Book List 2005

A few spectacular books in there, many having been simple re-reads of books I continue to enjoy. I will admit to having editorialised slightly by leaving out a few more embarrassing Mills and Boons novels, including the three or four I recently consumed over my holiday week.

The 2005 List

1. The City, Not Long After – Pat Murphy

2. Caves of Steel – Issac Asimov

3. Nine Tomorrows – Issac Asimov

4. The Ancient Future – Traci Harding
Journey through time and the cosmos to find your true potential.

5. Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left – Robin Klein
Fell in love with this when I was 8yrs old and still read it.

6. The Wolf King – Alice Borchardt

7. The Bookseller of Kabul – Asne Seierstad
Incredibly well written account of a family, their beliefs and social structure.

8. Silver Screen – Justina Robson

9. To your scattered bodies go – Philip Jose` Farmer

10. Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World – Haruki Murakami
Are you in the world, or is the world in you?

11. Perfume – Patrick Suskind

12. Incubus Dreams – Laurell K. Hamilton
A little less sexual deviancy and a bit more mystery would have been beneficial.

13. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Read it, read it now.

14. i, Lucifer – Glen Duncan
What would you choose? Freedom and pain or joy in service?

15. Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
What is reincarnation, destiny and will when mixed with technology?

16. The Outsider – Camus
Thought provoking.

17. Gene of Isis – Traci Harding
It’s not up there with her Tori Alexander series, yet still entertaining.

18. Nausea – Sartre
I read, and I struggled and I appreciated but not so much enjoyed.

19. Gut Symmetries – Jeanette Winterson
Blooming Fantastic.

20. A Stroke of Midnight – Laurell K. Hamilton

21. Three Dollars – Elliot Perlman

22. French Women Don’t Get Fat – Mireille Guiliano
Recipe for cold chocolate soufflé…oh my goddess! *swoons*

23. Sightseeing – Rattawut Lapcharoensap

24. The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
Is there a distinction between good and evil? If so, who determines it?

25. Beyond Good and Evil – Friederich Nietzsche

26. The Gay Science – Freiderich Nietzsche. ed Bernard Williams
What is your truth?

27. Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk
A bit ho hum to be honest; songs, spells and generational angst.

28. Burning your Boats – Angela Carter
Twisted fairy tales, my favourite short story collection by one of the century’s best writers.

29. Kushiel’s Dart – Jaqueline Carey
Whore’s get trained as a courtesan and spy, cursed to find pleasure in pain and in whose actions lie the fate of her land.

30. Kushiel’s Chosen – Jaqueline Carey
Can she endure the pain and madness or will the courtesan become a plaything?

31. Kushiel’s Avatar – Jaqueline Carey
Best of the three, delving into the darkest thoughts acts and words then rising up to contain the pure joy of freedom and love.

32. The Lathe of Heaven – Ursula Le Guin
What if your dreams could change reality…and you were not in control of your dreams?

33. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K Rowling
Started to read at midnight, tumbled out at 5am feeling incredibly frustrated until the next book is released.

34. The Keeping Place – Isobelle Carmody
Childhood favourite…now if she would only publish the end of the series.

35. The Land where Stories End – David Foster
Subvert the fairy tale! This time from a male subversion perspective. For a bit of fun read this.

36. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
This left my head in a very strange space for a few hours after reading it straight. Brilliant mindfuck.

37. Courtesans – Katie Hickman
A historic look at the role and influence of the Courtesan.

38. Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
Anyone for a game of brutish Croquet? I pick Hamlet and Literary Detective Thursday Next for my team!

39. Mao II – Don Delillo
Does the novelist’s power to influence culture now belong to bomb-makers and gunmen?

40. The Big Over Easy – Jasper Fforde
Det. Inspector Jack Sprat and Det. Sergant Mary Mary must solve the crime…who killed Humpty Dumpty?

41. Use of Weapons – Iain M. Banks

42. Desert Flower – Waris Dirie

43. Desert Dawn – Waris Dirie

44. Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke
This is one I keep forgetting I have read and only moderatly enjoyed, and so read and re-read, time and again.

45. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
Alexandra has set me on a happy new reading path. This was quite fun.

46. Kabuki: Circle of Blood – David Mack

47. Kabuki: Metamorphis – David Mack

48. Consider Phlebas – Ian M. Banks

49. Omnibus 1 At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
I don’t like scary books, I progressed no further than half-way the first time I tried to read this, and actually finished it this time. Once again shall I say, scary.

49. Imperial Earth – Arthur C. Clarke
I’ve reached the point where every one of these books I read, a nagging sensation tickles my memory…have I read this already?

50. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe – Carson McCullers
An angry angry love triangle, and other stories.

51. Flesh and Gold – Phyllis Gotlieb
Gotlieb weaves believable worlds and creatures of genuine character.

52. Banewreaker – Jaqueline Carey
‘If all that is good think you’re evil… are you?’ Could have been better, the writing was overly flowery and nowhere near as engaging as her previous novels. Le sigh.

53. The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
Entertaining distraction for a few hours. Pratchett is always fun.

54. Darksong – Isobelle Carmody
A simple an occasionally entertaining journey into a standard fantasy realm.

55. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
Thought I should brush up before going to watch the film.

56. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
I skipped straight ahead to this one, because while a little sad, I just wasn’t a fan of ‘Order of the Phoenix’.

57. The Laughing Corpse – Laurell K. Hamilton
Time for a little brain candy.

58. Circus of the Damned – Laurell K. Hamilton
There is just no stopping at just one.

59. The Lunatic Cafe – Laurell K. Hamilton
Okay, here is where it starts to get a little whiny.

60. Obsidian Butterfly – Laurell K. Hamilton
So I skipped straight to a good ol’ favourite. Less of the smut and more of the sarcastic ass kicking we know and love.

61. Polgara the Sorceress – David & Leigh Eddings
An absolute favourite because quite simply, I love this woman.

62. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
If you haven’t read this classic, at least give it a try, there is no villain more brooding and intense as Heathcliffe.

63. The Bride Stripped Bare – Anonymous
A sumptuous feast.

64. Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
Incredibly well written and entertaining bunch of magicians these, it’d be a favourite of mine of not for the incredible length.

65. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard – Frank Miller

Rating Key

= Read it…just
= An okay read.
= A good/fun read.
= Excellent!
= Going onto the favourites list!