What you want to read this year - Totals and specifics

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SilentRoamer

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« on: January 13, 2015, 03:49:39 pm »
Ok so with it being a New Year I wanted to start a year long topic (besides my collated purchases thread)

So would like you to post your personal reading targets:

How many books do you want to read?
Any specific books you want to read?
Any re-reads?

Personally I am going for 20 books in total this year which is quite low considering in my younger days I could read 1-2 decent sized novels a week... alas family and work commitments do not allow this as a sustainable reading level so I have lowered it to 20.

I will post individual reading targets on the next post and keep this updated if anyone is interested.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2015, 02:58:48 pm by SilentRoamer »

SilentRoamer

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« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2015, 03:50:39 pm »
-----Board targets: Totals and Specifics-----

SilentRoamer
Totals: 20/20 + 1 short
Specifics:
H. G. Wells - War of the Worlds - Read 20/01/2014.
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Heirs of the Blade - Read 27/05/2015.
Susannah Clarke - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - In progress
Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon - Read 14/01/2015.
Frank Herbert: Dune - Read 13/02/2015. Dune Messiah - Read 21/02/2015 Children of Dune - Read 20/03/2015
Dan Simmons: Endymion Duology
Hugh Howey: Wool
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian or The Road - Read 05/08/2015
R. Scott Bakker: TUC
Joe Abercrombie: First Law and/or Shattered Sea Trilogy. The Blade Itself - Read 27/03/2015 Before They Are Hanged - Read 06/04/2015 Half A King - Read 16/04/2015 The Last Argument of Kings - Read 23/06/2015
Books not on my list:
Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination - Read 11/04/2015.
Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker - Read 01/05/2015.
E. M. Forster: The Machine Stops - Read 01/05/2015.
Isaac Asimov: The Stars Like Dust - Read 22/07/2015.
James. S. A. Corey: Leaviathan Wakes - Read 24/08/2015.
Joe Haldeman: The Forever War - Read 29/08/2015.
Timothy Zahn: Heir to the Empire - Read 22/09/2015. Dark Force Rising Read 23/10/2015. The Last Command Read 21/11/2015.
Jo Zebedee: Inish Carraig - Read 27/11/2015.

-Francis Buck-
Totals: Not specified.
Specifics:
J.R.R. Tolkien - LotR trilogy straight through.
William Gibson: Neuromancer.
More Peter Watts.
At least one of the last few Cormac McCarthy books not read yet.
Books not on list:
William Shakespeare: Macbeth - Read 23/07/2015

-Wilshire-
Totals: 12/10
Specifics:
Steven Erikson: Complete Malazan. House of Chains - Read 20/04/2015 Midnight Tides - Read 26/08/2015 Bonehunters - Read 14/09/2015 Reaper's Gale - Read 23/09/2015 Toll the Hounds - Read 14/10/2015
R. Scott Bakker: TUC
Books not on list:
Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell - Read 02/03/2015
Arthur C. Clarke: Space Odyssey: 2001 - Read 26/05/2015
Isaac Asimov: The Gods Themselves - Read 26/05/2015
Philip K. Dick: Divine Invasion - Read
Andy Weir: The Martian Read 27/10/2015
R. Scott Bakker: The Darkness that Comes Before Read 16/12/2015
Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind Read 28/12/2015

-Garet Jax-
Totals: 8/10 - Revised target from 5! - New BHAG of 10!
Specifics: Would like to read:
Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation - Read
Steven Erikson: Deadhouse Gates - Read
Would like to start and finish:
Steven Erikson: Memories of Ice - Read
Steven Erikson : House of Chains - Read 28/02/2015
Marc Seifer: Wizard, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius
Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself - Read 04/03/2015
Frank Herbert: Dune: Messiah, Dune: Children of Dune, Dune: God Emperor of Dune, Dune: Heretics of Dune, Dune: Chapterhouse.
Would like to start:
Dan Simmons: Hyperion
More stories from Swords from the West: Harold Lamb,
R. Scott Bakker: TUC
James Corey: Leviathan Wakes - Re-Read 25/09/2015 Calibans War - Read 01/10/2015
Peter V. Brett: Skull Throne - Re-Read 03/11/2015

