(no subject)

[skygiants]

Books for 2009!

1. The Lost Prince, Frances Hodgson Burnett
2. Or Else My Lady Keeps The Key, Kage Baker
3. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, Maria Rosa Menocal
4. Pagan's Crusade, Catherine Jinks
5. The House of the Stag, Kage Baker
6. From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain, Minister Faust
7. Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear, Javier Marias
8. Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, Cory L. Doctorow
9. City of the Beasts, Isabel Allende
10. The Arabian Nights, Geraldine McCaughrean - for book circle. Really fun translation/retelling, with strong personalities for Shahrazad and many of the characters and a lot of sly humor
11. How the Hangman Lost His Heart, K.M. Grant
12. Half a Crown, Jo Walton
13. The Leper of St. Giles, Ellis Peters*
14. Infernal Devices, Philip Reeve
15. The Emperor's Babe, Bernardine Evaristo
16. Red Cavalry, Isaac Babel
17. Pagan in Exile, Catherine Jinks
18. The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead
19. A Tale of Time City, Diana Wynne Jones*
20. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
21. Mothstorm, Philip Reeve
22. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
23. Poor Folk, Fyodor Dostoevsky - for book circle. Well, it . . . wasn't as doomsome as I was afraid it might be? (She doesn't die!) I am still not 100% sure why they did not just get married, halfway through the book, though. Surely it would save on costs!
24. Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link
25. Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie
26. A Free Man of Color, Barbara Hambly
27. Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary, Pamela Dean
28. My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk
29. The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer
30. Adverbs, Daniel Handler
31. The Good House, Tananarive Due
32. The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
33. A Darkling Plain, Philip Reeve
34. The Broken Crown, Michelle West
35. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken*
36. Black Hearts in Battersea, Joan Aiken*
37. Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire, David Mura
38. Alchemy, Margaret Mahy
39. Nightbirds on Nantucket, Joan Aiken*
40. The Tiger's Apprentice, Laurence Yep
41. Spaceman Blues, Brian Francis Slattery
42. The Ballet Companion: A Popular Guide for the Ballet Goer, Walter Terry
43. The White Castle, Orhan Pamuk
44. Linnets and Valerians, Elizabeth Goudge
45. Chalice, Robin McKinley
46. Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley
47. The Stolen Lake, Joan Aiken*
48. The Dubious Hills, Pamela Dean
49. Kamikaze Girls, Novala Takemoto
50. The Cuckoo Tree, Joan Aiken*
51. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
52. Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, Daisuke Miyao
53. Knight's Castle, Edward Eager*
54. Travel Far, Pay No Fare, Anne Lindbergh*
55. Tiger's Blood, Laurence Yep
56. Little Brother, Cory L. Doctorow
57. Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan
58. Tiger Magic, Laurence Yep
59. The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
60. Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog, Ysabeau S. Wilce
61. Patternmaster, Octavia Butler
62. Dido and Pa, Joan Aiken*
63. Fever Season, Barbara Hambly
64. A Red Death, Walter Mosley
65. Cordelia's Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold*
66. Pagan's Vows, Catherine Jinks
67. Kiss of the Spider Woman, Manuel Puig
68. The Porcelain Dove, Delia Sherman
69. Whiskey and Water, Elizabeth Bear
70. Mind of My Mind, Octavia Butler
71. The Virgin in the Ice, Ellis Peters*
72. Is Underground, Joan Aiken*
73. We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities After 9/11, Tram Nguyen
74. Little, Big, John Crowley
75. Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, And Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room), Ysabeau S. Wilce
76. Drive-By Cannibalism in the Baroque Tradition, Amir Parsa
77. The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia McKillip
78. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Kritzler
79. Clay's Ark, Octavia Butler
80. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Naguru Tanigawa
81. Pagan's Scribe, Catherine Jinks
82. Niccolo Rising, Dorothy Dunnett*
83. The Pillow Book, Sei Shonagon
84. Cold Shoulder Road, Joan Aiken
85. The Sanctuary Sparrow, Ellis Peters*
86. The New Life, Orhan Pamuk
87. The Grand Sophy, Georgette Heyer
88. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys
89. The Case of the Goblin Pearls, Laurence Yep
90. The Romulan Way, Diane Duane
91. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
92. Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang
93. Young Miles, Lois McMaster Bujold*
94. And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, Randy Shilts
95. White Butterfly, Walter Mosley
96. Midsummer Moon, Laura Kinsale
97. The Black Swan, Mercedes Lackey*
98. Other Colors: Essays and a Story, Orhan Pamuk
99. Graveyard Dust, Barbara Hambly
100. Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling, D.M. Cornish
101. The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadows, Fuyumi Ono
102. The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak, Margaret Mahy
103. 40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania, Matthew Chapman
104. Wild Seed, Octavia Butler
105. My Enemy, My Ally, Diane Duane
106. The Spring of the Ram, Dorothy Dunnett*
107. The Case of the Lion Dance, Laurence Yep
108. Maps and Legends, Michael Chabon
109. The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
110. The Uncrowned King, Michelle West
111. The Giant, O'Brien, Hilary Mantel
112. Prince of Egypt, Dorothy Clarke Wilson
113. From the Land of Green Ghosts, Pascal Khoo Thwe
114. Midwinter Nightingale, Joan Aiken
115. Miles, Mystery and Mayhem, Lois McMaster Bujold
116. The Case of the Firecrackers, Laurence Yep
117. The Witch of Clatteringshaws, Joan Aiken
118. Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, Frances Dinkelspiel
119. Silver Phoenix, Cindy Pon
120. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
121. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
122. My Soul to Keep, Tananarive Due
123. A History of the World in Six Glasses, Tom Standage
124. The City and the City, China Mieville
125. The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind, Fuyumi Ono
126. Eight Days of Luke, Diana Wynne Jones*
127. The Devil's Novice, Ellis Peters*
128. My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, Abraham Verghese
129. Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson
130. Sold Down the River, Barbara Hambly
131. The Ambiguous Adventure, Cheikh Hamidou Kane
132. The Immortal Fire, Anne Ursu
133. History Lessons: How Textbooks From Around the World Portray U.S. History, Dana Lindeman and Kyle Ward
134. The Queen Jade, Yxta Maya Murray
135. Race of Scorpions, Dorothy Dunnett*
136. The Merlin Trilogy, Mary Stewart
137. Flygirl, Sherri L. Smith
138. Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations, Serena Nanda
139. The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer
140. The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich
141. The Wounded Sky, Diane Duane
142. The Demon's Lexicon, Sarah Rees Brennan
143. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Toni Morrison
144. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
145. Conrad's Fate, Diana Wynne Jones*
146. The Shining Court, Michelle West
147. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
148. Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson
149. The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, Naguru Tanigawa
150. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), Jerome K. Jerome
151. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis*
152. Black Betty, Walter Mosley
153. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen
154. The Court of the Air, Stephen Hunt
155. The King's Gold, Yxta Maya Murray
156. Scales of Gold, Dorothy Dunnett*
157. Spock's World, Diane Duane
158. Orientalism, Edward Said
159. Die Upon a Kiss, Barbara Hambly
160. The Empress of Mars, Kage Baker
161. Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie
162. Brothers in Arms, Lois McMaster Bujold
163. New York by Gas-Light, George Foster

