Looking forward to reading in 2015

I was looking at the last year's January posts where I talked about books I was going to read last year. The list looked as follows:

1. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
2. Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
3. The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley 
5. What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton
6. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
7. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

Out of these, I've read all but two books. I am still yet to read Ancillary Justice, even though I've already purchased it and looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about. And I completely forgot about The Mad Scientist's Daughter, not sure if I will actually be reading it.

In addition to Ancillary Justice, I now have a new set of books I am looking forward to in 2015. Some of these are releases from the last year that received a lot of hype and some of these are 2015 releases I am anticipating. Without further ado, here's my 2015 reading list.

1. The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. This is an alien invasion sci-fi that seems to have appeared on quite a few best-of lists from last year. I think it'll be interesting to check out some sci-fi not written in North America.

2. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley. This is the next installment in Flavia de Luce's detective adventures. It came out just earlier this month and should be very good fun with the change of scenery from England to Canada.

3. The Thorn of Emberlain by Scott Lynch. The next installment of Locke Lamora adventures is currently scheduled to be released this year.  Of course all the fans have been waiting for this book for almost 8 years now, so who knows if it's actually going to happen.

4. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I've seen some pretty amazing positive reviews for this fantasy novel. It's supposed to be a fresh take on fantasy with great characters. Even though I haven't been reading a lot of fantasy lately, I might just pick this one up.

There are also a number of other books I am either looking at or considering. Among them, not-yet-read Jo Walton books. I've been reading her analysis of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear, which were awesome and also making me yearn for the next installment of Patrick Rothfuss's series (probably won't happen this year). I have a set of short stories published by The Book Smugglers that I plan on reading.  I also received Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg for Christmas, which I am going to read soon. Finally, I have the first 3 volumes of the Firefly graphic novel waiting for me.

So many books so little time.

The Past and the Future

Today is my 6th year anniversary blogging here. It's been fun. Today I am looking back at the last year of reading and as tradition demands presenting my favorite books of the year.

In total, I've read 34 books last year, which is lower than last year and below the goal I set for myself this year, which was 40. However, I enjoyed the things I've read and don't regret not reading more because making myself read in the hectic days of autumn when things got really busy would not have been productive. Hence, I decided not to actually set any reading goal for the next year. I will read when I feel like reading, and I will certainly not stop reading just because I didn't set a number of books goal, and I will not create stress by trying to reach some arbitrary number of books. So, no reading goals in 2015 beyond maybe having fun.

I read quite a few new releases last year. Of the 34 books, I managed to finish, 12 were published in 2014. There were also many new-ish books: 6 were published in 2013 and 6 were published in 2012. A bunch were the latest installments in the series I've been reading, but some were new to me authors, which I enjoy.

I've been reading pretty diversely across genres. In the past, I usually had a dominating genre for the year, but this year it's much more distributed. There are two new-to-me genres: essays and graphic novels. Both turned out to be really fun and enjoyable and I'll definitely be back for more in 2015. The distribution of my reading looks like this: 6 young adult, 5 science fiction, 5 mystery, 5 graphic novels, 4 fiction, 4 fantasy, 2 historical fiction, 2 non fiction, and a book of essays.

In terms of authors I've read, absolutely coincidentally it turned out to be 50-50. 17 of the books were written by men and 17 were written by women. The books were written by 26 unique authors and 15 of them were new to me (57%), which may be a personal best.

And now, finally to my top 3 favorite books this year:

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh - A science fiction saga about the future of humanity, relationships, and death. I've been giving this book to all my friends to read as I enjoyed it immensely. my review

This is a Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett - A collection of essays, which I just found absolutely fascinating. In my favorite essay in this collection, Ann, at age 30, tries to pass an entrance exam to enter the police academy. my review

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - A mystery thriller where the author just messes with your head until you have no idea who is wrong and who is right. It certainly kept my attention throughout and requires no advertising since the movie based on the book came out late last year. my review

I also have several other honorable mentions, which stood out to me this year:

Ready Player One by Earnest Cline is the book I finished last in 2014 and it found the way to my heart through the puzzle and video gaming references. Lots and lots of fun. my review

Looking for Alaska by John Green is a well-written young adult stand alone story featuring the main protagonist who goes off to a boarding school looking for "the great beyond". Plenty of shenanigans ensue, but in typical John Green fashion it all ends in tears (both for the characters and for me). my review

Wool by Hugh Howley is a dystopian science fiction novel where everyone lives below ground in a deep vertical tunnel, called a silo. Imaginative world and excellent characters make this book a very good read. my review

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is a young adult romance novel whose characters I enjoyed immensely and who just managed to evoke the feelings of high school and first romance like no one else. my review

Happy New Year, everyone! I am off to scour everyone else's top of 2014 posts for reading recommendations. Looking forward to lots of fun books.

