- Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick – fantastic, though ending let it down slightly.
- World War Z by Max Brooks – unusual format – a series of fictional interviews. Nice take on zombie fiction though.
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson. Gripping
- This is the Way the World Ends by Keith Taylor – Very like WWZ, it’s basically a derivative, it’s not quite as good but it’s worth reading if you enjoyed WWZ
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I’d never read Harry Potter until now, what a great series, looking forward to reading it with Hugo when the time comes.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome by Mary beard. Interesting and readable
- A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa – fascinating account of how someone arrived, lived in and left North Korea. Not a nice story. It’s very dark.
- Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. One of his better novels. Not so YA.
- Every Inch of the Way: My Bike Ride Around the World by Tom Bruce. Fairly humdrum account about an exciting and inspirational trip around the world by bike
- Fatbiking Across Mongolia by Tom Bruce. More of the same. I do find Mongolia interesting though.
- Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie by Andrew P. Sykes. It was ok.
- The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi – brilliant, promises to be the start of a big space opera, I can’t wait for the rest.
- Redshirts by John Scalzi. It’s a Star Trek parody, it was ok. Probably better if I had ever watched anything other than TNG twenty years ago
- Steadfast by Lizzie Armitstead. I was worried it was going to be dull at first but it was really interesting once it got to the cycling bit
- Feral by George Monbiot. Interesting ideas
- Dune by Frank Herbert. re-read
- Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson. Re-read. Still fantastic. Still the best book of the series.
- The Confusion (Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson. Re-read. Still fantastic.
- The System of the World (Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson. As above.
- Lock-In by John Scalzi. Sort of a near-future sci-fi police drama. It was ok.
- Contact by Sagan – really enjoyed
- A Journey by Tony Blair, ehhh
- A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich. Reread in preparation for holidaying there
- 24 hours in Rome by Philip Matyszak. Really good, nice have an idea of everyday Rome rather than just the Senators and political class.
- SPQR – A history of ancient Rome by Mary beard, reread while in Italy
- Dunston by Conn Iggulden. Really good, reading the last kingdom series and this has piqued my interest in an area of history I know little of
- A Classical Education by Caroline Taggart. Interesting “cliffs notes” of classical stuff – some facts, light history and lists of other things to read
- How to be a Husband by Tim Dowling. Picked up after finding his guardian columns amusing. Some genuine laugh out loud moments
- Dad You Suck by Tim Dowling. Funny but retreads the columns quite heavily for all but the start of the book.
- Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. Really good. 1984esque
- Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Interesting premise. Felt the ending lacked, more of a cliffhanger might have been better
- Mythos by Stephen Fry. Started off really interesting and informative, could have ended a little earlier though, lost interest during some of the metamorphosis
- An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. Really interesting
- Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. Interesting. Fleshed out and made real some of the things that are hinted at in the Baroque Cycle
- Interdependency: Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. Really good sci-fi, doesn’t quite reach the heights of the first in the series. Too short.
- Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Fantastic novel about people going to mars and taking earth with them
- Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not quite as enjoyable as the first, probably because less is new but also felt a bit repetitive
- Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. As above.
- The Flame Bearer (Last Kingdom) by Bernard Cromwell. Re-read.
- The War of the Wolf (Last Kingdom) by Bernard Cromwell. Really good addition to the series
- Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. It’s no “notes of…” and Bryson has got older and grumpier. It’s amusing though.
- Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. Really good bit of Sci-Fi
- Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Weird, sci-fi/horror, not sure what to make of it, not desperate to read the rest of the series though.
- The Giver by Lois Lowry. Ok YA scifi, interesting world. Could have quite happily left the series here.
- Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. Another Giver universe story, bit less of an interesting world
- Messenger by Lois Lowry. Separate story to The Giver but in the same universe, interesting world but feels under explained
- Son by Lois Lowry. The Giver universe, sort of anti-climatic finish to the series.
Reading 2018
Dean Sas 