What we've read in 2012

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yes, once again I've been keeping a list of the stuff I've read this year, and once again I'm going to post it and list my favorites and un-favorites. Also, since my intake of non-fiction has increased sharply, there are two lists this year.

Fiction

R. Scott Bakker: The Darkness That Comes Before
R. Scott Bakker: The Warrior Prophet
R. Scott Bakker: The Thousandfold Thought
Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game
Neil Gaiman: American Gods
Robin Hobb: City of Dragons
P. C. Hodgell: God Stalk
N. K. Jemisin: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
N. K. Jemisin: The Broken Kingdoms
N. K. Jemisin: The Kingdom of Gods
N. K. Jemisin: The Killing Moon
N. K. Jemisin: The Shadowed Sun
Guy Gavriel Kay: The Lions of Al-Rassan
Katharine Kerr: The Dragon Revenant
Katharine Kerr: A Time of Exile
Fritz Leiber: The First Book of Lankhmar
C. S. Lewis: Perelandra
C. S. Lewis: That Hideous Strength
Richard Morgan: Black Man
Richard Morgan: The Cold Commands
Richard Morgan: Market Forces
Matthew Stover: Test of Metal
John Twelve Hawks: The Traveler
Carlos Ruis Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind

Favorite reads

1. N. K. Jemisin: The Kingdom of Gods. This is the concluding part of the trilogy, so you'll want to start with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. But this finale just blew me away!
2. R. Scott Bakker: The Darkness That Comes Before and sequels. It takes a while to really get into this story. The beginning of the first book is somewhat tough to get through as it bombards the reader with people, places and parties. But it really is worth the effort.
3. Katharine Kerr: The Dragon Revenant. After years after not reading a Deverry novel, I decided to continue the series and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the sequel A Time of Exile as much, but I hope the next book will be an improvement.
4. Robin Hobb: City of Dragons. You'll notive Robin Hobb holds a fairly low place this year. While I did enjoy the book, I feel that her recent series (Soldier Son and Rain Wilds) do not reach the heights of Liveship Traders or Tawny Man.
5. Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind. Does it merit the hype? Maybe not, but it was a good novel.

Least favorite reads

1. Richard Morgan: Market Forces. Richard Morgan is pretty hit-and-miss for me. I hated this book. Nobody was sympathetic and the story consisted of nothing but senseless violence.
2. Richard Morgan: The Cold Commands. Morgan has the dubious honor of making this list twice. This book is a follow-up to The Steel Remains, which I really enjoyed. TCC however has a bad-case of middle book syndrome: the storyline barely moves forward. I was incredibly disappointed.
3. Guy Gavriel Kay: The Lions of Al-Rassan. I can't help but have the feeling that I shoud really love GGK's stuff, but for some reason his books take me ages to get through. It's not a bad book, it just didn't work for me.

Unexpected surprise

Matthew Stover: Test of Metal. Hey look, it's a tie-in novel that doesn't suck! Unfortunayely, the MtG novel line was cancelled shortly after the release of this book.

Non-fiction

Gerd Baumann: The Multicultural Riddle
Alain de Botton: Religion for Atheists
Pascal Brückner: Tyranny of Grief
Jutta Chorus and Menno de Galan: In de ban van Fortuyn [Entranced by Fortuyn]
Paul Cliteur: Het monotheïstisch dilemma [The Monotheistic Dilemma]
Paul Cliteur: Moreel Esperanto
Paul Cliteur: The Secular Outlook
Paul Cliteur: Tegen de Decadentie [Against Deacadence]
Paul Cliteur en Dirk Verhofstadt: In gesprek met Paul Cliteur [In Conversation with Paul Cliteur]
Brian Davies: The Reality of God and the Problem of Evil
Brian Davies: Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil
Epicurus: Over de natuur en het geluk [Collected Philosophical Works]
Klaas Hendrikse: God bestaat niet en Jezus is zijn zoon [God Does Not Exist and Jesus Is His Son]
Mark Juergensmeyer: Terror in the Mind of God
Bert Keizer: Waar blijft de ziel? [Where Does The Soul Go?]
Frederic Lenoir: The Philosophy of Christ
C. S. Lewis: All My Road Before Me: The Diaries
C. S. Lewis: A Grief Observed
C. S. Lewis: Mere Christianity
C. S. Lewis: Miracles
C. S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy
Frank and Maarten Meester: Meester in het hier en nu [Masters in the Present]
Martha Nussbaum: Not for Profit
Michel Onfray: Atheist Manifesto
Alvin Plantinga: God, Freedom and Evil
Herman de Regt and Hans Dooremalen: Wat een onzin! [Nonsense!]
Richard Swinburne: Providence and the Problem of Evil
Peter Van Inwagen: The Problem of Evil
Philip G. Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect

