Bibliophile (2008): gieves

gieves

Bibliophile (2008)

Jan 29, 2009 15:44

Better late than never and all that... but it's well past time for me to make my annual book post. Compared to the last few years, I was a little lax this year about keeping track of what I read and when (particularly when), but I did manage for the most part. As usual, my numerical goal was 100 books, and as usual, I missed.

This year I made it to 75 in total, which is one more than last year. Unlike last year, however, I don't have a Masters thesis to show for it. I can only blame the mental vacation I took. ;-) I did a lot of re-reading this year, but I'll still count those books towards the total. In a couple of cases, that happened because I carried the same e-books on major trips at the beginning and end of the year. There were also a half-dozen books that I made major progress in before stopping for no reason - most of those books are on my bedside table so I can revisit them.

This year, I'm presenting the breakdown of first-reads and re-reads before I present the complete list with commentary; I think it's a little easier to follow this way, for those who care to try.

Books read for the first time this year:

Eric Flint - Mother of Demons (01/13-01/15)
Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Dilemma (01/17-01/26)
Justine Larbalestier - Magic's Child (01/26-01/30)
Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (02/03 - 02/29)
Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Natural Born Charmer (02/21-02/23)
Nora Roberts - Blood Brothers (03/01 - 03/05)
Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising (03/13 - 03/18)
Susan Cooper - Green Witch (03/31 - 04/02)
Haven Kimmel - She Got Up Off the Couch (04/20 - 05/07ish)
Sarah Addison-Allen - Garden Spells (04/29)
Jessica Day George -Dragon Flight (05/05)
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot (05/13 - 05/16)
MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed (05/18 - 05/24)
Sherry Thomas - Private Arrangements (05/25 - 05/27)
Peter Mayle - A Year in Provence (06/06 - 06/10)
Dan Simmons - Hyperion (06/13 - 06/18)
Dan Simmons - Fall of Hyperion (06/18 - 07/05)
Eloisa James - Fool for Love (06/22)
Phillipa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl (06/22 - 06.25)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Passage (07/06 - 07/18)
Connie Brockway - My Seduction (07/19 - 07/21)
Connie Brockway - My Pleasure (07/21 - 07/24)
Caroline Stevermer - A Scholar of Magics (07/28 - 08/02)
Anne Stuart - The Widow (08/04)
Karen Ranney - My Wicked Fantasy (08/09 - 08/10)
Karen Ranney - Heaven Forbids (08/11)
Nora Roberts - Black Rose (08/26 - 08/29)
Catherynne Valente - The Grass-Cutting Sword (08/29 - 09/03)
Susan Cooper - The Grey King (??)
Susan Anderson - Skin Tight (?? - ??)
Susan Cooper - Silver on the Tree (?? - 10/6)
Sophie Kinsella - Remember Me? (10/9)
Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (10/10 - 10/23)
Elizabeth Bevarly - Indecent Suggestion (10/18 -10/20)
Jodi Picoult - Change of Heart (10/21 - 10/23)
Julia Quinn - The Lost Duke of Wyndham (10/29 - 10/30)
Julia Quinn - Mr. Cavendish, I Presume (10/30 - 11/01)
Stephanie Laurens - On a Wicked Dawn (??)
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code (??)

Books re-read this year:

Anne McCaffrey - Killashandra (01/01-01/??)
Holly Lisle - Fire in the Mist (01/11-01/13)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Shards of Honor (03/08 - 03/09)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Barrayar (03/09)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Warrior's Apprentice (03/24 - 03/30)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor Game (04/03 -04/04)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Mirror Dance (04/04 - 04/05)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Memory (04/05 - 04/10)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Cetaganda (04/13 - 04/16)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls (04/17 - 04/20)
Charles de Lint - Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon (04/24 - 04/25)
Laurie R. King - Folly (04/26 - 04/28)
Anne Stuart - Black Ice (05/04)
Mary Balogh - Heartless (05/29 - 05/30)
Mary Balogh - One Night for Love (05/30)
Jean Ross Ewing - Illusion (06/05 - 06/07)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Legacy (06/19 - 06/20)
Jo Beverley - Forbidden (06/20)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (06/21)
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion (06/21 - 06/22)
Tanya Huff - Fifth Quarter (08/02 - 08/04)
Tanya Huff - No Quarter (08/04 -08)
Tanya Huff - The Quartered Sea (08/10 - ?)
Barbara Hambly - Bride of the Rat God (08/17 - 08/21)
Nora Roberts - Montana Sky (08/22 - 08/26)
Jennifer Crusie - Crazy for You (?? - ??)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls (11/02)
Mary Balogh - Secrets of the Heart (??)
Mary Balogh - A Precious Jewel (??)
Anne Stuart - Into the Fire (??)
Eric Flint - Mother of Demons (??)
Anne McCaffrey - Killashandra (??)
Mercedes Lackey - Jinx High (12/27)
Mercedes Lackey - Burning Water (12/28)
Mercedes Lackey - Children of the Night (12/29)
Tanya Huff - Blood Price (12/30)

