A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

I got an illustrated edition of this book for Christmas and decided it was high time to read it since the libraries are all closed due to the pandemic. It’s my third reread.

Published: 1996 for the original, 2016 for the illustrated edition

Genre: epic fantasy

Length: 843 pages of text, 878 with appendix

Font: Minion

Setting: various parts of Westeros

Summary: Short version: The peace of Westeros is shattered when Robert Baratheon dies

Justine by Lauwrence Durrell

This is the first book in the Alexandria Quartet, a four novel series that is one of the top 100 books of the century.

Published: 1957

Genre: fiction

Length: 195 pages

Setting: Alexandria, Egypt, around WWII

Summary: Short version: Reminiscences about the narrator’s life in Alexandria

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

This was a Tor free book that I picked randomly off my Kindle.

Published: 2015

Genre: science fiction

Length: 398 pages

Setting: near future Lunar colony with a flashback to Brazil

Summary: Short version: A feud between the Mackenzie and Corta families on the moon turns deadly

Prague Spring by Simon Mawer

I found a new blog that recommends books with a strong sense of place (it’s called – surprisingly enough – Strong Sense of Place). They also do a podcast. The first episode of their podcast was all about books with a strong sense of Prague. My family had plans to visit Prague and several other places in Europe before travel and gathering in public was halted because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was one of their suggestions that my library actually had.

Published: 2018

Genre: historical fiction

Length: 393 pages

Setting: mostly 1968 Prague, but also some other parts of Europe

Font: Sabon

Summary: Short version: Political events in Prague in the summer of 1968

Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton

This is the 16th book in the Anita Blake series. I can’t put them down once I start.

Published: 2008

Genre: urban fantasy

Length: 340 pages

Setting: Asheville, NC, after the events of The Harlequin

Summary: Short version: Marmee Noir targets Anita and Jason as they travel

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

It was a random book on my Kindle I picked because it was a rare N author. It got put on my Kindle as a free Tor book.

Published: 2017

Genre: science fiction

Length: 303 pages

Setting: various locations around the world, often in Canada and Africa, 2144 with flashbacks

Summary: Short version: A drug pirater is targeted when she releases an addictive drug

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

I chose it for book club off the NPR book concierge. I looked for a book from 2018 that the library had multiple copies of.

Published: 2018

Genre: fiction

Length: 343 pages

Setting: 1969-2010, NYC, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and a few other places in the U.S.

Summary: Short version: Four siblings’ lives are affected when a fortune teller gives each their death date