-Royce-
Totals: Not specified.
Specifics:
Well, I will also stick to Malazan this year. Those 7.5 books will cover my fiction reading, as I always read non fiction on alongside fiction. On the non fiction side I have two big tomes by Carl Jung and an even bigger tome by Oswald Spengler. When I get through those I will hopefully get around to read "The basic Bakunin" which is a work that covers many of his theories and speeches(Anarchism).
Paul Kearney: Monarchies of God - Read 22/09/2015

-Camlost-
Totals: 6/10
Specifics:
J.R.R. Tolkien: Unfinished Tales
Joe Abercrombie: Best Served Cold
George R. Martin: A Dance with Dragons
Mark Lawrence: Prince of Thorns - Read King of Thorns - Read Emperor of Thorns - Read
Richard Morgan: The Dark Defiles
Steven Erikson and maybe so Esslemont novels: The Crippled God
Olaf Stapledon: Last and First Men
Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time
Simon Price and Peter Thonemann: The Birth of Classical Europe
Also has two enormous tomes of Lovecraft and Poe short stories I'll be digging through
Possible Dune
Books not on list:
Edited by Jeff Van Dermeer: Fast Ships, Black Sails - Read
Patrick Rothfuss: The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Read
Dan Simmons: Hyperion - Read 05/06/2015

-Alia-
Totals:
Specifics:
Scott Lynch: Republic of Theives
Roger Zelazny: The Corwin Cycle - Read
Scott Lynch: Republic of Thieves - Read 27/12/2015
Other untranslated works

-H-
Totals: 9/7
John M. Hamilton: Light - Read.
Ian Tregillis: The Mechanical - Read.
Niccolò Machiavelli: The Prince - Currently reading
Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities - Read 03/09/2015
N. K. Jemison: The Fifth Season - Read 11/09/2015
Peter Watts: Blindsight - Read 16/09/2015
Peter Watts: Echopraxia - Read 21/09/2015
James Corey: Leviathan Wakes - Re-Read 02/10/2015 Caliban's War Read 14/10/2015

-Mr. Ganandorf-
Totals: None given
Andreas Eschbach: Lord of All Things: one of those scifi books that gets filed in the 'Lit' section. perhaps a bit slow, chronicle of a complicated relationship between a French woman and a Japanese/American man.  includes magic, nanobots, aliens, ancient mysteries, the Devil's Island, and an ending that would make an Inchoroi smile.  was a really good, tragic book. - Read
Laline Paull:The Bees: 1984 for bees, but that's how they like it.  some interesting chivalry stuff imported into the story BUT the author really tries really hard not to over-humanizing the bees.  lots of descriptions involve scent. - Read
Andy Weir: The Martian: MacGuyver on the Red Rock. Very fun. - Read
Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: pov of an autistic boy trying to solve the mystery of a dog's death.  author seems to have done a ton of research for what it's like to see the world this way. - Read
Herman Koch: The Dinner: fancy eating parallels increasing distressing acts of violence, can recommend. - Read
Scott Hawkins: Library at Mount Char: a really different kind of fantasy set in the present and really disconnected from other trends, i think.  the most powerful person in the world is missing and his proteges are dealing with it, falls a bit slack at the end, but was well worth it. - Read
Luke Smitherd: The Stone Man Read
Rob Dircks: Where the Hell is Tesla Read
Wicked Read
A Confederacy of Dunces Read
Pippi Longstocking Read
Walter Miller: A Canticle for Leibowitz Read
Red Rising and Golden Son Read
« Last Edit: December 30, 2015, 01:00:37 pm by SilentRoamer »

Garet Jax

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« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2015, 05:17:04 pm »
Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon



I recommend FfA very highly.

I like this idea, I will try to participate.

Francis Buck

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« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2015, 06:45:08 pm »
LotR trilogy straight through.

Neuromancer.

More Peter Watts stuff.

At least one of the last few Cormac McCarthy books I haven't read yet.

A shitload of other stuff I probably won't get to, and random things I had no idea I'd end up reading.


SilentRoamer

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« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2015, 08:11:15 pm »
Ah FB you reminded me.

I must read some Cormac McCarthy this year after reading so much discussion about his writing style. Would you fine folks reccomend Blood Meridian, NCFOM, The Road or another novel I am not familiar with? FB you seem to have read him well.
:)

Francis Buck

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« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2015, 08:51:04 pm »
No Country For Old Men is my favorite of his, and by far his most accessible. That being said, Blood Meridian is, in my opinion, required reading for fans of TSA. You'll see many, many parallels and more than a few direct inspirations from that series. It's also considered an American classic, so there's that :P.

