Tag: lists

Books Read – Wrapping up 2015

Books read

I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read since 2010 and this last year was by far the worst year so far. I’ve averaged about 50 books a year for the past five years, this year’s total comes in at a measly 23. There were a number of extenuating circumstances this past year (separation, new job, divorce, etc.) that took up not only time but mental space that I usually set aside for personal and professional reading. I’m hopeful that in 2016 things will trend back towards the mean.

With that here is the list of books I read in 2015: Continue reading “Books Read – Wrapping up 2015”

What I Read in 2014

my library is mostly an iPad at this point...
Not a picture from my library

I kept track, once again, of all the books I read in 2014. It came to a grand total of 48 this year. That’s six more than I read in 2013 and one more than I read in 2012. 2010 is still my best year in reading (69 books) since I started tracking this. My goal for 2015 is to break into the fifties this year.

January (3)
Sit Down and Shut up by Brad Warner
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

February (1)
This Gaming Life by Jim Rossignol

March (3)
What the Koran Really Says by Ibn Warraq
Note from Underground Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Origins of the Koran by Ibn Warraq

April (3)
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
Lumberjanes #1 by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

May (4)
King Lear by William Shakespeare
The Simon & Kirby Library: Horror! by Jack Kirby
A Darkling Sea by James Cambias
X-Men The Dark Phoenix Saga by Claremont & Byrne

June (5)
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Cities without Suburbs: a 2010 Perspective by David Rusk
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason
Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day, The Allied Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe by Wayne Vansant

July (4)
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Finder: Talisman by Carla Speed McNeil

August (4)
Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith by Ron L. Anderson
Cryptozoologicon, Volume 1 by Darren Naish
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Christ Myth Theory and its Problems by Robert M. Price

September (6)
Abominable Science by Daniel Loxton
Death Masks by Jim Butcher
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
Anatomy of a Game: Super Mario Bros. by Jeremy Parish
The Diamond Throne by David Eddings
The Ruby Knight by David Eddings

October (5)
The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings
Cthulhu in World Mythology by Jason Colavito
ZZT by Anna Anthropy
Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams
Terror by Dan Simmons

November (5)
The Sleep of Reason edited by Spike
Tomboy by Liz Prince
In the Dust of this Planet by Eugene Thacker
Flame and Smoke edited by Andy Keener
Light in the Dark edited by Andy keener

December (5)
Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Doubting Jesus’ Resurrection by Kris D. Komarnitsky
Piranha Frenzy by Colin Campbell
To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North and William Shakespeare

Books Read in 2013

I did quite a bit of reading in the last year. I’m hoping to do just as much if not more this year!

January (6)
John Dies at the End by David Wong
Our Gleaming Bones Unrobed by Grant Loveys
Justinian’s Flea by William Rosen
Bad Machinery: The Case of Team Spirit by John Allison
Boom! by Thomas Richard Harry
This Book has Spiders in it by David Wong

February (6)
The Enlightenment Vision by Stuart Jordan
Tarzan the Centennial Celebration by Scott Tracy Griffin
The Adventurer’s Handbook by Mick Conefrey
Budget Travel through Space and Time by Albert Goldbarth
Not Buying It by Judith Levine
In the Shadow of the Greatest Generation by Melinda L. Pash

March (3)
It’s Even Worse than it Looks by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
The Girl in the Flammable Skit by Aimee Bender

April (2)
Overheated by Andrew Guzman
Going Clear by Lawrence Wright

May (4)
The Myth of Persecution by Candida Moss
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

June (2)
City of Quartz by Mike Davis
Faust Eric by Terry Pratchett

July (1)
Escape Velocity by Mark Dery

August (1)
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

September (1)
Alas, Poor Yorick by Ryan North

October (12)
All Your Yesterdays by John Conway, C.M. Kosemen, Darren Naishi
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
The Son I Never Had by Kevin Wolf
Make me a Sandwich by Jemma Salume
Moses and Bean: School Bus Sex Ed by Matt and Jeanie Bryan
All Yesterdays by John Conway, C.M. Kosemen, Darren Naishi
The Men Who Lost America by Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy
Skin Deep: Orientations by Kory Bing
Please Don’t Give Up (1 of 4) by Thien Pham
The Adventures of the 19XX: Rise of the Black Faun by Paul Martinez
Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett

November (3)
Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett
Lord Darcy Investigates by Randall Garrett
The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer

December (1)
Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

Total: 42

If I have any reading goals for 2014 it is to complete book review books in the month I get them, to read more “classic” texts, and to finally read through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Francesco Colonna’s  Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, and maybe, maybe Spengler’s Decline of the West.

2012 Goals: How Did I Do?

Not as good as this guy…

Happy New Year to you all! This post is late but you know how it is with the Holidays. I kind of wish we could find a way to spread them out a little better. The gauntlet from Thanksgiving to New Year is killer for whatever normalcy you have in your life. No wonder I feel the need to make resolutions come January 1st. My life gets completely frazzled and torn out of shape by December 31.

Here’s my goal post from the beginning of last year.

Let’s see how I did!

1. Pay off credit card debt – This has been a millstone around my neck for too long. I want it gone by the end of the year.

Done!

2. Climb Half -dome – Now is the time to start planning this.

Nope!

3. Cut down on distractions – I spend too much time reading stuff. It’s all very interesting stuff but it doesn’t serve any higher purpose. It’s just another way to distract myself from my life.

I got distracted and failed to keep this goal. Though I do think I was better at being focused

4. Write a poem a week – 52 weeks, 52 poems

Um, kinda? I got through February, so eight poems and I did start the SSPP (Surreal Space Poetry Project)

5. Draw something once a week – 52 weeks, 52 doodles

Nope!

6. Continue meditation – Extend meditation time from ten minutes to twenty, add evening meditation.

Meditation came to an abrupt stop with the time change in 2012 and then the move…

7. Step away from the television and computer – I have a great dog, a beautiful wife, and wonderful friends. I should spend more time with them instead of tapping keys.

I did do this!

8. Fix my knee, start running, cycle more, swim more, do some free weights – I figure with all the free time I have why not make myself better with it?

Did it! Except until the move to San Diego but one of my goal’s for this month (Jan ’13) is to find a weight gym

9. Intentionally left blank

10. Intentionally left blank

Yeah, I don’t know what that was about!

Grade: Satisfactory. Room for improvement in areas.

I’ve done goals for the last two years (2011 and 2012) and I don’t think they’ve done much for me. Either I have anxiety over them and feel like I’m not accomplishing anything or it feels like I’m being coerced into doing something by past me, future me doesn’t like that. I might do goals/resolutions for 2013. But, before I do I need to think long and hard about them as well as how to make goals that I won’t forget about or just not do.

 

 

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