Reading List 2008
This time last year (and with a little help from All Consuming) I looked back at the books I had read over the past twelve months. 2007’s haul was an impressive forty-four books; in 2008, however, I overdosed on door-stop fantasy novels bringing the total down to a less respectable twenty-six.
No Stalgia
Unlike last year, I did not re-visit any old favourites this time. I also read very few non-fiction books (at least compared to last time around). Here’s the full list.
Fiction
I’m still trying to fill the gaping classic literature-shaped holes in my reading record. The year started off well, with some Kingsley Amis and Mary Shelley, but then somehow took a left-turn into modern lit before becoming bogged down in turgid epic fantasy.
- The Transit of Venus (Shirley Hazzard)
- Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis)
- Last Exit to Brooklyn (Hubert Selby, Jr)
- Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
- American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
- No Country For Old Men (Cormac McCarthy)
- Last Argument of Kings (Joe Abercrombie)
- Dead Air (Iain Banks)
- Atonement (Ian McEwan)
- Starship Troopers (Robert A Heinlein)
- Maskerade (Terry Pratchett)
- Little Brother (Cory Doctorow)
Comic books
Not very many graphic novels this year, but Watchmen is definitely on my reading list this year before the film comes out in March.
- 1602 (Neil Gaiman)
- The Complete WildC. A. T.s (Alan Moore)
Enormo-fantasy novels by George RR Martin
I’m a huge fan of quasi-historical fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay, and discussions of the “you might also like” variety on the official GGK forums almost always turned up George RR Martin as a recommendation, so I finally took the plunge and dived into his epic “A Song Of Ice And Fire” series. And very good it is too.
- A Game of Thrones
- A Clash of Kings
- A Storm Of Swords Part 1: Steel And Snow
- A Storm Of Swords Part 2: Blood And Gold
- A Feast for Crows
Non-fiction & autobiography
A bit of web design, a little screenwriting, some drug-fuelled debauchery, every bit of science known to man, and the saviour of the 21st century…
- Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond (Aarron Walter)
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Malcolm Gladwell)
- Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (Blake Snyder)
- Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks (Luke Wroblewski)
- The Principles of Beautiful Web Design (Jason Beaird)
- Slash (Slash)
- A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
- Dreams From My Father (Barack Obama)
Top Picks
Without a doubt the best book I read last year was Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, an exploration of just about every branch of science for the benefit of the uneducated everyman. It’s that rarest of things - an approachable science book; it does for science what Sophie’s World did for philosophy.
Aside from Short History, I also rated Last Exit To Brooklyn (by Hubert Selby Jr, the author behind Requiem For A Dream); and Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams From My Father, was also a good read - I hadn’t realised that it was written so long ago, when Obama was around my age in fact.
For 2009 I’ll be tracking my reading as per usual, although I have a feeling I’ll be using the excellent Readernaut this time around.
I'd love to hear what you think - please use the form below to leave your comments. Anything I consider too offensive, off-topic, or spammy will be deleted at my discretion. Some HTML is permitted, or you can use Textile.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.Ruth Pennell at 1:17pm on 5th February, 2009 #
Matthew Pennell at 2:22pm on 5th February, 2009 #