I'd go with Blood Meridian first, then NCFOM. They're quite different stylistically. Blood Meridian has a very archaic, Biblical feel to it. It's not an easy read. NCFOM is more like a semi-modern thriller, but executed with a level of mastery and craft rarely seen in that genre.

The Road is my third-in-line suggestion. If you liked either BM or NCFOM, you will probably like The Road.

Wilshire

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« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2015, 04:07:39 am »
What remains to me of malazn, so 7. And TUC  as it come, so 1 or 2.

Mark me down for a 10. I might make 1 book per 5 weeks.
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Francis Buck

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« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2015, 10:59:16 pm »
I suppose I should add that I'd also like to read a lot more non-fiction, particularly science stuff. Mostly things related to space, cosmology, particle physics, and philosophy of the mind.

Oh, and biology. That one in particular, perhaps.

SilentRoamer

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« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2015, 09:25:39 am »
I have read quite a few Cosmology and Physics papers/books - specifically around Black Hole mechanics (non rotating Kerr metrics) and early Big Bang "theories".

I really like some of the Ashtekar papers on LQG and "bounce" theories and Steven Weinbergs First Three Minutes is a nice accessible paper.

Not really read anything in the Biology field.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2015, 11:08:04 am by SilentRoamer »

Royce

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« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2015, 01:43:36 pm »
Well, I will also stick to Malazan this year. Those 7.5 books will cover my fiction reading, as I always read non fiction on alongside fiction. On the non fiction side I have two big tomes by Carl Jung and an even bigger tome by Oswald Spengler. When I get through those I will hopefully get around to read "The basic Bakunin" which is a work that covers many of his theories and speeches(Anarchism).

Garet Jax

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« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2015, 01:45:27 pm »
and philosophy of the mind.

I would recommend "The Physics Of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind And The Meaning Of Life" by Evan Harris Walker

Good stuff in there.

Garet Jax

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« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2015, 01:54:31 pm »
I will probably only get around to reading 4 or 5 books this year.

I would like to finish:
Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson

Hopefully by the end of the year I can start and finish:
Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson
House of Chains - Steven Erikson
Wizard, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius - Marc Seifer

Couple others I would like to get to:
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
More stories from "Swords from the West" - Harold Lamb
TUC?

Garet Jax

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« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2015, 04:22:55 am »
So I have finished:


Second Fondation;  Decent ending to a good "trilogy". I must say that the first book was the best of the three in my opinion.


Deadhouse Gates:  Great book.  Erikson really ironed out the couple issues that I had with his writing while I was reading GotM.


Memories of Ice:  Yet another good showing for Erikson.  Although, I preferred DG over this one.  There were too many characters running around with the "poor me" mentality for me to really dig it as much.


I think I will move on to Houe of Chains and then break for a while from Erikson and read some biographies and possibly some more Harold Lamb.


Cheers for starting this thread, SR!
« Last Edit: February 12, 2015, 04:26:37 am by Garet Jax »

SilentRoamer

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« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2015, 03:06:29 pm »
You are welcome GJ! Updated the thread.

Thought this would be a good way of keeping my own reading back on track - they have a similar thing going over at Westerosi so rather than be involved there I thought I may as well start one here.

Also a really good way of incentivising myself amongst my peers and making some headway into my essential TBR pile.

Anyway GJ your target of 4-5 looks pretty weaksauce now you have already read 3!

Wilshire

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« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2015, 06:11:38 pm »
So I have finished:


Second Fondation;  Decent ending to a good "trilogy". I must say that the first book was the best of the three in my opinion.


Deadhouse Gates:  Great book.  Erikson really ironed out the couple issues that I had with his writing while I was reading GotM.


Memories of Ice:  Yet another good showing for Erikson.  Although, I preferred DG over this one.  There were too many characters running around with the "poor me" mentality for me to really dig it as much.


I think I will move on to Houe of Chains and then break for a while from Erikson and read some biographies and possibly some more Harold Lamb.


Cheers for starting this thread, SR!

I agree with you on DG, but I ended up enjoying MoI far more. Worth mentioning that my least favorite character is in MoI though, so I can see where you are coming from. Lots of moping around :P. I think the epicness of it overshadowed that though.

I imagine you'll beat me to the end of HoC but I have a feeling that it will be a good place for a break. I think I'll finish Second Foundation after I finish HoC, then go on a sci-fi kick and read some shorter stuff.
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