732 ratings | 23 reviews | avg rating:3.43

Colin’s Year In Books

Colin’s 2024 Year in Books

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Colin Greenland’s Followers (76)

Colin’s Bookshelves

to-read (114)
currently-reading (4)
read (709)
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Gareth D.

1,665 books | 68 friends

Maura Heaphy Dutton

835 books | 46 friends

Andrew

837 books | 429 friends

Jan Edwards

1,017 books | 531 friends

Valerie

3,775 books | 2,095 friends

Nigel

1,983 books | 122 friends

Nicholas Whyte

7,728 books | 1,795 friends

Periklis

4,528 books | 491 friends

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Colin Greenland

Goodreads Author

Born

in Dover, The United Kingdom

May 17, 1954

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literature & Fiction

Influences

Rupert Thomson, Michael Moorcock, M. John Harrison, Robert Aickman ...more

Member Since

August 2011

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Colin Greenland's fiction and criticism have been translated into a dozen languages and broadcast on BBC national radio. His multiple award-winning science fiction novel Take Back Plenty, long out of print in the UK, is available again in the Orion SF Masterworks series, and for e-readers at SF Gateway.

Colin lives in Cambridge and Foolow with his wife Susanna Clarke, the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Piranesi . He is sometimes to be found writing something, goodness knows what. ...more

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Combine Editions
Colin Greenland’s books

Average rating: 3.88 · 5,457 ratings · 295 reviews · 44 distinct works • Similar authors

	Take Back Plenty (Tabitha Jute, #1) 3.37 avg rating — 579 ratings — published 1990 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Harm's Way 3.43 avg rating — 137 ratings — published 1993 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Seasons of Plenty (Tabitha Jute, #2) 3.09 avg rating — 81 ratings — published 1995 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Entropy Exhibition: Michael Moorcock and the British "New Wave" in Science Fiction 3.79 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 1983 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mother of Plenty (Tabitha Jute, #3) 3.48 avg rating — 42 ratings — published 1998 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Daybreak on a Different Mountain (Daybreak, #1) 3.67 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Plenty Principle 3.29 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hour of the Thin Ox (Daybreak, #2) liked it 3.00 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Other Voices (Daybreak, #3) 2.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1988 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Spiritfeather (Dreamtime, #4) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2000	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Colin Greenland…

Series by Colin Greenland

Tabitha Jute (3 books)
by

Colin Greenland (Goodreads Author)

3.34 avg rating — 702 ratings

Daybreak (3 books)
by

Colin Greenland (Goodreads Author)

3.27 avg rating — 33 ratings

Colin is Currently Reading

Colin Greenland is currently reading

Daytripper

by Fábio Moon

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Feb 03, 2024 03:29AM

Colin Greenland is currently reading

Someone Else's Life

by Elena Dolgopyat

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jun 30, 2023 03:59AM

Colin Greenland is currently reading

The Cat of Doom

by Mark P Henderson

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Nov 22, 2025 10:47AM

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Colin’s Recent Updates

Colin Greenland wants to read The Educated Imagination (Midland Book) by Northrop Frye	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 30, 2025 09:16AM · 1 like · like
Colin Greenland rated a book it was amazing riverrun Conquest. by Nina Allan	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 30, 2025 08:18AM · like
Colin Greenland rated a book really liked it The Vision, Vol. 2: Little Better Than a Beast by Tom King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 29, 2025 09:54AM · like
Colin Greenland rated a book really liked it The Vision, Vol. 1: Little Worse Than a Man by Tom King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 29, 2025 09:53AM · like
Colin Greenland wants to read The Vision, Vol. 2: Little Better Than a Beast by Tom King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 27, 2025 07:31AM · like
Colin Greenland and 3 other people liked Elynor Kamil's review of Adrift on a Painted Sea: "A beautiful, pensive read, brimming with a quiet kind of love. I'm hesitant to say more about it. It's better to just read it and sit with your thoughts about it for a while."
Nov 27, 2025 07:30AM · see review
Colin Greenland rated a book really liked it Adrift on a Painted Sea by Tim Bird	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 27, 2025 07:28AM · like
Colin Greenland and 2 other people liked Maura Heaphy Dutton's review of The Hours Before Dawn: "Is the lodger evil. or is sleep-deprived mother of baby-from-hell Michael hallucinating? And do we care? This is the third novel by Celia Fremlin that I have read, and I can now say, with absolute certainty, that she excelled at writing novels in whic" Read more of this review »
Nov 27, 2025 12:45AM · see review
Colin Greenland is now following Andrew Hunter Murray Author of The Last Day
Nov 25, 2025 03:38PM · like
Colin Greenland rated a book it was amazing A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 25, 2025 03:33PM · like

More of Colin's books…

Quotes by Colin Greenland (?)

“Plotting is like sex. Plotting is about desire and satisfaction, anticipation and release. You have to arouse your reader’s desire to know what happens, to unravel the mystery, to see good triumph. You have to sustain it, keep it warm, feed it, just a little bit, not too much at a time, as your story goes on. That’s called suspense. It can bring desire to a frenzy, in which case you are in a good position to bring off a wonderful climax.”
― Colin Greenland

7 likes

“Sometimes he tries to catch her, wading frantically through earth that has turned to water, or sometimes through air. Sometimes she tries to catch him. They never catch each other, no matter what.”
― Colin Greenland, The Sandman: Book of Dreams

6 likes

“Plotting is like sex. Plotting is about desire and satisfaction, anticipation and release. You have to arouse your reader's desire to know what happens, to unravel the mystery, to see good triumph. You have to sustain it, keep it warm, feed it, just a little bit, not too much at a time, as your story goes on. That's called suspense. It can bring desire to a frenzy, in which case you are in a good position to bring off a wonderful climax.”
― Colin Greenland

3 likes

See all Colin Greenland's quotes »

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The Seasonal Read...: By Blood or Marriage (25.2)	41	412	Aug 24, 2009 02:23PM
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Colin’s Quotes

“A story is not like a road to follow … it's more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows. And you, the visitor, the reader, are altered as well by being in this enclosed space, whether it is ample and easy or full of crooked turns, or sparsely or opulently furnished. You can go back again and again, and the house, the story, always contains more than you saw the last time. It also has a sturdy sense of itself of being built out of its own necessity, not just to shelter or beguile you.”
― Alice Munro, Selected Stories

tags: books, creative-process, discovery, exploration, stories, writing

261 likes

“There’s always talk. It’s the same price as rain.”
― Julian Barnes

3 likes

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

tags: books, thought

31233 likes

“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer”
― Douglas Adams

tags: attributed-no-source, humor, misattributed-douglas-adams, wit

11371 likes

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll