10 books I read in 2021

Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Received as a gift this book which I probably would not have selected for myself. Turns out to be a good read covering an area of science I am not usually concerned about. But learning about how brains work on a different evolutionary path turned out to be a fascinating adventure. Looking at octopuses in a whole new way now.

Agency by William Gibson

A not quite sequel to his previous book about time shifting parallel worlds. This is a good ensemble story where you manage to care about protagonists across the different parallels while Gibson maintains a narrative which doesn’t get lost in its own complexities.

The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davison and Lord William Reese Mogg

I remember picking up a copy of this in a book shop in the late 1990s and being really tempted to buy it. But at the time I didn’t want to give money to the Rees-Mogg clan (they are not my kind of people) so Iput the book down and carried on with my life. Having learnt the important life lesson that people I don’t like can still be right, I finally picked up this book and can honestly say I wish I’d stumped up the cash back in the day as it is a really important piece of non-fiction, which has described a lot of what has come to pass in the intervening years. The first half is especially vital, the second half theorises a world of smaller nation states which, if this is to come, I don’t yet see the direction of travel in our world, yet.

The Pursuit of William Abby by Claire North

This novel is gripping from the first page to the last. The concept is genius and the execution of the narrative is wonderful. At times heart breaking, but always exciting and definitely a page turner.

The last two of the Hunger games trilogy by – Suzanne Collins ( Mockingjay and Catching Fire)

Sometimes you just gotta believe the hype. These are riveting reads and have emotional highs and lows, particularly in that last 100 pages. While aimed at teenagers, I would recommend anyone who likes sci-fi or adventure novels should read the trilogy. The final book follows a different tack to the first two, but it doesn’t feel like you have strayed outside the logical narrative of the books.

The Rampart Trilogy by MR Carey (The Fall of Koli, The Trials of Koli and The Book of Koli)

Look. Basically stop whatever you are doing and go and read these books. It takes a bit longer than I’d have liked to get into the story in the first book, but once you get into this vision of post apocalyptic Britain you won’t want to stop till you have reached the last page. There is a sequence in the last book which is on a par with some of the breathtakingly widescreen set pieces in the late Iain M Banks’ Culture novels, which is probably amongst the highest praise I can think to give any novel.

If you haven’t read the Girl With all the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge by this author, again, stop everything and seek them out.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

A classic of the genre which I had never read before (somehow!). Great concept, which you would expect from one of the all-time sci-fi masters. Galaxy spanning epic which in so many ways has laid the foundation (pun intended) for the sci-fi which came after it, from Dune to the Culture.