Favorite reads

1. Anything by Paul Cliteur. I must admit that I like his books because his worldview comes very close to mine, but that being said, he does argue for it very well. Most of his books are available only in Dutch, but he wrote The Secular Outlook in English, presumably to reach a wider audience.
2. Philip G. Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect: How do good people turn evil? Zimbardo presents a plausible theory, plus in-depth studies of the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib.
3. Herman de Regt and Hans Dooremalen: Wat een onzin! [Nonsense!] A bit informally written, but one can never have too many books debunking paranormal phenomena.

Least favorite read

1. Michel Onfray: Atheist Manifesto - Onfray makes a lot of questionable claims without providing good arguments. Better defenses of atheism than this have been written.
2. C. S. Lewis: All My Road Before Me: The Diaries. Even though I'm an atheist, I actually like tthe writings of C. S. Lewis. But I don't understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to publish the man's diaries. It was never written to be read by others, and it shows because it's intensely boring.

[joost]

I stopped maintaining my read-list beginning this year. Probably a good thing because I have had very little time to read.

What I can remember, in random order:

Books

Robin Hobb - Drakenstad (City of dragons)
Robin Hobb - Drakenbloed (Blood of dragons)
JRR Tolkien - Lord of the rings
JRR Tolkien - The hobbit
Charles Lewinsky - Melnitz
Weis/Hickman - Dragonlance chronicles
Marjorie Kellogg - The dragon quartet
George RR Martin - A dance with dragons
Frank Herbert - Children of Dune
Raymond Feist - Magician
Leonard Roggeveen - De ongelofelijke avonturen van Bram Vingerling [Bram Vingerling's incredible adventures]

(Hmm, that's a lot of dragons)
[spoiler=Comics/manga]
Yumi Unita - Bunny drop
Rize Shinbu - My girlfriend's a geek
Bill Willingham - 2 or 3 volumes of Fables
Bill Willingham - Cinderella 2
Various - Buffy season 9 vol 1, 2
Various - Angel season 7 vol 1, 2, 3
Various - Angel and Faith vol 1, 2
[/spoiler]

I probably missed a few books but that's about it.

[fool-ish]

I can tell you what I haven't read but I think some of you may already have an idea..

Maybe 2013 will be the year I do actually get round to it..

[Farseer]

Not much! Gah!

I knew that a) you would do this to us, AR, and b) that I should have been keeping track of what I was reading and c) that I should have been reading so that I had something to list!!!

I have no idea and so will have to have a think, as well as a browse through here, my bookshelves and my Voyager posts!

[joost]

I can tell you what I haven't read but I think some of you may already have an idea..

Does it need to wink at you again?

['thul]

These beings do feel it needs to do that, joost.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Not much! Gah!

I knew that a) you would do this to us, AR, and b) that I should have been keeping track of what I was reading and c) that I should have been reading so that I had something to list!!!

I have no idea and so will have to have a think, as well as a browse through here, my bookshelves and my Voyager posts!

I'll have to admit that I hesitated before posting this. I don't post here very often anymore and it did feel a bit like showing off. But hey, I've kept a list and I might as well share it, right?

However, even if you didn't keep a list, I would like it if we could all share some books that we particularly enjoyed - or did not enjoy. I'm always looking for recommendations. As for 2013, I'm planning to finally take those Steven Brust novels off my to-read pile, read some more Katharine Kerr and check out a couple of new authors. Joe Abercrombie and David Anthony Durham are at the top of my list, I've heard so many good things about their works.

I should add that there's one book missing on my list, because I didn't finish it: The Red and the Black by Stendhal, a classic French novel. I couldn't get through it, it has not aged well. (Unlike the books by a certain Mr. Dumas...)

[Farseer]

I'll have to admit that I hesitated before posting this. I don't post here very often anymore and it did feel a bit like showing off.

Not at all - it's wonderful to have you come by! Anyway, if I'd read that many books, I'd have started the thread myself!

But hey, I've kept a list and I might as well share it, right?

Absolutely!

However, even if you didn't keep a list, I would like it if we could all share some books that we particularly enjoyed - or did not enjoy.

Agreed.

[fool-ish]

I can tell you what I haven't read but I think some of you may already have an idea..

Does it need to wink at you again?

No need! I'm doing it! Started it this evening, though I'm only a few pages into the prologue as yet.

['thul]

only one thing to say to that...

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