2008 reading list

I had a very quiet New Year’s. Allergies have been kicking my ass all week and I’m barely starting to feel human again, so I’m going to ramble at you about books for a while.

For the last four years or so I’ve made an effort to read more new fiction. I’d noticed that I was rereading a lot instead of branching out, and there were a lot of classics (both in sf and in general lit) that I’d never read. To that end, I started keeping a list of all the new-to-me books I’ve read.

In lieu of actual New Year’s content, here’s the 2008 list and some plans for 2009:

1. Dragon Bones – Patricia Briggs
2. Lord of Scoundrels – Loretta Chase (loved this but haven’t read her others yet, for no good reason)
3. Dragon Blood – Patricia Briggs (I was hoping to like her non-urban fantasy. Not so.)
4. Dream Boy – Jim Grimsley
5. How They Met – David Levithan
6. Kiss Me, Kill Me – Lauren Henderson
7. Antediluvian Tales – Poppy Z. Brite
8. Behemoth: Seppuku – Peter Watts (I read the rest right before New Year’s and then had to wait for the library to open)
9. The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy – Vicki Iovine (Novel research. Although I’d already read most of it when I went to stay with Lisa after David was born… which might explain why I haven’t been in a hurry to have kids, come to think of it.)
10. Jumper – Steven Gould
11. Poltergeist – Kat Richardson
12. The Spymaster’s Lady – Joanna Bourne (LOVED this)
13. The Princes of the Golden Cage – Nathalie Mallet
14. Unleashed – Kristopher Reisz
15. The Return of the Stardust Cowgirl – Marsha Moyer
16. My Own Kind of Freedom – Steven Brust (been wanting to read that for ages)
17. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden – Catherynne M. Valente
18. You Know Where to Find Me – Rachel Cohn
19. Are We There Yet? – David Levithan
20. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice – Catherynne Valente
21. The Price of the Stars – Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald
22. Starpilot’s Grave – Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald
23. By Honor Betray’d – Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald
24. The Gathering Flame – Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald
25. The Long Hunt – Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald
26. Project Blue Rose – Rachel Manija Brown and Stephanie Folse
27. A Shadow in Summer – Daniel Abraham
28. The Little Lady Agency – Hester Browne
29. Territory – Emma Bull (loved it)
30. Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander – Ann Herendeen (not at all what I wanted it to be)
31. Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear
32. Birds of a Feather – Jacqueline Winspear
33. Pardonable Lies – Jacqueline Winspear
34. Messenger of Truth – Jacqueline Winspear
35. An Incomplete Revenge – Jacqueline Winspear
36. Psion – Joan D. Vinge
37. From Dead to Worse – Charlaine Harris (in which Sookie finally tells everyone to fuck off and die, hooray!)
38. Little Brother – Cory Doctorow
39. Free Fall – Laura Anne Gilman (disappointing enough that I ditched the whole series)
40. The Host – Stephenie Meyer (UGH)
41. Kushiel’s Mercy – Jacqueline Carey
42. Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews
43. Magic Burns – Ilona Andrews
44. Building Findable Websites – Aarron Walter (for work)
45. Little Lady, Big Apple – Hester Browne
46. Unpredictable – Eileen Cook (wasn’t)
47. My Lord and Spymaster – Joanna Bourne
48. Inda – Sherwood Smith
49. The Fox – Sherwood Smith
50. King’s Shield – Sherwood Smith (devoured these and wanted more)
51. Jhegaala – Steven Brust
52. Audrey, Wait! – Robin Benway (LOVED it)
53. Boy Proof – Cecil Castellucci
54. Cry Wolf – Patricia Briggs
55. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer (memo to Meyer: Are you fucking kidding me?)
56. Whiskey and Water – Elizabeth Bear
57. Ink and Steel – Elizabeth Bear
58. Hell and Earth – Elizabeth Bear (OH HELL YES. These are the books I studied English lit for.)
59. Duke of Shadows – Meredith Duran
60. Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds – Michael Hauge
61. Duainfey – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
62. Secret Society Girl – Diana Peterfreund
63. Watchmen – Alan Moore
64. A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf
65. A Wicked Liaison – Christine Merrill
66. How to Ditch Your Fairy – Justine Larbalestier
67. Her Ladyship’s Companion – Joanna Bourne (as the author says, dated. but still fun!)
68. Get That Novel Started! – Donna Levin (read so I could clean it off my overfull writing bookshelf)
69. The Bone Key – Sarah Monette
70. The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen
71. The Warrior’s Apprentice – Lois McMaster Bujold (this whole series? WHOOSH. Inhaled.)
72. The Vor Game – Lois McMaster Bujold
73. Shards of Honor – Lois McMaster Bujold
74. Barrayar – Lois McMaster Bujold
75. Cetaganda – Lois McMaster Bujold
76. Ethan of Athos – Lois McMaster Bujold
77. Brothers in Arms – Lois McMaster Bujold
78. Borders of Infinity – Lois McMaster Bujold
79. Mirror Dance – Lois McMaster Bujold
80. Memory – Lois McMaster Bujold
81. Komarr – Lois McMaster Bujold
82. A Civil Campaign – Lois McMaster Bujold
83. Winterfair Gifts – Lois McMaster Bujold
84. Diplomatic Immunity – Lois McMaster Bujold
85. Dreamweaver’s Dilemma – Lois McMaster Bujold
86. Falling Free – Lois McMaster Bujold
87. Wish You Were Here – Lani Diane Rich (sequel to a fluffy book I liked; too fluffy, in the end)
88. The Curse of Chalion – Lois McMaster Bujold (dull, so soon after Miles)
89. Finder – Emma Bull
90. Cut to the Quick – Kate Ross (saw Ross and Madeleine Robins mentioned on Tor.com; had to find)
91. All the Windwracked Stars – Elizabeth Bear
92. A Broken Vessel – Kate Ross
93. Whom the Gods Love – Kate Ross
94. Point of Honour – Madeleine Robins
95. A Free Man of Color – Barbara Hambly
96. The Mistletoe Wager – Christine Merrill
97. Petty Treason – Madeleine Robins
98. The Devil in Music – Kate Ross
99. Porn for Women – The Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative (a Christmas gift; hilarious)
100. Library Lion – Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes (for Lisa’s youngest)
101. Saltation – Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