2013 Wrap-up

Last day of the year! Time to reflect and tally all the reading done in 2013. I decided to put favorites in a few categories this time around.

Favorite book(s) of the year

This is the most difficult category to pick into because I've enjoyed a lot of books this year. I've read a round total of 40 and most of them were quite good. After some deliberation my favorite read of the year goes to Connie Willis for Blackout and All Clear.

Favorite book published in 2013

Altogether, I've read 11 books that were published this year. The top pick goes to The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

Favorite book from a new-to-me author

I've actually discovered quite a few new authors this year, which I am really happy about. In total, I've read books by 19 different authors whom I have never read previously. The favorite is actually The Fault in our Stars by John Green. A total tearjerker, but oh so good. Apparently there's gonna be a movie too next year.

Favorite series

It's really common to have series in the genres I read: sci-fi, fantasy, mystery. And sometimes it's hard to say that this one middle book in the series is the best thing since sliced bread, but it maybe quite awesome as part of the series development. Over half of the books I've read this year are actually part of a series. This year the category goes to Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. I've read 9 mystery books from this series this year and all of them were enthralling, entertaining, and enjoyable. Now I am stuck waiting until the next book in the series is published.



There were a ton of other books I really enjoyed this year and I am starting to comb through everyone else's top 2013 lists to make a great reading pile for the next year and I am feeling really excited about what 2014 will have in store.

New books in 2013

There are a few scheduled releases in 2013 that I will be looking forward to:

1. Speaking from Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley.

I've been following this series all last year and I am looking forward to the next novel in the series coming out on January 29th.

2. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

This is the next book in the Outlander series scheduled to come out sometime in the fall of this year. And while the last few books were a bit weaker than the beginning of the series, I am still looking forward to this installment.

3. The Human Division by John Scalzi

This is a serialized novel set in the Old Man's War world. I am looking forward to more Scalzi humor. I've also been enjoying his blog lately.

Altogether I have been reading more standalone novels lately, so there aren't that many series installments for me to read -- yet I am sure I will find a way to pass the time. What 2013 releases are you looking forward to?

Looking forward to in 2012

Many of the series that I have been following have either released their last book last year of have gone on a hiatus (Scott Lynch, where are you?). So there are only a handful of 2012 releases that I am actively awaiting.


The first on the list is the 3rd book in Galen Beckett's series about Mrs. Quent called The Master of Heathcrest Hall. I have enjoyed the second book in the series and I am looking forward to the conclusion of the series coming out on March 27th.

The second one is a new book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon coming out sometime in the summer of 2012. The Prisoner of Heaven returns to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books and Sempere bookshop. Since The Shadow of the Wind was a book I gave 10 stars a few year back, I'll definitely be looking out for this one.

Finally, the last book I am looking out for in 2012 is the City of Dragons by Robin Hobb. It's coming out on February 7 -- but I am slightly apprehensive about it. I think it's once again got split into two volumes and I may choose to wait for the fourth book to be released before getting this one. Reading a book with a story arch that doesn't wrap up is just not a lot fun. Still, Hobb is consistently on top of her writing and having read almost everything else published by her I find it hard to stop now.

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On a separate note, there's also one movie that I am looking forward to -- The Hunger Games! I really enjoyed the books and the trailer looks pretty awesome too.

The End of Year Wrap Up

The clock is counting down to the end of 2011. Now, I am ready to sum up this year of reading and tell you about my favorite books this year. It hasn't been the strongest year for me, I didn't finish a lot of reading goals I've set for myself, but I had a lot of fun reading and that's what really counts, right?

Without further adieu, top 5 favorite books read this year:

1. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss - review
I have been waiting for this installment in the Kingkiller's Chronicles for a long time and it was well worth the wait. Amazingly well-written, immersing epic following Kvothe's adventures. It's a must for anyone who loves epic fantasy, character-based stories, and good writing.

2. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - review
This atmospheric science fiction novel set in 1984 Japan won my heart this year through its amazingly windy plot and literary references.

3. The Prestige by Christopher Priest - review
Two magicians vie to discover the mysteries of each other's special techniques. Somehow I missed the movie, but the book is excellent in its own rights.

4. The Local News by Miriam Gershow - review
A heart-rendering story of a sister coping with the mysterious disappearance of her older brother. Touching and impossible to put down, this is my favorite non-genre reading of the year.

5. Ship Breaker by Paolo Baciagalupi - review
An apocalyptic young adult fiction about a boy who has to survive by scavenging on the old oil rigs and his adventures after he discovers a ship crash on his shores.

