Print Story Books I've Read This Year 2008
Diary
By TheophileEscargot (Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 08:46:02 AM EST) Reading (all tags)
See also 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.

Breakdown:
Non-fiction 63
SF 36
Non-SF fiction 40
Comics 9



The List
Title links to my diary, author links to amazon.

Non-fiction
This includes Teaching Company audio lecture series, since they're about book-length.

  1. The Dialogues of Plato by Plato
  2. Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: (She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse) by Paul Carter
  3. The Smoking Diaries by Simon Gray
  4. London's Docks by John Pudney
  5. Age of Pericles by Jeremy McInerney
  6. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age by Jeremy McInerney
  7. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
  8. Biological Anthropology: An Evolutionary Perspective by Barbara J. King
  9. The Year of the Jouncer by Simon Gray
  10. Tolkien's Gown and Other Stories of Famous Authors and Rare Books by R.A. Gekoski
  11. Modern British Drama by Peter Saccio
  12. The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World by Carlos Fuentes
  13. The Islamist by Ed Husain
  14. Story of Human Language by John McWhorter
  15. Sociolinguistics by Peter Trudgill
  16. Panic Nation by Stanley Feldman
  17. A History of Negro Revolt by C. L. R. James
  18. Rise and Fall of Soviet Communism by Gary M. Hamburg
  19. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn
  20. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
  21. Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni
  22. Philosophy and Religion in the West by Phillip Cary
  23. Explaining Social Deviance by Paul Root Wolpe
  24. Squaddie by Steven McLaughlin
  25. Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies by Peter Saccio
  26. The Pirate Wars by Peter Earle
  27. Soul and the City: Art, Literature, and Urban Living by Arnold Weinstein
  28. The Manhattan Project: Big Science and the Atom Bomb by Jeff Hughes
  29. War, Peace, and Power: Diplomatic History of Europe, 1500-2000 by Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
  30. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Crosses the Line by Sudhir Venkatesh
  31. Great Battles of the Ancient World by Garrett G. Fagan
  32. Legacies of Great Economists by Timothy Taylor
  33. How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic by Madsen Pirie
  34. Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality by Robert Sapolsky
  35. Mind the Gap: The New Class Divide in Britain by Ferdinand Mount
  36. Conquest of the Americas by Marshall C. Eakin
  37. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
  38. Aeons: The Search for the Beginning of Time by Martin Gorst
  39. Understanding Genetics: DNA, Genes, and Their Real-World Applications by David Sadava
  40. On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler
  41. Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
  42. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
  43. The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 by David Edgerton
  44. America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and Its Enemies by George Friedman
  45. Classical Mythology by Elizabeth Vandiver
  46. Hawkwood: Diabolical Englishman by Frances Stonor Saunders
  47. Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions by Robert C. Solomon
  48. Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition by Teofilo F. Ruiz
  49. Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make-believe Violence by Gerard Jones
  50. The Chancellors' Tales: Managing the British Economy by Howard Davies
  51. History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts by Robert Bucholz
  52. The New Paradigm for Financial Markets by George Soros
  53. Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
  54. Never Eat Your Heart Out by Judith Moore
  55. Rome and the Barbarians by Kenneth W. Harl
  56. Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft by Brooks Landon
  57. Rabbit-proof Fence by Doris Pilkington
  58. The Myth of Mars and Venus by Deborah Cameron
  59. Religions of the Axial Age: An Approach to the World's Religions by Mark W. Muesse
  60. The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell
  61. How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard
  62. NHS plc by Allyson M Pollock,
  63. Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism by Shaun Nichols
SF
  1. Making Money by Terry Pratchett
  2. The Line of Polity by Neal Asher
  3. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
  4. Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
  5. The Green Millenium by Fritz Leiber
  6. The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
  7. The Book of Dave by Will Self
  8. Devices and Desires by K.J. Parker
  9. The Merchants' War by Charles Stross
  10. The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
  11. Evil for Evil by K.J. Parker
  12. The Escapement by K.J. Parker
  13. The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
  14. The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
  15. Dead Brigade by James Lovegrove
  16. Matter by Iain M. Banks
  17. World War Z by Max Brooks
  18. Shadow by K.J. Parker
  19. Pattern by K.J. Parker
  20. Memory by K.J. Parker
  21. Halting State by Charles Stross
  22. Small Favour by Jim Butcher
  23. Colours in the Steel by K.J. Parker
  24. The Belly of the Bow by K.J. Parker
  25. The Proof House by K.J. Parker
  26. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
  27. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
  28. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
  29. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
  30. Last Argument Of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
  31. Incandescence by Greg Egan
  32. Temeraire by Naomi Novik
  33. Land of the Headless by Adam Roberts
  34. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
  35. Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds
  36. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Non-SF fiction
  1. I Married a Communist by Philip Roth
  2. Baudolino by Umberto Eco
  3. The King's Last Song by Geoff Ryman
  4. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
  5. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
  6. The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian
  7. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian
  8. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
  9. Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian
  10. True Grit by Charles Portis
  11. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
  12. Hide And Seek by Ian Rankin
  13. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
  14. A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
  15. Warlock by Oakley Hall
  16. Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin
  17. Fallon by Louis L'Amour
  18. Strip Jack by Ian Rankin
  19. The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian
  20. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists by Gideon Defoe
  21. The Black Book by Ian Rankin
  22. Rivers West by Louis L'Amour
  23. The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian
  24. Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
  25. Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin
  26. The Thirteen-gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian
  27. Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
  28. Tales From Ovid by Ted Hughes
  29. The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian
  30. The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin
  31. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  32. Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O'Brian
  33. Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
  34. The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian
  35. Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin
  36. The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian
  37. The Falls by Ian Rankin
  38. Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin
  39. A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin
  40. Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin
Comics
  1. Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto
  2. Catwoman: It's Only a Movie by Will Pfeifer
  3. The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar
  4. NYC Mech: Let's Electrify by Ivan Brandon and Miles Gunter
  5. Terra Obscura by Alan Moore and Peter Hogan
  6. Tom Strong Book Seven by Michael Moorcock
  7. Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola
  8. The Plot: The Secret Story of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' by Will Eisner
  9. Shooting War by Anthony Lappe, Dan Goldman
Graphs
Non-comics overall numbers:
Non-comics overall numbers 2008

By type:
Books by type 2008

Numbers are up again. Not sure why: probably because of audiobooks, some long but light series, and I didn't do much re-reading.

