Books you've read this year

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Since it is already halfway through october, I thought it would be interesting to inventorize what we've read so far this year and see what conclusions we can draw from that.

What I've read (in fiction, that is), alphabethically by author:

Kader Abdolah: Het huis van de moskee
Ryunosuke Akutagawa: Rashomon
Keith Baker: The City of Towers
Scott Bakker: Disciple of the Dog
Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou: Logicomix (graphic novel)
Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
Harlan Ellison (ed.): Dangerous Visions
David Gemmell: Hero in the Shadows
Thomasine Gyllembourg: Two Ages
Kim Harrison: Dead Witch Walking
Robin Hobb: Dragon Haven
Robert E. Howard: Red Nails (novella)
David Langford: The Space Eater
George R. R. Martin: The Armageddon Rag
George R. R. Martin: Dreamsongs I
George R. R. Martin: Dreamsongs II
George R. R. Martin: Dying of the Light
George R. R. Martin: Fevre Dream
George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle: Windhaven
Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon
Garth Nix: Across the Wall
Albert Sanchez Pinol: Pandora in the Congo
Ricardo Pinto: The Standing Dead
Charles den Tex: Onmacht (novella)
Peter Watts: Blindsight

What I like about this list is that it is more diversified than in previous years. There is fantasy on the list, but also sf and historical fiction. Also, I really like George R. R. Martin. What does scare me a little is that of these books, only three were by female authors. Maybe it's time to get to those Katherine Kurtz and Karen Miller books on my to-read pile...

EDIT: Dang, I forgot one Logicomix. It has now been added to the list.

[Farseer]

No doubt I'm missing some but here's my not-so-thrilling list (in as much a chronological order as I could manage!) for the year so far. Given how busy I've been, I'm happy to have read one book though! Bring on 2011 when, hopefully, I can at least surrender some executive positions on volunteer committees.

The Deltora Quest books are kids books but I reread them so I could refresh myself for in-depth talks with my daughter (now that my sons are kind of beyond them!). Except for the Soldier Son series, the other Hobb books are all full rereads and not counting the 'countless' times I've delved into them for research. I wanted to reread the lot before DH came out.

Deltora Quest Series One
The Forests of Silence – Emily Rodda
The Lake of Tears – Emily Rodda
City of the Rats – Emily Rodda
The Shifting Sands – Emily Rodda
Dread Mountain – Emily Rodda
Maze of the Beast - Emily Rodda
The Valley of the Lost – Emily Rodda
Return to Del – Emily Rodda

Deltora Quest Series Two
The Cavern of the Fear – Emily Rodda
The Isle of Illusion – Emily Rodda
The Shadowlands – Emily Rodda

Deltora Quest Series Three
Dragon’s Nest – Emily Rodda
Shadowgate – Emily Rodda
Isle of the Dead – Emily Rodda
The Sister of the South – Emily Rodda

Tales of Deltora – Emily Rodda

Farseer Trilogy
Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb
Royal Assassin – Robin Hobb
Assassin’s Quest – Robin Hobb

Liveship Trader's Trilogy
Ship of Magic – Robin Hobb
The Mad Ship – Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny – Robin Hobb

Tawny Man Trilogy
Fool’s Errand – Robin Hobb
The Golden Fool – Robin Hobb
Fool’s Fate – Robin Hobb

Rain Wild Chronicles
Dragon Keeper – Robin Hobb
Dragon Haven – Robin Hobb

Homecoming (short story) – Robin Hobb
Words Like Coins (short story) – Robin Hobb
The Water and the Blood – Nancy E Turner
How to Love - Gordon Livingston
My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
The Sea Caves - Colin Thiele
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski
Granny Dan - Danielle Steel
The Ring - Danielle Steel
The Tenth Circle – Jodi Picoult
Harvesting the Heart – Jodi Picoult
Plain Truth – Jodi Picoult
No Angel – Jay Dobyns

Solder’s Son Trilogy
Shaman’s Crossing – Robin Hobb
Forest Mage – Robin Hobb
Renegade’s Magic – Robin Hobb

The Black Magician Trilogy
The Magicians’ Guild – Trudi Canavan
The Novice – Trudi Canavan
The High Lord – Trudi Canavan

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Man Who Was Starlight – Patrick McCarthy

Night Angel Trilogy
The Way of the Shadows – Brent Weeks
Shadow’s Edge – Brent Weeks
Beyond the Shadows – Brent Weeks

The Inheritance (short story) – Robin Hobb
The Triumph (short story) – Robin Hobb
Hell West and Crooked – Tom Cole

[Albertosaurus Rex]

At first glance it looks like a much longer list than mine. I'm a bit disappointed with my results - there a few months in which I have read very little because of my papers. Still, the list does include a few quite long books, like the 1000+ page The Count of Monte Cristo.