Now let's see how I did on my goals this year. The first one was to finish 48 books this year. I fell really short of the goal and only completed 36 books, so 3 per month instead of 4 I wanted to do. The second goal was to read 20 new authors. Looking back, I've read 13 new to me authors, which is not too shabby given that I didn't even come close to my total book goal. My third goal was genre diversity, here's a summary of the genres I read this year:

Science Fiction - 13
Fantasy - 8
Young Adult - 6
Fiction -2
Mystery - 2
Urban Fantasy - 2
Children - 1
Romance - 1
Steampunk - 1

I did get at least 7 different genres, but only 3 of them have at least 3 books read in them. Ack!
It's quite interesting to notice that for the first time this year science fiction has overtaken fantasy in the book count. I've been finding myself reading more and more science fiction lately and this trend is likely to stay in 2012.

A few other reading stats: 13 of the books I read were written by women and 26 by men. I read 4 books released in 2011, 9 released in 2010, 3 in 2009, 5 in 2008, 9 in earlier 2000s, with the oldest book being published in 1892.

All in all, it has been a long year with its ups and downs. I hope the next year will bring lots more exciting books to read and I am ready for it with my newly minted Kindle Touch. Thanks to everyone who's been reading my reviews. Happy New Year!

Book Shopping

As almost everyone has heard by now: Borders is going out of business and closing all their stores. I am rather saddened by the fact since I did enjoy having a store nearby where I could go browse books at my leisure. Now I am left with one little bookstore nearby carrying only the latest releases or a Barnes & Nobles store that's a good 20 minute drive. Not to mention that my Borders Rewards card they talked me into buying didn't pay off.

But regardless, yesterday I joined a throng of shoppers picking the Borders bare with their going out of business sale. I managed to buy four novels and a book of cryptic crosswords -- all for 40-50% off the original price. Not too shabby.

The first book I picked up was The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. It's a book that's been talked about on the fantasy blogs for a few years now and I am curious to give it a try. The second book is Blameless by Gail Carriger; it's the third book of the series that I wasn't planning to continue reading, but at a sale price it somehow seemed worthwhile.

Then I picked up Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. It's a collection of short fiction and I do enjoy Neil Gaiman's works most of the time. Finally, I picked up Spirits in the Wire by Charles de Lint. I don't actually know much about the book besides the blurb I read, but I've heard a lot about the author and decided he would be worth trying.

So, now with my reading stack replenished and this being the first free weekend in almost a month, I'll go get some quality reading done.

May Book Shopping

It's May, it's nice weather, the mood is good and got even better as I visited a few book stores today. I came away with 5 books and pretty happy with my purchases. Here's what I picked up:

1. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. This is the second book in the set of Culture novels. I believe it's a standalone set in the same world as Consider Phlebas. It's commonly mentioned as one of the best Culture novels and given my enjoyment of the prior novel, this was not a difficult choice.

2. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. This is the continuation of the Old Man's War. Another easy pick since I really liked the previous book.

3. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. I've never read anything by Vinge before, but the book came highly recommended. It's an alien-contact type sci-fi and not my typical fare, but I think I may find it interesting.

4. The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett. Another instance of second-in-series buy. This is a fantasy novel that continues The Magician's and Mrs. Quent.

5. Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem. This is another pick of an author I've never read before. However, I got a strong recommendation from a co-worker and flipping through the book in the store made me even more curious to try it. Looking forward to reading it.

Now that I have replenished my TBR pile, time to get reading :)

Book Shopping and Goals for 2011

I went out today and splurged a bit to buy some books. The first I've got is Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. Since I enjoyed Against a Dark Background last year, I thought his first book in the Culture series would be worth checking out as well. I also picked up The Company by K.J. Parker, which had some all-around good reviews around in the past few years. Finally, I've got Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I enjoyed Agent to the Stars very much, so I hope this book would be a treat as well.

I've also been thinking about some reading goals for 2011. Here's what I decided to try for:
1. Read 48 books this year -- e.g. 4 books per month. I only hit 44 last year, so a stretch goal.
2. Read at least 20 books by authors I haven't read ever before
3. Finish at least 3 books in 7 different genres. I am thinking fantasy, sci-fi, urban fantasy, children, YA, mystery, historical fiction would likely to be the genres but I am not setting these particular ones as a goal necessarily.

I guess we'll see how that goes. I am reading Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks right now, so you are likely to see the review for that pretty soon.

Reading in 2011

The first day of 2011 has just ended and this blog has now been in business officially for 2 years and 1 day. I've found it to be pretty fun to write reviews here for the past couple of years and I am planning to continue in the same vein.

Today I spent quite a bit of time catching up on my sff-related feeds and looking through people's favorite reads of last year to figure out what I want to be reading. Here are some of the titles that caught my attention:
- Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi seems to be on many lists. Having enjoyed The Windup Girl last year, I would like to see more of his writing.
- Mind Games by Carolyn Crane is a first book in an urban fantasy series that sounds interesting.
- The Local News by Miriam Gershow was mentioned as "better than great", so I am considering picking it up even though this type of reading is not typical for me.