Manga/Graphic Novels
1. Emma: A Victorian Romance, Volume 1, Kaoru Mori
2. 20th Century Boys, Volume 1, Naoki Urasawa
3. Emma: A Victorian Romance, Volume 2, Kaoru Mori
4-5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volumes 1-2, Naguru Tanigawa
6. Monster, Volume 1, Naoki Urasawa
7. 20th Century Boys, Volume 2, Naoki Urasawa
8. Emma: A Victorian Romance, Volume 3, Kaoru Mori
9-10. 20th Century Boys, Volumes 3-4, Naoki Urasawa
11. Monster, Volume 2, Naoki Urasawa
12-14. Full Metal Alchemist, Volumes 1-3, Hiromu Arakawa
15. 20th Century Boys, Volume 5, Naoki Urasawa
16-18. Full Metal Alchemist, Volumes 4-6, Hiromu Arakawa
19-22. Monster, Volumes 3-7, Naoki Urasawa
23-25. Monster, Volumes 8-10, Naoki Urasawa
26. Emma: A Victorian Romance, Volume 4, Kaoru Mori
27-29. Full Metal Alchemist, Volumes 7-9, Hiromu Arakawa
30. 20th Century Boys, Volume 6, Naoki Urasawa
30-32. Monster, Volumes 11-13, Naoki Urasawa
33-37. Monster, Volumes 14-18, Naoki Urasawa

* denotes a reread

There were a few changes in my reading habits this year! Most obviously visible is that I read way, way more manga than I ever have before. Part of this is just that I discovered Naoki Urasawa picked up a few series that I was reading over the course of the year and that ends up amounting to a lot of volumes. The other reason is that I decided that manga did not count in the cycle of reading quotas I made for myself, so I used it occasionally as an escape when my schedule said I was supposed to be reading a nonfiction book and I wanted brain candy instead.

