Viva la reading and stuff! I'm going to use this page to keep track of what I've read in 2007 and beyond. The goal is to read ten books per year. Anything more than that means I'm unemployed! If you would like to recommend something to me, just use the form at the bottom of the page. However, don't expect me to add something to the list just because we're best buds. I must choose my material very carefully because I have precious little time with which to read. Also, no book on this list will be something I've already read! These shall consist of completely new material, so if your recommendation is a repeat for me, well, it's another book I don't have to worry about! Please make your recommendations regardless; one never knows what I've actually read and what I've lied about reading in the past, hehehe.

 

Please, though, do think of my interests when recommending something. Stuff I absolutely will NOT read includes most genre romance, most genre mystery/thrillers, crime novels, or pretty much any of the pap that's put out by the Michael Crightons and his ilk. (Sorry, I love Jurassic Park as a movie, but I refuse to read any of his stuff.) My taste for collections of short stories is very fickle, so recommend those sparingly and only with good reason.

 

I WILL read genre horror, sci-fi and fantasy, as well as really awesome literary fiction, awesomely morbid nonfiction (especially historical, but also contemporary), really awesome nonfiction that's not morbid (again, depends on the subject), really really awesome experimental fiction, most poetry (especially from people who aren't American), and really really really awesome memoirs or creative nonfiction. I'd also love to expand my base of non-North American (unless it's Native American) and non-Western literature, so any great world literature would be fabulous.

 

 

The Finer Points:

1) Books may not be read in the order shown.

2) A book that has been struck through has been read.

3) A book that is bolded is currently being read or the next in line to be read.

4) The year after the book signifies the year it was read.

 

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin 2007

The Last Coin, by James P. Blaylock

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson 2008

Paradise Lost, by John Milton

The Death of Artemio Cruz, by Carlos Fuentes

Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban 2007

Dead Souls, by Nikolai Gogol

Faust, by Goethe

Ubik, by Philip K. Dick

Valis, by Philip K. Dick

Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart

Folkloristics, an Introduction, by Georges and Jones

The Dynamics of Folklore, by Toelken

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling 2007

The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman 2007

The Apocalypse Reader, edited by Justin Taylor 2007

The Satanic Bible, by Anton LeVey 2007

The Stand, by Stephen King

Jude, the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy

The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 2008

The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi

Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson

The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and James Pournelle

Folk of the Fringe, by Orson Scott Card

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson

Fair, Clear, and Terrible: The Story of Shiloh, by Shirley Nelson

"Death of a Pig" by E.B.White

The Alienist, by Caleb Carr

The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman

The Best of H.P. Lovecraft, by H.P. Lovecraft

Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft, by H.P. Lovecraft

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, by H.P. Lovecraft

The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie