A New Way to Say Hooray! (For April)

Firstly, I'm not sure why I titled this entry as 'A New Way to Say Hooray!' other than because its the title of a song by Shpongle that I listen to off and on...

Now I thought I was being all hoity toity by upgrading my 65 book challenge to a 75 book challenge, when I came across this dude! He's already read 100 books by the end of April... and in 7 different languages! Bah!

Anyhoo, I have come to the realisation that I am never going to actually get around to posting up reviews of all the books that I've read here. So, I thought I'd just post up lists of stuff that I've read - like a round up for each month.

So here's what I read in April:

1. Storm Front - Jim Butcher
2. The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury (re-read)
3. Every Man for Himself - Beryl Bainbridge
4. Letters From Atlantis - Robert Silverberg
5. Hybrids - Robert J. Sawyer
6. The Briar King - Greg Keyes
7. The Charnel Prince - Greg Keyes
8. Floating Worlds - Cecelia Holland
9. Temeraire - Naomi Novik

Hybrids was a very bland and rather disappointing finale to the Neanderthal Parallax series. The Briar King and The Charnel Prince were a fine pair of books to kick off the epic fantasy series: The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone. Storm Front is the first in the now super famous (and made into TV show) Dresden Files series of books that blends noir and urban fantasy elements. It was okay: nothing special but I wouldn't rule out reading more by the author. Letters from Atlantis was a fine novella by Silverberg. I'm beginning to realise that he was a pretty good writer after all, after having given up on him when I read 3 of his books with exactly the same plot back in the 90s. The Illustrated Man is a classic short story collection and should be read and re-read by every man, woman and child on God's green Earth (or anywhere else).

Every Man For Himself is an elegant book set during the voyage of the Titanic - I've now read two outstanding books by Beryl Bainbridge and if her other books are as good she may well establish herself as one of my favourite authors. Floating Worlds was a lovely surprise - a thumping big space opera with an outstanding main character and filled to the brim with a feminist and anarchist sensibility, a la Le Guin. Its been a long, long time since I've read anything like it. Lastly there was Temeraire - fantasy bubble-gum that combines Master & Commander-like antics with dragons set in Napoleonic times. Fun, warm, and I must say I'm looking forward to see what it will turn out like when Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) brings it to the big screen.

So I have finally reviewed (sort off) the stuff I read last month. Hooray!

IZ