This year I have read more books than I have since 2003. During several years of college, my casual reading has declined precipitously. In 2006 I hit the absolute nadir of my reading, with only four books. This pitiful number has improved considerably since.
I had a couple of goals with my reading this year. One was to finish series that I had begun but never finished, and the other was to read through many of the novels that I owned but had never read. In several ways I succeeded on both these fronts.
I began the year by finishing out the Camulod Chronicles series by Jack Whyte, which retells the beginnings of the King Arthur myths. Years ago I had purchased The Saxon Shore, attracted primarily by its shiny cover. I only later realized this was actually the fourth book in the series, and so bought the first novel, The Skystone. Both novels sat unread on my shelves, until late last year I decided to pick them up and read the series, at least through book four.
I was surprised by how much I genuinely enjoyed this series. I quickly read all six of the major books in the set. (Apparently there are several other novels in the series that pick up Arthur's story) I am kicking myself for not having read the series years earlier, when I had the first novel sitting on my shelf awaiting me.
Another early read was The View From the Mirror quartet by Ian Irvine. I own the first three novels, purchased primarily because their covers formed a matching set. I had missed out on buying the final novel in the series, and in rereading the series, this volume took some time to track down at the library. The series starts well, but gets fairly lackluster towards the end.
Tad Williams' latest series, Shadowmarch, was another set of books I progressed further into. Since only the first two volumes have been published, I could not actually finish the series, but supposedly the final volumes will be arriving sometime next year. I had read the first novel back in 2005, and eventually purchased it in paperback. By the time the second volume came out, however, I had forgotten nearly everything that had happened in the first piece. This is a fairly common problem with lengthy series that only produce a novel once every few years. So I ended up rereading the first novel in preparation to read the second. The quality and entertainment of both volumes was excellent, as is usual with Tad Williams. He is one of my favorite authors for a reason.
I finally managed to finish Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson. I had previously tried at least twice to read the book, and only now sat down and forced myself to complete it. I am not sure why it was so difficult for me to read previously. It is not a bad book, nor is it difficult to understand the events in the novel. I guess that I was just fairly apathetic about the novel, and that judgement still holds true. I own the other two novels in this first trilogy of Donaldson's, and I am in no hurry to pick them up.
Running With the Demon, by Terry Brooks, was another novel I bought years prior but never actually read. This proved a fairly quick read, but I was rather unimpressed with the novel as a whole. There are two more books in this series, followed by another trilogy tying it to the Shannara series, but I do not know if I will ever read them. Perhaps next year.
The Xanth series by Piers Anthony was another set of books that I made the conscious attempt to plow through. I had read the first couple of books in the series years prior, and had since purchased the first ten or so novels of the set.
From April through June, I took a bit of a break and went on a David Eddings kick. In retrospect this is a bit eerie, as I only learned later that David Eddings died right around this same time. I reread every single Eddings book I owned, with the exception of High Hunt, which is still in the unread category. The books were all fairly easy to read (generally in the same category as Xanth), so I plowed through the 16 books in just a couple of months.
In addition to authors I was already familiar with, I branched out into the works of several new people. One nice find was Robert McCammon, with his novel Boy's Life. When I picked it up at the library I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I would enjoy it, but it proved to be an excellent read. I even reccommended it to my mother, something that never happens.
Another new author was Russell Kirkpatrick. I saw an entire trilogy of books by him while perusing my favorite used bookstore while on vacation, and took a bit of a gamble by buying all three books at once. Once again, I was highly influenced by the fact that the three books formed a matching set.
Return to Reading List