Some of you (Yes I know no one is reading) may have noted I listed my first book review as being #39. This is because I read 38 books previously this year (duh) but of course I was not blogging at that time. However, I do keep records, so I will give you a quick recap of them all for your informative pleasure:
1. Hot Lunch-Alex "John Hughes" Bradley: This was a fun school drama from the modern master of such fare. 7.5/10
2. The Rithian Terror-Damon "the critic" Knight: This was a rather boring science-fiction mystery. Knight is an obviously brilliant fellow as his essays demonstrate, but this was certainly not a good outing for him.
3. The Making of the President 1972-Theodore "Ted" H. White: I loved the '68 volume of this series, but this was rather dull due to the fact that the outcome is so obvious that it just loses steam after McGovern wins the nomination. 6/10
4. The Illustrated Man-Ray "how bizarre" Bradbury: This is a classic. It deserves that label. 8.5/10
5. The Golden Helix (anthology): Theodore " how bizarre" Sturgeon: It's Sturgeon, so its really weird. 5.4/10
6. Great Cases of the Thinking Machine-Jacques "Titanic" Futrelle: Not bad, but a bit predictable. 6/10
7. To Seek a Newer World-Robert F. Kennedy: Basically, RFK on "the issues". Still rather timely, sadly. 6.5/10
8. Twelfth Night-William "the bard" Shakespeare: I know its beloved, but I didn't find it all that funny, nor the characters all that likeable. 4/10
9. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark "jumping frog" Twain: Classic. 9/10
10: Julius Caesar-William "That's not a word? well it is now!" Shakespeare: Good drama with some lovely speeches. 8/10
11. The Making of the President 1960-Theodore H. "No I'm not T.H. White" White: Better and is evenly represented between the two condidates. 7/10
12, The Night Land-William "bodybuilder" Hope Hodgson: I got this on a whim and it was an intense, arcane, bizarre, Clark Ashton Smith esq rollercoaster. 9/10.
13. In a Glass Darkly-Joseph Sheridan "Carmilla" Le Fanu: A nice little horror collection. 6/10
14. The Monk-Matthew "The Monk" Lewis: Very uneven, with the stuff with the actual Monk being terrific, but the lengthy sub-plot about being forced into a life of nunnery, yawn inducing. 6.5/10
15: The Winter's Tale-William "I don't really care what you think" Shakespeare: Good, if a bit odd. 6/10.
16: T.E. Lawrence-Peter "No nickname" Brent: A good account of the life of Lawrence of Arabia. 7.5/10,
17: Selected Poems of Byron-Lord "Wordsworth stinks" Byron: A tremendous collection of poetry that is probably the best I have ever read, with "Darkness" being the big standout. 9/10
18. Pygmalion-George "I'm Shakespeare in the flesh" Bernard Shaw: A neat little play, but not a whole lot to it. 6/10.
19. The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar "the grouch" Wilde: Less horror than I thought, but a great book of social commentary. 8/10
20. Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography-Theodore "rage against the machine" Roosevelt: A neat biography about one of the most fascinating presidents we had. It loses steam near the end, but still good. 7.5/10
21. The Odd Number-Guy "I am so French" De Maupassant: A nice collection of mostly realistic stories, often with a neat punch line. 7/10.
22. Kefauver: A Political Biography-Joseph "I don't know" Gorman: A neat book about one of the neatest senators to have held the office. 7/10,
23. The Eye of Osiris-R. Austin Freeman: I like Dr. Thorndyke, but this one was kind of boring and I guessed the solution half way through. But there was a nice romance in it, so 5/10.
24. The Big Jump-Leigh "I married up" Brackett: A disappointing entry from Brackett, though that might be partially my bias against hard boiled type mysteries. 5/10
25. The Moonlit Road-Ambrose "I mock you" Bierce: A collection of ghost tales. Sadly, these lack the trademark Bierce wit. 6/10
26. The Immortals-James "still alive" Gunn: Its a sci-fi patch up novel with great social commentary and engaging characters and plot, that is my jam. 9/10
27. Where the Evil Dwells-Clifford "My most famous book is actually about dogs" Simak: A travelogue fantasy that falls into the pitfall of that sub-genre, being dull and feeling like the characters are just being led around until Simak gets bored and decides to finish it. 3/10.
28. Big Planet-Jack "The Dying Earth" Vance: A good travelogue fantasy with neat characters and an amazing setting. 7/10.
29. The Best of Cordwainer Smith-Cordwainer "freakin weird": This is a sci-fi collection wholly unlike anything else I have ever read. The stories are vivid, bizarre, and usually good. It is weighed down by a few clunkers, but still good stuff. Overall 7.25/10
30. A Case of Conscience- James "The jagged blade" Blish: The first 80 pages are some of the best science fiction I have ever read. The last 120 pages are dull and uninspired. 6/10
31. The Journey of Joenes-Robert "bwa-ha-ha" Sheckley: This is the funniest thing I have read in a long while. 9.5/10
32. City at Worlds End-Edmond "The greatest science fiction writer of all time" Hamilton: This is the most Hamilton novel I have read with all his themes on full display. It is this familiarity that made me enjoy it a bit less, but if this was the first time I reading Hamilton, I would probably have given it the full ten. 8/10.
33. The Circus of Dr. Lao-Charles "not the son of a preacher man" G. Finny: Its a circus. 7/10
34: The SFWA Grandmasters vol. 1-Robert Heinlein, Jack Williamson, Clifford Simak, L. Sprague De Camp, and Fritz Leiber; ed. Frederik Pohl: Not the best of these guys stories, and the collection was really lopsided in terms of page count, but still good. 6/10
35: Tor Double 5-Poul Anderson and Fritz Leiber: Anderson's story is pretty dull, but Leiber's is one of his best. 6.5/10
36: The Sargasso Ogre-Kenneth "Doc Savage" Robeson: Good, light adventure novel. 7/10.
37: The Changing Land-Roger "I am a god!" Zelazny: This is apparently a sequel to something I have not read. whoops. Still pretty great though. 8/10
38: The Midwich Cuckoos-John Wyndham: Neat idea, but really dry. 5/10.
So there you have it, you who are not reading this.
-Captain Joshua
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