I accidentally read "The Man Who Was Starlight" as "The Man Who Was Straight". And I started thinking "Now what's so special about that?" before going "Oh! Maybe he's secretly gay!" Was it a good book? (And how far am I off?)

[Farseer]

I accidentally read "The Man Who Was Starlight" as "The Man Who Was Straight". And I started thinking "Now what's so special about that?" before going "Oh! Maybe he's secretly gay!" Was it a good book? (And how far am I off?)

No...I wouldn't label it a good book but I found it interesting in places.

As for your guess, well, you couldn't be more wrong ! It's actually a biography about Henry "Harry" Readford (called 'Redford' by we Queenslanders ), an Australian cattle duffer who became known as Captain Starlight. As with most Australian bushrangers (eg Ned Kelly), he became a bit of a hero and legend, particularly locally.

He stole about one thousand head of cattle from a station near Longreach (here in Queensland, and not too far from where I live...ah, okay, probably quite far by most standards but not by mine!) and then drove them interstate, all the way down to South Australia to sell (knowing they would be recognised if he sold them in Queensland). This was rather an amazing feat really, particularly as much of the land he crossed was desert and channel country, and mostly unexplored at the time.

In the mob was a white bull and, once he was discovered and found, it was the sale of this bull that proved his involvement in the theft...but the jury members in Roma, where the trial was held, were so impressed by his escapades that they returned a not guilty verdict !

Obviously, if you don't have a local connection or any interest in cattle or bushrangers, then this would be a thorough yawn of a book (though it is more in line with something that I'd want to read than 'The Man Who Was Straight !)!!!

---

ps Yes, I daresay that even though my list may appear to be longer, the books you have read were likely to be far more involved and longer than mine, not to mention the papers you spoke about elsewhere eg philosophy!

I tend to read in chunks rather than daily, or even regularly.

[joost]

I grouped series together. Order is totally random, basically what popped up in my mind. There's a chance that some of the books mentioned were actually read in 2009.... If the list seems long: There are several graphic novels or short comics in this list, they go a lot faster than 'normal' books.

Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The bitterbynde (3 books)
Brian K. Vaughn: Y: the last man (10 books)
Grant Morrison - All-star Superman (2 books)
Frank Herbert - Dune (3 books)
Raymond Khoury & Miguel Lalor - De laatste tempelier (2 books)
Stephen Desberg - De schorpioen volume 9
Robin Hobb - Rain wild chronicles (2)
Robin Hobb - Soldier's son (3)
Stephen Donaldson - Mordant's need (2)
Tonke Dragt - De brief voor de koning
Tonke Dragt - Geheimen van het wilde woud
Jean van Hamme - XIII: Irina
Various - Warriors
Jude Fisher - Fool's gold (3)
Anne McCaffrey - Lots of Pern books (15)
Terry Pratchett - Several Discworld books (5?)
Neil Gaiman - The graveyard book
Joss Whedon - Buffy the vampire slayer season 8 (2 volumes, I think)
Ai Yazawa - Nana (3 or 4 volumes)

And several work or study related books (SQL server 2005, Oracle, RedHat Linux, HBO-related books)

And I know I missed several comics I've read while visiting my sister, but I can't remember the titles.

['thul]

'thul would make a list, but unfortunately they have not kept records, and are unsure what books they have read this year. It is from 15-30 star wars books, five robin hobb books, and a few dozen others. so its probably from 50-70 books. Might be a bit less, might be more...

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I already had this feeling that you might have topped us all, 'thul.

I must add that I am not usually in the habit of keeping these kind of lists. This is the first time I've ever done it. The first few months have been recalled from memory, and I might have missed one. (I initially forgot to put Logicomix on the list.)

['thul]

'thul read a lot. They read at times more than they should. Rarely spending more than a couple of days on a book, occasionally less than a day. Main reason it is not more, is that they also spend days without reading.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

How fast do you guys read? Both you and somebody else on this forum (I forgot who) have referred to reading novels in a single sitting. That never happens to me. Heck, I think my personal record is reading a 300-page novel in one day.

[joost]

I think my personal record is the first time I read Assassin's quest, I finished it in 3 or 4 days. But that was almost non-stop reading, just breaks for toilet, food and sleep. I usually read in the train (about 50 pages/day) and in the evening (50/100 pages).