On a similar note, there's a bunch of books I am looking forward to reading because they are part of a series I've been following.
- Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss is finally coming out in March and is probably one book I've been looking forward to longest. I am looking forward to it so much that I've already pre-ordered a copy from Amazon.
- Naamah's Blessing by Jacquline Carey is the final book in the series following Moirin and will be coming out at the end of June. Definitely going to be picking it up.
- The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett is a continuation of The Magicians and Mrs. Quent. It's out already and I am considering to pick it up when the mood is right.
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the last book in The Hunger Game series and it probably comes as no surprise that I am already reading it now.

I still have four books in my reading pile from last year. I haven't been in the mood for epic fantasy in some time, but I think I'll find some time this year to give Acacia a try and maybe read the second Brent Weeks book since I already bought it. I've also been hearing nonstop about Guy Gavriel Kay and since I've never read any of his book, I'd like to pick one up this year.

I guess we'll see how all this reading turns out. I am certainly looking forward to enjoying many different books this year. I am also always up for more recommendations.

The End of Year Wrap Up

It's the New Year's Eve and I am finally ready to look over the year of reading and see what happened.

In January, I set myself 4 reading goals. The first one was to read 45 books this year and I almost met it with a grand total of 44 books read. The second goal was to read at least 2 non-fiction books and I accomplished that with Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Food Rules by Michael Pollan being two such books. The third goal was to read more science fiction. I ended up reading about the same amount as last year ending with 6 science fiction novels this year. And the last goal that I met wholeheartedly -- having fun reading is not too difficult :)

Out of the 44 books I read, the following 6 are the ones I enjoyed the most:

1. The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
I've read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this year. The last book in the series actually ended up being my favorite out of the three and probably out of all the books that I read this year. I would certainly recommend this series to anyone who hasn't read it yet. The movies are very well done too, I watched the first two and will be looking out for the third one in January on Netflix.

2. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - review
Unsurprisingly, this dark futuristic science fiction novel got both Hugo and Nebula awards. A very well written apocalyptic fiction that mesmerized me and had everyone else raving about it too.

3. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery - review
It may be a little strange to put a book I have read before into my top reads, but re-reading the Anne of Green Gables novels was such a pleasure that I want the books to be on the list. These books are so simple and charming that reading them is just like drinking a big cup of hot chocolate in a warm snuggie on a snowy day. Mmm.

4. Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey - review
An outstanding coming of age story by Jacqueline Carey who just doesn't disappoint with a new world and a new interesting heroine. At this point, I just buy any book with Carey's name on it.

5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman - review
A powerful fantasy debut novel -- at the start it is very reminiscent of Harry Potter with a rather adult continuation. It may have been my favorite book this year if I had enjoyed the second half of the story as much as the first half. Nevertheless, definitely a very well written and impressive fantasy novel.

6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - review
My favorites list would have only been 5 entries long if I hadn't stayed up till 6:30 in the morning reading The Hunger Games. A fun fast read for YA, but I have seen many other book reviewers read it and enjoy it.

Most disappointing book this year was actually Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison. It was one of the books I was looking forward to reading at the beginning of the year. However the repetitive nature of Rachel's misadventures and her deteriorating morals have sent me in somewhat of a funk over the series. I am not sure I will be picking up any further books unless there's a shift to this series.

Some more random statistics on this year's reading:

I've read books by 17 female authors and 16 male authors. A pretty even ratio this year! Last year, the ratio was heavily skewed towards the women.

I ended up reading 13 2010-releases, 9 2009-releases, and 8 2008-releases. The oldest release I've read was Anne of Green Gables which was first published in 1908.

I've distributed my reading across genres quite a bit with the following counts:
- 10 fantasy novels
- 6 mystery novels
- 6 science fiction books
- 5 young adult books
- 4 children books
- 3 steampunk novels
- 3 nonfiction books
- 3 urban fantasy novels
- 2 historical fiction books
- 1 romance
- 1 horror novel

I wrote a total of 61 blog posts including this one. And according to analytics had 1,946 unique visitors on the site.

Thanks to everyone who's stopped by this year and happy new year to you all!

New Book Orders

Just as my reading stack was reducing to a manageable size I ordered some more books from Amazon. Quite a few of them won't be coming till May when they release, but a few more will be coming in shortly. Here are some of the books I ordered:

1. Dragon Haven: Volume Two of the Rain Wilds by Robin Hobb

I may have already mentioned in the review for Dragon Keeper that the book has been simply cut into two with a knife. This is the second half that will be coming out on May 11th which I wish could be read more closely with the first half. Hopefully I will still remember who's who in May.

