What I Read in 2018

In the previous version of this blog, I was writing monthly posts about the books I read. I am going to start doing that again, although they may not be monthly. Despite being retired, I don't have more time to read (or so it seems) and I am reading a lot more news online now than I used to.

So I'll start by listing the books I read in 2018 (as many as I can remember) with short comments on each.

• Autonomous by Annalee Newitz: A near-future SF novel set in Canada's north featuring gene hacking, climate change, and self-aware robots. One of the most auspicious debut novels in quite a while.
• The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: This is the sequel to their classic The Mote in God's Eye. It's not as good but I still enjoyed rereading it. 
• Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds: The latest in his Revelation Space series and a sequel to The Prefect. A complex and vivid novel. 
• Time Was by Ian McDonald: A wonderful time-travel love story and a paean to the power of books and reading, told in McDonald's pellucid prose. This was the best book I read last year. 
• The Great Quake by Henry Fountain: A gripping history of the great Alaskan earthquake of 1964 and the science of geology at a time when the idea of plate tectonics was just gaining prominence. 
• The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal. The story of the first expedition to Mars in an alternate history where the Earth has been struck by a giant meteor in 1952. These books got a lot of attention and deservedly so. 
• The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross: The latest in his long-running Laundry Files urban fantasy series. I didn't enjoy this as much as some of the earlier books in the series. 
• The Year's Best Science Fiction, Thirty-Third Annual Collection: These were the gold standard for "best of" SF anthologies and this one didn't disappoint. Sadly, Dozois died earlier in the year and I don't know if the series will continue. 
• Pandemic (The Extinction Files Book 1) by A. G. Riddle: A near future thriller that starts out with a deadly plague and then devolves into a weird conspiracy tale. I didn't finish it. 
• Testimony by Robbie Robertson: Robbie Robertson's autobiography, up to when he left The Band after the last waltz. 
• Night Drive by Garnet Rogers: Garnet's story of his early career spent touring with his late brother, Stan. 

It wasn't a big year for books; I spent too much time reading articles downloaded from the Internet via Pocket. Looking at my list of purchased and wanted books, I realize that I will have to spend more time reading books this year.