2016 in review: my reading list

Inspired by my mom, last year I started keeping a list of the books I read throughout the year. (See 2015’s list here). This year, I did the same, and I’m publishing it now in case anyone out there needs last-minute gift suggestions for a reader on their list. As with last year, I’ve added a brief summary for most of the books. Unlike last year, I’ve separated the books into categories, including a new “top 10” category. Although my list started in chronological order, unlike last year’s, it’s more or less random now.

Top 10

Boys in the Boat tells the story of the team that captured the Olympic men’s rowing medal at the Nazi-run 1936 Olympics. I never cared about rowing as a sport before. Riveting.
The Hybrid Athlete: the bible for concurrent strength and endurance training
Tyler Dilts‘ “Long Beach Homicide” series: A King of Infinite Space, The Pain Scale, A Cold and Broken Hallelujah, and Come Twilight. Superb writing and resonant, memorable characters.
Don Winslow’s two novels about the Mexican drug cartels, The Power of the Dog and The Cartel, are epic, almost literally (they aren’t poems, but they chronicle a hero’s journey). Except the hero is more of an anti-hero. Not light reading by any means, but rewarding.
Stephen King‘s Bill Hodges trilogy: Mr Mercedes (excellent audiobook, if that’s your thing), Finders Keepers, and End of Watch. This is King’s best stuff in a while— on a par with 11/22/63. King gives a master class in plotting, dialogue, and characterization throughout the 3 volumes.
Being Mortal: a difficult and thought-provoking read. Summary: we all die, so how can we make that process less wrenching for ourselves and our families?
Frozen in Time: combine the story of a doomed World War II bomber crew struggling to survive in the Arctic for months and the effort, 60 years later, to find their crash site, aircraft, and remains. Masterfully told.
Dave Hutchinson’s Europe trilogy: Europe in Autumn, Europe at Midnight, Europe in Winter. If you liked Gibson’s The Peripheral, you’ll love these. They’re far too rich and complex for my poor summarization skills to do them justice. Just read the first one, and you’ll see what I mean.
Redeployment: Phil Klay’s incredibly hard-hitting collection of short stories about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be required reading for everyone who’s ever put an “I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” magnet on their minivan.

Nonfiction

You Are An Ironman: inspiring, but ultimately formulaic, chronicle of six athletes who train for the 2007 IRONMAN Arizona race. Still worth reading.
The Next Hour: The Most Important Hour in Your Logbook: if Richard Collins writes it, I want to read it. Not only is he an excellent writer, he is an extremely experienced pilot and this book taught me a great deal.
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats: a memoir that juxtaposes the story of the author’s family disintegration and the growth of Rocky Flats… and the terrible pollution that followed.
Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman: a classic. I wish I could have met Feynman.
Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany: I know a reasonable amount about aviation history, but until I listened to this book, I had no idea about the realities behind the bomber war in WW II. I am now doubly thankful for men like my grandfather, who flew and fought in an environment few of us can even imagine.
Thinking Pilots’ Flight Manual: interesting and useful collection of magazine columns. Some of the material’s not relevant to me (I won’t be landing ski-equipped airplanes any time soon) but there’s a lot of good stuff here.
Doper Next Door: summary: ordinary athlete starts testosterone replacement therapy. Hijinks mostly do not ensue. The author comes across as a self-involved man-child.
To Hell on a Fast Horse: meticulously researched history of the real story behind Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. Pretty much everything I thought I knew about those two turned out to be wrong.
The Red Circle (audio): memoir of a Navy SEAL sniper. Tiresomely self-promotional and overall not nearly as good as I was hoping.

Science fiction

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: one of Heinlein’s final books; sadly not as good as I remembered it
Farmer In the Sky: a Heinlein juvenile that holds up quite well 50+ years later
Imhotep: surprisingly enjoyable… think “A Connecticut Yankee In Pharoah’s Court”
Crux: terrific, complex thriller with tons of plot twists
Fold (audio): this narrowly missed my year’s top 10. I wish the protagonist were a real person so we could hang out.
Written in Fire: final volume in Sakey’s “Brilliance” trilogy. Superb.
Exigency
Going Dark: third volume of the Red Trilogy
Chains of Command: for my money, Marko Kloos writes better military science fiction than anyone else since Joe Haldeman
The Forever War: hasn’t lost any of its bite since its debut. People will still be reading this book in 50 years.
Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight, Dead Man’s Debt: Can’t pay your student debt? Join the military to work it off. Not as good as Kloos but not bad.
Ctrl-Alt-Revolt: skip this. Now I know I don’t need to read any more Nick Cole books.
Slavemakers: what if there’s an apex predator that threatens humanity’s survival? Gripping.
The Black: mysterious deep-sea life form emerges, starts tearing stuff up. Nice mix of horror and tech.
Flex: “interesting” is the right word to use here.
Year’s Best SF: a mixed bag. Three stars at best. Loved some of the stories, while others were super tedious (if I never see another Aliette de Bodard or Kelly Link story in this anthology, I’d be delighted).
Dave vs the Monsters: Emergence: completely implausible, featuring a crude and unpleasant anti-hero. Birmingham is a better writer than this would indicate.
Dave vs the Monsters: Resistance: worse than the first one.
Anomaly: more like a philosophy lesson than an SF book.
Something Coming Through: if aliens appeared on earth and said “we’re just here to help,” would you believe them? Should you?
Windswept: surprisingly enjoyable tale of a labor organizer on a faraway planet. She’s a badass.
Extremes: tedious second novel in the Retrieval Artist series. Liked the first one, but probably won’t bother with the others now.
Stalin’s Hammer: Paris: novella set in the “Axis of Time” universe. Good, but too short.

