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2015 is being wrapped up at these very moment, and we are mere hours away from 2016. A good time, I figure, to look back at the reading we did this year. I decided to give this a thread apart from the "what books are you currently reading" behemoth, since this is more about reflection and summarization then it is about some regular update. So here are some stats and notes and lists about my year in reading:
Number of pages: 15960
By genre: 7 sci-fi (25%), fantasy 16 (60%), other (15%)
New authors I tried: S.L Huang, Glen Cook, Arthur C. Clarke, Wesley Chu, Anthony Ryan, China Mieville (6!)
Top 5 books I read in 2015:
5) Half A King - Even though Abercrombie isn't quite as rigorous here as he was in the First Law Trilogy, and I could sometimes anticipate a character death or some other plot development, this is still a fantastic book filled with crunching violence and fascinating characters.
4) Nemesis Games - at book 5 of The Expanse authors Abrahams and Frank continue to surprise, as this book continues to develop the plot and themes and characters of the series while still feeling fresh and completely shaking up the story. Impressive and fun.
3) Childhood's End - despite the book feeling old fashioned in several not very positive ways, it's hugely ambitious scope and very touching ending made me think more than any other book I've read this year. If Clarke had only ever written this one, he would still have to be consider one of the great founders of the genre.
2) The Martian - holy snaps was this book fun. It is almost unbelivable how much pure joy could be found in the story of a man geniusly overcoming Murphy's law on Mars for a few years, but here we are. Smart, funny and very creative with it's use of convincing and detailed science, The Martian deserves every good thing that is said about it.
1) Last Argument Of Kings - Abercrombie started and ended this list. This book is bloody brilliant, and it left me mentally and emotionally drained. It made me revise how I feel about the characters, the story and the very genre of epic fantasy, while never for a moment stopping from being an incredible adventure on it's own.
Worst 5 books I've read this year:
5) Black Company - I couldn't relate to the writing style at all, and despite a lot of promise in the plot, found myself incapable of caring.
4) Time Salvager - this book had some good things going on and was reasonably entertaining, but a lot of it felt too derivative or blend, and the time travel mechanic didn't make any sense at all.
3) Blue Remembered Earth - despite delivering on the promising premise of a future with a populated solar system dominated by African and Asian cultures, with some awe-inspiring Big Ideas, the plot and characters of the book were just too boring and nonsensical. Certainly the weakest Reynolds book I've read.
2) Blood Song - the debut by Anthony Ryan is not actively bad, but it has nothing to differentiate it from a thousand other epic fantasies and it looses a lot of focus and energy in the second half. Like Blue Remembered Earth, it didn't inspire me to pick up the sequel.
1) Wheel Of Times, books 5-11. Reading through the meandering, pointless, repetitive and annoying bulk of the series has been almost pure torture. I'm a hopeless fantasy edict and had fond memories of the first few books from my childhood, which coupled with the promise of the last three books being written by Sanderson drove me forward to churn through this drek, but objectively, these must be some of the worst books I've ever read.
Top 5 characters from 2015 books:
5) Cadsuane (Wheel Of Time) - one of the only things I liked about these books. Confident, superior and proactive, Cadsuane was convincingly a figure from legend, capable of doing just about anything.
4) Mark Watney (The Martian) - we barely know anything about the guy because the book never really dwells on his emotions. Essentially he is optimistic and unbelievably brilliant and rather witty. I couldn't not like him, even though he is two dimensional.
3) Logen Ninefingers (Last Argument Of Kings) - despite everything, still my favorite character from the series.
2) Moiraine (Wheel Of Time - nostalgia from my childhood probably makes Moiraine into more than she really is, but I can't not love her. Mysterious, noble and powerful, calmly in control yet very passionate, she feels like the ideal every Aes Sedai (the Wizards of this series) should aspire to.
1) Harry Dresden + Repairman Jack - I've been with these guys for a very long time and my fondness for them only grows. While Jack is pretty much the same as he always was, Harry has gone some good character development in Dead Beats and it feels like he has grown and changed much. I love that.
I also really enjoyed tracking my reading more carefully, through the reading challenge of goodreads, and will definitely keep doing that in the years to come. It's nice just looking back at all those stories I've read, and remember which of them happened this year and which didn't.
