Kriti's (kgodey) 75+ books in 2013

I'm back for 2013! Last year, I tripped myself up by trying to track too much stuff in this thread, so I'll just be tracking the names of books read.

My book blog: http://justaworldaway.com (in case you're interested in my reviews).

JANUARY 2013

1. The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (reread)
2. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan (reread)
3. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (reread)
4. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (reread)
5. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (reread)
6. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (reread)
7. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
8. The Unfinished Song: Taboo by Tara Maya
9. The Unfinished Song: Sacrifice by Tara Maya
10. The Unfinished Song: Root by Tara Maya
11. The Unfinished Song: Wing by Tara Maya
12. The Sea Watch by Adrian Tchaikovsky
13. Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky
14. The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

FEBRUARY 2013

15. The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher
16. The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman
17. The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman
18. Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
19. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
20. The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett
21. Soulless by Gail Carriger
22. Changeless by Gail Carriger
23. Blameless by Gail Carriger
24. Heartless by Gail Carriger
25. Timeless by Gail Carriger
26. Planesrunner by Ian McDonald

MARCH 2013

27. City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster
28. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
29. Queen Victoria's Book of Spells edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Winding
30. Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear

APRIL 2013

31. Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
32. The Forever Knight by John Marco
33. The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan
34. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
35. The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
36. Replica by Jenna Black

MAY 2013

37. Quintessence by David Walton
38. The Human Division by John Scalzi
39. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
40. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

JUNE 2013

41. The Novice by Trudi Canavan
42. The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
43. Talyn by Holly Lisle

JULY 2013

44. Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman
45. The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
46. Hawkspar by Holly Lisle
47. Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn
48. Spellwright by Blake Charlton

AUGUST 2013

49. The Crimson Sword by Eldon Thompson
50. The Unremembered by Peter Orullian
51. Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
52. The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
53. Thunderer by Felix Gilman
54. The Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick
55. Stardust by Neil Gaiman (reread)
56. The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
57. Billy Moon by Douglas Lain
58. Transcendental by James Gunn
59. War Master's Gate by Adrian Tchaikovsky

SEPTEMBER 2013

60. Tunnels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams (skimmed a lot, but counting it as read)
61. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake (skimmed a little, but finished)
62. New Earth by Ben Bova
63. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
64. The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos
65. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
66. The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

OCTOBER 2013

67. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
68. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
69. After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
70. Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
71. Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle
72. Vengeance of Dragons by Holly Lisle
73. Courage of Falcons by Holly Lisle

NOVEMBER 2013

74. The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
75. Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

DECEMBER 2013

76. Twenty-First Century Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden
77. The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
78. Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd
79. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
80. Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach
81. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
82. Infinity Blade: Redemption by Brandon Sanderson
83. Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson
84. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
85. The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan

My first book of the year is The Path of Daggers – I'm still in the midst of my Wheel of Time reread. I hope to get to A Memory of Light with enough time left to do a release day review.

Welcome back! Still working on the Wheel of Time? Sounds like you're making progress.

Yup, trying to get the reread done in time to read A Memory of Light and review it by Jan 8.

My second book of the year, is, predictably, Winter's Heart.

If you would put in a link to your reviews, it would be much appreciated. I find I tend not to take the time to go offsite unless there is a link right there and then.

ETA speaking of which, here is a link to Tad's directions of how to do it.

Will do! I stopped putting them in because I wasn't sure if I should be advertising my off-site reviews.

My third book of the year is Crossroads of Twilight. Recap/review here.

Macmillan has offered to let me give away an audiobook edition of The Eye of the World on my blog – I'm pretty excited about that! My first giveaway! (If you want to get into the Wheel of Time, it's a good opportunity).

Here and starred! My thought is, your thread = whatever you want to do. I'm happy to click through links to off-site reviews if that's where you want to post them!

20: Thanks, Faith! :) I usually try to cross-post reviews to LT too, but I only do that for "good" reviews.

I'm done with Knife of Dreams – here's my blog post about it. Two more to go before I can finally read A Memory of Light!