Thriller / spy

The English Spy (audio): Silva never disappoints, and the narration on this is terrific.
The Fall of Moscow Station: I hope Mark Henshaw writes more books, and very soon. Terrific spy thriller.
The Wolves: Berenson’s yearly John Wells thriller. Reliably good.
Darknet: meh
Little Sister: if James Bond were a hacker, this might be a Bond novel. Enjoyable but lightweight.
Unforgettable: what if a weird quantum effect made it impossible for anyone to remember your existence? You could be a spy. But you probably couldn’t have a girlfriend. A clever idea, well executed in this book.
Tier One: a decent thriller, if predictable.
Ghost Fleet: naval and cyber war with China. Not nearly as good as I was expecting based on its hype. Poyer’s two Lenson novels dealing with the same topic are far better.
Traitor’s Story: a deceptively quiet but clever book
Disciple of the Wind: Steve Bain’s latest “Fated Blades” novel. Just as good as the others.
The Low Bird: novel of USAF pararescue operations in Vietnam. Quite good.
Onslaught: Navy Captain Dan Lenson and USS Savo Island are back on the job. Excellent depiction of battle at sea in the modern Navy.
Red Sparrow: very good debut by a former CIA officer. I look forward to more from him.
Lights Out
Hard Road

Mystery / crime

Fields of Wrath: the main character is a Catholic priest who reluctantly gets involved in a migrant-smuggling case. Not bad.
Season of the Harvest: genetic engineering is bad. Or something. I wanted to like this book.
Personal: Jack Reacher. Enough said.
Devil in the Wires
The first three Harry Bosch books: The Black Echo, The Black Ice, and The Concrete Blonde. After seeing Titus Welliver in Amazon’s “Bosch,” I wanted to read the books. The show was better, I thought. Connelly’s Mickey Haller books are better too. In fairness, these are from early in Connelly’s career.
God’s Eye View: tiresome spy novel from the usually excellent Barry Eisler. Too busy hammering us that SURVEILLANCE IS BAD AND OMG NSA to tell a good story.
The Blue Hour, Red Light, and The Black Water: for my money, Merci Rayborn is one of the best characters I’ve ever read. I wish Parker would write more featuring her.
Reading those 3 got me into a major T. Jefferson Parker kick. Summer of Fear, Triggerman’s Dance, Pacific Beat, and Silent Joe (the best of the bunch). Oh, and Little Saigon, which I abandoned.
Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, and Aloha from Hell: I thoroughly enjoy Kadrey’s writing. But these books are heavy sledding: gore, violence, and philosophy in large doses.
The Night Crew: loosely based on Abu Ghraib. Skip it.
The Professor and Between Black and White: two legal thrillers set in Alabama and written by a local guy. Enjoyable and well-crafted.
The Neon Lawyer
Terms of Use: what if a Facebook-like service was actually a giant conspiracy?
An Invisible Client: Grisham-style David vs Goliath legal thriller. Quite good
The House of Eight Orchids
Wreckage: unbelievable, implausible, thinly-disguised chick lit.
Rage: terrific crime novel set in Poland (and translated from Polish).
The Big Fear
Take Down
The Dispatcher (audio): clever idea, well executed
Poisonfeather: this follow-on to The Short Drop is great right up until a completely unexpected ending. It’s hard for me to see how FitzSimmons continues with the story.
Livia Lone: Eisler’s best book. More than makes up for God’s Eye View. An exceptional heroine. But be warned: there is some extremely dark subject matter, as the book focuses on human trafficking. Not a light read by any means.

Other fiction

The Transplant Web: first novel, written by a 90-year-old retired transplant surgeon. Educational and moving.
Guardians of the Night: I’m done with this author.
Your Tomorrow, My Yesterday: suppose you suddenly found that you were living your life backwards in time. Clever premise, well explored.