Speaking of reading quotas: I do not necessarily think they work for everyone, but they really worked for me this year. I tend to default to reading fantasy/sff/YA by white authors, and forget to read other things, so from the beginning of this year I told myself that every third book I read would be by a non-white author; starting in around May, I added another component to my self-imposed quotas, that every fifth book I read would be nonfiction. (This does not seem like a lot to most people, I know, but it feels like a lot to me!) With one or two exceptions early on in the cycle, I stuck to this pretty well, and I'm going to be continuing with it next year. I've read a lot of things way outside my comfort zone this way - and while I did not instantly love all of them, a pretty high percentage have ended up on my favorites list. It also forces me to read a lot more new books instead of going back to my familiar pile of old favorites!

So, to use the same format as last year, final tallies:
Total books read: 163
Rereads: 21
New books: 142
Books that might, in theory, count towards 50books_poc: 53
Nonfiction: 23

I have spammed you guys with almost everything I read this year in my journal, but as usual feel free to talk to me about any of them anyways! . . . or feel free to tell me to shut up about books. You know, the usual. :D

Comments

[magwana.livejournal.com]

Do not shut up about books! Please!

[skygiants]

Well, it does seem statistically unlikely. *giggling*

[magwana.livejournal.com]

I know, I just thought I should get my vote in early. *g*

Also, that is a very impressive list!

[skygiants]

I had a lot of commute time this year! It was excellent for reading. Though I sadly suspect next year's list will be a bit shorter, since my commute to work right now involves more walking and less peacefully seated subway time. THIS MAY BE MY ALL-TIME HIGH. :O

[sdelmonte]

Wow. I used to try to read about a book a week (not including comics and graphic novels). I did it maybe once. Though I do have that tendency to read long works of non-fiction that can take weeks.

[skygiants]

It tends to take me way longer to read long works of non-fiction, too!

I am also lucky, I know, in that I have never really had a problem reading on transportation - so buses and trains and planes tend to be pretty exclusively reading time for me, and with the amount of bopping between East Coast cities I've been doing this year, that tends to help a lot.

(However, I have yet to complete my first book for 2010, so it seems like this year may be slower . . .)

[jothra]

You totally clobbered me this year! Clearly I need to ride a train instead of drive to work every day.

And do not shut up about books, I get good recommendations from you.

[skygiants]

Subways are THE BEST. The fact that they don't require you to actually be a decent driver: an added bonus. :D (If I was required to take responsibility for a dangerous moving vehicle first thing every morning, there would be - it wouldn't be good, is what I'm saying.)

By the way, you never babbled at me about The Queen Jade!

[jothra]

I did not!

Well, as you said, the codebreaking and linguistic bits were just...well. Inadequate is probably the best word. But everyone's enthusiasm made up for that.

I loved Lola's parents the best. And I could see why she loved Erik and Yolanda, but they mostly annoyed the crap out of me, hahaha. But I didn't need to find them sympathetic to enjoy what they were up to, and their relations to all the other characters.

In conclusion, I would definitely try another of her books. Probably the next one in this series. I vote for more hanging around in the bookstore and less tromping through the jungle next time.

[skygiants]

On the downside, the next one is way more ridiculous.

. . . on the upside, the next one is way more ridiculous. *giggling*

It still does not include enough bookstore hijinks though. I want more stories about Lola hosting LARPs!

I loved her parents too! They are even awesomer in book two. I also loved Yolanda - so cranky! so crazy! - but I agree about Eric, he was super annoying.

[jothra]

I did have one burst of love for him. At the end of the book, while they were almost lost, they found a snake. And he goes, 'How so very, very National Geographic. I'm so excited I could almost scream, and I'm not even joking.'

And I went, HAHAHAHA, right there with you, dude.

[skygiants]

*cracks UP*

It is true, he is saved from being 100% irritating by every so often pulling out a comment that is SPOT ON.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I don't know if you heard, but Bandai Entertainment has been making noise on the ASOS Brigade website (http://www.asosbrigade.com/) that, when you squint at it, suggests they're licensing Haruhi Season 2.

(Jokes such as bits about "seven chickens crossing the road, with the eighth coming up," references to "eight"--some 15,000 times--in the HTML source, and most recently, a picture of one of those Hollywood clackers.)

[skygiants]

. . . I would call that intriguing yet circumstantial evidence!

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

I don't deny that, but I suggest that sneakery and trickery is normal for Haruhi, Bandai, and Kadokawa.

[skygiants]

Fair point!

What I really want to know is, who are the people who are regularly scanning the site's html source?

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

I doubt it was "regular"--I would guess that when someone noticed the change, he checked the source out of curiosity. ANN credits "Shiro Kaisen" (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-12-25/bandai-entertainment-updates-haruhi-suzumiya-site), who could be an individual, an organization, or even an authorized leak, for all I know.

