Books in 2007
Dec. 29th, 2007 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleOne of my goals this year was to read 50 books. I think I made it, but I'm not sure, as I haven't kept track this year and I'm trying to remember everything I read. Let's see, looking over my LJ, I see that I have read the following:
I started the year by reading Christopher Paolini's regrettable Eragon, and Mark Smylie's excellent Artesia books (Artesia, Artesia Afield and Artesia Afire). Also, I took part in a reading of Richard III, so I think that counts, too.
More recently, I read the Undercover Economist, Pattern Recognition (by William Gibson), The Tipping Point, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier, and Cloud Atlas (which was absolutely terrific), Boarding The Enterprise (a collection of essays about Star Trek) and The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin (what a great capper to the Earthsea stories).
Earlier this year, I read a book called, I think, Voice of the Beast that L&E were chucking--a forgettable fantasy novel. I read Red Lightning and Mammoth by John Varley. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Queen & Country: Private Wars and Gentlemen's Game by Greg Rucka. The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery. A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss. Back in June, I read Coraline by Neil Gaiman, and a more charmingly creepy children's book is hard to imagine.
Back in April I read the first three Temeraire books by Naomi Novik (His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War), Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things story collection and The Measure of All Things , all of which were just excellent.
That's 30 odd books that I bothered to write down here in my LJ or that I read recently enough to remember/still have lying around. I can't document it, but I feel in my heart that I must have read another 20 books worth at the store this year. Actually, I made note of a few comics in my LJ as I went this year:
Miki Falls by Mark Crilley
Nothing Better by Tyler Page
Escapists, by Brian K. Vaughan
Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness
Macedonia by Harvey Pekar
In addition, I read a great many comics in periodical form. I mean, I read the whole World War Hulk thing as it came out (not that it was that great), so that's a book right there, and there are a number of other series that I read as they come out, such as Ex Machina, Powers, New Avengers, Speak of the Devil, Usagi Yojimbo, Countdown, and more. (Note that I read some of them for fun and some because I work in a comic book store and it's a good idea to keep up on things.) Also, there were several graphic novels that I read, too. Wire Mothers by Jim Ottaviani, for example, which was another fine history of science comic, and he did another about illusions and magic (I forget the title). I can't recall them all. But I think there's enough that I can check off the 50 Book Challenge for 2007 with a clear conscience.
So, that's one thing I got done this year.
In terms of writing a book, I didn't do so well. I did complete a piece of fan fiction that was about 15000 words, and wrote a couple of smaller pieces, too, including a few reviews for the Modern Myths blog. It's more than I wrote the previous year, so I shall congratulate myself for progress made, and set my sights higher for 2008. I hope that the writing workshop that I have joined on Wednesdays will continue to help.
I started the year by reading Christopher Paolini's regrettable Eragon, and Mark Smylie's excellent Artesia books (Artesia, Artesia Afield and Artesia Afire). Also, I took part in a reading of Richard III, so I think that counts, too.
More recently, I read the Undercover Economist, Pattern Recognition (by William Gibson), The Tipping Point, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier, and Cloud Atlas (which was absolutely terrific), Boarding The Enterprise (a collection of essays about Star Trek) and The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin (what a great capper to the Earthsea stories).
Earlier this year, I read a book called, I think, Voice of the Beast that L&E were chucking--a forgettable fantasy novel. I read Red Lightning and Mammoth by John Varley. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Queen & Country: Private Wars and Gentlemen's Game by Greg Rucka. The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery. A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss. Back in June, I read Coraline by Neil Gaiman, and a more charmingly creepy children's book is hard to imagine.
Back in April I read the first three Temeraire books by Naomi Novik (His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War), Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things story collection and The Measure of All Things , all of which were just excellent.
That's 30 odd books that I bothered to write down here in my LJ or that I read recently enough to remember/still have lying around. I can't document it, but I feel in my heart that I must have read another 20 books worth at the store this year. Actually, I made note of a few comics in my LJ as I went this year:
Miki Falls by Mark Crilley
Nothing Better by Tyler Page
Escapists, by Brian K. Vaughan
Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness
Macedonia by Harvey Pekar
In addition, I read a great many comics in periodical form. I mean, I read the whole World War Hulk thing as it came out (not that it was that great), so that's a book right there, and there are a number of other series that I read as they come out, such as Ex Machina, Powers, New Avengers, Speak of the Devil, Usagi Yojimbo, Countdown, and more. (Note that I read some of them for fun and some because I work in a comic book store and it's a good idea to keep up on things.) Also, there were several graphic novels that I read, too. Wire Mothers by Jim Ottaviani, for example, which was another fine history of science comic, and he did another about illusions and magic (I forget the title). I can't recall them all. But I think there's enough that I can check off the 50 Book Challenge for 2007 with a clear conscience.
So, that's one thing I got done this year.
In terms of writing a book, I didn't do so well. I did complete a piece of fan fiction that was about 15000 words, and wrote a couple of smaller pieces, too, including a few reviews for the Modern Myths blog. It's more than I wrote the previous year, so I shall congratulate myself for progress made, and set my sights higher for 2008. I hope that the writing workshop that I have joined on Wednesdays will continue to help.
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Date: 2007-12-30 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 03:29 am (UTC)