03 April 2020

Book List - Jan-Mar 2020

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus -- history, by Charles C Mann
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created -- history, by Charles C Mann
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall -- SF (short stories), by Anne McCaffrey *
Turn Coat -- urban fantasy (HD #11), by Jim Butcher
Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World -- astronomy, by Philip Plait PhD
Going Postal -- fantasy, by Terry Pratchett
Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII -- WW II, by Deborah Cadbury
Making Money -- fantasy, by Terry Pratchett
Directive 51 -- SF, by John Barnes
Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary -- WWII memoir, by Traudl Junge, Melissa Müller (editor)
Dragonsdawn -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
The Queen's Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth's Court -- history, by Anna Whitelock
A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History -- anthropology, by Nicholas Wade
Dragonseye -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins -- palaeoanthropology, by Lee R Berger PhD with Brett Hilton-Barber
The Dolphins of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors -- anthropology, by Nicholas Wade
The Skies of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Dragon's Code -- SF, by Gigi McCaffrey
When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt -- history, by Kara Cooney
The Renegades of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
A Gift of Dragons -- SF (short stories), by Anne McCaffrey
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern -- SF, by Anne McCaffrey *
Dragonheart -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey
Dragongirl -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey
Dragon's Time -- SF, by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain -- travel/archaeology, by Charlotte Higgins
Sky Dragons -- SF, by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
Dragonsblood -- SF, by Todd McCaffrey *
Strip -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Track of the Cat -- mystery (AP #1), by Nevada Barr *
A Superior Death -- mystery (AP #2), by Nevada Barr
Ill Wind -- mystery (AP #3), by Nevada Barr
The Burglar -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Firestorm -- mystery (AP #4), by Nevada Barr
The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked & Found -- children's history/archaeology, by Martin W Sandler
Endangered Species -- mystery (AP #5), by Nevada Barr
Blind Descent -- mystery (AP #6), by Nevada Barr
Fidelity -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Liberty Falling -- mystery (AP #7), by Nevada Barr *
Deep South -- mystery (AP #8), by Nevada Barr *
Forty Thieves -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Hit List -- thriller (Keller #2), by Lawrence Block
Blood Lure -- mystery (AP #9), by Nevada Barr *
Hunting Season -- mystery (AP #10), by Nevada Barr
The Old Man -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Flashback -- mystery (AP #11), by Nevada Barr
High Country -- mystery (AP #12), by Nevada Barr
Hit Parade -- thriller (Keller #3 - short stories), by Lawrence Block
Hard Truth -- mystery (AP #13), by Nevada Barr
Pursuit -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Winter Study -- mystery (AP #14), by Nevada Barr
Borderline -- mystery (AP #15), by Nevada Barr
Five Days That Shocked the World: Eyewitness Accounts from Europe at the End of World War II -- WW II, by Nicholas Best
Hit and Run -- thriller (Keller #4), by Lawrence Block
Silence -- thriller (Jack Till #1), by Thomas Perry
Burn -- mystery (AP #16), by Nevada Barr
Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich -- WW II, by Joachim Fest
The Rope -- mystery (AP #0), by Nevada Barr
Nightlife -- thriller, by Thomas Perry
Destroyer Angel -- mystery (AP #17), by Nevada Barr
Boar Island -- mystery (AP #18), by Nevada Barr
The Boyfriend -- thriller (Jack Till #2), by Thomas Perry
A Flock of Ships -- WWII fiction, by Brian Callison *
Metzger's Dog -- thriller, by Thomas Perry *
Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women -- WW II, by Sarah Helm
Grave Importance -- urban fantasy (Greta Helsing #3), by Vivian Shaw
Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire -- history, by Calder Walton
The Penderwicks in Spring -- children's, by Jeanne Birdsall
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII -- biography, by Sarah Helm
Jan of the Jungle -- adventure, by Otis Adelbert Kline
The Boy Scouts on a Submarine -- YA, by Captain John Blaine
A Skeleton in the House -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
The Skeleton Takes a Bow -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
The Skeleton Haunts a House -- mystery, by Leigh Perry
Conquistador -- AH, by S M Stirling *
The Coming of the Quantum Cats -- AH, by Frederick Pohl
The Dancer from Atlantis -- time travel, by Poul Anderson *
Swords and Deviltry -- fantasy, by Fritz Leiber


Retirement is nice -- it gives me much more time to read. 🙂  79 books this time round, 16 of them rereads (marked by asterisks).  Could have sworn I'd read more of the earlier Nevada Barr mysteries, but only a few of them sounded even the least bit familiar.

Top categories: 22 mysteries, 15 SF, 11 history.  Top authors: Nevada Barr (19), Anne McCaffrey (11), Thomas Perry (10).

I'd say the best new (to me, anyway) books were The Burglar and The Old Man.  This is probably the fourth or fifth time I've read Conquistador and Metzger's Dog, and at least the third time for A Flock of Ships.

One would think that the younger McCaffreys would be more familiar with their mother's work, but there were some amazing divergences from canon in Todd's books (I'm truly amazed that Anne let her name appear as co-author on Dragon's Time and Sky Dragons), and Gigi's was even worse.  Nevada Barr was getting bad toward the end, too -- details in the last two books directly contradict statements made in Hard Truth, and there are other problems as well.  I don't know if she's planning more books in the series, but if she writes more I probably won't bother with them.