As is to be expected, my next book is The Gathering Storm – Recap/review/thing here.

I'm in the middle of Towers of Midnight now. My sleep schedule is so screwed up because of these books, but at least this is the last one to be reread!

Here's my review/recap/thing for Towers of Midnight.

I also finished reading A Memory of Light. I can't review it until release date, though. Whew. Now I can eat and sleep normally again.

And here's my spoiler free review of A Memory of Light.

Spoiler-free is good :)

I'm really terrible at keeping up with threads, but perused your last year's and saw so many authors I enjoy that I'm going to give it a try.
~Susan

25: Welcome, Susan! Always nice to have new readers :)

Macmillan offered a copy of the The Eye of the World audiobook for me to give away. Here's the giveaway, in case you're inspired by my recent reading and want to check out the Wheel of Time.

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I figured it was relevant to my reading, and it's the first time publishers have ever offered me something to give away, so I'm thrilled.

I'd be thrilled too! Kudos to you! :)

Free is always good--good for you!

Hope all's well with you.

Yup, I'm doing well! I was in NYC for a few days this week, and just got back.

I've been reading The Unfinished Song series on my Kindle – I read the first book sometime last year and liked it. I caught up with the rest of the series: The Unfinished Song: Taboo, The Unfinished Song: Sacrifice, The Unfinished Song: Root, The Unfinished Song: Wing.

I like reading self-published books every once in a while because I really like the idea of publishing without middlemen (probably because I'm a programmer and really love open source software). The series is pretty good – it's based on a Polynesian myth (although it has Fae) and it's quick reading. I like that all the characters have complex motivations, and the story has new twists just as old ones are resolved.

I've also resumed reading the Shadows of the Apt series (on hiatus due to the intervention of the Wheel of Time) – I just finished The Sea Watch. Two more to go before I catch up with the current state of the series.

Sounds good! I haven't read either series. Right now on a break from fantasy (short, no doubt).

I should take a break from fantasy at some point... I don't think it's going to be anytime soon, though.

I finished the next two books in the Shadows of the Apt series – Heirs of the Blade and The Air War. Now I have to wait until August for the next book, and probably pre-order it from the UK. Pyr was publishing the series in the US, but stopped at book 5.

This series is really great and should get way more attention than it does – it's set in a steampunk world as a new empire rises and has its eyes set on world domination. As with all wars, this makes technology progress rapidly (and magic too!) The world is really well-crafted (although it appears a bit cheesy at first glance), and the characters are really complex and varied. I really want it to get more attention!

Sounds like you've found a winner -- so glad! I'm resisting the (rather strong) urge to read fantasy -- really must check the other shelves to see what can go. Trying to make room for more books. THought I'd shelved them all after our move, mais non. The Husband found 6 more boxes.... yikes.

It's almost Fantasy February--not the time right now to give up on fantasy!

LOL Roni! Well I was coming here to say this anyway ... couldn't stand it anymore. Currently reading (probably re-reading) a Gemmel book. Good so far. I need to pick up the final WOT book. Once I have it I'm going to start at the beginning again (skipping the all-too-boring imo prequel).

I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of A Memory of Light. Susan! I skipped the prequel on my reread, too.

I'm way behind on both reviews and reading books; I've been watching a lot of Indian movies instead. However, I did read Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine, which was pretty good – I liked the world, but wasn't really able to connect to most of the characters. I'll probably read the sequel, though.

I finally got around to posting my full spoiler review of A Memory of Light. Here it is!

I guess I'll have to skip reading your review atm ;->

Susan, probably a good idea!

Now that I'm finally done with the Wheel of Time with that spoiler review of A Memory of Light, I feel more comfortable reading (don't ask me why, I know it was silly).

Now I'm attacking my review request pile – about 20 books, starting with The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher. Here's my review. It was quite a change from my usual reading (although still fantasy) – a horror-Western, but it was surprisingly good. Highly recommended.

Finished The Half-Made World, which is a fantasy set in a world inspired by the American West. I really loved it! It really captured the boundless promise of the old West, tempered by the threat of looming homogenisation through industry. My review is here.

