luneray: March 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

book update

Book #24. The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindberg, finished 19 March 2012, 450 pages

Set during the first Norse Settlement of Greenland, and based heavily on archaeological research. Told through the point of view of three women in the story: a seeress of Odin, a thrall (daughter of a captured Irish Christian), and the thrall's daughter. The pacing is a bit slow but it's not boring. Highly recommended.

Update: current total is 7437 pages out of the 10,000 page goal

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

books read in 2012

I am calling each item a book for the sake of the list. Each item has been published under the title that is listed although some are technically short stories or novellas.

Updated Goal is to read 30,000 pages of narrative, either fiction or non-fiction. Current total as of 22 May 2012: 12 691 pages

Titles in bold are ones I have especially enjoyed.

33. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, finished 21 May 2012, 753 pages
32. A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, finished 09 May 2012, 1177 pages
31. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka, finished 06 May 2012, 129 pages

30. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, finished 04 May 2012, 883 pages

29. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, finished 29 April 2012, 799 pages

28. "Weiland, or the Transformation" from American Gothic Tales, ed. Joyce Carol Oats, finished 08 April. 9 pages

27. Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants by Richard Mabey, finished 03 April, 291 pages

26. Marsbound by Joe Haldeman, finished 26 March, 226 pages

25. Plugged by Eoin Colfer, finished 21 March, 254 pages

24. The Thrall's Tale by Judith Lindberg, finished 19 March 2012, 450 pages

23. The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson, finished 14 March 2012, 259 pages

22. Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Amazing and Mysterious Fish by James Prosekk, finished 4 March 2012, 201 pages

21. The Keeper by K. Piet and S.L. Armstrong, finished 29 February 2012, 223 pages

20. Oneiros by S. L. Armstrong, finished 29 February 2012, 75 pages

19. Rachmaninoff by K. Piet and S.L. Armstrong, finished 27 February 2012, 507 pages

18. Catalyst by K. Piet and S.L. Armstrong, finished 25 February 2012, 543 pages

17. "Apples and Regret and Wasted Time" by Cornelia Grey, finished 23 February 2012, 40 pages

16. Various short stories and novellas Master Class; Sublime; Where He Belongs by Rachel Heimowitz, and "Breaking Point" by S.L. Armstrong. 333 pages combined

15. Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield, finished 19 February 2012, 224 pages

14. Anchored by Rachel Heimowitz, finished 13 February 2012, 317 pages

13. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: one man's quest for true love and a cooler haircut by Rob Sheffield, finished 07 February 2012, 205 pages

12. Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran by Andy Taylor, finished 04 February 2012, 316 pages

11. Crescendo by Rachel Heimowitz, finished 02 February 2012, 277 pages

10. Elemental Magic. Stories by Sharon Shinn, Rebecca York, Carol Berg, Jean Johnson. Finished 30 January 2012, 339 pp.

9. The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg, finished 25 January 2012, 454 pages

8. Enchanted by Nancy Madore, finished 14 January 2012, 158 pages

7. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, finished 10 January 2012, 338 pages

6. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, finished 08 January 2012, 269 pages

5. Saturn's Children by Charles Stross, finished 08 January 2012, 323 pages

4. Blackout by Connie Willis, finished 06 January 2012, 491 pages

3. My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: 40 New Fairy Tales, edited by Kate Bernheimer, finished 02 January 2012. 533 pages

2. The Flint Heart by Katherine Paterson and John Paterson, finished 01 January 2012, 288 pages

1. Machine Man by Max Barry, finished 01 January 2012. 274 pages.

Reading goal 2012

Last year, I set a goal to read 100 books and I am pleased that I completed it. Okay, to be fair, I made the goal in early December 2010 so I really had 13 months to complete the goal. I had defined a book as anything that that had been published as a separate entity and contained at least 100 pages. But after getting my Nook last year, I realized that there is a wealth of short stories and novellas available as individual titles and I wanted to be able to count these as well. Also, I admit that I shied away from some of the longer books because I was concerned that I wouldn't make my goal. (Generally, I would not consider reading any type of book detracting from an ultimate goal but last year was rough. I wanted to actually complete something meaningful.)

This year, I have decided to focus on pages of narrative. Since last year's goal was 100 books of at least 100 pages, I set this year's goal as 10,000 pages in whatever format the item comes in. Short story? Check. Novella? Check.

BTW...I really hope the popularity of the ebook readers will lead to resurgence of the novella. I LOVE the novella length. It's long enough for the author to develop complexity but short enough that the story can be read in a few hours, possibly in a single sitting. Rather like watching a movie. But novellas don't sell well in published format and the few periodicals that publish short fiction shy away from novellas because they are too long for their purposes.

Without further ado, here is this year's list so far. I am taking the page count from directly from the item itself. Some of these titles are electronic only; I don't know how many "pages" they would have if they were printed out.

And yes, some of the items on this list are titles I've read before. Maybe at the end of the year I will determine how many pages of new material versus reread are in the list. And I am only including titles that I finished.

Bolded titles represent ones I especially enjoyed.

Goal is to read 10,000 pages of narrative, either fiction or non-fiction. Current total: 6728 pages