The Complete List - with contemporary commentary

Anne McCaffrey - Killashandra (01/01-01/06?) - Re-read begun while deeply, deeply hung over in Australia and continued on a plane. More enjoyable now than when I was younger...
Holly Lisle - Fire in the Mist (01/11-01/13) - A re-read thanks to the Baen free ebook library. I liked it much better this time; the perspective of a 29-year old apparently is very different than the perspective of a 14-year old and the writing is much more satisfying as a result.
Eric Flint - Mother of Demons (01/13-01/15) - Very novel concept, excellently developed. A little fatuous in its consideration of historians, but I really enjoyed it.
Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Dilemma (01/17-01/26) - My book club selection. I found it very interesting, worth more discussion than it had from the group. (Until we reconvened to discuss it again!)
Justine Larbalestier - Magic's Child (01/26-01/30) - The conclusion to the Magic trilogy. They started out surprising me with their grittiness, but in the end they were compellingly realistic and I could barely wait to see how it all ended. Good stuff!
Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone (02/03 - 02/29) - Why the hell did this take so long to read?! It's like my reading brain went on strike, but the book itself was fine!
Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Natural Born Charmer (02/21-02/23) - Fluffy, fluffy. I've read most of this series (I can't decide if that's a shameful admission or not) and thought that a bargain book version of this was worth picking up with a coupon. It started pretty well, if a little scattered, and was lots of fun to read right until the end, when the whole thing went down in stupid sappy flames. I rely on SEP for strong, smartass female characters and the sudden appearance of fantasy forest creatures and unquestioning acceptance just pissed me off. Fast read, though, and the first thing I've finished in a month, gah!
Nora Roberts - Blood Brothers (03/01 - 03/05) - The March book club book. Not the best Nora Roberts I've read, but not bad. Highly lame ending to the book; thus far this is not a story that is served well by being published in three parts. Quick, entertaining read though, and a little creepy.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Shards of Honor (03/08 - 03/09)- I had a sudden compulsion to re-read the Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan books on Friday, and so the snowy weekend provided the perfect opportunity. I still adore these books!
Lois McMaster Bujold - Barrayar (03/09) - Snow days! Good books. Lovely.
Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising (03/13 - 03/18) - I took this with me to Belgium, carried it around a lot, but didn't really get started until the plane ride home. Then I read almost all of it in one go. Very good! MUCH better than the stupid movie they made of it.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Warrior's Apprentice (03/24 - 03/30) - Comfort reading in the throes of a very, very busy week. Always good.
Susan Cooper - Green Witch (03/31 - 04/02) - The quickest read in the Dark is Rising series so far, a little disjoint but still well-written and engaging.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor Game (04/03 -04/04) - A continuation of the comfort re-read of Bujold.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Mirror Dance (04/04 - 04/05) - ditto...
Lois McMaster Bujold - Memory (04/05 - 04/10) - and more... I do love this book. Annoying gigantic font in the hardback version, but still great.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Cetaganda (04/13 - 04/16) - I love the prickly romance/mystery/action that constitute this book.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls (04/17 - 04/20) - The previous LMB romance put me in the mood to re-read this one, which I do dearly love. Still a thoroughly enjoyable book.
Haven Kimmel - She Got Up Off the Couch (04/20 - 05/07ish) - started once in early April, put down and picked up again in later April. Good stuff, but easy to chunk into small segments. I think I renewed my attempts to read this post-Jamaica, and finished sometime
Charles de Lint - Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon (04/24 - 04/25) - a re-read of a book (well, pair of books) I have long enjoyed. I should dig into more urban fantasy; I do love it.
Laurie R. King - Folly (04/26 - 04/28) - a re-read in Jamaica. Not quite a good beach book, but it's SO good that I'm glad I took it.
Sarah Addison-Allen - Garden Spells (04/29) - I read this on the way home from Jamaica. As promised, a very fast read, but a very sweet little book.
Anne Stuart - Black Ice (05/04) - A re-read while home sick on a Sunday. Quick read, implausible but fun spy thriller.
Jessica Day George -Dragon Flight (05/05) - A perfect book for a day home sick; a quick-reading children's book about dragons and feisty women. The cover says that it's an Uncorrected Advance Proof, which mostly makes up for the massive editing mistakes littering the book. Some jarring terminology and character behaviors brought me out of the story hard, but I liked it enough to consider finding the prequel for completeness' sake.
