December books and weekly reading blog
Books read this week:
Last Exit to Babylon - Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
The Listener, by Tove Jansson
Christmas Days, by Jeanette Winterson
The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethà
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Fantasy and SF, by Jo Walton
Brain Fetish, by Kinga Korska
Books read this month
Non-fiction: 4 (2016 total 37/212, 17%)
Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past, by Paul Cartledge
Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethà
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Fantasy and SF, by Jo Walton
Fiction (non-sf): 2 (2016 total 28/212, 13%)
The Listener, by Tove Jansson
The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom
sf (non-Who): 6 (2016 total 80/212, 38%)
Kings of the North, by Cecelia Holland
AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, ed. Ivor Hartmann
Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany, by Neil Gaiman
The Star Rover, by Jack London
Last Exit to Babylon - Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
Christmas Days, by Jeanette Winterson
Doctor Who, etc: 3 (2016 total 39/212, 18%)
Short Trips: The History of Christmas, ed. Simon Guerrier
Bullet Time, by David A. McIntee
Twilight of the Gods, by Mark Clapham and John de Burgh Miller
Comics: 4 (2016 total 27/212, 13%)
Apostata, Bundel I, by Ken Broeders
Apostata, Bundel II, by Ken Broeders
Apostata, Bundel III, by Ken Broeders
Brain Fetish, by Kinga Korska
Currently reading
Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, by Nicholas Ostler
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David W. Anthony
Page count for December: 6200
Page count for the year: 62,300 (80,100 in 2015; 97,100 in 2014; 67,000 in 2013; 77,800 in 2012; 88,200 in 2011)
Books by women in December: 6/19 (Jethà, Walton, Jansson, Holland, Winterson, Korska)
Books by women in 2016: 65/212, 31% - highest percentage since I started tracking (cf 86 [30%] in 2015, 81 [28%] in 2014, 71 [30%] in 2013, 65 [25%] in 2012, 22% in 2011, 23% in 2010, 20% in 2009, 12% in 2008
Books by PoC in December: 2/19 (Cacilda Jethà, the AfroSF anthology)
Books by PoC in 2016: 14/212, 7% (20 [7%] in 2015, 11 [5%] in 2014, 12 [5%] in 2013, 5% in 2011, 9% in 2010, 5% in 2009, 2% in 2008)
Most books by a single author: Christopher Marlowe (previous winners: Justin Richards in 2015 and 2014, Agatha Christie in 2013, Jonathan Gash in 2012, Arthur Conan Doyle in 2011, Ian Rankin in 2010, William Shakespeare in 2009 and 2008, Terrance Dicks in 2007, Ian Marter in 2006, Charles Stross in 2005)
Coming soon (pehaps)
Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution, ed. Margarette Lincoln
Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman, by Harlan Ellison
Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl
The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare
To Lie with Lions by Dorothy Dunnett
See How Much I Love You by Luis Leante
The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Other Islam by Stephen Schwartz
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
The Humans by Matt Haig
The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The Parrot's Theorem by Denis Guedj
Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock
Argonautica by Valerius Flaccus
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd
Warriors ed. George R. R. Martin
Short Trips: Farewells ed. Jacqueline Rayner
Rip Tide by Louise Cooper
The Dead Men Diaries ed. Paul Cornell
Best of the year and poll to come.
Last Exit to Babylon - Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
The Listener, by Tove Jansson
Christmas Days, by Jeanette Winterson
The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethà
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Fantasy and SF, by Jo Walton
Brain Fetish, by Kinga Korska
Books read this month
Non-fiction: 4 (2016 total 37/212, 17%)
Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past, by Paul Cartledge
Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat
Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethà
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Fantasy and SF, by Jo Walton
Fiction (non-sf): 2 (2016 total 28/212, 13%)
The Listener, by Tove Jansson
The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom
sf (non-Who): 6 (2016 total 80/212, 38%)
Kings of the North, by Cecelia Holland
AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, ed. Ivor Hartmann
Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany, by Neil Gaiman
The Star Rover, by Jack London
Last Exit to Babylon - Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
Christmas Days, by Jeanette Winterson
Doctor Who, etc: 3 (2016 total 39/212, 18%)
Short Trips: The History of Christmas, ed. Simon Guerrier
Bullet Time, by David A. McIntee
Twilight of the Gods, by Mark Clapham and John de Burgh Miller
Comics: 4 (2016 total 27/212, 13%)
Apostata, Bundel I, by Ken Broeders
Apostata, Bundel II, by Ken Broeders
Apostata, Bundel III, by Ken Broeders
Brain Fetish, by Kinga Korska
Currently reading
Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, by Nicholas Ostler
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David W. Anthony
Page count for December: 6200
Page count for the year: 62,300 (80,100 in 2015; 97,100 in 2014; 67,000 in 2013; 77,800 in 2012; 88,200 in 2011)
Books by women in December: 6/19 (Jethà, Walton, Jansson, Holland, Winterson, Korska)
Books by women in 2016: 65/212, 31% - highest percentage since I started tracking (cf 86 [30%] in 2015, 81 [28%] in 2014, 71 [30%] in 2013, 65 [25%] in 2012, 22% in 2011, 23% in 2010, 20% in 2009, 12% in 2008
Books by PoC in December: 2/19 (Cacilda Jethà, the AfroSF anthology)
Books by PoC in 2016: 14/212, 7% (20 [7%] in 2015, 11 [5%] in 2014, 12 [5%] in 2013, 5% in 2011, 9% in 2010, 5% in 2009, 2% in 2008)
Most books by a single author: Christopher Marlowe (previous winners: Justin Richards in 2015 and 2014, Agatha Christie in 2013, Jonathan Gash in 2012, Arthur Conan Doyle in 2011, Ian Rankin in 2010, William Shakespeare in 2009 and 2008, Terrance Dicks in 2007, Ian Marter in 2006, Charles Stross in 2005)
Coming soon (pehaps)
Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution, ed. Margarette Lincoln
Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman, by Harlan Ellison
Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl
The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare
To Lie with Lions by Dorothy Dunnett
See How Much I Love You by Luis Leante
The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Other Islam by Stephen Schwartz
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
The Humans by Matt Haig
The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The Parrot's Theorem by Denis Guedj
Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock
Argonautica by Valerius Flaccus
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd
Warriors ed. George R. R. Martin
Short Trips: Farewells ed. Jacqueline Rayner
Rip Tide by Louise Cooper
The Dead Men Diaries ed. Paul Cornell
Best of the year and poll to come.