I've also read the sequel, The Rise of Ransom City, but I haven't reviewed it yet.

I just posted this on the Bookish feedback thread that Tim started, and I figured I'd share it here too.

Here's the spreadsheet that I use as a reading log (full size). I also have some other stats generated that aren't in the picture. The idea is that I just fill out the "Books Read in 2013" column and the rest is automatically generated.

Love the spreadsheets. How do you get from the books read one to the summary one? I'd love to have that done automatically. I have many of the same fields in my Books Read spreadsheet, but I also have columns for the genres and author gender and location.

#43 Roni, it can be easily done with a few countif kind of functions, I don't think Kruti has used Macros for this spreadsheet. But if she has, you can probably ask her to mail you a formatted spreadsheet.

#42 Your pages read per month seems to be a bit off, maybe you should count the months in fractions, using realtime days, to get a better estimate.

#43: Thanks Roni! Tracking author gender is a good idea, I should do that too!

Piyush is right, I just use some formulas, for example to calculate the total number of pages in January, I use:

=SUMIFS(List of Books::Pages,Finished," >= 01/01/2013",Finished," < 02/01/2013")

That checks the "Finished" column to see if the date is on or after 01/01/2013, but before 02/01/2013, and sums up the "Pages" column for each book that is within those dates.

For number of books, I use a similar formula:

=COUNTIFS(Finished, " > = 01/01/2013", Finished, " < 02/01/2013")
That just counts the number of rows where the date is on or after 01/01/2013, but before 02/01/2013.

I'm not sure what spreadsheet program you use, but they all have these formulas.

#44: I'm definitely taking the lazy way out with pages read per month – my attitude is that I only care about them after the month is over, so I'm just counting whole months (if it's currently February, it's 2, in March, I'll change it to 3 – I just do this manually.)

Ignore this post – I'm testing a HTML parsing bug that I found in the previous post.

My next book is Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald. As with River of Gods, I loved his writing and the sci-finess of his work, but had trouble connecting to his vision of India. Better review coming soon.

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I've decided to start including images in my new book posts :)

I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any books until I was done with my review request pile (all my February books so far have been free books), but I broke down and ordered Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate box set yesterday. Oops. I did miss my Thingaversary in January though, so maybe I can pass it off as for that.

OOh, a fantasy fan. Starring your thread. I haven't read any of the books in this list so far but am interested in opinions. I've read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. I'm not up for Wheel of Time. My brother read them and they took up a year of his reading life. I don't have much time to read so I'd rather not dedicate myself to just one series or just one author.
x

#47 I will have to try the Ian McDonald books one of these days. This year, I have decided to read some India centric books, irrespective of them being written by Indian/Foreign authors. Alex Rutherford's Moghul series, Amish Tripathi one and Eat, Love, Pray will be the likely ones.

#48: Hi Mirtrione! Welcome! I definitely understand not having enough time to dive into series. I really like worldbuilding so I actually go hunting for long series', but I also read a lot of standalones, so I hope you can find some good recommendations here.

#49: PiyushC, I highly recommend the McDonald books; they're very good sci-fi. I'm also really curious to find out what another Indian thinks of his world, especially a North Indian (the books are set and mostly about North India, but I'm from Andhra and have rarely spent any time in North India).

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My full Cyberabad Days review is up – here it is! I think I was able to articulate my problems with McDonald's India a lot better this time, so I'm happy about that.

ETA: My Rise of Ransom City review is also up – read it here. Highly recommended! A Western inspired fantasy – an autobiography by an unreliable narrator with adventure, romance, politics, comedy and more! Gilman is now on my "pre-order everything" list.

I read Un Lun Dun by China Miéville a couple of days ago. This book is aimed at a younger audience and has a lot more heart than Miéville's usual work (which I find somewhat cold), but still contains the amazing worldbuilding and imagination that makes Miéville so good. Highly recommended!

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My order of the Parasol Protectorate box set arrived today, and so did my pre-order of The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett! Lots of good reading in store.

