Friday, December 26, 2008

The 2008 Ex Libris in Review

Well, it does look like my reading speed has been slowing as I grow older. Either that or I need a few more hours of the usual 24 in a day to do some decent reading. Imagine, I only read 57 books for this year. I'm miffed.

...On second thought, I've just checked my previous year and I actually did 50 books with 7 unread. So my 2008 reading record ain't so bad as my "unread" pile has expanded to become the official "to-read pile" anyway. *sigh*

Anyway, here's my list of books read for this year.

January:
  1. Reap the Gale: Steven Erikson
  2. Gil's All-Fright Diner: A. Lee Martinez
  3. Woken Furies: Richard Morgan
February:
  1. Set this House in Order: Matt Ruff
  2. Shadowfall: James Clemens
  3. Ilium: Dan Simmons
  4. The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden: Catherynne Valente
  5. A Different Voice: Vicente Groyon, editor
  6. Devil's Cape: Rob Rogers*
March:
  1. World War Z: Max Brooks
  2. Expeditions: Fully-booked editors, Neil Gaiman
  3. Bad Magic: Stephan Zielinski
  4. Redliners: David Drake
  5. The Dragon's Nine Sons: Chris Roberson
  6. Mainspring: Jay Lake*
  7. Storm Front: Jim Butcher
April:
  1. Whitechapel Gods: S.M. Peters
  2. Tales of Fantasy and Enchantment: Cristina Hidalgo, editor
  3. Lyrec: Gregory Frost
  4. Wildcards: Death Draws 5: John J. Miller
  5. Titans of Chaos: John Wright
  6. Red Heart of Memory: Nina Kiriki Hoffman
May:
  1. The Shining Court: Michelle West
  2. Kings of Infinite Space: James Hynes
  3. Heart-Shaped Box: Joe Hill
  4. The Anvil of the World: Kage Baker
  5. Dragons at War: Christopher Rowley
June:
  1. Magic for Beginners: Kelly Link
  2. The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: Michael Chabon
July:
  1. Monument: Ian Graham
  2. David Gemmell: Dark Moon
  3. Daniel Abraham: A Shadow in Summer
  4. David Gemmell: Echoes of a Great Song
August:
  1. The Graveyard Book: Neil Gaiman**
  2. Last Dragon: JM McDermott
  3. The Year's Best SF and Fantasy, 2007: Jonathan Strahan, editor
  4. Night of Knives: Ian Cameron Esslemont
September:
  1. The Ten Thousand: Paul McKearney
  2. Iron Dawn: Matthew Woodring Stover
October:
  1. Expendable: James Alan Garner
  2. Celtika: Robert Holdstock
  3. 20th Century Ghosts: Joe Hill
  4. The Overnight: Ramsey Campbell
  5. The Forever War: Joe Haldeman
  6. The Conan Chronicles: People of the Black Circle: Robert E. Howard
November:
  1. Caine Black Knife: Matthew Stover
  2. Wings for the Kingdom: Cherie Priest
  3. Monster Island: David Wellington
  4. The SFWA European Hall of Fame: James, Kathryn Morrow, editors
  5. Stormcaller: Tom Lloyd
December:
  1. The Virtu: Sarah Monette
  2. Ombria in Shadow: Patricia McKillip
  3. The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 2007: Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, editor
  4. Zod Wallop: William Browning Spenser
  5. The Steel Remains: Richard Morgan
The links, of course, are to my reviews I managed to do for the year. Sadly too little, I know.

And just in case someone wants to ask, yes there were some books I didn't dig much or at all. Those books I didn't like I didn't finish and threw into my give-away box (which steadily grows throughout the year). The books I didn't dig but did finish include a few in the above list here and there.

Interesting enough, three of the books above I read thanks in part to charles* and jasper** who lent me their copies.

Well, that's 2008 for you. See you all next year!

2 comments:

Anj said...

I read 64 books/GNs, BUT mainly because I devoured my cousin's Pugad Baboy while I was in Manila, *grins*

I think my Japanese Literature class earlier this year helped too. I read 8 novels/short story collection as required by the prof, and they're not bad naman.

I'm still struggling with 2 books pa (Temple of Golden Pavilion and This is Your Brain On Music). The former I wanted to finish by the end of the year, the latter hopefully I'll finish while I'm on my way to another Canadian province to study.

Anyhow, haba na nun, hehe. Happy New Year (I changed my blog url, I'll just send it to you next time)! ;)

banzai cat said...

gelay: Wow, that's a lot. 64? (Hah,daya yung PB!)

Seriously, it's been a long time since I've read something that I HAD TO as opposed to I WANTED TO. However, I do want to read/ have to read a lot of the literary stuff that's out there, including Thomas Pynchon, Victor Pelevin, etc.

On the other hand, I'm so overloaded with fiction that all my double-handful of non-fiction books are crying for attention to one side. Makes me really appreciate the anime ROD all the much. ;-)

Anyway Happy New Year also! Will wait for the URL!