What I Read In 2011
This being the sixth year I’ve done this, a bit of bonus statistics:
Number of books read in…
2006: 41
2007: 41
2008: 35
2009: 25
2010: 27
2011: 26
Iiiiiinteresting. (Verdict: law school appears to have broken my ability to read somewhat, but at least we're holding steady now.)
As ever, an asterisk indicates a re-read, and a heavy concentration of certain mainstream authors indicates that I still have horrible taste. :D For further thoughts about any of the books on this list, just drop a comment and I'll whip out my post-read notes on it.
What I Read In 2011
1. Page Fright (Harry Bruce, non-fic)
2. Light Lifting (Alexander Macleod, anthology)
3. The Gunslinger (Stephen King)*
4. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)*
5. Full Dark, No Stars (Stephen King, anthology)
6. The Waste Lands (Stephen King… yes, I have a problem)*
7. Wizard & Glass (*sigh* Stephen King. Shut up.)*
8. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
9. Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident (Eoin Colfer)
10. Wicked (Gregory Maguire)*
11. Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk)*
12. Bitten (Kelley Armstrong)
13. A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin) - oh hai thar, unemployment! Let’s blast through some 1100 pages novels like they’re Goosebumps.
14. A Clash of Kings (George R.R. Martin)
15. Stolen (Kelley Armstrong)
16. Happiness ™ (Will Ferguson)
17. Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire)
18. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
19. A Storm of Swords (George R.R. Martin)
20. Dime Store Magic (Kelley Armstrong)
21. Industrial Magic (Kelley Armstrong)
22. Devil Unknown (Steena Holmes) - first e-book I’ve read!
23. Enthralled (multi-author anthology, paranormal genre)
24. Magic Bites (Illona Andrews)
25. Magic Burns (Illona Andrews)
26. The Antagonist (Lynn Coady)
Creature Features
The Antagonist - Lynn Coady
Augh, my heart, my heart! This was just plain gorgeous. I love the story-through-emails format, and authors who can throw light onto grit so that it sparkles. The pacing is reminiscent of Catch-22, where the entire plot is building up to the author finally talking about the big moments that changed their life and then everything makes sense in retrospect and you want to cry. Essentially, it’s the story of a guy who feels that he’s been made into a bit-piece thug in someone else’s story and decides to fill in the blanks for him. Pretty damn excellent.
Light Lifting - Alexander Macleod
Holy grim-sauce, Batman! A snappy little collection of stories that are clear, readable, and quietly dark as hell. I love when an author can cram that much detail and sense of character into a short story but, hoo-boy, you do have to brace yourself for the fact that a lot of these end on a fairly hopeless note. Don't know whether I want to applaud the author or give him a hug and go "Don't worry, dude, it'll be okay! I swear!" Gorgeous writing style with a lot of subtext, plenty of variety in the stories.
Biggest Let-Down
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Everyone else in my writers’ group appears to adore it? I… just didn’t get the appeal. Likely a combination of my unfamiliarity with the middle-grade genre and a bit too much “it’s like pre-Harry Potter Harry Potter!” hype going into it. Stopped reading after the second novel.
Number of books read in…
2006: 41
2007: 41
2008: 35
2009: 25
2010: 27
2011: 26
Iiiiiinteresting. (Verdict: law school appears to have broken my ability to read somewhat, but at least we're holding steady now.)
As ever, an asterisk indicates a re-read, and a heavy concentration of certain mainstream authors indicates that I still have horrible taste. :D For further thoughts about any of the books on this list, just drop a comment and I'll whip out my post-read notes on it.
What I Read In 2011
1. Page Fright (Harry Bruce, non-fic)
2. Light Lifting (Alexander Macleod, anthology)
3. The Gunslinger (Stephen King)*
4. The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)*
5. Full Dark, No Stars (Stephen King, anthology)
6. The Waste Lands (Stephen King… yes, I have a problem)*
7. Wizard & Glass (*sigh* Stephen King. Shut up.)*
8. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
9. Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident (Eoin Colfer)
10. Wicked (Gregory Maguire)*
11. Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk)*
12. Bitten (Kelley Armstrong)
13. A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin) - oh hai thar, unemployment! Let’s blast through some 1100 pages novels like they’re Goosebumps.
14. A Clash of Kings (George R.R. Martin)
15. Stolen (Kelley Armstrong)
16. Happiness ™ (Will Ferguson)
17. Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire)
18. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
19. A Storm of Swords (George R.R. Martin)
20. Dime Store Magic (Kelley Armstrong)
21. Industrial Magic (Kelley Armstrong)
22. Devil Unknown (Steena Holmes) - first e-book I’ve read!
23. Enthralled (multi-author anthology, paranormal genre)
24. Magic Bites (Illona Andrews)
25. Magic Burns (Illona Andrews)
26. The Antagonist (Lynn Coady)
Creature Features
The Antagonist - Lynn Coady
Augh, my heart, my heart! This was just plain gorgeous. I love the story-through-emails format, and authors who can throw light onto grit so that it sparkles. The pacing is reminiscent of Catch-22, where the entire plot is building up to the author finally talking about the big moments that changed their life and then everything makes sense in retrospect and you want to cry. Essentially, it’s the story of a guy who feels that he’s been made into a bit-piece thug in someone else’s story and decides to fill in the blanks for him. Pretty damn excellent.
Light Lifting - Alexander Macleod
Holy grim-sauce, Batman! A snappy little collection of stories that are clear, readable, and quietly dark as hell. I love when an author can cram that much detail and sense of character into a short story but, hoo-boy, you do have to brace yourself for the fact that a lot of these end on a fairly hopeless note. Don't know whether I want to applaud the author or give him a hug and go "Don't worry, dude, it'll be okay! I swear!" Gorgeous writing style with a lot of subtext, plenty of variety in the stories.
Biggest Let-Down
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Everyone else in my writers’ group appears to adore it? I… just didn’t get the appeal. Likely a combination of my unfamiliarity with the middle-grade genre and a bit too much “it’s like pre-Harry Potter Harry Potter!” hype going into it. Stopped reading after the second novel.