Yearly Reading Targets 2020

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Wilshire

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« on: January 02, 2020, 02:03:26 pm »
Another year, another book topic.

I think I'm going to try and finish the series I didn't get to last year, and sprinkle in some new stuff. Maybe even a reread or two if there's time. 30 was pretty easy last year, and since the outlook for this year seems similar, I'll try for 40 to make it a bit of a stretch.

Happy reading.

Some books I'd like to get to this year:

Sabriel by Garth Nix (maybe)
Labyrinth of Flames by Courtney Schaffer
Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson
Beyond Redemption by Michael R Fletcher (read Smoke and Stone instead)
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
Acts of Cain by Matthew Stover
Powder Mage by Brian McClellan
Enchantment of Ravens (christmas)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
An Unkindness of Magicians (been sitting on my shelf for ages)
The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A Wolf (christmas)
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (christmas gift, thus required reading)

January (4)
1) Skullsworn by Brian Staveley
2) The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen Donaldson
3) Six Sacred Swords by Andrew Rowe
4) The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

February (6)
1) The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A Wolf
2) Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

March (8 )
1) The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
2) The Lathe of Heave by Ursula K Le Guin

April (9)
1) A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

May (11)
1) Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
2) Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Stover

June (16)
1) Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
2) The Raven's Tower by Ann Leckie
3) This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (blue/red respectively)
4) An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard
5) To be taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

July (24)
1) Minimum Wage Magic Rachael Aaron
2) Off to Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer
3) The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith
4) Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
5) The Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan
6) Uprooted by Naomi Novik
7) Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
8 ) The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan

August (26)
1) The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan
2) Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive by Peter M. Vishton

September (29)
1) Caine Black Knife by Matthew Stover
2) Caine's Law by Matthew Stover
3) Dragon's Flight (Pern 1) By Anne McCaffery

October (33)
1) 1984 by George Orwell
2) Crib Sheets by Emily Oster
3) Smoke and Stone by Michael R Fletcher
4) A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

November (35)
1) Hyperion by Dan Simmons
2) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

December (36)
1) Rejoice: A Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson

Also, a running list of the books I've read in the last few years, organized generally by how much I liked them in relation to all the others on the list:
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: December 22, 2020, 07:17:56 pm by Wilshire »
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Madness

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« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2020, 07:08:19 pm »
No commitments on my part but I'll try to be more diligent about recording what I read this year here :).
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Madness

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« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2020, 04:10:05 am »
Halfway through Blade of Tyshalle, which I believe sci and Wert told me to follow through on a year ago and more. Stover has some... really unprecedented prose.

I really do wonder what Stover and Bakker disagreed about in terms of writing styles given that they tread some very similarly unsettled ground.
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Wilshire

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« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2020, 02:12:44 pm »
Hey that's one I plan to read. Hope its good... Whats this about Bakker/Stover disagreement?

Skullsworn by Brian Staveley (1)

As a standalone, it suffers without the context of the larger series. As a quasi-prequel exploring the origins of a mysterious character who plays a big role in the trilogy, its pretty good. But even "pretty good" is a disappointment by Staveley. I really enjoyed Unhewn Throne, one of my top 10 series of all time, and this doesn't hold up. Its a fun romp, but I can't recommend it to anyone who isn't craving more Annur.
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« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2020, 04:03:04 pm »
Link.

That comment seems more in jest but I remember reading something once about Bakker and Stover agreeing about thematic intentions but disagreeing on execution in writing.

Blade of Tyshalle is turning into a great read though. Almost done. Probably burn through the other books soon, what with the fancy digital library, but I'm going to interject some of my other holiday purchases first - I've had a couple books on the go towards the end of the year that I'll list as I finish them but not count as this year's number but I'm really excited to read Pressfield's The Legend of Beggar Vance finally!
« Last Edit: January 06, 2020, 04:04:52 pm by Madness »
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Wilshire

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« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2020, 05:53:43 pm »
Interesting. Well glad that its good. I remember enjoying Heroes Die but didn't feel extremely compelled to finish the rest right away.