I could potentially split out Teaching Company courses apart from non-fiction, but I suspect I won't keep on with many of them in the long term.

Highlights
Non-fiction
Lots of good stuff this year Playwright Simon Gray's diaries "The Smoking Diaries" and "The Year of the Jouncer": shame he died this year. "Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Crosses the Line" by Sudhir Venkatesh took a fascinating look inside the gang culture of Chicago. The Teaching Company course "Great Battles of the Ancient World" by Garrett G. Fagan was great stuff. "The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900" by David Edgerton took a nicely counterintuitive look at the creeping process of technological change. And "The Myth of Mars and Venus" Deborah Cameron deftly punctured some popular myths.

SF
A lacklustre performance from the science fiction guys left the fantasy crew to pick up the slack. "The Engineer Trilogy" by K.J. Parker was a superb, grittier and more realistic kind of fantasy. Joe Abercrombie's "First Law" trilogy was fun too. And Stephen R. Donaldson kicked the new Thomas Covenant series into high gear with "Fatal Revenant".

Charles Stross and Greg Egan: try harder next time.

Other fiction
"True Grit" by Charles Portis was both funny and brilliantly observed character study: definitely a classic.

"Tales From Ovid" by Ted Hughes isn't just a translation, but a wonderful original work of poetry in its own right.

Also trundled through a lot of the high quality "Rebus" detective novels by Ian Rankin, and got a lot further through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books.

Enoyed "I Married a Communist" by Philip Roth but ran out of love for his other books. "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing is a tough read but a deserved classic.

Comics
Read very few this year. The seventh "Tom Strong" book rounded off the series nicely, but read nothing really great in 2008.

That's all for now. See you in 2009!

< Continuing Anathem | Prop 4 >
Books I've Read This Year 2008 | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden)
You won't be reading any more books this year? by Clipper Ship (2.00 / 0) #1 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:21:58 AM EST


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Destroy All Planets

The Book Year starts in October by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #2 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:28:48 AM EST
It's a tradition or an old charter or something.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]
Gotcha by Clipper Ship (2.00 / 0) #3 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:37:33 AM EST


---------------

Destroy All Planets

[ Parent ]
Good current comics by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #4 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:49:53 AM EST
that I've been following: Criminal, Scalped and Northlanders.

Hmmm... by Vulch (4.00 / 1) #5 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:53:24 AM EST
SELECT COUNT( * ) FROM `whenread`  WHERE `when` > '2007-12-31 23:59:59'

103

Or 139 from the start of October. I'm definitely slowing down, though this year I can pin part of the blame on Platos Dialogues, Hobbes Leviathan and Lockes Two Treatises on Government which took a couple of weeks apiece.



Jesus Christ by jayhawk88 (4.00 / 2) #6 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 10:30:46 AM EST
Way to make me feel like a slack jawed, mouth-breathing, intellectual moron in 2200 words or less. And here I thought I did pretty good getting through American Gods during a trip to Orlando for a week.


Heh by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #9 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 11:48:45 AM EST
They're mostly pretty lightweight.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]
I have to say, by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #13 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 01:14:04 PM EST
This year's list felt a bit less intimidating than last year's.

That said, it may be that I've read a fair few books this week.

[ Parent ]
Shelfari by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #7 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 11:35:58 AM EST
Do you know if you can get shelfari to spit out books for arbitrary date ranges?
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[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
I don't think so by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #8 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 11:48:26 AM EST
You can export a database file, which might or might not have useful date fields.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]
hmmm by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #10 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 11:57:41 AM EST
I started tracking right about the time you did this last year, but I've put some other stuff in there too.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]
Hmmmmm^2 by Vulch (4.00 / 1) #12 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 12:40:14 PM EST
Makes a note of this sort of thing for if/when I get my booklog thing in a state that others can use it...

I need to take a very deep breath and convert the database to the improved structure I came up with, and make it lots prettier. I'm about over the awesomeness of being able to log books by pointing a webcam at the ISBN barcode on the back so it's time for the next step.



[ Parent ]
Do you own all of these? by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 1) #11 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 12:13:11 PM EST


No by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #14 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 07:42:19 PM EST
At least half were borrowed, mostly from libraries.
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]
Fuck of a lot more than I've read by nebbish (4.00 / 1) #15 Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 11:43:18 PM EST
Though I'm doing better now I've cut down on telly. Do you ever watch telly?

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!

Sometimes by TheophileEscargot (2.00 / 0) #16 Wed Oct 01, 2008 at 08:14:29 AM EST
I usually put on Dave or something when I'm having my tea. I'm not following any series' at the moment, buy I think Primeval's about to start again, or possibly has already...
--
It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?
[ Parent ]
Are you one individual only? by Tonatiuh (4.00 / 1) #17 Fri Oct 03, 2008 at 07:51:31 PM EST
Or are you a club, a battalion or any other human association?


Books I've Read This Year 2008 | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden)