Here's what I've read so far this year and my ratings for each:
Roots and Branches, Tom Shippey, 4 stars
Legend, David Gemmell, 4 stars
The Sword of Rhiannon, Leigh Brackett, 3.5 stars
Grails: Quests of the Dawn, Richard Gilliam, Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton editors, 3 stars
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens 3.5 stars
The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell, 3.5 stars
No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy 4.5 stars
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, J.R.R. Tolkien, 3.5 stars
Resolute Determination: Napoleon and the French Empire (The Modern Scholar), 3.5 stars
The Company They Keep, Diana Glyer, 4 stars
The Desert of Souls, Howard Andrew Jones, 3.5 stars
The Brothers Bulger, Howie Carr, 3 stars
Phantastes, George MacDonald, 3.5 stars
Tolkien and the Invention of Myth, Jane Chance editor, 3.5 stars
One Who Walked Alone, Novalyne Price Ellis, 4 stars
Damnation Alley, Roger Zelazny, 3 stars
Walden, Henry David Thoreau, 4 stars
Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott, 4 stars
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, John Joseph Adams editor, 3.5 stars
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson, 3.5 stars
The Broken Sword, Poul Anderson, 4.5 stars
The Dirt, Motley Crue, 3 stars
Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 4 stars
Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings, Lin Carter, 3.5 stars
The Dark Tide, Dennis McKiernan, 3 stars
Watership Down, Richard Adams, 5 stars
Shadows of Doom, Dennis McKiernan, 2.5 stars
The Darkest Day, Dennis McKiernan, 3 stars
The Allegory of Love, C.S. Lewis, 4 stars
I set a goal to read at least one book a week in 2011; I'm slightly behind, with 29 titles read through 31 weeks. Still, I'm currently halfway through Imaro and the George R.R. Martin/Gardner Dozois anthology Warriors (I'm listening to the latter on audio), so I hope to regain some lost ground. As I've said before I'm not a particularly fast reader and I also waste too much time idly surfing the internet. Ah well.
If there's anything you want to know about any of the above titles, feel free to ask. The best so far is Watership Down, a re-read. It's a book everyone should read at least once in their lifetime, in my opinion. The worst was Shadows of Doom, the middle third of Dennis McKiernan's Iron Tower trilogy.
15 comments:
Love Watership Down, re-read it every 5-10 years as it is always best approached fresh with little surprises becoming surprises again.
Speaking of surprises, as good as WD is I'm surprised you rated it better than Walden. Given, Walden can be a slog compared to a bunny action novel, but still...
Initially thrown by your 3.5 for Hitchens, but then I recalled that even people that pan his reasoning and inability to defend himself in a debate setting acknowledge that he's a good writer.
Just donated 4 or 5 Roger Zelazny's to the local library (along with a large pile of Redwall books), could never figure out exactly what I was supposed to make of his writing and figured my time would be better spent on another author.
Yeah, the fact that Walden at points is a slog made me rank it below Watership Down. Walden has moments of sheer genius, but if I'm being honest with myself I enjoyed Watership Down far more. My ratings system isn't exactly scientific. I rank books basically on how much I enjoyed them and how much of an impact they made on me. While I loved some chapters in Walden, I'm indifferent to much of it as well.
I gave a 3.5 to Hitchens because I thought his book was compelling and interesting. I listened to the audio version (Hitchens was the narrator) and it was hard to shut it off! But it's also heavily flawed because it refuses to acknowledge that anything good comes of religion. It's really just a one-sided beat-down assault. Although I must say I thought he was a guy no one wanted to face in a debate.
I've heard a lot of good things about Zelazny's Amber books and still plan to read them one day, but I thought Damnation Alley was mediocre at best. I thought it would have made a great 50-60 page short story, but as a novel it felt padded and ill thought-out.
It was 5 Amber books that I chucked. They just didn't do anything for me.
I guess I need to read Ivanhoe some day.
Tarzan is always a winner. The sequel packs in a helluva lot of set pieces. Would take two movies to film that one right. The rest of the series has a few classics worth reading, but there's alot of repetition as well. After the Return of Tarzan I would recommend the Jewels of Opar,Tarzan the Untamed, and Tarzan the Terrible. Have you read any of the Barsoom or Pellucidar Series? MUSTS if you like Burroughs and Howard was a huge Burroughs fan.
Phantastes took me a bit to get through, but few fantasy yarns have touched me the way that book did. A rare ethereal beauty that has stuck with me through the years. His other fair tales are also wonderful - deep and brilliant.
Sigurd and Gudrun was pure badass! Try to rent the silent film version by Fritz Lang. It's divided into two parts - Sigfried/Kreimheld's Revenge. Great stuff and what an ending!
- Ben
I'm not sure if you're a fan of A Song of Ice & Fire (I think I read a post by you about it once); have you read the new one yet? Would be good to have a review by you.
"I've heard a lot of good things about Zelazny's Amber books and still plan to read them one day, but I thought Damnation Alley was mediocre at best. I thought it would have made a great 50-60 page short story, but as a novel it felt padded and ill thought-out."
It was a short story :) Then he padded it out to novel length later, but didn't really invest much effort in it.
I get the impression, which was strengthened after becoming acquainted with a guy that knew Zelazny, that Zelazny occasionally had money troubles and wasn't above hacking stuff out for some quick and easy cash, and stuff like the Damnation Alley novel and the latter cycle of Amber novels were in that "done for the money" category.
Thats not a bad selection there Brian. I've been considering getting a copy of Roots & Branches for a while now. I've enjoyed all of the other books I've read from Tom Shippey.
Some of the other scholarly Tolkien works look interesting as well.
I'm currently reading the Amber books, the first five were great. the second five have been a tremendous let down.
I guess I need to read Ivanhoe some day.
'tis a fine book.
Have you read any of the Barsoom or Pellucidar Series? MUSTS if you like Burroughs and Howard was a huge Burroughs fan.
I've read a handful of his Barsoom books, most recently a re-read of his A Princess of Mars. All good stuff. And as I mentioned in a recent post I just bought an old copy of At The Earth's Core, which is on my TBR list.
Sigurd and Gudrun was a pure badass story, but the fact that it's written as lengthy alliterative verse reduced some of the enjoyment for me.
I'm not sure if you're a fan of A Song of Ice & Fire (I think I read a post by you about it once); have you read the new one yet? Would be good to have a review by you.
I'm a fan, but A Feast For Crows soured me a little bit on the series. The bigger problem is that I read a AFFC back in '05. I've forgotten big chunks of the story and am having some anxiety about starting another book that many are comparing to AFFC. I'm sure I'll read ADWD one day, but I'm not chomping at the bit.
It was a short story :) Then he padded it out to novel length later, but didn't really invest much effort in it.
I found this out too Andy, but not until after I read it. Hell Tanner is a core of a good character and it's got a fun post-apocalyptic setting, but it's padded out with a series of meaningless, boring encounters like a series of wandering monsters rolled up on a D&D encounter table.
I've been considering getting a copy of Roots & Branches for a while now. I've enjoyed all of the other books I've read from Tom Shippey.
It's quite good. Shippey is an academic (obviously) but he's got a good writer's "voice" and his essays, even those on obscure medieval references, are almost all interesting. It's even got an essay analyzing the films.
I'm a fan, but A Feast For Crows soured me a little bit on the series.
Me too, although I think it got better over its many, many pages and built to quite a nice crescendo. I'm currently re-reading the series from AGOT so that when I get to ADWD I'll remember what the hell was going on.
Also, I re-read Amber earlier this year after maybe 10 years, and I loved it; it all still really works.
it's not a better solution to read elaborated synopsis of ASOIAF books on wikipedia or other sites instead of re read the books?
by the way Brian, I'm going to ask in my library for Lord of the rings and read the saga but you should read The runic staff (the cycle of Dorian Hawkmoon) by Michael Moorcok you promised it, do you remember?
I have only read 11 or 12 books, but I read some comics too and spend a lot of time daily on blogs and forums, all your free time is for reading books? do you read blogs or forums?
Francisco
or comics?
Francisco
I haven't forgotten, Francisco. I can't guarantee when I get to it, but I will give it a go.
I mostly read other blogs, and occasionally poke my head into forums. I don't read comics (I have nothing against comics, I just prefer books).
I can't understand this (about comics) I thought all the great readers of sf/f were more interested in comics than the average reader or non reader, sometimes comics can be an extension of your favourite readings, for instance when you have run out of Robert E Howard and Conan you can read the excellent comic adaptations by Roy Thomas or for instance here in Spain the modern horror translated is a minimum then I can read the comics by Bruce Jones, anthologies series like Flinch or even the Warren comics
Francisco
Hi Francisco, I used to read Captain America and The Savage Sword of Conan very regularly and I still have all my back issues. What it really comes down to is, I'm not interested in the monthly subscription model. Also, SSOC declined quite a bit in quality after the Howard stories dried up.
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