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For those who care, here is a list of books I have read and listened to (via Librivox.org) since January 1st. My goal was to read 52 books this year. I'm unlikely to meet that goal, unless you count in the audiobooks. I don't know, though. They seem almost like cheating.

The basics - 45 books read, 10 listened to. It takes longer to listen to them, because I only do so on the ride into work. Often, I fall asleep after a couple of chapters. The Old Curiosity Shop, for example, is 73 chapters long, and I rarely heard more than 10 a week.

The oldest was written in 1813, and the most recent in 2007.

23 were written before WWII, 16 were written before WWI, and nine were written before 1900.

The ones that suprised and gripped me most were Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

The only book on this list I don't recommend is Weird Ontario Places, which had no photos, no detailed information, and included such amazing places as "That one house in Hamilton the author was afraid to walk by when he was 10" and "That street in Niagara Falls with the museums," as well as "Church Street in Toronto, because of the Gays."

It was written in a weirdly smug and condescending voice I find hard to quantify, but which annoyed me immensely. Imagine Corky St. Clair from Waiting for Guffman, except conscious that he's writing something corny and "safe" for the rubes and being smug about it. So, it's neither well-written nor earnest.


Print Books
01. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (1933)
02. Thank You, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehouse (1934)
03. The World Peril of 1910 by George Griffith (1906)
04. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe (1954)
05. The Little Emperors by Alfred Duggan (1951)
06. Masada (aka The Antagonists) by Ernest K. Gann (1971)
07. The Weapon Shops of Isher by A.E Von Vogt (1951)
08. Dream-Carver, by Erin van Hiel (2007)
09. Psmith in the City, by P.G. Wodehouse (1910)
10. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (1813)
11. Much Obliged, Jeeves!, by P.G. Wodehouse (1971)
12. The Beckoning Lady, by Margery Allingham (1955)
13. HMS Surprise, by Patrick O’Brian (1973)
14. Farewell Summer, by Ray Bradbury (2006)
15. Post Captain, by Patrick O’Brian (1972)
16. The Mauritius Command, by Patrick O’Brian (1977)
17. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami (1997)
18. Bedlam, by Greg Hollingshead (2004)
19. Summer Moonshine, by P.G. Wodehouse (1937)
20. That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis (1946)
21. The Humanoids, by Jack Williamson (1948)
22. The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz, by Russell Hoban (1973)
23. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr (1994)
24. Summer Lightning, by P.G. Wodehouse (1929)
25. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair (1906)
26. The Physician, by Noah Gordon (1986)
27. Making Money, by Terry Pratchett (2007)
28. Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis (1938)
29. Murderers and Other Friends, by John Mortimer (1993)
30. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole (1980)
31. Flashman on the March, by George Macdonald Fraser (2005)
32. The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester (1999)
33. The Star’s Tennis Balls, by Stephen Fry (2000)
34. The Scientific Adventures of Baron Munchausen, by Hugo Gernsback (1915)
35. King Solomon’s Mines, by Sir. H. Rider Haggard (1885)
36. Bored of the Rings, by the Harvard Lampoon Society (1969)
37. The Night Land, by William Hope Hodgson (1912)
38. Flashman, by George Macdonald Fraser (1969)
39. The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester (1956)
40. Weird Ontario Places, by Dan de Figuereido (2006)
41. Edison’s Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss (1898)
42. Who Goes Here? By Bob Shaw (1977)
43. Flashman in the Great Game, by George Macdonald Fraser (1975)
44. Agent of the Terran Empire, by Poul Anderson (1965)
45. Spock, Messiah!, by Theodore R, Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr. (1976)

Audiobooks
01. Tom Swift and the Land of Wonders, by Victor Appleton (1917)
02. The First Men in the Moon, by H.G. Wells (1901)
03. Little Wars, by H.G. Wells (1913)
04. At The Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald (1871)
05. The Princess and the Goblin, by George Macdonald (1872)
06. The Princess and Curdie, by George Macdonald (1873)
07. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1865)
08. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll (1871)
09. Peter and Wendy, by J.M. Barrie (1911)
10. The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens (1840)

Date: 2008-12-09 01:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] margaras.livejournal.com
I'd count the audiobooks. In my experience, they're a lot slower that actually reading, which forces you to imagine along at the reader's pace instead of your own.

I could be biased, 'tho, as at least a quarter of what I "read" comes from audiobooks.

Date: 2008-12-09 02:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dagoski.livejournal.com
Oooh! Holiday reading! Just what I need for the university break this year.

Date: 2008-12-09 02:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sixteenbynine.livejournal.com
Let's see if I can get one (two? more?) of my books on that list next year. :D

Date: 2008-12-09 05:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
Hmm... I keep intending to, after all. :)

Date: 2008-12-09 02:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com
I haven't read nearly as much this year as I have in the past, because I've been spending my lunches watching all of Doctor Who (I have a portable hard drive with ALL the episodes... I'm up to Season 14 or 15) instead of reading. I have gotten more reading in when I've opted to take the bus to work, though

Kudos on getting all that done... Particularly Jane Austen.

Date: 2008-12-09 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catsarah.livejournal.com
You only have seven to go. Child's play!!! *psst...pick something small!*

Date: 2008-12-09 05:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
If I count the books I read to Elizabeth and Claire, it's already in the hundreds!

Date: 2008-12-09 05:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] relee.livejournal.com
But golly Mr. Mouse, with all the reading that you do, where do you find time to run six-hour dungeon raids in World of Warcraft?

Actually now that I think of it, that would be an interesting time to listen to Audiobooks.

Date: 2008-12-09 05:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwned-kisa.livejournal.com
I couldn't read Bored of the Rings... It bored me silly.

Date: 2008-12-09 05:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
Mmm. Dated political and pop culture humour for the win!

Date: 2008-12-09 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwned-kisa.livejournal.com
That's probably why I didn't get it. Meh, the introduction was amusing, though? Making Money was awesome.

Bored of the Rings

Date: 2008-12-09 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ankhorite.livejournal.com
Well, *I* liked it. :)

I was such a LotR fan that I had passages memorized, and needed something to dilute the fan girl in me.

Re: Bored of the Rings

Date: 2008-12-09 05:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwned-kisa.livejournal.com
Yeah, that's probably another aspect for the problem - I can't stand Tolkien. I know, I know, for shame. I was hoping that BotR would be a parody that I'd enjoy, having read LotR, but not having enjoyed it. **shrugs**

Re: Bored of the Rings

Date: 2008-12-09 05:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
I liked it. I got a copy when I was 12, and read it to pieces. :)

I also have "Doon".

Re: Bored of the Rings

Date: 2008-12-09 05:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mar2nee.livejournal.com
Adam just lost my copy. But, I have to confess I had never gotten more than a few pages into it.
I Doon good? Cause Dune is one of my all-time favs.

Re: Bored of the Rings

Date: 2008-12-09 05:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
I like it, but admittedly I have a high tolerance for puns and ham fisted satire. There are some brilliant spoof scenes in it... and also a lot of lame jokes about beer.

Date: 2008-12-10 11:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pwned-kisa.livejournal.com
So, does this mean that you'd recommend Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester? (Yes, I'm still putting down books for my list.)

Date: 2008-12-10 01:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pyat.livejournal.com
I liked them a great deal, so, yes!

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