Powered through The Daylight War last night. I think this was the best book in the series so far. Is anyone else reading this series?

Also powered through the Parasol Protectorate box set over the last two days – Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless and Timeless. A bit too much romance for me, but otherwise a great series! Who doesn't love manners and steampunk?

>52 kgodey: never heard of it, buried as I am sans bookstore...

I've got a couple of sf/fantasy books going. I keep misplacing DawnThief and have read a couple other stuff in between. What I'd really like to do is find Dawnthief and keep reading!!

#54: I'll have to check out your thread to see what you thought of DawnThief, I'm pretty behind at the moment.

   

I've only read two books since my last update – Planesrunner by Ian McDonald and City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster, both YA. I liked Planesrunner better, although I'm not enjoying YA that much at the moment.

I bought a few more books and also got a few more review copies of books, so I'm sure I'll read more this month.

   

This month has not been very good for my reading, but I've got two more books to report – Plain Kate by Erin Bow and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Winding. Both were very good, although Plain Kate was pretty dark, which I wasn't expecting from a YA book.

I've also fallen behind on my reviews, but plan to spend the rest of today getting a few of them out. Planesrunner and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells were both sent to me for review, so I need to review them, at least.

My last book of March was Shattered Pillars, the sequel to Bear's Range of Ghosts. I really enjoy this series; it's set in medieval-ish equivalents of the Mongol steppes, China and the Middle East Caliphates. (I'm still not sure if it's an alternate version of our world.) It has a great set of characters and the prose is very evocative.

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My Planesrunner review is finally up. Here it is.

            

I took a trip to Seattle this week to interview with Amazon, and it's a pretty long plane ride (coast to coast), so I read a whole bunch.

1. Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb – the conclusion to her Rain Wilds Chronicles and a pre-order. I love Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings series, so this was of course, terrific.

2. The Forever Knight by John Marco – I'm doing a "book tour" on my blog featuring this book next week, so I figured this was a good time to read it. It was fairly good, although a bit bleak.

3. The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan – I picked this up at Half Price books in Bellevue, it's been on my wishlist for a while. It was pretty good, although it takes about half the book to actually get started is a bit simplistic.

4. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie – another Half Price books acquisition, and a follow up to the First Law trilogy. Abercrombie is a great writer, although his books frustrate me at every turn because of the screwed up stuff his characters (who he's successfully made me like) go through.

5. The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb – a novella set in the Realm of the Elderlings world about a legend that often appears in the later books. Again, this was very very good.

      

I'm back from a very relaxing trip home to India (I barely opened my computer), and starting to gear up for a move back to Ohio (23 days to go!) I read two books on the plane to India and back (usually I read much more, but such long plane rides leave my brain fuzzy and only capable of sudoku), and one yesterday. All were Tor review copies, although that's just a coincidence.

1. Replica by Jenna Black – A young adult dystopia (my occasional guilty pleasure) that was actually fairly good. The stereotypical romance that you expect is subverted pretty early on, which I enjoyed. The worldbuilding is still pretty implausible, but it's a fun story otherwise.

2. Quintessence by David Walton – I was actually pretty excited by this story – a sixteenth century tale set on a flat version of Earth. I enjoyed the plot, but the characters' voices weren't differentiated enough. Still, I'd recommend it.

3. The Human Division by John Scalzi – I had to cancel my preorder of this when I got it from Tor. I've read the rest of the Old Man's War series (except for Zoe's Tale, which is just a retelling of The Last Colony), so I was looking forward to this one immensely, and it didn't disappoint. The only thing I'm angry about is the cliffhanger ending.

   

Currently busy packing for my move (just packed all my fiction – there are 15 boxes, each weighing more than 50 lb (23 kg) – and that's just the fiction). I managed to squeeze two books in, though.

1. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson – this is a Brandon Sanderson book, so I had it on pre-order. It doesn't have the rigorous worldbuilding that his other novels do (it's young adult), and isn't set in his shared universe (the Cosmere), but other than that, it was terrific.

2. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – I'm supposed to publish a review of this book today for a book tour, and I just finished reading it. It's very good, albeit not the kind of fantasy I'm used to reading. I'll post a link to my review when I'm done.

Rithmatist is scheduled for second week of June, good to know you liked it, I will have to ensure the schedule doesn't get detailed.

Courage on the move! That's a lot of hours in an airplane... yikes.

You've got me wishing for more books. This thread is hazardous to my wishlist!

61: Piyush, looks like you enjoyed The Rithmatist!

62: Thanks, Susan! That's the best compliment. :)

A general update: I'm moved and mostly unpacked now, but it's at the stage where I'm just amazed by the amount of miscellaneous stuff we've managed to acquire and don't really know where to put it all. I haven't been reading very much, although I did forget to make an update for the three books I read in June, so I'll do that in the next post.

      

1. The Novice and The High Lord by Trudi Canavan – finished the Black Magician series, it was okay. I saw the plot twists coming from a mile away and Sonea's love life (which we're supposed to root for) was unbelievable and kind of icky. I kind of want to get the next series set in this world because I'm a completionist, but I don't actually want to read it unless I'm in that particular mood where I'm looking for something mediocre but entertaining.

2. Talyn by Holly Lisle – someone on LT recommended Holly Lisle, I'm not sure who, and I'm glad that I bought this book! Talyn pulls you in deeper and deeper, it's dark and compelling and very well written. Recommended!

#63 I sure did!

#63 I sure did!

Hope you're doing okay and away from LT for the best of reasons! :)

Hi Susan! I'm doing pretty well and am all moved in to my new house. I actually did a bunch of reading, but although I logged it in my monthly breakdown at the top of this thread, I've been very lazy about posting updates in the thread (mostly because I read a lot in one stretch and now I have to write summaries for all of them at once). Anyway, here's July's reads:

            

1. Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman – I bought this book originally because it has the last ever Wheel of Time material in it, but aside from that story, it was still a very good anthology and introduced me to a lot of new authors. Highly recommended! Also, the proceeds from the sale go to a good cause.

2. The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist – Interesting premise (a bunch of robot girls who've been raised in isolation meet a human girl), but somewhat flat execution. Still a good read, though.

3. Hawkspar by Holly Lisle – Set in the same world as Talyn, although not as dark. It was great to see more of the world, and Hawkspar is a pretty compelling protagonist too.

4. Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn – Carrie Vaughn was one of the authors I enjoyed in the Unfettered anthology, so I bought this book by her, and it was great! It's a very epic book set in a near-future version of our world that's heading straight for an apocalypse, and a family that is the protector of all the magic in the world.

5. Spellwright by Blake Charlton – Another discovery from Unfettered, the start of an epic fantasy type story (probably trilogy, given the pacing of this book). A pretty unique magic system involving language made this a great read.

Ohhhh moving... *sigh.* We're finishing up renovations (which does not mean the same thing as all that needs to be done will be finished) so that we can rent. We will likely move in a year.

Glad you're getting some good reads in! You really make me wish I had a library near by!

69: Thanks, Susan! Why will you be moving in a year? That seems like the opposite of what we're trying to do – we want to buy a house! Also, where do you live? Not having a library nearby is kind of terrifying to me!

I have been doing a terrible job of posting here when I finish a book, so I'm just going to post a list of everything I've read without covers and summaries so I can catch up easier.

49. The Crimson Sword by Eldon Thompson
50. The Unremembered by Peter Orullian
51. Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
52. The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
53. Thunderer by Felix Gilman
54. The Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick
55. Stardust by Neil Gaiman (reread)
56. The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
57. Billy Moon by Douglas Lain
58. Transcendental by James Gunn
59. War Master's Gate by Adrian Tchaikovsky
60. Tunnels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams (skimmed a lot, but counting it as read)
61. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake (skimmed a little, but finished)
62. New Earth by Ben Bova
63. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Did you like The Magicians?