2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Continuing with the theme of long book titles, I am very much looking forward to the last book in the Millenium Trilogy. I am sure this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone following my last review. This book is coming out at the end of May.

3. The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The amazement at how good The Shadow of the Wind was is still somewhat fresh in my mind, and I am hoping that this new novel by Zafon will live up to my expectations. It will release in the beginning of May. In fact, I think May might be an amazing month for reading.

4. Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

The latest Rachel Morgan adventure is being released on February 23rd. I am hoping for another enjoyable romp with Harrison's characters.

5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

This new fantasy novel seems to have graced a whole lot of Best Of 2009 lists. I am going to find out what the hype is all about for myself.

Looking Forward to in 2010

Five titles I am planning to read that will (hopefully) be published in 2010.

1. Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb (Feb 2010)

One book I have already pre-ordered on Amazon. Robin Hobb returns to the Rain Wilds world with a new set of characters. Being a big fan of Hobb's previous series set in the same world, I am in anticipation of the new story.

2. Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey (June 2010)

The second book in the series following Moraine and her adventures. Since the first book of the series made my top 5 reads of 2009, I am definitely looking forward to the next book.

3. Wise Man's Fears by Patrick Rothfuss (???)

The publication date for Wise Man's Fears is still unknown, but following the author's blog, it seems that the manuscript has been submitted, so I am hoping to see this book come out this year.

4. Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison (Feb 2010)

The next installment in The Hallows series. I expect it to be thoroughly fun like the previous books in the series.

5. CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold (November 2010?)

Miles Vorkosigan has been a favorite character of mine for a long time. Despite being disappointed in Bujold's new Sharing Knife series, I cannot help but be excited about a new book featuring Miles. The book is completed and should hit the stores by the end of the year.

End of Year Summary

Before I know it a whole year has already passed and I've been blogging about my reads for the year. For once I met my new year's resolution: I wrote a review for each and every book I've read in 2009. Overall, I had a lot of fun reading, discovering new authors and new worlds and I am planning to continue with this blog in the upcoming year as well. I didn't meet my reading goal for the year, but will happily share my favorite reads of the year and some reading statistics.

Top 5 favorite books read this year

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Review

This was by far the best book I have read this year. I read it, wrote a review, and then proceeded to tell how much I liked it to everyone who would listen. I highly recommend it to speculative fiction lovers as well as everyone else who loves to read. It is a book about the love for books among other things and something all of us book-lovers may enjoy.

2. Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey - Review

The first book in the new trilogy by Jacqeline Carey set in the same world as Kushiel but generations later. Just as Kushiel remains one of my favorite books, this new novel by Carey brings back all the excitement, intrigue, society and character building I enjoyed in the first books. Romance and adventure go hand in hand in this book.

3. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke - Review

The last book I've finished this year and by far one of the best reads. Get transported to 19th century England where two magicians work to bring back practical magic to the shores of England. It's a very mood-setting, atmospheric book and one written with a lot of skill. I highly recommend it.

4. & 5. Dragonfly in Amber & Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - Review 1 & Review 2

It's been a good year for enjoying lengthy novels. These stories following Claire Randall & Jamie Fraser were some of my favorites. Plunging deep into the history of Scottish uprising in 1740's, we get a good look at the lives of people and follow the adventures of the main characters. There is some very good romance and character building mixed with good writing and lots of historical details. I've read most of the series this year, but the first 3 books (2 of them read this year) are by far the most enjoyable of the bunch.

Statistics

Books completed in 2009: 37

Unique male authors: 9

Unique female authors: 15

Total blog posts: 99

Visitors: 1,974

I've read 8 books published in 2009, 5 published in 2008, and a couple books for each year from 2003 to 2007. The oldest publication I read was Enid Blyton's Five Go Off in a Caravan from 1946.

This year, I've started reading a lot more urban fantasy than previously. I finished 10 urban fantasy books, the next highest counts being 8 general fiction, 6 science fiction, 5 fantasy, 4 mystery and 3 children's books. I only finished one non-fiction book this year.

Early in the year, I made a post about 4 books I was looking forward to reading in 2009. Out of those books 2 did not end up getting published this year (The Wise Man's Fear and The Republic of Thieves), but I did read the other two (Naamah's Kiss and White Witch, Black Curse) and found both to be very good. Hopefully the other two books will get published in 2010.

Overall, it's been a great year and hopefully the next year will be even better. I am still planning out the reading goals for next year, but I will definitely continue reading and blogging.

Happy New Years!