I got Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson, and Dragon's Legacy by Deborah Wolf for christmas. The former two not by request but I'll probably read those sooner rather than later to be polite. Hopefully they're good.

First though is another Gap Cycle book. Forbidden Knowledge: Gap Into Vision by Stephen R Donaldson. It seems to be following the dark trend of the first book... Might be tough to read the whole series if it is unrelenting.
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« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2020, 09:13:43 pm »
Lol, I did not continue Donaldson after I finished or failed to finish the duology of the first two books. Though, I actually might try again through the digital library. Now that we're talking about it.
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Wilshire

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« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2020, 09:16:11 pm »
Well I'm only on book 2 of Gap, which I'll finish but I may stop here. There's only so many pages I care to read about various kinds rape and their myriad impacts. There's gotta be a plot in here somewhere, right? ...
« Last Edit: January 06, 2020, 09:19:01 pm by Wilshire »
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« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2020, 12:03:13 am »
Oh, right. Nah, book #2 opens up the narrative world a lot without the difficulty of the opening novel(lla). I just think at the time it was overwhelming coming right off the first piece.
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« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2020, 02:48:28 pm »
Blade of Tyshalle - Matthew Stover (1)

Honestly... this took me for a ride, though I don't think it impacted me quite as much as reading Heroes Die. Stover is an inventive fuck regarding the narrative, I'll give him that. I'm super disappointed to learn about some of his stylistic choices regarding the third and the fourth books in the series - I'm thinking I have a Hyperion/Endymion situation on my hands so I'm going to hold off on rushing into Caine Black Knife. Definitely, as well as per the Hyperion comparison, would recommend that any Bakker fan read at least Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle as a duology.

Also, the first book I've ever read on a fucking phone ;).
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Wilshire

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« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2020, 03:37:43 pm »
Congrats on reading a phone-book ;).
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« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2020, 04:00:10 pm »
On a fucking phone, man! :(

Trending toward Seppuku.
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« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2020, 01:35:32 pm »
The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen Donaldson (2)

Ugh. I want to like this book/series. There's a lot of narrative progression and worldbuilding potential, cool aliens and deep state politics, cyborgs, etc. All the trappings of entertaining scifi... But for fuck's sake does every POV character need to spend the majority of the book being raped repeatedly? If you took out all that in the first two books you'd probably not have enough narrative left to publish a book. There are only 2 POV characters, and both spend the vast majority of the time being treated violently - physically, emotionally, and sexually - both in "present time" of the book and in "the past".

Its exhausting to read, and I'm probably going to abandon it at this point. Its not a bad book if you can get past all the needless assault, the writing is pretty good and there's enough of everything else to make it worth reading. So I'm not going to say its not worth people reading, but I think I'm going to tap out.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2020, 01:37:17 pm by Wilshire »
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« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2020, 01:09:36 pm »
Six Sacred Swords by Andrew Rowe (3)
Not his best book, but largely because its not a true sequel. It tells the story of one of the side characters, but it felt too inconsequential to be engaging. True to form though, its funny and a fun quick read, but skip-able in the grand scheme of the series.
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« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2020, 02:19:52 pm »
The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (4)

Not the biggest fan of the setting, theme, or hook. Modern day fantasy, murder mystery, ivy league secret societies, respectively.
That said, it still was a very well written book that was enjoyable to read. I can understand why it got the attention that it did last year (2019), though I don't think it deserved to be goodreads "best fantasy of the year". The prose is great, and is what makes it worth reading. Bardugo was able to keep me interested in the book despite what I said above, and I think that's pretty impressive.

So if you like the setting/theme/hook above, definitely check this out. Its also set up for a sequel which could go an interesting direction, and I think I liked Ninth House enough to check it out whenever it gets released.
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