1. THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
I really, really wanted to read this book. I love vampires (the threatening kind, not the wussy romantic kind with long blond hair) and I love thrillers, and this promised to be a Reese’s “two great tastes” moment. But alas, no cash.

2. ANANSI BOYS by Neil Gaiman
Once again, I drooled over this books for weeks at the bookstore that sits right on my way to work each day, but no such luck. Even thought I hear it isn’t as good as AMERICAN GODS, I really want to read it. Library schmibrary.

3. FIFTY DEGREES BELOW by Kim Stanley Robinson
FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN was one of the best science fiction books I’ve read since his previous effort, THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT. Climate change enthusiasts who got put off by Michael Crichton’s FOX News-style STATE OF FEAR should give it a try.

4. CENTURY RAIN by Alastair Reynolds
I honestly don’t even know the plot of this, but I wanted it. Reynolds is the “hard SF” voice of the new breed of writers. Science-heavy and thick. He’s always worth the trouble even though Reynolds distinctly doesn’t know the usage difference between “that” and “which.”

5. SEEKER by Jack McDevitt
McDevitt writes really nice procedural-style mysteries in the guise of space opera. They’ve got a real nice flow to them, but seriously, they’re not worth $25.

6. TRANSCENDANT by Stephen Baxter
The first book of this trilogy, COALESCENT, thrilled with the depiciton of an evolutionary offshoot of the human race that lived under Rome. The second, EXULTANT, took us far into the future to an interstellar war, and there’s got to be an ending that can tie this stuff together.

7. DANCE OF DEATH by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
I’ve loved these guys ever since I listened to THE RELIC unabridged on a solo drive from Oklahoma to Wisconsin in 1994. Unafraid to introduce the supernatural into otherwise mainstream work, I loved BRIMSTONE and the Agent Pendergast character especially. Can’t wait for the paperback.

8. COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED by Jared Diamond
Diamond’s GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL was an adventure book that happened to be nonfiction. I think it’s safe to say that COLLAPSE is more of the same. Great stuff for pondering or to show your intellectual heft at the office water cooler.