71: Yeah, I actually liked it much more than I thought I would. I usually hate stories about adult people from our world finding a more magical world – I find that it often loses the sense of wonder that I find comforting – but I think The Magicians did a good job of preserving it, but still portraying modern young people very well.

Book 64 is The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos – this was a quick, fun read, a sci-fi middle-grade book. Not great literature, but action-packed and entertaining. I'll be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series.

Book 65 is Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi. It's a ridiculous comedy sci if book, but is lots of fun! Scalzi is a great writer.

#74 Have never read any Scalzi, might try this one.

66. I read The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord. This is one of those books that haunts you for days afterward, it's a great book.

My reading/reviewing/etc. has slowed down significantly because my parents are visiting me for three weeks.

I've liked both of your last two reads. I hope you've read Scalzi's The Android's Dream--even funnier.

That's on my list, Roni! Scalzi is one of my favourite authors.

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I went to the Friends of the Library sale here today at the public library and ended up leaving with three bags of books and a 10 volume encyclopedia set. Oops. 50 cent books are dangerous.

Well now we're not sure we'll move in a year, probably more like two. Steph drives1.5 hrs each way to work. We'd like to get closer.

Long commutes are horrible, that sounds like a good idea.

My parents just left after a three week visit, so I'm probably going to read more. I can't believe I haven't made 75 yet, usually I read more than this. I did read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, though, and that's number 67.

Hey girl -- thought of you as I devoured some new to me fantasy via Scribd. I'd prefer not having to read it on my portable computer, but ....
I'm certainly loving the opportunity! Boy have I missed new books!

Hope you get some good reads in!

#80 I have decided to not read Steelheart till early next year, Infinity Blade: Redemption is unread as well, given that I have not read Infinity Blade: Awakening till now. These 3 and the fourth installment in the Mistborn series are the only major works of Sanderson that I seem to have not read. Looks like he will be soon out with Words of Radiance, the first in a new series as well, really happy that unlike some authors (read Martin), his throughput rate is excellent.

81: Hi Susan! I'm glad you're able to read more new books. I know how you feel about reading on the computer... I was really enthusiastic about ebooks when I first got my Kindle, but have since realised I vastly prefer paper.

82: I'm amazed at how you're able to plan your reading Piyush... I always make my reading decisions spur-of-the-moment (which means I have tons of books I buy and never read...)

Re: Sanderson, I haven't read Infinity Blade: Redemption either, although I did buy it and I've read the first one. Words of Radiance isn't a new series, it's the second in the Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings). I can't wait for that one, I really loved the first book.

His output is incredible – he's also working on a sequel to The Alloy of Law (coming out Fall 2014) and the sequel to Steelheart too...

I've been doing the thing again where I haven't been updating the thread. Here are my reads for the rest of October:

68. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
69. After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
70. Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
71. Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle
72. Vengeance of Dragons by Holly Lisle
73. Courage of Falcons by Holly Lisle

I haven't done any reading in November yet (I've been reading/skimming a lot of RPG books; I've been taking a D&D class and I've been pretty interested in RPGs in general now that I know how they work). I have a huge queue of review books and really need to get back to blogging too...

#83 Planning is one thing, and sticking to the plan, quite another. And the reason I have even started planning is for the same reason, impulse purchases which keep occupying the shelves year after year, and new books which keep getting added to those shelves.

My bad, I for some reason thought Words of Radiance is a new series, I was eagerly awaiting the sequel to The Way of Kings as well, I loved it too!

I have been playing a RPG for over 4 years now, though my online time is not really much. Are you thinking of creating one?

I have started a Book blog last month as well, continuing to keep it updated is a much tougher job than I originally anticipated.

#85: Yeah, whenever I try to plan my reading, I suddenly lose enthusiasm for the next book on my plan because it feels "forced" rather than what I want to read. I wish that didn't happen.

I meant tabletop RPG books, not online RPGs. I joined a Dungeons & Dragons class for beginner players, so I get to play it for 2 hours a week. I've been reading all the D&D sourcebooks (the only one players need to read is the Player's Handbook, but there are hundreds of other extra books that you can incorporate into your game), and also checking out other RPGs (Paranoia, Pathfinder, Star Trek/Star Wars/Serenity) just to see how the systems differ – there's a really wide variation.

