Books Ron Read in 2001


Comments on the Year 2001

I read more books in 2001 than in 2000, since I stayed at home writing and had more leisure time, but I didn't record that many more because of disruptions caused by prolonged illness, and a trivial occurrence known as 9/11. I hope to write more comments on individual books soon.


A year in (parentheses) is the book's publication date; a date in [brackets] is the date I finished the book.

The Books

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (1948/1955) ... Reread. [15 Jan?]

  2. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Roadside Picnic (1982) ... [25 Jan?]

  3. Matt Ruff, Sewer, Gas & Electric (1997) ... [1 Feb]

  4. Richard Garfinkle, All of an Instant (1999) ... Stellar! [2 Feb]

  5. William Sleator, Others See Us (1993) ... Excellent juvenile SF. Reread. [5 Feb]

  6. John M. Ford, Growing Up Weightless (1993) ... Good. [28 Feb]

  7. John M. Ford, How Much for Just the Planet? (1987) ... A Star Trek musical comedy in novel form. Lame, but with good bits. [1 Mar]

  8. John M. Ford, The Final Reflection (1984) ... Ford's other Star Trek novel. Far better than you might expect. Centers around Klin Zha, or Klingon Chess. Pretty good ludic fiction. [10 Mar]

  9. David Parlett, The Oxford History of Board Games (1999) ... [18 Mar]

  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf (1964) ... Reread in hospital. [25 Mar]

  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Smith of Wootton Major (1967) ... Read in hospital. [25 Mar]

  12. H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (1898) ... [15 Apr?]

  13. Some books I didn't record. (Recovering from illness.)

  14. John M. Ford, The Scholars of Night (1988) ... [13 May?]

  15. Fred and Joan Saberhagen (ed.), Pawn to Infinity (1982) ... Good ludic SF anthology. [15 May]

  16. Colin Wilson, Tree by Tolkien (1974) ... [15 May]

  17. Gene Wolfe, Return to the Whorl (2001) ... [16 May]

  18. Robert Charles Wilson, Darwinia (1998) ... Fun, but full of horseshit -- Wilson is no Greg Egan. [26 May]

  19. Some books I didn't record. (Still recovering from illness.)

  20. Robert J. Sawyer, Calculating God (2000) ... [27 Aug]

  21. Ellis Parker Butler, Kilo: Being the Love Story of Eliph' Hewlitt Book Agent (1907) ... [30 Aug?]

  22. Yet more books I didn't record. Or was I just watching CNN? Current events seemed more important than keeping a book list.

  23. H.G. Wells, Floor Games (1911) ... (Project Gutenberg) [23 Sep]

  24. Greg Costikyan, First Contract (2000) ... [30 Sep]

  25. David Langford, The Space Eater (1983) ... [2 Oct]

  26. Edmund Cooper, The Overman Culture (1972) ... [4 Oct]

  27. Roger Wells, Happy to Burn: Meditation to energise the spirit (1997) ... One of the most helpful books on meditation I have ever read. Vipassana explained simply and clearly. [5 Oct]

  28. Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon (1999) ... [17 Oct]

  29. James Branch Cabell, The High Place (1923, 1928) ... [23 Oct]

  30. Barrington J. Bayley, The Pillars of Eternity (1982) ... Reread. [27 Oct]

  31. Barrington J. Bayley, Empire of Two Worlds (1972) ... [7 Nov]

  32. Stefan Fatsis, Word Freak (2001) ... Reviewer's copy picked up in remainders bookstore.[22 Nov]

  33. Stephen Leacock, Arcadian Adventures With the Idle Rich (1914) ... Project Gutenberg etext. [2 Dec]

  34. Stephen Leacock, Moonbeams From the Larger Lunacy (1915) ... Project Gutenberg etext. [6 Dec]


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Ron Hale-Evans rwhe@ludism.org