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[Vector]

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[Vector]

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[Arx]

Spoiler: 68/52 (click to show/hide)

The Rivan Codex - David & Leigh Eddings (Enlightening if you haven't read Belgarath the Sorceror)
Across the Wall - Garth Nix (Good anthology)
Asimov: The Complete Short Stories, Volume 2 - Isaac Asimov (duh)
Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Very LotR derivative)
Elfstones of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Better than the first one)
Wishsong - Terry Brooks (On a par with the second one)
Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss ("Why doesn't the Apostrophe Protection Society have a military wing?")
Robot Visions - Isaac Asimov
First King of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Too similar to the others to be very good)
Talon of the Silver Hawk - Raymond E. Feist (Good, if you like Feist's style)
The Door Within - Wayne Thomas Batson (Yikes. Never again.)
Scions of Shannara - Terry Brooks (See previous TB comment)
Beyond the Stars - Isaac Asimov (The Hugo Winners Anthology)
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss (Very good. Read the first one first, obviously.)
The Druid of Shannara - Terry Brooks (See prev. TB comment)
The Elf Queen of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Ditto)
The Talismans of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Ditto)
The Winds of Change - Isaac Asimov
Armageddon's Children - Terry Brooks (Very different, very good)
The Edge of the World - Kevin J. Anderson (Interesting slightly political low fantasy)
Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson ("Fourth" book in the Mistborn series, quite western-style)
Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson (Well written, good book)
The Elves of Cintra - Terry Brooks (Continued creativity. Not quite as good as Armageddon's Children)
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov/Robert Silverberg (Silverberg's style clashes horribly with Asimov's)
Dune - Frank Herbert (reread, but last read in ~2010) (Obviously, very good)
Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson (Pretty good political sci-fi)
King of Foxes - Raymond E. Feist (The ending was terrible.)
The Gypsy Morph - Terry Brooks (Spoiler: Wow, he kills off a lot of characters. Quite a shift.)
A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson (SPAAACE OPERAAAAAAAAA)
Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson (Spoiler: In which everything goes to hell.)
Kim - Rudyard Kipling (A classic for a reason.)
Railsea - China Mieville (I was angry about the ampersands until they were explained)
Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson (Someone actually competent managed a major task!)
Iron Council - China Mieville (Suddenly, homosexuals. That aside, much darker than Railsea)
Running with the Demon - Terry Brooks (Brooks actually does one of the most plausible apocalypse scenarios I've ever read)
Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson (In which people actually manage to do stuff.)
A Knight of the Word - Terry Brooks (Angst angst angst)
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind (Quite good)
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (My word that was ever so terribly depressing)
Stone of Tears - Terry Goodkind (I think the trick is that you're never quite sure what's going to happen.)
The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan (Taking a six month break in the middle of the series was a bad idea)
Blood of the Fold - Terry Goodkind (The series doesn't degenerate, which is good)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding (Meh. I didn't really find it that good.)
Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan (I'd totally buy an entire book purely about Mat)
The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson (Finally finished!)
Temple of the Winds - Terry Goodkind (Series is slowly sliding towards repetitivity)
Die Shack - William P. Young (Afrikaans translation of English book; eh-interesting?)
A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan (The title made me think Game of Thrones.)
Soul of the Fire - Terry Goodkind (Now he's just milking the series.)
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan (Reread, after forever.)
Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan (Final scene could be out of an RTS campaign. Objective: Protect al'Thor for 30 minutes)
A Darkness Forged in Fire - Something Evans (I want to like it, but the writing's far from perfect.)
A sinless season - Damon Galgut (One of those edgy modern books about gay rape and boys killing each other in a reformatory)
Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan (Prediction based on foreshadowing: Mat goes blind but can see through some other means. I wonder if I'm right)
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (The writing was better than I expected, but I can't say I enjoyed it.)
Disgrace - JM Coetzee (It was interesting. Lots of subtle themes.)
Worm - Wildbowpig (Better than most books I've read this year. Also, fifteen normal books long.)
Lords of the Bow - Conn Iggulden (Eh, it wasn't bad. It's almost impossible to sympathise with anyone, though.)

I'm just calling Worm fifteen books, since the imprecise count was bothering me.

Also, bearing down on two months later, I finally finish another book. Go me.

[Vector]

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[Tiruin]

Psychology \o/

PTW/Notify, hopefully I get time to finish books/novels. ._.

