New Books in November 2015

This was a light month for new books in, since I was busy getting books from libraries for my New Zealand November project.

I have two physical books that came in during November, both from publishers. One asked me first and one just sent it (with a nice note telling me about a reading the author is doing in my city; smart move!) - can you guess which is which?

A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe
The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston

A Borrowed Man is a near-future where AIs may be checked out from the library. The Shards of Heaven is an alternate history from the classic era (or more to the point, fantastical history.)
Apparently Michael Livingston is a South Carolina author, and I'd read Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe previously.

A few titles I bought on Kindle:



CyberStorm by Matthew Mather
The Gardener of Baghdad by Ahmad Ardalan
The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling) by Erika Johansen

All three of these were Kindle deals, $1.99 or under, and sometimes I snag those if I think I may eventually read them. I had previously purchased the first volume in the Tearling series, so this is the second. I keep hearing about them, hopefully can try them soon!

Report on Reading Goals 2014

Here are my reading goals posted in January, and where I ended up with them!

Authors

1. Flannery O'Connor - I binge-read her complete stories the last week of December, no regrets.  What a riot! It also feels good to focus more on Southern writers.  I actually started the year reading a book that is a fictionalized account of her relationship with another writer, Frances and Bernard.  Flannery bookended my year!
2. Roger Zelazny - I read the first book of the Chronicles of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber.  I liked it! I brought Lord of Light with me when I visited my Mom as she had radiation treatments, but it didn't grab me at the time.  I have tracked down the remaining Chronicles and will read those eventually.  Really I wish I'd read them as a child!
3. Samuel Delany - I didn't get very far in reading Delany, only finishing The Einstein Intersection along with the Sword and Laser Book Club.  I have purchased several more - Babel-17 and Dhalgren, which will be the group read for the Misfit Readers in January 2015.  Still going to happen!
4. Phillip Roth - I definitely didn't get as far as I thought I would with Roth.  I was actually hampered by his prolific output - there are some books with more acclaim than others but I wasn't necessarily starting with those.  I did get through American Pastoral, arguably one of his best, and Deception because it was in my house.  I have two more of his at home and three from the library, so a Roth readalong may continue.
5. M. John Harrison - Loved the short story I read of his, abandoned the novel.  But at least I can say I tried.
6. Rumi - I didn't get to him!

Places

1. Turkey - I did read three more from Turkey.
2. Iran/Persia - One. Not a lot. So much for challenges.
3. Iraq - One. Just poetry. Ha.
4. Iceland - I got through eight books and abandoned two more.  I made some Icelandic dishes and listened to Icelandic music, but never really studied the language like I thought I might.
5. Africa - I read an entire biography of Africa as well as books from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, and Mozambique.  Still have miles to go.