Books read in 2008. Sort of.

[seanan_mcguire]

Because I was curious -- and because I compulsively write everything down, including what I happen to be reading on any given day -- I went through my planner and pulled the data on every book I read during 2008.

Here is the result.

***

Seanan's 2008 Reading List.

001. The Ruins, Scott Smith.
002. Flu, Gina Kolata.
003. Rabid Growth, James Moore.
004. Death's Dominion, Simon Clark.
005. Slither, Edward Lee.
006. Mirabile, Janet Kagen.
007. The Beloved, J.F. Gonzalez.
008. The Deadliest Strain, Jan Coffey.
009. Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, Lee Goldberg.
010. Hellspark, Janet Kagen.
011. The Unforgiving Minutes, Mary Monica Pulver.
012. Knightfall, Mary Monica Pulver.
013. Ashes to Ashes, Mary Monica Pulver.
014. Nightmare House, Douglas Clegg.
015. To Wake the Dead, Richard Laymon.
016. The Child Garden, Geoff Ryman.
017. Original Sin, Mary Monica Pulver.
018. One Rainy Night, Richard Laymon.
019. In This Skin, Simon Clark.
020. Duma Key, Stephen King.
021. On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers.
022. Darkness Walks, Tim Waggoner.
023. Watersong, Mary Caraker.
024. Virus Clans, Michael Kanaly.
025. Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper.
026. Fuzzy Sapiens, H. Beam Piper.
027. The Boy Next Door, Meg Cabot.
028. Every Boy's Got One, Meg Cabot.
029. Gone to the Dogs, Susan Conant.
030. Jumper, Stephen Gould.
031. A New Leash On Life, Susan Conant.
032. Bloodlines, Susan Conant.
033. Reflex, Stephen Gould.
034. Ruffly Speaking, Susan Conant.
035. Big Boned, Meg Cabot.
036. The Farm, author not recorded, but the book was awful.
037. Making Money, Terry Pratchett.
038. Xombie, Walter Greatshell.
039. The Liadin Companion, volume one, Steve Lee and Sharon Miller.
040. In the Night Garden, Catherynne Valente.
041. Dangerous Red, Mehitobel Wilson.
042. In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne Valente.
043. Horror Films of the 1980s, Kenneth Muir.
044. Darkfall, Stephen Laws.
045. Missing Monday, author not recorded.
046. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill.
047. City Infernal, Edward Lee.
048. The Restless Dead, Hugh Cave.
049. Moon on Water, author not recorded.
050. The Stinky Princess, Bruce Coville.

...upon realizing I'd reached fifty books and the end of February, I lost interest in this game. End determination: I read too much.

Read anything good last year?

Comments

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Once again, my twenty-nine pan-dimensional clones theory? NOT JOKING.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

In my defense, some of those books were really really bad.

Lilly is on the pumpkin-fucker orange cat tree, being tall.

[djonn]

Lots, though it's nowhere near as well documented.

If you like the Conant dog mysteries, you might have a look at Nose for Trouble by Doranna Durgin (if you can find it; the hardcover was from Five Star and the mass market from Worldwide Library); I have the sequel, Scent of Danger pre-reserved when my library gets it in.

Also, I think we may have gone around this block before, but I too am a major fan of Mary Monica Pulver's Peter Brichter books; nowadays she is writing a decent series of needlecraft-centric mysteries as Monica Ferris.

Just finished Delete All Suspects, which is either the third or fourth book, I forget which, in Donna Andrews' lesser-known mystery series. The primary sleuth, Turing Hopper, is an Artificial Intelligence Personality -- but the books are published as mysteries, rather than SF, so the frameworks and conventions are mostly those of the mystery world. (That said, Turing makes a very interesting AI, done better than some of those I've seen on the SF side of the fence.)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I actually don't really like mysteries. I sometimes get sucked into a series, but it's always because I really like the gimmick (so my dislike of needlecraft keeps me off the Ferris, for example).

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

How can you dislike needlecraft? It is so finicky and full of sharp pointy things and recalcitrant things that tangle and knot, and fiddly and compulsive-making and so very very easy to do wrong!

(this message brought to you by the fact that I have absolutely no idea why I like needlecraft so very, very much because it drives me INSANE. And this soothes me.)

(send help)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I would send help, but I need it to make me understand why I feel the same way about inking. Sorry.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

I read too much.