The class ends in December, so I'm hoping I can find an actual D&D game to join after that.

I still haven't read any actual books in November, but I've been planning my D&D campaign. I hope I can find enough players to actually run it.

It's kind of scary to share my D&D campaign with others because it involves me coming up with my own story and setting. I've been reading fantasy for so long but I've never actually attempted to create my own world.

But it sounds like an interesting enterprise!

Thanks, Roni!

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My first November book is The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I've been waiting for this one for a really long time, and it didn't disappoint! This is also book 74, so my next one will be 75, yay!

Book 75!!!



I've been working through Dangerous Women, an anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. It's not technically out yet (release date is Dec 3), but I got a review copy from Tor. There are great stories by authors I like – Brandon Sanderson, Carrie Vaughn, Lev Grossman, Jim Butcher, and a lot of authors I haven't read. There are some non-sci-fi/fantasy stories as well. It's a great collection – lots of different genres and tones and lots of very deadly women, but the stories were all very good.

Happy Thanksgiving, Kriti!

91: Thanks, Roni!

It seems like 2014 groups have been created already! My reading this year hasn't been very diverse, so I decided to do the category challenge next year. Here's my thread. It involves 75 books, so that works great with this group too!

I also signed up for SantaThing, which is pretty exciting. I love getting the SantaThing books every year.

You've read a pile of Holly's books this year! *dances around* I haven't read the Secret Texts books yet, but I really ought to...

#94: Hi Faith! Yeah, Holly Lisle is one of my new favourite authors. Thanks for the recommendation! The Secret Texts books are pretty good, but not as good as the Korre books.



Book #76 is another anthology, Twenty-First Century Science Fiction, a very eclectic mix of stories from well known sci-fi authors that rose into prominence after 2000. I found the dizzying pace of worlds and ideas a little tiring (especially since my last book was a pretty mammoth anthology, Dangerous Women) but I loved it! Some stories worked better for me than others, of course, and some worlds were so alien that I couldn't quite follow them.

I received another anthology, "Year's Best SF 18" from Tor on Saturday – this is the third anthology in two weeks that they've sent me! I think I'm going to read a couple of non-anthology books before I get to it, though.

Book 77 is The Quiet War by Paul McAuley, a very science-y hard SF book about a war between Earth and humans that have colonised the rest of the solar system. I really enjoyed it, although I caught myself skimming some of the long passages about ecosystem development.

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Also, I just realised that all my titles for the posts tracking my reading per month say "2012". And I didn't realise that until today...

Ah, I have that last one in my tbr pile so I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

97: Hi Roni! Yeah, I can't wait to read the sequel.



Book #78 is Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd, my first review copy ever from Gollancz. It was a fun book to read, but I found some of the plot development far-fetched, and the descriptions of people and things were sometimes repetitive (and incredibly focused on skin color). I'm not sure I would recommend it, but I want to read the next book before I give up on it.

I got a huge box of books from Orbit in the mail today! (as well as a book I really wanted from Tor) 9 books! And the haul is...

Seven Princes, Seven Kings and Seven Sorcerers by John R. Fultz, A Dance of Blades and A Dance of Shadows by David Dalglish, Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach, Malice by John Gwynne, Arcanum by Simon Morden and A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

#99: Nice haul! Congratulations.

100: Thanks, Stasia! :)

Book #79 is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. This was my September 2013 ER win, but it just got here yesterday and I devoured it. It's a fascinating book – the protagonist is a starship AI who has been left with only one human body and her (its?) quest for revenge for the destruction of the rest of itself.

The perspective is fascinating – the protagonist is someone who is used to perceiving many things in many places and processing them all, but isn't human, so the things they notice are very different. Despite this very hard SF concept, the book never gets lost in its own ideas – it's still a well-paced, extremely readable story. Highly recommended!

Book #80 is Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. It was fun, but I was hoping for more cool space opera stuff and less love-at-first-sight type implausible romance.