[Silthuri]

I... I think I've only finished one single book this year...

I simply must join this next year! My love for reading must be rekindled! And maybe my love for writing will be a thing again too...

PTW by the way.

[Sappho]

Well I didn't set out to read 52 books this year, but then I got a kindle and started reading about 2 books a week. So here's my list so far:

1. This Book Is Full Of Spiders (David Wong)
2. The Butlerian Jihad (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
3. The Machine Crusade (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
4. The Battle of Corrin (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
5. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
6. The Divine Invasion (Philip K. Dick)
7. The Variable Man (Philip K. Dick)
8. VALIS (Philip K. Dick)
9. Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams)
10. I Am Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
11. Good Omens (Terry Pratchett)
12. The Long Dark Tea-Time Of the Soul (Douglas Adams)
13. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
14. Star Trek: Invasion Book I: First Strike (Diane Carey)
15. The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
16. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick) ***
17. The Restaurant At the End Of the Universe (Douglas Adams)
18. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldtritch (Philip K. Dick)
19. Life, the Universe, and Everything (Douglas Adams)
20. The Big Trip Up Yonder (Kurt Vonnegut)
21. House Atreides (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
22. House Harkonnen (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
23. The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson) ***
24. Guards! Guards! (Terry Pratchett)
25. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (Douglas Adams)
26. Eric (Terry Pratchett)
27. Moving Pictures (Terry Pratchett)
28. Mostly Harmless (Douglas Adams)
29. Born to Run (Christpher McDougall) ***
30. Last Chance to See (Douglas Adams,  Mark Carwardine) ***
31. Musicophelia (Oliver Sacks)
32. Reaper Man (Terry Pratchett)
33. Witches Abroad (Terry Pratchett)
34. The Minority Report (Philip K. Dick)
35. Utopia (Sir Thomas More)
36. Interworld (Neil Gaiman, Michael Reeves)
37. John Dies At the End (David Wong)
38. A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L'Engle)
39. The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov)
40. House Corrino (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
41. Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
42. Sisterhood of Dune (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
43. Mentats of Dune (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
44. Dune (Frank Herbert)
45. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (Nancy Farmer)
46. Paul of Dune (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
47. Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert)
48. The Winds of Dune (Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson)
49. The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) ***
50. Children of Dune (Frank Herbert)
51. The Dispossessed (Ursula K. LeGuin) ***
52. The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. LeGuin) ***

The starred books are my top choices for this year. The last one, The Left Hand of Darkness, actually made me cry, and it is rare for a book to do that, especially considering I often read on a crowded tram or train.

Now, to get back to trying to catch up on my books of the month...

[Arx]

Spoiler: 69/52 (click to show/hide)