BBC Book List Meme

Picking up this meme from The Antick Musings Of ...:

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:
1) Bold those you have read most or all of.
2) Italicize those you've read only pieces of
3) Add a '#' to those you were supposed to have read in school, but didn't.
4) Underline the ones you LOVE.
5) Set small those you plan on reading.
6) Set large those you did not read, but saw the movie!
7) Strikethrough those you really didn't like.
8) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (couldn't actually finish it)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (this, I see, is another one of those badly compiled lists, including the same works twice)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (gave up in boredom about 75 pages in)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Books fully read: 34
Books partially read: 6
Supposed to read but didn't: 0
Books I loved: 6
Books I plan to read: 1
Saw the movie, but didn't read: 2
Disliked: 1

Guardian's Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels Everyone Must Read: The Meme

Via SF Signal:

Guardian has been running a series called 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and has recently published their 124 149 science fiction and fantasy picks. (Links to intro. For the list, see Parts One, Two and Three.) They've also listed a couple of interesting articles: The Best Dystopias by Michael Moorcock, Imagined Worlds by Susanna Clarke, and Novels that predicted the future by Andrew Crumey.

So I have marked bold the titles I have read from the list. Plenty of reading left for me to do. Feel free to copy the list and post which ones you've read.

1. Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
2. Brian W Aldiss: Non-Stop (1958)
3. Isaac Asimov: Foundation (1951)
4. Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin (2000)
5. Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
6. Paul Auster: In the Country of Last Things (1987)
7. J.G. Ballard: The Drowned World (1962)
8. J.G. Ballard: Crash (1973)
9. J.G. Ballard: Millennium People (2003)
10. Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory (1984)
11. Iain M Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987)
12. Clive Barker: Weaveworld (1987)
13. Nicola Barker: Darkmans (2007)
14. Stephen Baxter: The Time Ships (1995)
15. Greg Bear: Darwin's Radio (1999)
16. William Beckford: Vathek (1786)
17. Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination (1956)
18. Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
19. Poppy Z Brite: Lost Souls (1992)
20. Charles Brockden Brown: Wieland (1798)
21. Algis Budrys: Rogue Moon (1960)
22. Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (1966)
23. Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race (1871)
24. Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange (1960)
25. Anthony Burgess: The End of the World News (1982)
26. Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars (1912)
27. William Burroughs: Naked Lunch (1959)
28. Octavia Butler: Kindred (1979)
29. Samuel Butler: Erewhon (1872)
30. Italo Calvino: The Baron in the Trees (1957)
31. Ramsey Campbell: The Influence (1988)
32. Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
33. Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
34. Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus (1984)
35. Angela Carter: The Passion of New Eve (1977)
36. Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000)
37. Arthur C Clarke: Childhood's End (1953)
38. GK Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)
39. Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004)
40. Michael G Coney: Hello Summer, Goodbye (1975)
41. Douglas Coupland: Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)
42. Mark Danielewski: House of Leaves (2000)
43. Marie Darrieussecq: Pig Tales (1996)
44. Samuel R Delaney: The Einstein Intersection (1967)
45. Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
46. Philip K Dick: The Man in the High Castle (1962)
47. Thomas M Disch: Camp Concentration (1968)
48. Umberto Eco: Foucault's Pendulum (1988)
49. Michel Faber: Under the Skin (2000)
50. John Fowles: The Magus (1966)
51. Neil Gaiman: American Gods (2001)
52. Alan Garner: Red Shift (1973)
53. William Gibson: Neuromancer (1984)
54. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Herland (1915)
55. William Golding: Lord of the Flies (1954)
56. Joe Haldeman: The Forever War (1974)
57. M John Harrison: Light (2002)
58. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
59. Robert A Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
60. Frank Herbert: Dune (1965)
61. Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game (1943)
62. Russell Hoban: Riddley Walker (1980)
