clong's 50 book challenge for 2020

1. Teot's War by Heather Gladney - revisiting after many years...still fun.

2. Bloodstorm by Heather Gladney - the second tale of Naga Teot... still hoping we eventually get book 3!

Just dropping in to say Happy Reading in 2020. Cheers!

Thank you, and the same right back at you!

3. Playback by Raymond Chandler - this final Marlowe is not really in the same league as the best of them.

4. Tik-Tok by John Sladek - occasionally amusing, and offering a thought provoking conclusion, if a bit slow.

5. The Black Company by Glen Cook - revisited this more or less perfect first book of he series in advance of tackling book 11.

6. Shadows Linger be Glen Cook - a slower read than the first book, and not as much fun, but with a very satisfying ending.

7. The White Rose by Glen Cook - a fantastic conclusion to this near perfect, too my taste anyway, trilogy.

8. Port of Shadows and 9. The Silver Spike by Glen Gook - The first of these is a fairly new book that was new to me. It returns to a time period shortly after the first book of the series. It was somewhat disappointing, The second of these was a re-read. It is set right after the end of the first trilogy, following the story of the characters that do not remain on the main storyline. As with the first time I read it, I thought it was terribly disappointing.

10. Shadow Games by Glen Cook - continuing my Black Company re-read...this one is a big improvement over The Silver Spike.

11. Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook - I liked this more third time around than when I first read it. Not as funny, and not as entertaining as the best of the series, but a welcome change of tone, and a clever web of a backstory that comes together over the course of the book.

12. Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook - A change of tone had worked reasonably well in the prior book, but a further change of tone didn't particularly work for me here. The second worst book of the series (after the Silver Spike).

13. She is the Darkness by Glen Cook - continuing a Black Company series re-read. This one is markedly better than Bleak Seasons, if somewhat lugubrious.

14. Water Sleeps by Glen Cook - This one ends up being more of a heist story that morphs into a quest. Good stuff.

15. Soldiers Live by Glen Cook - not great at as a standalone, but pretty darn effective in wrapping up myriad storylines.

16. Cats Prowl at Night by A.A. Fair - This second Bertha sans Donald story at least lets her actually solve the case. One of the weaker books in the series.

17. Men and Machines edited by Robert Silverberg - somewhat dated, but a few decent stories.

18. The Unreal and the Real by Ursula Le Guin - I didn't enjoy this long collection as much as I had expected to.

19. I Live with You by Carol Emshwiller - I liked this short collection more than I had expected to.

20. A Wizard of Earthsea, 21. The Tombs of Atuan, and 22. The Farthest Shore by Ursula Le Guin - the Earthsea story in the collection I recently read inspired me to revisit this series, which I came to fairly late and hadn't particularly loved first time around.

23. Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand - didn't do much for me, although I enjoyed the historical Chicago setting.

24. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K Dick - did not prove to be up there with my favorites from this author.

25. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith - Despite a few things that didn't quite work for me, this is quite impressive for a first novel.

26. The Amsirs and the Iron Thorn by Algis Budrys - first half seemed somewhat promising and at times even ambitious, second half fell apart.

27. Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen - a very entertaining second half of this story, if not really up there with the author's best. Plus we are introduced to several great characters who will become regulars in later Skink stories.

28. Ghost Ship and 29. Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - two entertaining Liaden stories, Fun, if not particularly as good as some of the earlier stories in the series.

30. About Time by Jack Finney - a distinctive voice... nostalgic time travel stories.

31. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - quite fun, in a superficial, teenage male wish fulfillment kind of way.

32. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway - this took me longer to read than I expected and I didn't like it as much as I expected, although I could recognize that I might not always have been working hard enough to appreciate layers of symbolism and hidden meanings.

33. Emerald Eyes by Daniel Keys Moran - As far as I can tell, this was an author who attracted an intensely loyal following but then stopped writing. I found this introductory first book somewhat less compelling than when I first read it 20 years or so ago.

34. Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham - better than I expected.

35. Burning Chrome by William Gibson - one of those collections that feels greater than the sum of it's parts.

36. Sky Pirates of Callisto by Lin Carter - reasonably entertaining in a superficial teenage wish fulfillment fantasy sort of way.

37. Lankar of Callisto by Lin Carter - This one promised to be pretty hokey, but was somewhat better than the prior couple of books from this series.

38. Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter by John Wyndham - a reasonably solid collection that included a few quite good stories.

39. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - a quick read which felt right in this author's wheelhouse.

40. The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt - intriguing but ultimately a bit silly

41. Renegade of Callisto by Lin Carter - a reasanably entertaining final book in a series that never had particularly lofty aspirations.

42. The Best of C.M. Kornbluth - lots of good stories from one of my favorite authors.... although it turns out that only two of the nineteen were new to me... and one of those was a potentially thought-provoking early alternate WWII history the racists tropes of which were beyond what I could set aside.

43. Chocky by John Wyndham - a beautilfully written, if sexist, tale of child alien possession that offers a gentle environmentalism nudge.

44. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold - A recent visit to one of our local used book stores allowed me to plug most of the gaps in my Vorkosigan collection, and I decided to go back and reread from the beginning. This book is a compelling reminder that fantastic characters trump most quibbles you might have about other aspects of storytelling.

45. The Warrior's Apprentice by LMB - frenetic fun.

46. The Vor Game by LMB - the first third of this is somewhat slow and somewhat ambitious; the rest is frenetic fun.

47. Borders of Infinity by LMB - three novellas, one very good & the others a bit more mixed.

48. Brothers in Arms by LMB - a typically manic and very funny if convoluted story that is ultimately resolved in a very satisfying way.

49. Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint - a consistent and entertaining collection by an author almost completely new to me.

50. Mirror Dance by LMB - I had read this one long ago but had no memories of it. More good storytelling about great characters.