Year Three

I seriously cannot believe I've kept this list up for 3 years! Well actually, this blog period! I'm quite proud of myself! If you missed Year One and Year Two check 'em out!

• It by Stephen King
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
• Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling
• Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
  
• The Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
• Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher
• Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher
• Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card
• Capitan's Fury by Jim Butcher
• Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher
• Soul Runner by Jon Guenther
• Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger
• The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
• Spook by Mary Roach
• First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
• Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan
• Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan
• Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz-Zafón
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons
• Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Fever Dream by Douglass Preston & Lincoln Child
• The Passage by Justin Cronin
• Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
• Rides a Dread Legion by Raymond E. Feist
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• The Martians by Kim Stanley Robinson
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark
  
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• At the Gates of Darkness by Raymond E. Feist
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
• Gridlinked by Neal Asher
• The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
• Martian Outpost by Erik Seedhouse
• Shogun by James Clavell
• Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
• The Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus Cooper
• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
  

Total (Nov. 19th, 2009 - Nov. 19th, 2010): 41

Grand Total (Nov. 19th, 2007 - Nov. 19th, 2010): 145

You know this has been an interesting year indeed. I had my little Cyberpunk stint over winter break, and from there it kinda went all over the board. For the first several months I was right on track with what I wanted to be reading, but ya know, shit happens, I got sick, I moved out, I've taken a bigger interest in school, and as such the amount of reading has gone down. Is this necessarily a bad thing? By no means it isn't, I mean I was reading more than a book a week back in year one, that's a lot.. and I mean other things suffered because of it. So, while it is kinda sad that I'm not reading as much, it's allowed me to do other things, and more importantly try and focus on my schoolwork more.

One thing that's been interesting this year is the amount of absolutely amazing books I've read. In my own little word doc on my computer I have a list going like this one, but with a 1-10 rating system employed. Before I go on, though, I don't put my ratings on here because there are so many factors that contribute to my ratings, things that shouldn't matter at all like mood and what I read prior. This I think invalidates some of the ratings, not to mention I've also changed some ratings after reading other books and comparing them. Reviewing and rating is a pretty interesting topic that I may address at some point, but in any cases I had more books rated "9" this year than any of the previous years. I may of just gotten lucky, but damn there were some amazing reads.

Another thing that is rather interesting is the evolution of what I think of thousand-plus page books. Back when I read Hubbard (my first thousand-plus page book) I firmly believed that a thousand pages was overkill. Now, after reading several Stephen King books over a thousand, as well as several others, most noticeably Shogun, I think there are authors that really do need that much room and make the most out of that room. Foolish of me to make such a huge judgment based on L. Ron Hubbard, when so many excellent authors have breached the 1k mark successfully!

In any case, this has been an amazing year both in reading and in general and while I don't write as much as I should on here, I plan on updating when I can. Thanks to those of you that do read, and for those of you who click over here from facebook from my whorish self promotion, thanks for the curiosity! If you need a book to read, this list is jam packed with good ones from every genre, and don't forget about my recommendation blogs: First and Second.