63. James Hogg: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
64. Michel Houellebecq: Atomised (1998)
65. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)
66. Kazuo Ishiguro: The Unconsoled (1995)
67. Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
68. Henry James: The Turn of the Screw (1898)
69. PD James: The Children of Men (1992)
70. Richard Jefferies: After London; Or, Wild England (1885)
71. Gwyneth Jones: Bold as Love (2001)
72. Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925)
73. Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon (1966)
74. Stephen King: The Shining (1977)
75. Marghanita Laski: The Victorian Chaise-longue (1953)
76. CS Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56) (Book 1 at least)
77. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Uncle Silas (1864)
78. Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961)
79. Ursula K Le Guin: The Earthsea series (1968-1990)
80. Ursula K Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
81. Doris Lessing: Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
82. MG Lewis: The Monk (1796)
83. David Lindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus (1920)
84. Ken MacLeod: The Night Sessions (2008)
85. Hilary Mantel: Beyond Black (2005)
86. Michael Marshall Smith: Only Forward (1994)
87. Richard Matheson: I Am Legend (1954)
88. Charles Maturin: Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)
89. Patrick McCabe: The Butcher Boy (1992)
90. Cormac McCarthy: The Road (2006)
91. Jed Mercurio: Ascent (2007)
92. China Miéville: The Scar (2002)
93. Andrew Miller: Ingenious Pain (1997)
94. Walter M Miller Jr: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)
95. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (2004)
96. Michael Moorcock: Mother London (1988)
97. William Morris: News From Nowhere (1890)
98. Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)
99. Haruki Murakami: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995)
100. Vladimir Nabokov: Ada or Ardor (1969)
101. Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)
102. Larry Niven: Ringworld (1970)
103. Jeff Noon: Vurt (1993)
104. Flann O'Brien: The Third Policeman (1967)
105. Ben Okri: The Famished Road (1991)
106. George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-four (1949)
107. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club (1996)
108. Thomas Love Peacock: Nightmare Abbey (1818)
109. Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan (1946)
110. Frederik Pohl & CM Kornbluth: The Space Merchants (1953)
111. John Cowper Powys: A Glastonbury Romance (1932)
112. Terry Pratchett: The Discworld series (1983- ) (A few of them)
113. Christopher Priest: The Prestige (1995)
114. Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials (1995-2000)
115. François Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-34)
116. Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
117. Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space (2000)
118. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)
119. JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)
120. Geoff Ryman: Air (2005)
121. Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses (1988)
122. Joanna Russ: The Female Man (1975)
123. Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry: The Little Prince (1943)
124. José Saramago: Blindness (1995)
125. Will Self: How the Dead Live (2000)
126. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)
127. Dan Simmons: Hyperion (1989)
128. Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker (1937)
129. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash (1992)
130. Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)
131. Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)
132. Rupert Thomson: The Insult (1996)
133. JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit (1937)
134. JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings (1954-55)
135. Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1889)
136. Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan (1959)
137. Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto (1764)
138. Robert Walser: Institute Benjamenta (1909)
139. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes (1926)
140. Sarah Waters: Affinity (1999)
141. HG Wells: The Time Machine (1895)
142. HG Wells: The War of the Worlds (1898)
143. TH White: The Sword in the Stone (1938)
144. Angus Wilson: The Old Men at the Zoo (1961)
145. Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun (1980-83)
146. Virginia Woolf: Orlando (1928)
147. John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids (1951)
148. John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)
149. Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (1924)

