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Was fun last year, going for 52 again this year. Though I'm almost through all the Dresden Files books so how am I going to pad my completed books number now?
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Jan 2, 2014 04:25
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January Update! 1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan 2. Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) by Jim Butcher 3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 4. Diamonds Are Forever (James Bond, #4) by Ian Fleming 5. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 6. Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings 7. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 7/52 completed Front loading some of my reading since the next three months may be a bit busy for me. As with other Wheel of Time book, I spent the first half thinking where is this going, then the second half of The Fires of Heaven was enjoyable. The books are long so I'll pick the series up at the end of my challenge again. Changes, without spoilers, was good and there certainly were changes. Hitchhikers Guide I've seen the movie with Martin Freeman, but never read the book. I enjoyed it but coming from the movie I wondered where the rest of it was. I'll pick up the rest of the series in the next few months. Diamonds are Forever bpughton the cheap months ago. it was okay, but felt like Bond was more bumbling through scenes than actually doing spy stuff. Martian Chronicles Further making up for my lack of classic sci-fi, I liked it. Felt like it was coming from a early 20th century view of Mars. Mapheads I teach geography so sometimes it's nice to read about people as nerdy about geography as I am. Left Hand of Darkness It was abit different. And I did struggle a little getting through it, but it picked up for me in the last third of the book.
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Jan 30, 2014 17:55
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan February update! 8. The Savage Boy by Nick Cole 9. The River is a Road by Nick Cole 10. The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch 11. Ghost Story (The Dresden Files, #13) by Jim Butcher 11/52 completed The Savage Boy and The River is a Road were in the same book, but each were novel length so I counted them separately. They were good, not anything groundbreaking but expanded on the world and the story that began in The Old Man and the Wasteland. Whoever said that The Lies of Locke Lamora is like Oceans 11 in fantasy Venice was dead on. Fun book to read. I know there are a couple others in the series released and I'll get to them eventually. Ghost Story, ghosty story with Harry Dresden. It was a little hard to get into things as everything was turned on it's head in Changes, but some of the reveals at the end, helped redeem it.
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Feb 28, 2014 07:16
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan March update! 12. Cold Days (The Dresden Files, #14) by Jim Butcher 13. Life of Pi by Yann Martel 14. A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain 15. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker's Guide, #2) by Douglas 15/52 So March, right in the middle of a busy time with teaching, but still managed 4 books, keeping on pace for my goal. Cold Days answers some questions from Changes, and then makes it's own series of changes to the series. I liked it. Life of Pi was recommended by a student of mine. It was alright, don't get all the hype for it being made into a movie though. A Cook's Tour Some parts of it I liked better than other books(stories of the hazards to doing the TV show), but it was a bit of a slow read like I've read this before and can we get to something new. Restaurant at the End of the Universe I enjoyed it, but I almost want to say I like reading about incredible, improbable worlds that are mentioned in a couple paragraphs than the actual story.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:22
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan 16. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 17. On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1) By David Weber 18. Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines, #1) by Marko Kloos 19. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem 20. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein Progress: 20/52 I'm surprised by my progress this month. It's my busiest month with all the classes I teach going in full swing, but I still managed to read five books. A Short History of Nearly Everything was fantastic. Like1491 last year, there was so much good information that I ordered a used paper copy of it from Amazon so that it's easier to reference pages so I can incorporate some of the information into my lectures. Anyone who has the slightest interest in science and how we know what we know should read this book. On Basilisk Station I know how bad the series is, but I have had the first two books on my kindle for over a year and wanted to clean out my backlog. It actually was a fun read, but not going further than the second book since everyone agrees it gets much worse the further in the series you go. Terms of Enlistment Is the pretty standard story of boy joins the army, does some stuff. I did really enjoy the story and would recommend it to others. Very similar to Starship Troopers which I also read for the first time this month. Sometimes I think the flashbacks to the classroom was to heavy-handed in I want to say Libertarianism, but overall it was a good book. And now for something completely different, Solaris. This was quite different Sci-fi from what I have read in the past, but it was really good. I don't even know where to start with why I liked it. I guess it encapsulates the idea that if we were to actually meet an extra-terrestrial species, the difference between us and them would be so vast that there is little chance we could understand each other.
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Apr 29, 2014 18:05
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan 21. Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, #12.5) by Jim Butcher 22. From Russia With Love (James Bond, #5) by Ian Fleming 23. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick 24. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach 25. The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2) by David Weber 26. Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky Progress: 26/52 Officially at the half-way point of my goal. I love the Dresden Files books and Side Jobs was nice to read some shorter cases while also catching up on the last book I needed to finish before Skin Game. From Russia With Love and The Honor of the Queen are purely filler to clear out my kindle backlog. They were both okay for what they were, but that's about it. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, having never seen Bladerunner, I came in with little knowledge of anything related to the book and enjoyed reading the book. Packing For Mars was much more about the psychological and physiological challenges of spending time in space than actually going to Mars. It was great in explaining all the issues the human body has with operating when taken out of it's natural environment and the technology we've developed to deal with these problems.