[skygiants]

All things are possible! It will be interesting to see what develops, anyway.

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I think I am just going to bookmark this whole list, because I want to read almost every book you post about.

Also, a rec: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

[skygiants]

Oh man, I am SO EXCITED for that book. I love Hilary Mantel anyways, so Hilary Mantel + Tudors is basically like a match made in heaven for me. I am currently sixth on the waiting list for it at the Brooklyn library! (Considering I started out as 75th I find that pretty exciting . . .)

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I am excited for you to read it so I will have someone to talk to about it!

[skygiants]

:D :D I am looking forward to it!

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

Ohhh man, I remember the days when I read more than one book a month. *sigh* I do have White Castle and To Say Nothing of the Dog sitting on my floor waiting for me to finish The Queen Jade, though. Lola is awesome! Erik is an annoying bastard, but I kind of like him anyway. And Yolanda just showed up! She is totally the dark and mysterious love interest from the main character's past that Lola was half-expecting when she went to Erik's house. ;)

Did you enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo? I remember one lulzy scene where the Count needs a telegraph operator to do something and spends like half an hour going THIS GUY IS HAPPY, I CAN'T BRIBE HIM, WHAT DO I DO. And I love that it's not even subtext that Eugenie was eloping with her girlfriend. :D

20TH CENTURY BOYS VOLUME 7: FEBRUARY 16.

[skygiants]

Both of these are excellent things to look forward to! And The Queen Jade is an excellent thing to be in the middle of, so I would say you are pretty well set. :D Erik is a jerk, but he can be a pretty entertaining jerk! AND I LOVE YOLANDA AND HER RANDOM CROSSDRESSING AND ACTS OF VIOLENCE.

I enjoyed it a ton! I found it full of hilarity in many ways. I actually read the abridged version in high school, and have been meaning to get around to the complete one ever since. I have a not-so-secret fondness for enormous nineteenth-century epics that go crazy over the top with the REVENGE and the POISONING and the SIX MILLION SUBPLOTS and the characters wandering around who totally do not get that they are in a Gothic novel and are like, "Hmm, this sinister count, what a nice chap! I shall invite him home for tea. :D" And YES. Eugenie/Louise is OTP.

nnnnnnngh MORE THAN A MONTH TO WAIT ;_;

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

YOU HAVE TO. It's 1642 (IIRC) pages long, but well worth it. (Dumas got paid by the line, if not the word.) Eugenie/Louise = the only lesbian couple in a novel I've looked at and thought 'Yeah, that's canon.' ♥

There's like sixteen volumes. Dammit. ;_;


RANDOM CROSSDRESSING? Something to look forward to!

[skygiants]

Oh, no, the one I read this year was full and unabridged! It was my finally-keeping-my-promise-to-myself. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS.

Hahaha more than that. I think there are like 22? Or 24? Definitely in the twenties! It will be almost THREE YEARS before it is done. ;_;

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

Did your eyes glaze over during the three-page description of the Count's living room? ;) I confess, I kind of liked the earlier bit where he was escaping from prison the best. Then again, the ending was FANTASTIC.


Only three? That's good, I suppose. . . and Pluto's probably shorter, so they'll have to start either bringing it out every month or translating Master Keaton.

[skygiants]

>.> Maaaybe a little. I actually didn't find the earlier bit as exciting; my favorite was when the younger generation came into play. Albert and Franz: so hilarious! Eugenie and Louise: so adorable! Maximilien and Valentine: so ridiculous!

I hear Pluto is actually almost done! I hope very much they license Master Keaton; gramarye1971 has been telling me wonderful things about it for ages.

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

Now that I think about it, yeah. I remember there being a boring part, but I don't remember when it was. Oh, Valentine. And I love the bit where Eugenie makes her speech about never getting married to a man. :D I feel like I should mention something about Albert and Franz, but I can't think of anything except that I was sensing a bit of Ho Yay when Franz first met the count. ^ ^;;

[skygiants]

I kind of loved how even the people he LIKES, the Count feels the need to drive to the point of suicide before giving them their happy ending. "Are you suicidal yet, Maximilien? How about now? How about NOW?" Mostly I just loved how Franz was all "ALBERT. THIS GUY IS BAD NEWS. I THINK YOU ARE MAYBE IN A GOTHIC NOVEL" and Albert is just like "nonsense! I am in fact in a WACKY TEEN COMEDY. Dude, I have not gotten laid the whole time I was in Europe, how wrong is THAT?"

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

Haha, YES. :D I've forgotten so much about this novel. *sadface* And I wish we'd gotten more of Albert and Franz' hijinks. But somehow Eugenie and Louise got away with believing they were in a lesbian adventure novel, probably because they were near the end.