Reading List 2004: Not-quite-50-book-challenge

[triadruid]

Since it's now 2005 (when did that happen!?!), I thought I'd post the books I ended up reading this year. I wasn't consciously aiming for the 50bookchallenge and I certainly didn't make it, as busy as this year has been. Of course, some of these books are as thick as three or four regular books, so maybe 28 isn't so bad after all.

Legend:
bold means I've finished it
italics means I'm still working on it
Strikethrough text means I abandoned it.
* means I've read it before.

For fun, I put rankings after them in parentheses, 1-10 with 10 being highest.

1. Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! trilogy (4.5 - discussed this already)
   
2. Robert Jordan, New Spring (7.5 - expanded well on the novella)
   
3. Stephen King, The Gunslinger* (7.5 - better in this revised edition)
   
4. Stephen King, The Drawing of the Three* (8)
   
5. Stephen King, The Waste Lands* (8)
   
6. Stephen King, Wizard and Glass* (7.5)
   
7. Stephen King, Wolves of the Calla (7 - possibly the weakest book in the series in my mind)
   
8. Laurel K. Hamilton, A Kiss of Shadows* (8.5)
   
9. Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan (3 - I gave up on this one finally after several months of only being able to read 3 pages of florid prose a night)
   
10. Laurel K. Hamilton, A Caress of Twilight (7.5 - Mmmmmm, Celtic faery smut)
    
11. Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (7.5 - knocked a 'SF classic' off the list)
    
12. Laurel K. Hamilton, Seduced By Moonlight (8)
    
13. Richard Bachman, The Regulators (8 - great pacing)
    
14. Stephen King, Desperation (8.5 - supposedly independent, but easier to read *after* Regulators)
    
15. George R. R. Martin & Lisa Tuttle, Windhaven (3.5 - returned to library in disgust)
    
16. David R. Palmer, Threshold* (6 - this did not age very well)
    
17. Margaret Wander Bonanno, Preternatural (8 - fecking weird Star Trek spoof!)
    
18. Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis (6.5-7.5 depending on the story)
    
19. Michael Crighton, Prey (6)
    
20. David Ivan Holmes, O Dawn Arise (2.5 - only finished it because it was short and I was on vacation)
    
21. Robert Anton Wilson, Reality is What You Can Get Away With (7)
    
22. Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity (7)
    
23. Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain* (8)
    
24. Christian J. Guyonvarc'h, The Making of a Druid: Hidden Teachings from The Colloquy of Two Sages (7.5 - look, non-fiction!)
    
25. Laurel K. Hamilton, Guilty Pleasures (6.5 - voodoun/vampire smut, not as compelling)
    
26. Stephen King, Song of Susannah (8.5)
    
27. Stephen King, The Dark Tower (8.75 - ended on a high note despite the potential for lameness)
    
28. Laurel K. Hamilton, The Laughing Corpse (6 - which is about all I need to read of that series)
    
29. Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory (8.5)

• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings* (7.5 so far...he DOES ramble a lot)
  
• Various Artists, Isaac Asimov's Faeries (7-8 so far, depending on the story)
  
• Alexi Kondratiev, The Apple Branch (really, I didn't get anywhere further on this in 2004 I don't think)
  
• William Goldman, The Princess Bride (7.5 so far, at least...the Good Parts version indeed!)

For 2005, I'd like to hit a bit more NF if it strikes my eye, including some of the stuff on the Dedicant's Program list...

Comments

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

Only thing I have to mention is that Tolkien cannot even vaguely seem to ramble if you read Jordan.

Different problems

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Ehhh...I'd say that Tolkien rambles (and perhaps waxes eloquent); Stephen King spouts off, but R. Jordan digresses.

Re: Different problems

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

Ah well then, that's a different horse all together. I'd agree Tolkien waxes eloquent while making up 7 syllable names, King spouts while including bodily functions or juices, and Jordan digresses into everything while explaining why women/men just don't get something about men/women.

Re: Different problems

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Fair enough.

[brandy22kc.livejournal.com]

you like steven king great you ever read langlers (sp)??

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really liked the Langoliers story...

[cameellie.livejournal.com]

I read the Princess Bride and it seemed much too taken with itself. This is one rare instance where I prefered the movie.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

featherynscale will probably poke me ruthlessly about this, but I'm really enjoying the meta-story Golding includes in explaining why he had to abridge the original. I'm only getting started really (up to about the point where Humperdink meets Buttercup), but it's been fun so far. Of course, it's a *lot* lighter than a lot of the stuff I've read this last year, which may account for parts of my delight.

And, I really liked the movie.

I hate to do it when you're expecting it, but what the hell.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Holy pierced pedestrians, Batman! We like the same part of the same book? I'm sure it must not be for the same reason -- surely if that were the case, the universe would have imploded by now.

Re: I hate to do it when you're expecting it, but what the hell.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Well, do we flip a coin to see who reveals their reasons first?

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

Golding is genious.