I'll be looking forward to see how other people faired with their reading this year, if any are willing to share!
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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I have to admit: My reading has bit died down, at least in the area of novels and such. University means more scientific papers and books. But I read some new books.
1) Dragon Age: Asunder, Masked Empire & Last Flight.
Three novels about Bioware's Dragon Age universe. Asunder tells the tale from Mage's Circles and their relations to the Templar Order. Masked Empire is more political, telling the story from the viewpoint of the Queen of Orlais, her handmaiden/lover and a knight that has sworn to protect her queen. Throw in some elven rebels, power-hungry relative and and ancient magic and you have a fun little journey. Last Flight goes back in time via diary that young mage reads about the Fourth Blight. It reveals what happened to the griffons that Grey Wardens used to ride in battle and the tale of elven siblings.
All three books were good, fitted the tone of the games and added some new and interesting characters to the universe, and also had some familiar faces from the games making appearance. Last Flight was probably my favorite, since Grey Wardens & The Blight were the thing that got me interested in DA to begin with. Definitely recommended.
2) Witcher series
It took me stupidly long time before I managed to read all these. I really liked these books. Witcher books are just my type of fantasy- it is dark, but has a sense of humor. Sapkowski writes fun dialogue, and makes the thoughts of characters fit their tone of speech as well. It has nice twists, very good build up and uses elements of classical fairy tales like Beauty & Beast, Snow White and such very well. Read! Now!
3) Lord of Runes
New Dave Gross book about Varian Jeggare and Radovan Virholt. This chapter in their tale is by far my favorite. It happens in Varisia (mostly...), features stuff about Thassilon and changes the status quo of the characters. Great and epic finale that manages to top the previous climaxes as well. New characters were good, and they apparently are here to stay! Gross tops himself with every book, and now I'm very excited how the stories will continue from here. Definitely a good read.
That's about it. University really cuts my reading, as it makes me focus more on studies. Have to pick up the pace this year.
I tend to read about two books a week, not counting dry spells. A good number of these are gaming books, which don't seem to count for this discussion, which leaves me with just short of 40 books I read this year.
The Reluctant King (The Goblin Tower, The Clocks of Iraz, and The Unbeheaded King) by L. Sprague DeCamp
The Chronicles of Amber 1&2 by Roger Zelazny
The Book of the New Sun 3&4– Sword of the Lictor, Citadel of the Autarch, by Gene Wolfe
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Godlike Machines (anthology)
Ringworld by Larry Niven
The Merchant Princes Books 1-6 by Charles Stross
The Summoner, Chronicles of the Necromancer Book 1 by Gail Z. Martin
Myths and Sagas of the Nosemen by H.A. Guerber (Nonfiction, inaccurate as hell)
The Goblin Corps by Ari Mammel
Cold Copper, Book 3 of the Steam Age by Devon Monk
Mirrorshades the Cyberpunk Anthology edited by Bruce Sterling
Halting State by Charles Stross
Zendegi by Greg Egan
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers
Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem
The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton
Small Gods, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett
Pathfinder Tales: Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Pathfinder Tales: Fire Soul by Gary Kloster
The Chronicles of the Black Company
The Silver Spike and Shadow Games: First Book of the South by Glen Cook
The Chronicles of the Lensmen Vol.1 by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Thieve's World
The Wanderer's Necklace by H. Rider Haggard
The World Set Free by H.G. Wells
The Arabian Nights (Barnes & Noble Classics Edition)
Top 5 Books I Think Were Worth Their Hype
1.Lord of Light. I don't care how many times they failed to make this as a movie. Try again, Hollywood! Amazingly visual, action-packed, and over-the top. Plus it contains one character I cannot think of as anyone but Benedict Cumberbatch, though he's probably too big a star for the role.
2.Hyperion- But not the sequels. I've never seen a book that has managed to juggle so many genres, doing each so well, and then combine them into a single narrative that also works as a whole.
3.Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. There are parts of this book that drag, and several times I almost put it down...but ultimately, I think this book has a lot of great ideas and sympathetic characters. Best. Faerie. Curse. Ever.
4.The Cyberiad- A collection of stories I could only describe in terms of things that payed homage to it. Classic.
