In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of my bookblogging, which will come in late 2028, I’m reposting my monthly summaries since November 2003 when I started. (I already did this in 2019-2023, but this gives me a chance to consolidate all the posts and links to this WordPress site rather than my old Livejournal.) Everything will be linked under the bookblog nostalgia tag.
July 2008 began very painfully. At the very end of June I had a vasectomy, and with somewhat imperfect timing moved office a few days later, thinking I would have recovered over the weekend. No. My testicles were swollen to the size of a tennis ball (felt much bigger) and I could barely walk. My gallant intern D and neighbour J did most of the packing up of the old office, and young F joined in the trip to IKEA and putting furniture together. I should also chronicle that the first external visitor to the office was A, who then worked for AP across the corridor but is now largely freelance and actually interviewed me last week. Here is D, screwdriver at the ready, wishing I would start helping her rather than sitting in the comfy chair taking photos.
More cheerfully, Anne’s brother R married V. I attended the civil ceremony in Etterbeek Town Hall.
And we all attended the religious ceremony in the Église Sainte-Croix (the one off Place Flagey) a week later.
F had his ninth birthday at the end of the month, and two friends came round to meet the star attraction.
I had a day trip to London at the end of the month, and on 1 August we set off for our summer holiday.
Non-fiction 4 (YTD 36)
Why I am not a Christian, and other essays on religion and related subjects, by Bertrand Russell
The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi
The Cruise of the R.Y.S. Eva, by Arthur (McMurrough) Kavanagh
A History of India, by John Keay (did not finish)
Non-Genre 3 (YTD 16)
Collected Short Stories, by E.M. Forster
The History of Richard Calmady, by “Lucas Malet” (Mary St Leger Kingsley Harrison)
A House for Mr Biswas, by V.S. Naipaul
SF (non-Who) 3 (YTD 21)
Children of the Atom, by Wilmar H. Shiras
Farthing, by Jo Walton
PEACE, by Gene Wolfe
Doctor Who 24 (YTD 144)
Doctor Who and the Visitation, by Eric Saward
Doctor Who – Arc of Infinity, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who – Snakedance, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who – Mawdryn Undead, by Peter Grimwade
Doctor Who – Terminus, by John Lydecker / Steve Gallagher
Doctor Who – Enlightenment, by Barbara Clegg
Doctor Who – The King’s Demons, by Terence Dudley
Doctor Who – The Five Doctors, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who – Warriors of the Deep, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who – The Awakening, by Eric Pringle
Doctor Who – Frontios, by Christopher H. Bidmead (which I have just re-read)
Doctor Who – Resurrection of the Daleks, by Paul Scoones
Doctor Who – Planet of Fire, by Peter Grimwade
Doctor Who – The Twin Dilemma, by Eric Saward
Doctor Who – Attack of the Cybermen, by Eric Saward
Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos, by Philip Martin
Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani, by Pip and Jane Baker
Doctor Who – The Two Doctors, by Robert Holmes
Doctor Who – Timelash, by Glen McCoy
Doctor Who – Revelation of the Daleks, by Jon Preddle
Doctor Who – The Mysterious Planet, by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who – Mindwarp, by Philip Martin
Doctor Who – Terror of the Vervoids, by Pip and Jane Baker
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Foe, by Pip and Jane Baker
6,000 pages (YTD 53,800)
7/34 by women (YTD 22/240)
2/34 by PoC (YTD 6/240) – NB that Glen McCoy was the first non-white writer of Doctor Who.
When I wrote this month up first time round in 2020, I singled out The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi, which you can get here, and Richard Calmady, which you can get here. In retrospect, though, the book that has lingered most warmly in my memory is Farthing, by Jo Walton, which you can get here. Worst of the month, and in the running for worst Doctor Who book ever, was Doctor Who – The Twin Dilemma, which if you really want you can get here.