My SantaThing books this year were pretty awesome! Many of them are from my wish lists, but since my wish lists have hundreds of books on it, they were still a surprise.

And the books are...

            

1. Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey - I've been wanting to read Mercedes Lackey for forever, and this is awesome!
2. The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child – This is the one I'm most iffy about – a present-day sci-fi-esque thriller, but it arrived in the company of such great books that I'm definitely going to give it a shot.
3. Human for a Day edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Jennifer Brozek – an anthology about what it means to be human through the viewpoints of various non-human creatures (pets, angels, robots) – I'm pretty excited about this one.
4. Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal – this book has always seemed up my alley, I actually won a copy from the author once, but even though she mailed it, it never made it to my house.
5. So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane – I've also been eying this for a while; glad to finally have it!

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And, my Christmas (book) haul! (from my significant other)

      

1. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi – this book is also from my wishlist and sounds crazy-awesome-cool. I read a short story by the author recently (set in the same world, I think) and loved it.
2. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – classic! I haven't read much by Ray Bradbury, so I'm really looking forward to this one.
3. The Complete Book of Sushi by Hideo Dekura, Brigid Treloar, Ryuichi Yoshii – apparently the definitive book on sushi making. It was accompanied by a sushi making starter kit and some tools to make it easier. I've wanted to try out sushi-making for a while, so this is pretty cool.

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Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas Miss K, and Happy holidays!

Merry Christmas, Kriti! That's a great book haul.

105: Thanks Piyush! You too! :)

For anyone who's interested, my 2014 75 book challenge thread is up here. I'm sure this thread will get a couple more entries before I move over there, though.

The last part of my Christmas book haul from my significant other (it arrived damaged twice, so I didn't get it until now).



The Android's Dream by John Scalzi – I love John Scalzi, and this is one of his few books that I haven't read. Apparently it has a sequel forthcoming, too!

I'm apparently running a Culture group read in 2014! http://www.librarything.com/topic/162776

Merry Christmas! Looks like it was a good one for you, book-wise! :D

110: Thanks, Faith! It was! :D :D :D

I thought The Android's Dream was a lot of fun, Kriti. I may join some of the Culture group read--I've only read one and I think that was Look to Windward and that was quite a few years ago.

Hi Roni! Yeah, I actually just finished The Android's Dream, and it was great! (that's book 81 for this year).

Please do join the Culture group read, we'd love to have you! The current plan is to have a thread per book.

   
Book #82: Infinity Blade: Redemption by Brandon Sanderson on my Kindle – a quick, fun read. It would've probably helped if I'd remembered more from the first book.

Book #83: Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson - another ebook only release by Brandon Sanderson set in the Steelheart universe. It is more of a short story than a book, but it was good!

#114 I have not read either of the two Infinity Blade books, Steelheart remains unread as well, I think the only Sanderson I read this year was Rithmatist.

>114 kgodey:: Whooooo!!! I need to read both of those...

#115: Steelheart was good! You should catch up on the Sandersons – I think he's releasing three new books in 2014 – Firefight (sequel to Steelheart), Words of Radiance (sequel to Way of Kings) and Shadows of Self (sequel to Alloy of Law).

#116: They're fun, quick reads for when you don't want to dive into a full book (although I'm sure that's a rare occurrence). I was just messing around with my iPad and ended up on my Kindle app on it, and before I knew it, I'd read both books!

Book #84 is A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan – I loved this book! The only "fantasy" in it is the existence of dragons (which are natural creatures), but I loved the Jewish/Victorian England society, the pioneering woman scientist protagonist, the wonder with which science is portrayed, the memoir-style writing...

I'm very excited that I have the next book (Tropic of Serpents) to read soon. It doesn't come out until March, but I have an ARC!

My very last book of 2013 is The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan, sequel to A Natural History of Dragons. It was just as good as the previous book and I can't wait for the next one. This series doesn't seem like it's going to end any time soon, so I'm looking forward to some good reading over the next few years.

I'm moving to my 2014 thread. Goodbye 2013, you were a good year.