Two years ago, I got a Kindle as a combined birthday/christmas present. It has fundamentally changed my reading patterns. I’m reading a lot more now than ever before. The Kindle nearly eliminates the friction from reading. I’ve since moved on to a Kobo Touch as my primary reader, but that’s an implementation detail: ereaders make reading easier.
Now, if the publishers can fix the pricing problems, it’ll be even better. But that’s for another post.
What I’m doing here is comparing my reading in 2010 to 2011. Number of books, sizes, etc. I’m including audio in this, as well. Also, non-fiction books are being labeled “novels” here for simplicity.
First, the big picture. In 2010, I completed 48 separate items. These break down as six audio books, 41 novels, and one shorter work.
In 2011, I completed 83 separate items. These break down as 12 audio books, 47 novels, three graphic novels, and 21 shorter works.
Obviously, everything increased in 2011. However, we all know not all novels are created equal. The Passage is a heck of a lot longer than The Colour of Magic. Yet, they count the same there. So, let’s look at lengths. As most of the reading I’ve done has been on the Kindle, I’ll use the Kindle’s locations metric as my judge of length, and duration for audio books. I’m going to ignore the graphic novels in these calculations.
Novels
| year | count | locations | average | over 10k | avg pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 41 | 220794 | 5385 | 2 | 371 |
| 2011 | 47 | 285524 | 6075 | 7 | 393 |
(Some of the books I’ve read are electronic only and don’t have page counts – they’re not included in the average pages stat.)
Audio Books
| year | count | length (HH:MM) | average (HH:MM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6 | 68:49 | 11:28 |
| 2011 | 12 | 169:18 | 14:06 |
I read more things, and longer things. This is definitely an improvement.
Including shorter works, Goodreads thinks I finished 47 things in 2010, and 71 things in 2011. (Some of the shorter works I’ve read do not have separate entries on Goodreads.) I’ve signed up for the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge at 60 items. Five per month. As I intend to read fewer shorter works in 2012, this should end up being slightly more than what I read last year. There’s a widget on the right that will show my progress throughout the year.
My previous goal of finishing off series holds. So, expect to see a lot of Honor Harrington, Miles Vorkosigan, and various Discworld personages. I’m also going to be doing Hugo voting again this year, despite my disaster in not picking a single winner last time around.
Off to 2012, let’s see where it takes me.
Progress on those unfinished series
I’ve been making a lot of headway in my goal of finishing off series I’ve started.
So far, since I first posted about the problem, I’ve caught up with or finished the following series:
- Old Man’s War
- The Clockwork Century
- The Hunger Games
- The Laundry
- The Magicians
I’m probably going to finish Westerfield’s Leviathan series next, then I’ll start something new. It’ll likely be one of The Parasol Protectorate, Tales of the Ketty Jay, or Monster Hunter International. But you know how moods are…
Best reads of 2011
This post is inspired by another “Best Reads of 2011″ post, and I thought it was a good idea. What follows are the ten best books I read (or listened to) in 2011. I don’t do re-reads, so all these were first-time experiences. (As of right now, I’ve got 63 entries on Goodreads that I completed in 2011, so ten is a pretty good sampling.) This listing is in the order I finished them.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
(Audio) The stunning story of Louis Zamperini, former Olympic runner turned WWII airman. This book will stretch what you believed the limits of human endurance to be. Recommended to everyone, not just WWII buffs.
The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
One of the best examinations of what might happen when humans finally encounter another intelligent species out in space. While “shoot first” is brought up, it’s not wholly discounted, and the drawbacks of secrecy play a major part. A very engaging story.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
You could almost look at this as a religious parody. It does, however, force you to look at how much we really know about prior civilizations. The conclusions drawn about the meanings of pre-apocalyptic artifacts sometimes nearly cause you to laugh out loud until you consider the downstream effects those conclusions cause. Then it almost becomes chilling.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
After his parents are murdered, Nobody Owens (known as Bod) is raised in a graveyard by the ghosts. Oh, and a guardian that doesn’t seem to belong to either the world of the living OR the world of the dead. That, and a mysterious man named Jack, the murderer of his parents, is out there waiting for Bod should he ever leave the graveyard. Imaginative, adventurous, and magical. A must read.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
You could also call this “The Autobiography of Kvothe, volume 1.” The near-mythical Kvothe tells his tale to a chronicler. And, oh what a tale it is. The best epic fantasy since The Song of Ice and Fire.
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Another examination of what might happen when humans discover another intelligent species. Two catches in this one. First, humans have been exploring space for centuries, and this is the first non-human intelligent species they’ve discovered. The also happen to be just at the point of discovering space travel. Second, the species’ closest earth analog are spiders. BIG spiders. Oh, did I mention that this discovery is made by two separate human factions essentially at war with each other, and this war exhausts their resources to the point they’re stranded in orbit around the alien planet. A deep, rewarding read.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
The book from which Bladerunner was created. As good as the movie is, the book’s better. ’nuff said.
The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
(Audio) This series delves into interactions between the devine, semi-devine, and mortal in ways no other fantasy series does to my knowledge. What does “love” mean to a nearly-immortal godling used to seeing humans die all the time? I voted in the Hugos for the first book in this series as best novel, and I think the second book’s better.
Ganymede by Cherie Priest
The Clockwork Century is about the best Steampunk out there, and Ganymede is the best of that series. It ties together many of the characters you’ve met in the first three stories in ways that make complete sense. A fun adventure on top of all that. Mostly set around New Orleans, with bits in Seattle.
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
(Audio) This series (of which The Magician King is book 2) has been called “Harry Potter for adults” and that’s not far off the mark. It can be a bit depressing, and Julia is a true tragic figure, but after having gone through the first book and 90% of the second, the ending to book 2 comes as a huge twist. I can only imagine the long term effects coming in book 3. (Which, sadly, isn’t even written yet let alone published.)
User purge
To the small number of actual, authentic, users on here: I’m deleting your account. I apologize for this, but I’m currently being it with a huge wave of spam posts. (Over 300 per day. My filters are catching them, but it’s pointing to a problem with how I have the user/comment system structured.)
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
About those unfinished series…
…I’ve been making good headway since I last posted.
I’ve read Ganymede, Sourcery, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. I’m also about 3/4 through The Magician King. (Damn, listening to the chapters on Julia’s backstory is depressing. And I thought Quentin was bad…)
Also, Ganymede might be the best of the Clockwork Century books. Cherie Priest is developing that world into a real delight.
So, I’ve caught up on Clockwork Century, finished The Hunger Games, and am nearly caught up on The Magicians. I’ve put up a new page that details my progress on all the series I’ve started since the beginning of 2010. (Which, of course, means A Song of Ice and Fire isn’t listed there. Just assume I suck down each book when they finally appear.)
I’ll keep it updated whenever a change is required. Completed series that the author has finished will disappear from the page after an update or two.
I’m in short/quick reading mode at the moment, so the epic fantasy/sci-fi stuff is probably going to have to wait for a bit. And Children of the Sky is DEFINITELY waiting until the horrible ebook price comes down. At the rate I read, I _might_ have this list completed by mid-2013 or so. Except for the new series I start by then…
