Copy-pasted from the OF Blog, or the first few anyways:

Books


1 N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (debut novel due out Feb. 25. Will be writing a full review of this work in the next couple of weeks. Very strong debut to a trilogy that has the misfortune of having the same name as Christopher Paolini's series)

2 G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker, Air Volume Two: Flying Machine (graphic novel collection of an ongoing comics series. Plan on saying more about this collaborative effort when the third volume is released in a couple of months. Highly recommended.)

3 G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker, Cairo (graphic novel set in Egypt with a mixture of current socio-political commentary and Arabic myths involving the djinn. These two authors/illustrators do outstanding work)

4 Caitlín R. Kiernan, Silk (her 1998 debut novel. Could tell the genesis of certain narrative traits that she manages to use to greater effect in her latter stories. Strong debut, though. Will read other earlier works by her in the near future)

5 Clare Dudman, One Day the Ice will Reveal all its Dead (historical novel based on German geologist Alfred Wegener's latter life and his death in Greenland in 1931. Very good story.)

6 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Values in a Time of Upheaval (what the future Pope Benedict XVI had to say about corrupt modern-day societies before he became Pope in 2005. He has a way with words and I certainly had things to consider afterwards, even if I'm far from a conservative of any stripe)

7 Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (had never read his most famous YA trilogy, so I thought I'd finally take the plunge. Not bad, but a bit boring in spots, or so my Inner 10 year-old is telling me)

8 Kevin Brockmeier (ed.), Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy Volume 3 (I will be mailing my review copy to a friend to review here, since I feel any opinions I might have on this - positive, in case you're curious - would be unduly biased due to the fact that I'm helping with the development of the fourth volume. But do read this volume when it comes out next month, lest the rabid squirrels find you and devour your hearts and souls)

9 Mary Robinette Kowal, Scenting the Dark and Other Stories (just-released limited-edition of her first story collection. Very strong stories. Don't believe any are eligible for BAF4, though, although there weren't any bad stories in this slim collection)

10 Oliverio Girondo, Scarecrow & Other Anomalies (re-read; bilingual edition. This gives a whole new meaning to "weird fiction." Very good, though)

11 Alexandre Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo I (French; first volume of Dumas' secondmost famous work. Uneven, digressive work so far.)

12 Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (if I had read this 2009 novel before now, it would have appeared among the best mimetic fictions of that year. Outstanding execution. Highly recommended.)

13 Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes (eds.), A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters (another in a long line of monthly themed anthologies from DAW. Read this to see if any stories merited consideration. Not bad, but not all that good as a whole. Some good individual stories, though.)

14 Diana Schutz (ed.), Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics (graphic novel anthology showcasing the talents of several of the best artists working in the noir narrative mode. Very, very good.)

15 David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (this 2004 Booker Award finalist was certainly worthy of the praise it's received over the past 5-6 years. Will have to re-read before I could hope to write anything approaching a formal review, though, as I read it while waiting to see the doctor and that tends to cloud memories somewhat...)

16 Graham Greene, The Quiet American (scary how prescient Greene was about how Vietnam would affect those involved in it. Very good read.)

17 Juan Filloy, Op Oloop (Spanish; very odd story, but ultimately enjoyable)

18 Alexandre Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo II (see comments about part I)

19 David Soares, A Conspiração dos Antepassados (Portuguese; going to be writing a feature about his works in the next week or two. Very good story that involves Fernando Pessoa, Alastair Crowley, and one of the more enduring tragic myths/legends of Portuguese history)

20 George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (eds.), Warriors (review forthcoming; very strong anthology)

21 Lisa Tuttle, My Death (re-read; very good)

22 Maureen F. McHugh, China Mountain Zhang (one of my regrets now is that I procrastinated on reading this until now. Damn fine story.)

23 Terrence Holt, In the Valley of the Kings (re-read; one of my favorite 2009 collections)

24 Rick Moody, Demonology (collection; very good)

25 Chang Hsi-Kuo, The City Trilogy (this omnibus of Chinese SF was odd to read, as certain plot developments seemed a bit unnatural for me, as one used to Western cultural expectations more or less, but the three stories, taken as a whole, were worthwhile reading ultimately)

26 Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili (re-read; Italian; classic)

27 Sergio Toppi, Sharaz-De (re-read; Italian; graphic novel; first of two volumes recasting tales from Arabian Nights. Highly recommended)

28 Sergio Toppi, Sharaz-De Volume 2 (re-read; Italian; graphic novel; see comments above)

29 J.W. Wenham, Elements of New Testament Greek (interesting overview of Koine Greek as found in the New Testament)

30 H.H. Munro, The Complete Works of Saki (review forthcoming)

31 David Soares, Lisboa Triunfante (Portuguese; feature forthcoming; enjoyed this novel almost as much as the first one of his)

32 Don DeLillo, Point Omega (had intended to have a review posted on Sunday, but reading got in my way. Perhaps in the next few days)

33 Pedro Calderón de la Barca, El médico de su honra (Spanish; classic 17th century play)

34 Chrétien de Troyes, Yvain (French; this dual Old French/Modern French translation almost kicked my ass in terms of me grasping what was transpiring. But I did get the gist of it, largely due to knowing the story from prior readings of English translations)

35 David Toscana, El último lector (re-read; Spanish; good-to-very good)

36 Catullus, Catullus (Latin; collection of Catullus' poems. First time reading all of them in Latin. Good stuff, on the whole, but the longer poems were not as appealing to me for some reason.)

37 Dino Buzzati, Poema a fumetti (re-read; Italian; graphic novel; re-telling of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth. Very, very well-done)

38 Roberto Bolaño, Tres (Spanish; poetry; re-read; Bolaño is criminally underrated as a poet)

39 Roberto Bolaño, The Romantic Dogs (bilingual; poetry; re-read; see comments above)

40 Carlos Fuentes, Gringo viejo (Fuentes is excellent when he writes historical novels from an up-close-and-personal perspective. This fictionalization of Ambrose Bierce's final days is a prime example of this)



Fiction Magazines and Lit Journals


No comments on these, for various reasons:


1 Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring-Summer 2009

2 Weird Tales, Fall 2009

3 Weird Tales, Spring 2009

4 The New Yorker, January 18, 2010

5 Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2010


In Progress
Ninth Letter, Winter 2010

Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2009