book 39: The Far Side of the World (O'Brian)

Another Aubrey/Maturin novel. There's more inter-personal intrigue in this one. And more humour. But there's very little overlap with the plot of the movie with the same name: they're chasing another ship in the Pacific and the cook makes a dessert in the shape of the Galapagos islands, but that's it!

Book 38: The Ruby in the Smoke (Pullman)

Decent Victorian England thriller. Not as good as Pullman's "Golden Compass" series.

Book 37: The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke (Hayward)

I read this book because I went to school with the author. It's good: occasionally funny, quite a bit of Toronto history and one RHHS reference (Mr. Booth the biology teacher). There are some loose ends, so maybe I need to read it again.

Book 36: The Violent Bear It Away (O'Connor)

Is the idiot love Rayber resists the same thing as Old Tarwater's faith and prophecy? I don't think so: Old Tarwater's full of fear and hate. This book's conflict isn't good against evil: it's a battle between two confusions. Picking a side in that fight is pointless.

Good writing, though, and very intense.

Book 35: Desolation Island (O'Brian)

More Aubrey/Maturin. O'Brian's books don't have denouments. As soon as the last plot point's wrapped up, the book ends. Interesting, but disorienting. Anyway, this one's good too. The sea battles are very exciting.

Book 34: The Mauritus Command (O'Brian)

Fourth Aubrey/Maturin novel. They're kind of blurring into each other! Very entertaining, though. I feel like I'm learning about sailing.

Book 33: Spin (Wilson)

Just won the Hugo, I see. Very good science fiction. In Vinge's league for cool ideas, but with recognizably early-21C-on-earth characters.

Book 32: The Assault on Tony's (O'Brien)

Seven (or eight) people trapped (or hiding) in a bar during a riot. Bleak, occasionally funny. By the same guy who wrote Leaving Las Vegas and shot himself at the age of 25 (jerk).

Book 31: Master & Commander (O'Brian)

Excellent Napoleonic wars novel. There are a lot in the series! Action is very fast and described tersely. Characters seem realistic (ie. flawed). Fairly funny, too.