Since January 1st, 2007 I have read (dates indicate date of completion, some are read concurrently):
- Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
- Green Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
- Blue Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers – January 15
- Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss – February 6
- American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer – Kai Bird – February 16
- The Inheritors – William Golding – February 26
- Empire – Orson Scott Card – March 17
- Rising ‘44: The Battle for Warsaw – Norman Davies – March 17
- Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny – March 22
- The Princess Bride – William Goldman – March 30
- The Monkey Wrench Gang – Edward Abbey – April 5
- Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae – Steven Pressfield – April 9
- Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson – April 16
- Quicksilver – Neal Stephenson – April 28
- The Confusion – Neal Stephenson – May 5
- The System of the World – Neal Stephenson – May 13
- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
- Tales From Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffett – June 7
- 1634: The Baltic War – Eric Flint and David Weber – June 10
- Ringworld – Larry Niven – June 13
- The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman
- The Subtle Knife – Phillip Pullman
- The Amber Spyglass – Phillip Pullman
- The Universe in a Nutshell – Stephen Hawking
- A Case of Conscience – James Blish
- Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner
- The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
- American Gods: A Novel – Neil Gaiman
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – JK Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – JK Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – JK Rowling
- Slan – AE van Vogt
- Slan Hunter – Kevin J Anderson
- Hunters of Dune – Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson
- Sandworms of Dune – Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson
- Paradise Lost – John Milton
- Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond – September 23
- Stardust – Neil Gaiman – September 25
- Hondo – Louis L’Amour – October 18
- 1634: The Bavarian Crisis – Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce
- The Martian Tales Trilogy – Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Confessor – Terry Goodkind
- Collapse – Jared Diamond
- Go Tell It On The Mountain – James Baldwin – December 19
- Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk – December 23
- Ring of Fire – edited by Eric Flint – December 26
- The Philosophical Strangler – Eric Flint – December 27
- Grantville Gazette – edited by Eric Flint – December 29
- Grantville Gazette II – edited by Eric Flint – December 31
December 31st
Wow. So as I said, I got a bunch of books for Christmas. And in the past 6 days, I’ve read 4 of them. I finished up Fight Club just before I went home for the holiday. It was very good; better than the movie, though the movie was very good as well. In this post-Christmas reading rush, I’ve hit up the three collections of fanfic short stories that fit into Eric Flint’s Grantville universe — the series that started with the book 1632. You’ll notice that I read two other books in that series earlier this year as well. It is a very well researched and well developed alternate history universe in which the town of Grantville, West Virginia is teleported to the middle of 17th century Germany. The characters are all extremely well written, and the experiences that they undergo and very well thought out and developed. And it is a very entertaining read to boot! The Philosophical Strangler is another book written by Eric Flint, and was an entertaining fantasy story about a professional assassin (whose favored method of killing is strangulation, of course) who has a penchant for philosophy and his “agent” who go from being bad guys to professional (and guilded) heroes. And having just finished the last book, I have successfully read 50 books in 1 year. That is a pretty damned impressive accomplishment, if I do say so myself. Here’s to 2008!
December 20th
Finished up Go Tell It On The Mountain. It was…interesting. It’s a story about black evangelical Christians in Harlem in the early part of the 20th century, and the secrets that are hidden among the members of one of the families who go to that church. The characters and narration are pretty dynamic, but the style of the writing gets pretty hard to follow at points. Next up is Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.
December 14th
Yup. It definitely took me a long time to finish Collapse. On the whole, it is very well written, but the middle half of the book drags on and on and on … and on. Read a few other books in the hiatuses I took during that book. Confessor was the long awaited final book in Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. I found it a quite entertaining read, though he definitely lays on his ethical-political Randian philosophy a bit thick at times. 1634 was the newest book in the Grantville Chronicles fantasy history series. Always enjoyable with a nice mix of character, action, and thoughtful discussion of history mixed in. And then I had a bit of a run at the classics by devouring The Martian Tales Trilogy. I can definitely see how influential it was on a lot of fantasy and science fiction literature. Hell, there were half-a-dozen things that I realized are referenced in Star Wars (jedi = jeddak, the kings of the various tribes; sith = big bad monsters; and more.) Sadly, that brings my total to only 44 books, and with 3 weeks left in the year, I don’t know if I’ll finish with an average of 1 book per week for the year. I’m reading James Baldwin’ Go Tell It On The Mountain right now, and if I hit some other smallish books, I might make it. We will see!
October 23rd
Well, Collapse is taking me quite a while. It is a good read, but it is a bit slower than Guns, Germs and Steel. Read Hondo the other day for a change of pace and it was very good. If it wasn’t made into a movie back in the day, I would very surprised.
September 24th
Finished up Guns, Germs, and Steel, it was very good. Taking a brief interlude to read Stardust by Neil Gaiman before I move on to Diamond’s Collapse which one of my customers lent to me. Looking forward to it, but I needed a break from the non-fiction for a day or two. 38 books!
September 17th
That is 37 books so far. I’m not quite at the 1 book a week target that some people try to achieve, Actually, I just counted it out on the calendar and this is the 38th week of the year, so I’m right on that mark of one book a week. Some of the books take a lot longer to read than others do. For example, I started reading Paradise Lost after I finished the three Harry Potter books (all in one week — book 7 in a single 6 hour period, the Sunday after it came out), and read 4 other books to break it up and only finished it some time early last week. It was good, just very slow. And histories and biographies take a bit longer too. I’m working through Germs, Guns, and Steel by Jared Diamond right now, and have his Collapse lined up afterward.