5.Small Gods- When I started reading Pratchet, I wanted to do them in chronological order. Now I see why everyone told me to just skip ahead and read Small Gods first. An excellent inspiration for how gods theoretically work, and a story that allows faith in the same religion to drive both its hero and villain, without condemning religion in general.
Book I'm Surprised As Hell That I Enjoyed As Much As I Did
1. Prince of Wolves (I'm not a fan of werewolves, but this worked. Kudos to Mr. Gross. Also, a shoutout to 'Sara', who got this copy signed by the author, and then sold it to HPB, where I bought it. Desna smiles, indeed.)
Books That Get A Lot of Hype, But I Just Didn't Enjoy Very Much
1.Ancillary Justice-This book is fine, I just don't see what the fuss is all about. The gender politics of it are progressive, and I applaud that, but the plot and action are only okay. Intensely disliking every character who doesn't die in the first Act makes it really hard to care about what happens to them.
2.Leviathan Wakes-This book was amazing for about 200 pages until the two plotlines intersected for the Big Reveal on Eros. Then it just went sideways for me and I stopped caring about this plot and these people.
3.The Lensmen- I read this because it inspired most of modern action SF in some way. Unfortunately, it inspired Star Wars' need for unnecessary and boring prequels, which were included in this edition. I barely suffered through Triplanetary, skimmed First Lensman, and skipped head to Galactic Patrol before just dropping the book.
Worst Catastophe As A Book Owner
My copy of the collected Book of Amber was destroyed when a toilet leaked in a room above my hotel's main office, soaking the book and forcing me to throw it away. I have yet to obtain a replacement copy.
Overall, it was a good year, although I didn't manage to read as many first-run hardcover novels due to having other things to spend my cash on.
it's hard to find any good new books, enjoyed just a few fantasy or SF novels this year:
The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence
The City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Sword of the North by Luke Scull
OK to average:
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
Firefight by Sanderson
The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron
The Golden Transcendence by John C. Wright
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan
Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
The Scarlet Tides by David Hair
The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley
Disliked:
Half a War by Abercrombie
The Tyrant's Law by Abraham
The Garden of Stones by Barnes
Hard Magic by Correia
The World of Ice and Fire by GRRM
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It was remarkably pain free.
For me, this is huge.
Pretty good, it was hard at first, but really picked up at the end there, I can't complain.
Twenty-nine books finished. One anthology of historiography partially read. One carryover from 2014 finished. I'd have done more but holidays got in the way.
Man, I can't even start from memory. I'll have to come back to this thread when I can get to Calibre and look at all the books I've read this year.
I hear you Orthos; the longer I live, the shorter the years get. I can barely keep track at this point.
My failing memory aside, Happy New Year all! :)
Been a healthy year reading-wise for me. I got through some new authors and managed to (finally) get round to reading some books that sat on my to-read pile for years thanks in part to an unforseen two week stay in hospital.
Some of the highlights:
Waylander & Waylander II (David Gemmell) - Finally got round to reading the only two remaining books from this author that I have not read so far. While I would not say these are his best work (that honor probably belongs to Legend and the Troy Trilogy) they are entertaining heroic fiction.
The Heroes, Red Country, The First Law Trilogy, Best Served Cold (Joe Abercrombie) - A generous friend left The First Law trilogy set on a visit to see me in hospital. When I finished it I got my wife to get me as many books from the same author she could find. Enjoyed the way the author tries to capture the grit and unglamorous aspects of war and warriors that typically get edited in favor of more heroics.
Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson) - Was introduced to this new-to-me author from a post on this forum and plan to get the rest of the Malazan series.
Killing Rommell (Steven Pressfield) - Was totally absorbed by Gates of Fire from the same author, so a quick search brought me to this book and I am glad it did. To me, this author writes "historical fiction" better than any other I have ever read.
Not too bad, really. And not much different than the previous 2 years. Although I've got some health issues I've lived through them again and I still got to game with my crew (going on about 25 years with most of them), though didn't get to play as much as often as I'd like to have. But I'm still alive. That's a plus.
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Man, I can't even start from memory. I'll have to come back to this thread when I can get to Calibre and look at all the books I've read this year.
Yeah, without recording my progress on Goodreads I would have forgotten which books I've read when for sure.
But then I realized that looking back on the books I've read is fun and brings back memories, and I decided that actually, recording my readings is a grand idea.