Book Reviewers Linkup Meme

From Grasping for the Wind:

My list of fantasy and sf book reviewers is woefully out of date. I need your help to fix that. But rather than go through the hassle of having you send me recommendations or sticking them in comments, what you can do is take the following list and stick it on your website, then add yourself to the list, preferably in alphabetical order. That way, I will be able to track it across the web from back links, and can add each new blog to my roll as it comes along. So take this list, add it to your blog, and add a link to your blog on it. If you are already on the list, repost this meme at your blog so others can see it, and find new blogs from the links others put up on their blogs. Everybody wins! Be sure to send the list around to others as well. There is an easy to copy window of all the links and text at the bottom of this post to make it even simpler to do.

I would be ever so grateful if you would help me out.

My additions to the list are in bold:

7 Foot Shelves
The Accidental Bard
A Boy Goes on a Journey
A Dribble Of Ink
A Hoyden's Look at Literature
Adventures in Reading
The Agony Column
Andromeda Spaceways
The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.
Ask Daphne
aurealisXpress
Australia Specfic in Focus
Author 2 Author
Barbara Martin
Bees (and Books) on the Knob
Bibliophile Stalker
Bibliosnark
BillWardWriter.com
The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf
Bitten by Books
The Black Library Blog
Blog, Jvstin Style
Blood of the Muse
The Book Bind
Bookgeeks
Bookslut
The Book Smugglers
Bookspotcentral
The Book Swede
Bookrastination
Breeni Books
Cheaper Ironies [pro columnist]
Cheryl's Musings
Confessions of a book Whore
Critical Mass
The Crotchety Old Fan
Damien G. Walter
Danger Gal
Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews
Darque Reviews
Dave Brendon's Fantasy and Sci-Fi Weblog
Dear Author
The Deckled Edge
Dragons, Heroes and Wizards
The Discriminating Fangirl
Dusk Before the Dawn
Enter the Octopus
Eve's Alexandria
Fantastic Reviews
Fantastic Reviews Blog
Fantasy Book Critic
Fantasy Cafe
Fantasy Debut
Fantasy Book Reviews and News
Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin' Blog
Feminist SF - The Blog!
The Fix
The Foghorn Review
Frances Writes
From a Sci-Fi Standpoint
Fruitless Recursion
Fyrefly's Book Blog
The Galaxy Express
Galleycat
The Gamer Rat
Genre Reviews
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Grasping for the Wind
The Green Man Review
Gripping Books
Hasenpfeffer
Highlander's Book Reviews
Horrorscope
The Hub Magazine
Hyperpat's Hyper Day
Ink and Keys
io9
Jumpdrives and Cantrips
Lair of the Undead Rat
League of Reluctant Adults
The Lensman's Children
Literary Escapism
Michele Lee's Book Love
The Mistress of Ancient Revelry
MIT Science Fiction Society
Monster Librarian
More Words, Deeper Hole
Mostly Harmless Books
My Favourite Books
Neth Space
The New Book Review
NextRead
OF Blog of the Fallen
The Old Bat's Belfry
Outside of a Dog
Paranormality
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Piaw's Blog
Post-Weird Thoughts
Publisher's Weekly
Reading the Leaves
Realms of Speculative Fiction
Reviewer X
The Road Not Taken
Rob's Blog o' Stuff
Robots and Vamps
Sandstorm Reviews
ScifiChick
Sci Fi Wire
SciFiGuy
Sci-Fi Fan Letter
Sci-Fi Songs [Musical Reviews]
The Sequential Rat
Severian's Fantastic Worlds
SF Diplomat
SF Gospel
SFReader.com
SF Reviews.net
SF Revu
SF Signal
SF Site
SFF World's Book Reviews
Silver Reviews
The Specusphere
Spinebreakers
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction Junkie
Speculative Horizons
Spiral Galaxy Reviews
Spontaneous Derivation
Sporadic Book Reviews
Stella Matutina
The Sudden Curve
The Sword Review
Tangent Online
Tehani Wessely
Temple Library Reviews
Tor.com [also a publisher]
True Science Fiction
Un:Bound
Urban Fantasy Land
Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic
Variety SF
Walker of Worlds
Wanderings
Wands and Worlds
The Wertzone
With Intent to Commit Horror
WJ Fantasy Reviews
The World in a Satin Bag
WriteBlack
Young Adult Science Fiction

Foreign Language (other than English)

Cititor SF [Romanian, but with English Translation]

Elbakin.net [French]

Foundation of Krantas [Chinese (traditional)]

The SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan [Chinese (traditional) with some English essays]

Yenchin's Lair [Chinese (traditional)]

Interstellar [Danish]

Ommadawn.dk [Danish]

Scifisiden [Danish]

Aguarras [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Fernando Trevisan [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Human 2.0 [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Life and Times of a Talkative Bookworm [Brazilian, Porteguese]

Ponto De Convergencia [Brazilian, Portuguese]

pós-estranho [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Skavis [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Fantasy Seiten [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Buch [German, Deustche]

Literaturschock [German, Deustche]

Welt der fantasy [German, Deustche]

Bibliotheka Phantastika [German, Deustche]

SF Basar [German, Deustche]

Phantastick News [German, Deustche]

X-zine [German, Deustche]

Buchwum [German, Deustche]

Phantastick Couch [German, Deustche]

Wetterspitze [German, Deustche]

Fantasy News [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Faszination [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Guide [German, Deustche]

Zwergen Reich [German, Deustche]

Fiction Fantasy [German, Deustche]

Awaiting in 2009

I am looking forward to reading lots of interesting stuff in 2009. Plenty of older books I'd like to catch up on and some new releases. Here's the list of new releases I will be looking forward to this year.

1. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (April 7, 2009).
   

   The second installment in The Kingkiller Chronicle. The first book of the series, The Name of the Wind, was one of my favourite reads of 2008 and I can't wait for more adventures of Kvothe. I have also been following Patrick Rothfuss's blog and has been delighted with his love for Joss Whedon. I just hope there aren't any more delays to getting this book out. Also check out the excerpt from the new novel.

   
   


2. Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey (June 2009)
   Jacqueline Carey returns with a new book set in Terre d'Ange. There are currently two other 3-book series set in the world. The first series, starting with Kushiel's Dart follows the adventures of Phedre, a courtesan, a spy, and many others things to boot. The second series, Kushiel's Legacy, follows Phedre's adopted son. Both series are well-written, fun, and impossible to put down. I have great hopes for the new book.
   


3. The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (February 24, 2009)
   

   The third installment following the adventures of Locke Lamora, a thief who takes pleasure in stealing from the rich in inventive ways while facing dangers at every turn.

   
   


4. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison (February 24, 2009)
   This is the seventh book of The Hollows series. A fairly typical urban fantasy series following Rachel Morgan, a witch, who starts a detective agency together with a vampire Ivy. The third partner in the firm is a pixy Jenks. Other fun characters also become regulars. Despite following the urban fantasy formula, the series is a really fun read and the characters become so dear, you can't stop following their adventures.
   

Noticing how the last two books are coming out on the same data, I have already placed an amazon order for them. Can't wait to start on 2009 releases!