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May 31, 2014 04:29
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan June Update: 27. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 28. Skin Game (The Dresden Files, #15) by Jim Butcher 29. Lines of Departure (Frontlines, #2) by Marko Kloos 30. A New World: Chaos (A New World, #1) by John O'Brien 31. A New World: Return (A New World #2) by John O'Brien Luckily I had a good start to the month for reading because part way through I picked up two additional summer school classes to teach and my time to read dropped to nearly zero for three weeks. Onto reviews: Brave New World: Sometimes when reading older "classic" books like this I don't know what to write as nearly everyone has already read it. But the story was good, if quite sad in the end. It was a good read. Skin Game: Fun read. No spoilers from me. Now the long wait for book 16. Lines of Departure It was not bad. Curious what happens next as things are bleak for Earth. A New World: After sudden changes in my summer vacation I needed something light and action packed. Standard Zombie fare with competent(maybe too competent) protagonist. The book gets way too hung up on details about minor things like entering a possibly hostile house or taking off, flying and landing planes. This leads to not a lot of progress in the story. But they are alright and does not require much thinking which is what I need for the next couple weeks in books.
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Jun 29, 2014 18:10
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan July Update 32. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 33. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein 34. A New World: Sanctuary (A New World, #3) by John O'Brien 35. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1) by Ann Leckie 36. Caliban's War (Expanse, #2) by James S.A. Corey Me Talk Pretty One Day was my first foray into Sedaris. It was okay. With how my schedule was in July it was nice to have a book I could sit down for 10 minutes and read one chapter that was a mostly self contained story. Loved The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress though some of the early parts seemed to drag a little. A New World:Sanctuary again it was okay. Everything is still going mostly right for the protagonist. Though things need to speed up a little, the entire book was about building a safe place to survive. The first parts of Ancillary Justice put me off a bit with the split between two different time periods but the last half of it was pretty good. Will definitely pick up the second book whenever it's released. Caliban's War was good, but in some ways felt like a rehash of scenarios that happened in Leviathan Wakes. But it's still competent and enjoyable. I guess the quality starts falling off after this since the book deal went from 3 books to 6 and now is up to a 9 book series but I'll see as I'm working on Abaddon's Gate right now.
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Jul 30, 2014 18:42
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan August Update 37. Abaddon's Gate (Expanse, #3) by James S.A. Corey 38. Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh 39. A New World: Taken (A New World, #4) by John O'Brien 40. Dust (Silo, #3) by Hugh Howey 41. A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3 by George R.R. Martin 42. Rich Man's War by Elliott Kay 43. The Hunt for Atlantis (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #1) Andy McDermott 44. The Player of Games (Culture, #2) by Iain M. Banks Progress: 44/52 A lot of reading this month as it's my slowest month of the year. Abbadon's Gate was alright. I'll catch up with the 4th book closer to when the 5th book is released. I liked Soft Apocalypse. Instead of our current civilization going out in a bang, it was a much slower eventual decline and the book goes through that slow decline. A Storm of Swords was good I guess. I'm a HBO watcher who reads the books after the fact so almost everything was spoiled for me before reading. I will say that the book does a better job of depicting how the war has impacted Westeros than the TV show did. Rich Man's War was good and expanded on the world the story of Poor Man's Fight takes place in. Looking forward to the third book of the series. The Hunt for Atlantis Goon author, not what I normally read but it was a fun read. Loved The Player of Games. I should have read this before Use of Weapons last year. Now I want to read the rest of the Culture books. ltr fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Aug 31, 2014 |
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Aug 30, 2014 21:00
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Corrode posted:
Yeah, good when I read it but depressing. She has a new book coming out in a couple weeks that I just preordered.
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Sep 2, 2014 00:25
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan September/October 45. London Falling (Shadow Police, #1) by Paul Cornell 46. A New World: Awakening (A New World, #5) by John O'Brien 47. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. 48. Neuromancer by William Gibson 49. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 50. The Great Siege: Malta 1565 by Ernle Bradford Progress: 50/52 Getting back on track after real life slowed my reading in September and she wasn’t worth it. London Falling was more police procedural than I like, but it was good. I’ll also say that it was tough to get through as some of the topics were a little disturbing. A Canticle for Leibowiotz I liked the story of the first third more that the second and third but it was good. Neuromancer I like cyberpunk and somehow I had never read Neuromancer. Pretty much what I expected. Dystopian future, mega-corporations, street sams, computers. Definitely enjoyed reading this one. Station Eleven I was more curious about the world 20 years after the pandemic than the back story bits. I don’t know if this is supposed to be the start of the series or stand alone as it did end with a few questions remaining. The Great Siege: Malta 1565 Pretty great story about one of the greatest sieges in history, between the Knights Hospitallers(defenders) and the Ottoman Empire(agressors). It’s been a long time since I stopped being a history major so I do not know how this book stands up to historical accuracy, but it was a good read that never got bogged down in citing sources(everything is listed at the end of the book).
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Oct 31, 2014 05:11
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan November update 51. The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker 52. Earth Strike (Star Carrier, #1) by Ian Douglas EDIT: 53. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett 52/52 So I reached my goal! In the process I read 38 different authors, 26 of which were ones I had never read before. I could have read more female authors since I only read 5, but I'll work on that next year. I did poorly on my subgoal of 12 non-fiction books with only completing 7. But overall it was a great year that definitely expanded on the types of books I read. Of this month's books, The Golem and the Jinni was very good, not what I normally read but I enjoyed it quite a bit. As for Earth Strike, I'm guessing it was some free kindle book because I don't remember buying it but it had sat on my kindle for a while. it was just okay mil sci-fi. And Finally, City of Stairs was just great. Probably in my top three favorite books of the year. ltr fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 18:37
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