Hitting the high spots
Jan. 3rd, 2007 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat_sochoInspired by Eve Tushnet, a short list of the best posts from 2006.
I only saw one movie in a theater this year, Snakes on a Plane.
On DVD, there was Bubba Ho-Tep and The Manchurian Candidate, a couple of Bruce Willis movies, the extremely twitchy Oldboy, which I saw with Unleashed and the surprisingly good Ten Things I Hate About You. I finally saw Modesty Blaise, which wasn't worth the wait, Equilibrium, which was okay but not up to the standard set by The Matrix.
Probably the best fiction I read this year was the Forstchen/Gingrich alt-history trilogy, Gettysburg, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat.
Also worth your time:
Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin
Orson Scott Card's Shadow of the Giant
David Drake's Some Golden Harbor
1635: The Cannon Law by Flint & Dennis
China Mieville's The Iron Council left an odd impression on me. Like The Scar, it was an okay read but I'm not sure it's something I'll be re-reading.
The same goes for John Barnes' The Sky So Big And Black.
On the other hand, there's Tim Powers' Declare, which I'll definitely be reading again, and the same goes for The Anubis Gates.
William Keith's Retief's Peace was adequate brain candy set in Keith Laumer's universe, as was David Weber's Old Soldiers.
More brain candy: Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce's 1634: The Ram Rebellion, Robert Buettner's Orphan's Destiny, John Scalzi's Old Man's War and C.J. Cherryh's Destroyer.
Better than adequate: Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas and pretty much anything by Charles Stross.
Then there's Neil Gaiman, about whom much hype is written; I say, "Habeeb it!"
Last but not least, I started off the year reading the latest Honor Harrington technothriller in SF clothing, At All Costs. Didn't suck.
Didn't read as much non-fiction this year, possibly because of school, maybe because when I was reading it was for entertainment and distraction. Worth revisiting:
Richard Moe's The Last Full Measure, an excellent history of the First Minnesota regiment that also does a good job of summarizing the first three years of the Civil War.
Not quite as good, but still informative: Evan Wright's Generation Kill.
Special mention in the "Interesting, but I'm sure there are better books on the subject" category:
Robert Harvey's American
Shogun.
Your hit parade:
Gee, what a surprise (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
badger2305 and I argue energetically about Iraq, with assists from qob)
The Common Tongue (What is the SF canon these days?)
Sell the horses. Sell the cows. Sell 'em all. Sell 'em now.(Morning-after political bullshit, mostlychebutykin and I arguing about the economy)
I couldn't resist you, I'm not deaf dumb and blind (Michele Bachmann, religion, and politics)
I only saw one movie in a theater this year, Snakes on a Plane.
On DVD, there was Bubba Ho-Tep and The Manchurian Candidate, a couple of Bruce Willis movies, the extremely twitchy Oldboy, which I saw with Unleashed and the surprisingly good Ten Things I Hate About You. I finally saw Modesty Blaise, which wasn't worth the wait, Equilibrium, which was okay but not up to the standard set by The Matrix.
Probably the best fiction I read this year was the Forstchen/Gingrich alt-history trilogy, Gettysburg, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat.
Also worth your time:
Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin
Orson Scott Card's Shadow of the Giant
David Drake's Some Golden Harbor
1635: The Cannon Law by Flint & Dennis
China Mieville's The Iron Council left an odd impression on me. Like The Scar, it was an okay read but I'm not sure it's something I'll be re-reading.
The same goes for John Barnes' The Sky So Big And Black.
On the other hand, there's Tim Powers' Declare, which I'll definitely be reading again, and the same goes for The Anubis Gates.
William Keith's Retief's Peace was adequate brain candy set in Keith Laumer's universe, as was David Weber's Old Soldiers.
More brain candy: Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce's 1634: The Ram Rebellion, Robert Buettner's Orphan's Destiny, John Scalzi's Old Man's War and C.J. Cherryh's Destroyer.
Better than adequate: Iain Banks' Consider Phlebas and pretty much anything by Charles Stross.
Then there's Neil Gaiman, about whom much hype is written; I say, "Habeeb it!"
Last but not least, I started off the year reading the latest Honor Harrington technothriller in SF clothing, At All Costs. Didn't suck.
Didn't read as much non-fiction this year, possibly because of school, maybe because when I was reading it was for entertainment and distraction. Worth revisiting:
Richard Moe's The Last Full Measure, an excellent history of the First Minnesota regiment that also does a good job of summarizing the first three years of the Civil War.
Not quite as good, but still informative: Evan Wright's Generation Kill.
Special mention in the "Interesting, but I'm sure there are better books on the subject" category:
Robert Harvey's American
Shogun.
Your hit parade:
Gee, what a surprise (
badger2305 and I argue energetically about Iraq, with assists from qob)The Common Tongue (What is the SF canon these days?)
Sell the horses. Sell the cows. Sell 'em all. Sell 'em now.(Morning-after political bullshit, mostly
chebutykin and I arguing about the economy)I couldn't resist you, I'm not deaf dumb and blind (Michele Bachmann, religion, and politics)
