Book Roundup for 2011
It's been an interesting year, book-wise. Keeping a new-books-read record all year was not too much of a pain, and I think I've learned some interesting things about myself in the process. I'm glad that I included stand-alone/published alone short stories in this list as "books" even though they skew the count if one is speaking purely of plot and prose. I like writing book reviews, but I need to do a better job of talking about why I would recommend a book, and to whom. (Also, what I didn't do, and what would show far more about me, is include the re-reads regardless of partiality or completeness. For example, I read the beginning of Briggs' Silver Borne this morning over breakfast. I don't plan to continue onward; I just wanted to read a couple of scenes. But no, I don't plan to write this record - it would go on forever!)
In order to have a better handle on what I read in 2012, I'm going to try to annotate the listings with more information up front - type of book, number of pages, why did I read it, would I recommend it for whom, how did I rank it, what did I do with it - in the hopes that my year-end summary will be more interesting and useful for contemplation and commentary than this year's is.
Anyway, my various statistics for my new 2011 books are as follows:
Total books/comics/stories recorded for this list - 80
January - 10
February - 3
March - 8
April - 8
May - 4
June - 4
July - 13
August - 10
September - 5
October - 6
November - 7
December - 2
And by genre...
Comic books/graphic novels - 8
Anthologies and short story collections, both by the same or by collected authors - 13
NOT sci-fi, fantasy, comics, or dystopia - 3 (The Black Stallion, The Initiate Brother, and Land of the Painted Caves)
Books abandoned by genre:
Fantasy - 3
Sci-fi - 2
NonFiction/Work - 3
And here, for one last reference, is the entire list:
-- New-to-me books read in 2011 (as opposed to re-reads) --
January
Little Dee vol 2
Little Dee vol 3
Unusual Suspects
Harvest Moon
The Black Stallion (yes, I know, I should have read it with Black Beauty)
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, with a pre-finished commentary here
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Fang Bangers: An Erotic Anthology of Fangs, Claws, Sex and Love
Must Love Hellhounds
Truthseeker
February
Dark and Stormy Knights
Tortall and Other Lands
River Marked (2/28 - it arrived a day early)
March
Questionable Content, vol 1
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
Lifeblood
Magic Bites
Skinwalker, A Jane Yellowrock Novel
Running with the Pack
Magic Burns
Blood Cross
April
"Skyblaze" Adventures in the Liaden Universe #17
Kings of the North
Goblin Tales
Do Not Sniff the Bees, Two Lumps book 6
Magic Strikes
Magic Bleeds
Mercy Blade
The Initiate Brother
May
Angelology
City of Pearl
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
June
After Hours: Tales from Ur-Bar
Magic Slays
Ghost Ship (e-ARC)
Warbreaker
July
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
"Intelligent Design" (short story in the Liaden Universe, published online at Baen)
Heroes in Training
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale
Tiger's Curse
Calamities of Nature, vol 1
Troubled Waters
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
In Fury Born
August
Naked City
Unnatural Issue
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
Summers at Castle Auburn
"Kin Ties" (short story in the Liaden Universe, found here)
Flying Blind
Archangel
Hunger Games
The Shape-Changer's Wife
A Matter of Magic
September
One Salt Sea
"Guaranteed Delivery" (short story of the Liaden Universe, found here)
Wayfinder
Double Share as an audiobook from PodioBooks.Com
Cast in Ruin
October
Captain's Share (as an audio book)
Land of Painted Caves
Owner's Share (as an audio book)
Beauty and the Werewolf
A Beautiful Friendship
Mastiff
November
Down These Strange Streets
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
"The Space at Tinsori Light," Liaden short story found here
Prized
The Wild Ways
Kris Longknife: Daring
Scholar
December
Human for a Day
Instead of Three Wishes
Opening Acts (the opening chapters of 25 books, available for free download)
-- Books abandoned rather than completed in 2011 --
February
Sing the Four Quarters, by Tanya Huff
August
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
October
Gamestorming (gave it to a co-worker)
-- Books Still in Progress --
These are books that I haven't totally given up on, I've just... put them aside... for now.
The Brand Within
If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails
Swords and Dark Magic
Battlestations
Wise Man's Fear
In order to have a better handle on what I read in 2012, I'm going to try to annotate the listings with more information up front - type of book, number of pages, why did I read it, would I recommend it for whom, how did I rank it, what did I do with it - in the hopes that my year-end summary will be more interesting and useful for contemplation and commentary than this year's is.
Anyway, my various statistics for my new 2011 books are as follows:
Total books/comics/stories recorded for this list - 80
January - 10
February - 3
March - 8
April - 8
May - 4
June - 4
July - 13
August - 10
September - 5
October - 6
November - 7
December - 2
And by genre...
Comic books/graphic novels - 8
Anthologies and short story collections, both by the same or by collected authors - 13
NOT sci-fi, fantasy, comics, or dystopia - 3 (The Black Stallion, The Initiate Brother, and Land of the Painted Caves)
Books abandoned by genre:
Fantasy - 3
Sci-fi - 2
NonFiction/Work - 3
And here, for one last reference, is the entire list:
-- New-to-me books read in 2011 (as opposed to re-reads) --
January
Little Dee vol 2
Little Dee vol 3
Unusual Suspects
Harvest Moon
The Black Stallion (yes, I know, I should have read it with Black Beauty)
Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, with a pre-finished commentary here
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Fang Bangers: An Erotic Anthology of Fangs, Claws, Sex and Love
Must Love Hellhounds
Truthseeker
February
Dark and Stormy Knights
Tortall and Other Lands
River Marked (2/28 - it arrived a day early)
March
Questionable Content, vol 1
How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf
Lifeblood
Magic Bites
Skinwalker, A Jane Yellowrock Novel
Running with the Pack
Magic Burns
Blood Cross
April
"Skyblaze" Adventures in the Liaden Universe #17
Kings of the North
Goblin Tales
Do Not Sniff the Bees, Two Lumps book 6
Magic Strikes
Magic Bleeds
Mercy Blade
The Initiate Brother
May
Angelology
City of Pearl
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
June
After Hours: Tales from Ur-Bar
Magic Slays
Ghost Ship (e-ARC)
Warbreaker
July
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
"Intelligent Design" (short story in the Liaden Universe, published online at Baen)
Heroes in Training
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale
Tiger's Curse
Calamities of Nature, vol 1
Troubled Waters
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
In Fury Born
August
Naked City
Unnatural Issue
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
Summers at Castle Auburn
"Kin Ties" (short story in the Liaden Universe, found here)
Flying Blind
Archangel
Hunger Games
The Shape-Changer's Wife
A Matter of Magic
September
One Salt Sea
"Guaranteed Delivery" (short story of the Liaden Universe, found here)
Wayfinder
Double Share as an audiobook from PodioBooks.Com
Cast in Ruin
October
Captain's Share (as an audio book)
Land of Painted Caves
Owner's Share (as an audio book)
Beauty and the Werewolf
A Beautiful Friendship
Mastiff
November
Down These Strange Streets
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
"The Space at Tinsori Light," Liaden short story found here
Prized
The Wild Ways
Kris Longknife: Daring
Scholar
December
Human for a Day
Instead of Three Wishes
Opening Acts (the opening chapters of 25 books, available for free download)
-- Books abandoned rather than completed in 2011 --
February
Sing the Four Quarters, by Tanya Huff
August
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
October
Gamestorming (gave it to a co-worker)
-- Books Still in Progress --
These are books that I haven't totally given up on, I've just... put them aside... for now.
The Brand Within
If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails
Swords and Dark Magic
Battlestations
Wise Man's Fear