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot (05/13 - 05/16) - Read for bookclub. I really enjoyed it, both the clever take on the moral issues and the awesomely 1940s hipster dialogue.
MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed (05/18 - 05/24) - Okay, so I confess that this book proved far more entertaining than I expected. I was slightly ashamed of carrying it around, but I picked it up as (thin, light, purse-sized) fluff to have with me while at Commencement. I vacillated between amusement and annoyance throughout the book, but it was in the end entertaining enough that I'll read the sequel that I also seem to own.
Sherry Thomas - Private Arrangements (05/25 - 05/27) - Purchased thanks to the amazingly funny YouTube book trailer. Thoroughly enjoyable debut novel, one that I will recommend and re-read. Lovely writing, fun characters, good portrayal of emotional turmoil. A little like Susan Johnson in the unbelievability of the characters' wealth and station, but not unpleasantly so.
Mary Balogh - Heartless (05/29 - 05/30) - Re-read
Mary Balogh - One Night for Love (05/30) - Re-read.
Jean Ross Ewing - Illusion (06/05 - 06/07) - Re-read; still good.
Peter Mayle - A Year in Provence (06/06 - 06/10) - This was a fun read! It was particularly engaging because my parents once owned a house in southern France and say that the events of the book ring true.
Dan Simmons - Hyperion (06/13 - 06/18) - Excellent airplane fodder. Alternatively utterly compelling and a slog, this book kept me well-occupied throgh the travels and travails of the Portland trip.
Dan Simmons - Fall of Hyperion (06/18 - 06/19 / 06/26 - 07/05) - I began reading this immediately after finishing the first one. (Feeling that I must know what happens next) but then realized that it was a little too much Dan Simmons for my state of mind... but I picked it up again a couple of weeks later and slogged through. Very good book, very dense.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Legacy (06/19 - 06/20) - So, I want to read the third book in the series, but never really got into the second. So decided to re-read it. And while I read it in the wrong order(ie, the second half of the story and then the first half, I enjoyed it. Then I decided to go search out the first book...
Jo Beverley - Forbidden (06/20) - A VERY fast reread taken up in the midst of reading the Bujold. I read it after dinner, in about 90 minutes. Fun, if not entirely convincing.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Beguilement (06/21) - It took an hour of searching to turn this one up in our messy house, but I ploughed through it in haste, and enjoyed it again.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion (06/21 - 06/22) - I was on a Bujold kick, and when filing the other two books, snagged this one to re-read a favorite passage... which turned into re-reading the whole book.
Eloisa James - Fool for Love (06/22) - A Powell's purchase. Sitting on the bedside table, this one lured me to pick it up before I got out of bed. Two hours later, I was neck-cricked but finishing it. Yum! Utter fluff, but quite fun. I'll read more Eloisa James.
Phillipa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl (06/22 - 06/25) - Jim accuses me of book addiction. Instead of cleaning the house as I said I would, I read half of this while attempting to defrag and clean up my computer. Then I had to read the other half...
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Sharing Knife: Passage (07/06 - 07/18) - I raced through this the first time, skimming much of the richer detail. Then decided that I needed to devote my full attention to it, so started to re-read it slowly. Life got busy, so it's taken a while. I like the book but cannot for anything figure out how LMB is going to wrap up this series in book 4.
Connie Brockway - My Seduction (07/19 - 07/21) - A Powell's acquisition, the first book in the "Rose Hunters" trilogy which, while not Brockway's best by any stretch, is one of only two books of hers I hadn't read. Read on the Williamsburg trip and the night after, a fluffy read but somewhat disappointing. The series as a whole is too contrived, but at least the weight of story and detail by the third book (oddly, the only one I'd read before) gives the story some enjoyable heft. Good vacation reading, mediocre book.
Connie Brockway - My Pleasure (07/21 - 07/24) - The second book in the "Rose Hunters" trilogy, also from Powell's. Better than the first book, though still not Brockway's best. Another quick read in the midst of a very busy month.
Caroline Stevermer - A Scholar of Magics (07/28 - 08/02) - A sort of sequel to my much-beloved "College of Magics", I really enjoyed the language and the world just as much as the previous book but found the characters and story a little less compelling. A fun read, yes, but I wasn't hooked in quite the same way.
Tanya Huff - Fifth Quarter (08/02 - 08/04) - I just wanted to re-read this (after an afternoon of wallowing in the bookshelves and re-reading favorite passages and chapters of other books), really enjoyed it again.