My rule of thumb is that I'm reading too much when I forget to do one of the following:

• Go to work on time.
  
• Eat.
  
• Go to sleep at a reasonable hour.
  
• Do laundry.
  

There may be other things, but that's the ones I hit most often.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

The best 10 books I read in 2008

[amberley.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, Steven Gould. But what, no rereading of It in those two months? You read a lot more books than I do; where do you find the TIME?! I only managed twice that many for the whole year, but my favorite ten (in chronological order of reading) were:

• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow, YA novel about teen hackers vs. the Department of Homeland Security.
  
• The Sharing Knife: Beguilement, Lois McMaster Bujold. (and the two sequels; book 4 is out January 27!)
  
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Clay Shirky. Incredibly interesting.
  
• Rain Fall, Barry Eisler, the first John Rain novel (of six) about a Japanese/American assassin in Tokyo. Good tradecraft.
  
• The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford.
  
• Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, Erik Larson, about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane.
  
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman.
  
• Thirteen, Richard Morgan.
  
• Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary, Pamela Dean. The Giant Ants are very cool.
  
• Learning To Eat Soup With A Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam, John Nagl. Paperback edition preface describes his experience in Iraq 2003-4.
  

Do you know about Good Reads where you can rate and review and track your books read, and get updates on what friends are reading and rating if they're part of it?

ETA: And I should mention the delightful graphic novel Bookhunter, by Jason Shiga, who did the excellent webcomic Fleep about a man trapped in a phone booth.

Re: The best 10 books I read in 2008

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Stephen King rereads started when the stress kicked in, and covered most of his oeuvre. Thanks for the recommendations!

Re: The best 10 books I read in 2008

[aedifica]

I must say yay for The Last Hot Time and Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary!

[supersniffles.livejournal.com]

In 2008 I read whatever of firestrike's library I hadn't already gone through. I'm gonna have to find a new pusher soon, because I've almost run him out of supply.

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to come check my shelves next time you are up this way. There's a lot of overlap, but I have a few different authors ...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

This is true!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Come visit.

[ravenclawed.livejournal.com]

50 in just the first two months? *bows to your dedication* I'm lucky if I read 50 in a decade. Not that I don't like to read, I just don't have as much time as I used to.

Still, I did read some good ones in '08.

Dragon Heat and The Black Dragon by Allyson James. Books 1 and 2 of her dragon series. Dragons who can take the forms of men and the women who love them.

Darkling and Dragon Wytch by Yasmine Galenorn. Books 3 and 4 of her Women of the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon (series title depending on who you ask) series. Three half-human/half-fae sisters trying to save two worlds and the men who love them. Currently my favorite series.

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Only 1-3 since 4's not in paperback yet. Ancient Greece-geek crack.

Nora Roberts' In The Garden trilogy. Three gardening women, the men who love them, and the ghost who doesn't want to share her house.

The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks. Book 4 of currently my second-favorite series. Didn't start reading the previous books until just recently.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I adore the Rick Riordan books! SO MUCH FUN. Chris buys them in hardcover, so I blessedly haven't had to wait. Much love. Much, much love.

[ravenclawed.livejournal.com]

I'd buy 4 in hardcover, but then it wouldn't match my paperbacks, and I can't have that. :-)

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, Fuzzy books! Did you ever get around to reading Fuzzies and Other People?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Of course! And Golden Dream: A Fuzzy Odyssey. I love the point where the estate-sanctioned fan fiction accidentally renders the intended canon non-canonical. It's just funny.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually read Golden Dream, though I think I've been told about it. That's where they found the Fuzzy spaceship, right?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- which then got all messed up by the discovery of Piper's own 'final Fuzzy book.'

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Which was Fuzzies and Other People, if I remember correctly. This probably explains why the people (my parents) who gave me the Fuzzy books to read warned me away from Golden Dreams.

*ponders*

*hugs a spontaneously-created virtual Fuzzy*

[batyatoon]

I actually did try to write down every book I read over 2008 (not counting graphic novels). I'm gonna be posting the results this week.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

...shine on, you wild and crazy star. I'm going to be over here, hiding from you.

[aedifica]

One of the best books I read last year was Farthing, Jo Walton's scarily plausible alternate history novel. It is a mystery in some ways, which you said above that you dislike, but for me that wasn't a problem.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about Farthing. Unfortunately, none of those good things have convinced me that it's part of any genre that I enjoy.