{"id":1373,"date":"2014-01-17T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2014-01-17T14:08:16","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T14:08:16","slug":"reading-list-for-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/17\/reading-list-for-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading List For 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will be last post about stuff from last year\u2026honest\u2026maybe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say i was very happy with trying to hit my target<\/a> of trying to read at least one book a month for 2013.<\/p>\n

According to GoodReads I\u2019ve read 44 \u201cthings\u201d in 2013.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve recommended quite a few of these to various friends and family so thought I\u2019d do some mini-reviews of the books I\u2019ve particularly enjoyed. I\u2019ve read quite a few series so will group them together where appropriate.<\/p>\n

In no particular order;<\/p>\n

Ex-Heroes Series by Peter Cline<\/strong> (comprising Ex-Heroes<\/a>, Ex-Patriot<\/a> and Ex-Communication<\/a>)\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Love superhero stories? Love Zombie stories? If so this is most defiantly your sort of thing!<\/p>\n

Set in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse in a world where people with super powers is normal this book follows a group of survivors (normal and supers) as they try to carve out an existence where they don\u2019t get eaten! As the series progresses zombies aren\u2019t the only things they need to be wary of. This series really had me hooked. I finished the three that are available in a very short space of time. Book four (Ex-Purgatory<\/a>) has just been released and I\u2019m looking forward to getting my teeth into it. No pun intended.<\/p>\n

Wool Series by Hugh Howey <\/strong>(comprising Wool<\/a>, Shift<\/a> and Dust<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> It\u2019s very tough to put into words how much I loved this series and to how many people I\u2019ve recommended it to. The story is set in the near feature where a major world catastrophe has forced survivors to live underground in a huge silo. Enough time has passed for it to become the new normal and talk of the outside world is forgotten (more like forbidden). The main character is unwittingly thrust into the spotlight and before long it turns out not all is as it would appear.<\/p>\n

The second book goes to cover how they all ended up in the silo and the final book wraps the whole thing together. I\u2019m trying to keep this brief as I\u2019d hate to spoil it!<\/p>\n

World War Z by Max Brooks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Genius. Very different to any other zombie fiction book you\u2019ve read. Written in the style of a series of interviews with the people involved it explores how the zombie apocalypse came about and how the world dealt with it. Also nothing like the film that shares it\u2019s name. I enjoyed the film but I\u2019ve very glad I read the book first.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die<\/a><\/strong> (by Ryan North and various!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Imagine if there was a machine that could predict the manner of your death? Would it change how you lived your life? This collection of stories explores just that. A fascinating concept and each author put\u2019s their own unique spin on it that makes it a real page turner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spin series by Robert Charles Wilson<\/strong> (comprising Spin<\/a>, Axis<\/a> and Vortex<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"Another enjoyable series but it was the first book that I enjoyed the most. One night the stars disappear. After some investigation it turns out a \u201cshield\u201d has been placed around the earth. Further investigation shows that time on Earth has been considerably slowed. Every second on Earth is years in outer space. As well as all the question about why and how this has happened it also throws up interesting concepts into space exploration. A probe to Mars would in theory take a few minutes to arrive. The the events of the first book are continued in the other books but I can\u2019t say anything about them without totally ruining the first!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doctor Who: Shada Gareth Roberts<\/a> (and Douglas Adams!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"I originally got into Doctor Who not through the TV series but through the books. As a youngster I read just about every Doctor Who book that was in our local library! Considering that I read so little Doctor Who nowadays it\u2019s something that will certainly change after this one caught my attention. Douglas Adams of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy fame wrote several scripts for Doctor Who. Something I didn\u2019t know until I found this book. On reflection though it makes perfect sense! This particular script was never filmed so Gareth Roberts has adapted it as a standalone novel. The Douglas Adams style really does come through and it was a really enjoyable read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Story Time by Linell Jeppsen<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\" A book about the end of the world, literally and what happens to the people in it. It\u2019s written in a similar vein to World War Z coming from the angle of a journalist going back and covering the events after they have happened. It does get a bit weird half way through but it sort of has to really if Earth is\u2026broken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

End of the News Flesh Series and the first book in the Parasite series<\/h3>\n

(Comprising DeadLine<\/a>, Blackout<\/a>, Countdown<\/a>, How Green This Land How Blue This Sea<\/a>,San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats<\/a>, Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box<\/a> and Parasite<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Basically everything Mira Grant has written! I\u2019ve written posts about the first Newsflesh book in the past and how I happened to stumble across it. I\u2019m glad I did!<\/p>\n

I love the characters and the world she\u2019s created and I was gutted once I\u2019d finished the main books in the series. It then turned out she\u2019d written various short stories that happen in the same universe. Including a prequel that explains how the whole thing started.<\/p>\n

Mira then moved onto a new series called Parasite. While I didn\u2019t quite connect with the characters in the same way as with Newsflesh I did enjoy it and I\u2019m just disappointed I\u2019ve got to wait so long for book two!<\/p>\n

If you want to see the rest of the list for 2013 it\u2019s on GoodReads here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will be last post about stuff from last year\u2026honest\u2026maybe. It\u2019s safe to say i was very happy with trying to hit my target of trying to read at least one book a month for 2013. According to GoodReads I\u2019ve read 44 \u201cthings\u201d in 2013. I\u2019ve recommended quite a few of these to various friends<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nReading List For 2013 - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/01\/17\/reading-list-for-2013\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reading List For 2013 - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This will be last post about stuff from last year\u2026honest\u2026maybe. 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