2008 Books, second half

[stoutfellow]

Summary for the year: 127 books read (24 nonfiction, 71 new fiction, 31 rereads, 1 reference). The total is up from 112 last year, but nonfiction was down from 30. I did a ton of rereading, bingeing on Bujold, Powers, and Tolkien; the haul of books I picked up at Denvention added to the new-fiction total (up from 61). The details are under the cut, for anyone who's interested.

Fiction (58)
SF/F (49): Robert Asprin, Myth-ion Improbable; James Blaylock, The Stone Giant; Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free*, Shards of Honor*, Barrayar*, The Warrior's Apprentice*, The Vor Game*, Cetaganda*, Borders of Infinity*, Brothers in Arms*, Mirror Dance*; Jim Butcher, Summer Knight, Cursor's Fury, Death Masks, Captain's Fury; James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion; Joy Chant, When Voiha Wakes; Hal Clement, The Nitrogen Fix; Avram Davidson, Ursus of Ultima Thule, Peregrine: Primus; Robert Heinlein, Assignment in Eternity*; William Hope Hodgson, The Night Land and Other Perilous Romances; Ursula Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven; Jane Lindskold, Wolf's Blood; Julian May, The Many-Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King, The Adversary; R. M. Meluch, The Sagittarius Command; C. L. Moore, Northwest Smith; Andre Norton, Star Guard, Star Gate; Naomi Novik, Throne of Jade; Tim Powers, The Drawing of the Dark*, The Anubis Gates*, On Stranger Tides*, Dinner at Deviant's Palace*, The Stress of Her Regard*, Last Call*, Three Days to Never; Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Bomb; Neil Stephenson, The System of the World; S. M. Stirling, The Protector's War; Somtow Sucharitkul, The Aquiliad; Ian Wallace, Dr. Orpheus; Jo Walton, Farthing; David Weber, Flag in Exile, Honor Among Enemies; Jack Williamson, Darker Than You Think

Mystery (2): Janet Evanovich, Hot Six, Seven Up

Graphic Works (6): Phil & Kaja Foglio, Agatha Heterodyne and the Voice of the Castle; Kazuo Koike, Lone Wolf and Cub 1; Howard Tayler, The Tub of Happiness, Under New Management, The Blackness Between, The Teraport Wars

Other (1): Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat*

Nonfiction (14)
History and Social Sciences (5): Thomas Burns, A History of the Ostrogoths; Bethine Church, A Lifelong Affair; Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America; Kevin Phillips, The Cousins' Wars; Charles C. Mann, 1491

Language (2): Guy Deutscher, The Unfolding of Language; Geoffrey Nunberg, Going Nucular

Mathematics and Sciences (5): John Conway, The Sensual Quadratic Form, The Symmetries of Things, (with Richard Guy) The Book of Numbers; Donal O'Shea, The Poincaré Conjecture; Simon Singh, Fermat's Enigma

Miscellaneous (2): Bill James, Historical Baseball Abstract; Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian

Comments

[subcreator.livejournal.com]

Wow, that’s cool. I wish I could read faster.

Thanks - Peter

[nlbarber]

I've read 17 of your list, with several more sitting around on various TBR piles. It helps that you list re-reads so we overlap on all the Bujold, for instance.

[filkferengi]

What did you think of Lindskold's Wolf series? I quite enjoyed it--a large, complex cast, fairly well developed.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Well, given that I've stuck with the series through six volumes, I can't deny liking it. It doesn't really engage my sensawunda, but on the psychological and social level it's pretty good. She's discussed a number of sharply different cultures reasonably sympathetically, which is always a plus for me. And, as you say, she's introduced quite a few well-developed characters. (I have to admit that the one who intrigues me the most is Truth. I'm not sure why....)

[filkferengi]

Well, isn't seeking after Truth rather your lifelong quest?

;)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

:-P