And it occurs to me that Shadow Unit ought to go on the list too, since my other web serials are there.

I’m not doing so great at getting to the classics, but I am branching out nicely. Hard-boiled detectives! Historical whodunnits! Lions, tigers, bears!

For 2009:

In progress now:

1. Cyteen – C.J. Cherryh
2. Laughter of Dead Kings – Elizabeth Peters (I was so excited about this, and it’s so awful)
3. The Inimitable Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse

plus several books left unfinished that I might try again. Also planned:

• the rest of Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January series, unless/until I get bored
• more Wodehouse, ditto
• the rest of Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, likewise (on shelf through #5)
• the rest of Cherryh’s Union/Alliance books, likewise
• the Exordium series by Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge (on shelf)
• Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, starting over with #1, which I was not in the mood to appreciate the first time around (on shelf through #10 because I keep finding them for $1 or so)
• Kage Baker’s non-Company books and The Empress of Mars (on shelf)
• the rest of Georgette Heyer’s novels, which I’ve been doling out to myself on bad days (on shelf)
• about twenty books borrowed from Lisa, including some I’ve had for several years now

And, as I read very little book-length nonfiction in 2008, I intend to make inroads on the many many novel research books I’ve accumulated, which currently occupy two shelves and two big boxes in the closet. Also, I’m over a year behind on my comics: Buffy, Angel, and Joss Whedon’s X-men stuff. And I think the Farscape comics are coming out soon.

Gosh. I think I’ll go read something.