Anne Stuart - The Widow (08/04) - Well that sucked. Big n' easy text, large margins, entirely predictable, rote storytelling, no compelling characters. Read in 30 minutes!
Tanya Huff - No Quarter (08/04 -08/08) - Since I read one of the two assassin books, might as well read the other...
Karen Ranney - My Wicked Fantasy (08/09 - 08/10) - Oddly named and with a highly improbable plot, but a wonderfully fun read. I like Karen Ranney, even though her prose is florid and she loves her synonyms and adjectives a little too much.
Tanya Huff - The Quartered Sea (08/10 - ?) - Since I read two out of three, I decided to re-read the third book in the series again. It seemed slightly better this time than the first time around.
Karen Ranney - Heaven Forbids (08/11) - Holy crap, this was terrible! I kept reading hoping it would get better, but it never did. The premise of the central relationship was slightly skeezy and the plot was terribly uneven. Karen Ranney, you disappoint me.
Barbara Hambly - Bride of the Rat God (08/17 - 08/21) - After last week's let-down, I took solace in a book I know and love. Then, thanks to the Olympics and being busy, it took me almost a week to read. Oh well... it's still one of my favorite Hambly books.
Nora Roberts - Montana Sky (08/22 - 08/26) - A re-read, and yes, this is still pretty solid. A little gorier and more mystery than I recalled, but classic quality NR.
Nora Roberts - Black Rose (08/26 - 08/29) - Eh. My mistake for picking up the second book in a trilogy, but I wasn't compelled or, actually, even particularly enjoying the first half of the book. I'll probably send this one back to the booksales from whence it came...
Catherynne Valente - The Grass-Cutting Sword (08/29 - 09/03) - This went to Canandaigua with me. A very exotic, troubling, compelling story; I devoured it.
Susan Anderson - Skin Tight (?? - ??) - A surprisingly good, touching romance. A little too much of the "big misunderstanding" for me, but otherwise excellent.
Jennifer Crusie - Crazy for You (?? - ??) - I dedicated some time to a comfort re-read of this one, and really enjoyed it all over again.
Susan Cooper - The Grey King (??) - MOre of the Dark is Rising sequence.
Susan Cooper - Silver on the Tree (?? - 10/6) - ...and yet more of the Dark is Rising sequence.
Sophie Kinsella - Remember Me? (10/9) - A Sophie Kinsella book that I actually quite enjoyed! Started out completely improbable but the book sold itself well enough that I didn't mind the disbelief-suspension required. I raced through it!
Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (10/10 - 10/23) - Slightly preachy, but a very enjoyable account of the Kingsolver family's efforts to eat only local foods for a year.
Elizabeth Bevarly - Indecent Suggestion (10/18 -10/20) - Fluffy but fun.
Jodi Picoult - Change of Heart (10/21 - 10/23) - Read for book club. I ejnoyed it, but might not have finished it were it not for the book club obligation.
Julia Quinn - The Lost Duke of Wyndham (10/29 - 10/30) - An interesting effort from JQ- this book tells a story from the perspective of one protagonist, while the companion story (released later), tells the other perspective. Not great, but interesting.
Julia Quinn - Mr. Cavendish, I Presume (10/30 - 11/01) - The other half of the story, and actually not quite as good as the first book.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls (11/02) - Yes, I read this in April. Want to make something of it?
Stephanie Laurens - On a Wicked Dawn - A typical Stephanie Laurens book, entertaining but not particularly memorable
Mary Balogh - Secrets of the Heart (re-read) - a slightly annoying heroine mars this book, but I do like Balogh's writing.
Mary Balogh - A Precious Jewel (re-read) - A very non-standard regency romance; I like it as much for its novelty as anything else.
Anne Stuart - Into the Fire (re-read) - Vintage Anne Stuart, with misunderstood (anti-)hero, heroine with awful past, mysterious villain, etc.
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code - I FINALLY got around to reading this (on e-book, in Singapore)
Eric Flint - Mother of Demons (re-read) - Re-read while in Malaysia, because using the same e-reader meant that I had the same book list as the last big trip.
Anne McCaffrey - Killashandra (re-read) - Same as above.
Mercedes Lackey - Jinx High (12/27) - For some reason, I wanted to re-read this book. I do like this Mercedes Lackey, far more than many of her books I've re-read.
Mercedes Lackey - Burning Water (12/28) - Once begun, I kept going with the series, in no particular order.
Mercedes Lackey - Children of the Night (12/29) - Slightly annoying by comparison to the other two Diana Tregarde mysteries, so harder to finish.
Tanya Huff - Blood Price (12/30) - All the occult stuff made me long to read a better vampire book, so I pulled this out to finish the year.

Among these books, there were 27 romance novels, 35 Sci Fi/ Fantasy (YA and adult) books, 4 non-fiction books and 6 general fiction novels. Fewer romance novels, but also fewer non-fiction books than last year. I think I'll keep working on diversity!.