The Rivan Codex - David & Leigh Eddings (Enlightening if you haven't read Belgarath the Sorceror)
Across the Wall - Garth Nix (Good anthology)
Asimov: The Complete Short Stories, Volume 2 - Isaac Asimov (duh)
Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Very LotR derivative)
Elfstones of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Better than the first one)
Wishsong - Terry Brooks (On a par with the second one)
Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss ("Why doesn't the Apostrophe Protection Society have a military wing?")
Robot Visions - Isaac Asimov
First King of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Too similar to the others to be very good)
Talon of the Silver Hawk - Raymond E. Feist (Good, if you like Feist's style)
The Door Within - Wayne Thomas Batson (Yikes. Never again.)
Scions of Shannara - Terry Brooks (See previous TB comment)
Beyond the Stars - Isaac Asimov (The Hugo Winners Anthology)
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss (Very good. Read the first one first, obviously.)
The Druid of Shannara - Terry Brooks (See prev. TB comment)
The Elf Queen of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Ditto)
The Talismans of Shannara - Terry Brooks (Ditto)
The Winds of Change - Isaac Asimov
Armageddon's Children - Terry Brooks (Very different, very good)
The Edge of the World - Kevin J. Anderson (Interesting slightly political low fantasy)
Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson ("Fourth" book in the Mistborn series, quite western-style)
Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson (Well written, good book)
The Elves of Cintra - Terry Brooks (Continued creativity. Not quite as good as Armageddon's Children)
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov/Robert Silverberg (Silverberg's style clashes horribly with Asimov's)
Dune - Frank Herbert (reread, but last read in ~2010) (Obviously, very good)
Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson (Pretty good political sci-fi)
King of Foxes - Raymond E. Feist (The ending was terrible.)
The Gypsy Morph - Terry Brooks (Spoiler: Wow, he kills off a lot of characters. Quite a shift.)
A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson (SPAAACE OPERAAAAAAAAA)
Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson (Spoiler: In which everything goes to hell.)
Kim - Rudyard Kipling (A classic for a reason.)
Railsea - China Mieville (I was angry about the ampersands until they were explained)
Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson (Someone actually competent managed a major task!)
Iron Council - China Mieville (Suddenly, homosexuals. That aside, much darker than Railsea)
Running with the Demon - Terry Brooks (Brooks actually does one of the most plausible apocalypse scenarios I've ever read)
Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson (In which people actually manage to do stuff.)
A Knight of the Word - Terry Brooks (Angst angst angst)
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind (Quite good)
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (My word that was ever so terribly depressing)
Stone of Tears - Terry Goodkind (I think the trick is that you're never quite sure what's going to happen.)
The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan (Taking a six month break in the middle of the series was a bad idea)
Blood of the Fold - Terry Goodkind (The series doesn't degenerate, which is good)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding (Meh. I didn't really find it that good.)
Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan (I'd totally buy an entire book purely about Mat)
The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson (Finally finished!)
Temple of the Winds - Terry Goodkind (Series is slowly sliding towards repetitivity)
Die Shack - William P. Young (Afrikaans translation of English book; eh-interesting?)
A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan (The title made me think Game of Thrones.)
Soul of the Fire - Terry Goodkind (Now he's just milking the series.)
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan (Reread, after forever.)
Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan (Final scene could be out of an RTS campaign. Objective: Protect al'Thor for 30 minutes)
A Darkness Forged in Fire - Something Evans (I want to like it, but the writing's far from perfect.)
A sinless season - Damon Galgut (One of those edgy modern books about gay rape and boys killing each other in a reformatory)
Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan (Prediction based on foreshadowing: Mat goes blind but can see through some other means. I wonder if I'm right)
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (The writing was better than I expected, but I can't say I enjoyed it.)
Disgrace - JM Coetzee (It was interesting. Lots of subtle themes.)
Worm - Wildbowpig (Better than most books I've read this year. Also, fifteen normal books long.)
Lords of the Bow - Conn Iggulden (Eh, it wasn't bad. It's almost impossible to sympathise with anyone, though.)
Winterbirth - Brian Ruckley (I really loved this. Very interesting spin on magic and races, never seen anything like it before.)

[lemon10]

Just read Worm over the past two weeks. Damn it was good. The characters development was good, the villains were strong, I didn't see any plotholes at all, and everything fit together great. And almost as importantly, none of the enemies suddenly got a massive nerf so that the heroes could kill them. And just as importantly the fights were great fun. I really liked quite a few of the themes in the work as well.

Spoiler: Major (transparent) spoilers yo, don't read if you haven't read. (click to show/hide)

I really liked how strong Scion and the endbringers were. They made them super strong, and made it realistic that they didn't curbstomp humanity instantly. And how alien Scion was, so inhuman and fundamentally unbeatable. Obviously they did beat him, but only because he gave up in the end, if his mate hadn't died, even if they had amassed a thousand times as much power as they did, I have little doubt they would have lost without even a single chance of victory, their loss would have been computed before they would even have begun.

The interplay in the lore made it amazing as well, the passengers subtly influencing people, how the powers were purposefully weakened to avoid powers that could end the world, how the powers weren't magic and were well explained, ect.

Also, some WMG on my part. It seems awfully suspicious that Scion's partner died after encountering that other entity (the other giant crystal she communicated with), despite all the powers she had, including precognition, near invincibility (even after falling to earth like that she was only vulnerable for a very short time to someone with the powers of near perfect precognition). I think that the other entity killed her, plotted out her death, and influenced actions (giving her a shard virus that she couldn't detect? mucking with her ability to see the future?) fixing the future so that she would die.

[hector13]

Just came across this just now. How did everyone do?

I couldn't read 52 books in a year, personally. I don't know if this is because of me, or the books that I read just not really holding my attention that well. I've managed to plow through two reasonably hefty books in a day, once, but that's just because they were superb books.

[Vector]

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[Vector]

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[Vector]

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[MaximumZero]

Holy shit, Vector. Where do you find the time?

[Vector]

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