October, November

I'm not sure exactly when I finished all these books, but its been sometime over the past couple months.

Dawn - Octavia Butler
Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler
Imago - Octavia Butler

Desperatly applying to grad school so I'll post reviews when all my apps are in.

MUCH LATER

These books were interesting.  Dawn was much more approachable than the others though.  Its the kind of book where halfway through you realize its serious scifi, but that there was a totally logical progression to get there.  (Reminded me of Stargate SG1 in that way, a great scifi TV series!)  The other two were a bit more far out and started exploring some more interpersonal types of topics.  I finished them because I wanted to know how the story ended, but I didn't think they were great.

Oh and grad school apps are done, woohoo!     

September

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So, sure, I haven't finished the last one yet, but I'm nearly there.  Its been a three month journey, and as I said in my previous post, I'm very glad I did it.  At the same time, I'm incredibly excited to be finished.  I've been getting book recommendations left and right and I can't wait to embark on some new reading adventures!  

August

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Fault in our Stars (John Green)
Ringworld (Larry Niven)

I'll post about these soon.  Clearly I've been far more productive lately in reading, which makes me incredibly happy! 

MUCH LATER:

Clearly I suck and never updated this.  Harry Potter was odd, just reading it as an adult instead of as a kid.  Its too bad I didn't post about each individual book as now I only have thoughts about re-reading the entire series.  I'm finding that I like each book more than the last (with the exception possibly of the 5th, mostly because of Harry's ridiculous 'teenageryness')   This could be because they get more adult as you go along, or it could be because the book # is inversely correlated with the number of times I've read the book.  Either way I'm glad I was able to do this, but I probably won't do it again for a while.  (I said the same after I read Catch-22 in 10th grade, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 7th grade, so I'm serious when I say 'A While') 

I remember having issues with The Fault in Our Stars.  Its very 'YA-lit-y'.  Meaning it overdoes the whole 'I am an angsty teen and therefore I have insights into life'  thing.  (What is it with me and the quotes today!?)  Granted the main character has cancer, but even so, having cancer and being a teenager (both separately and together) does not require you to be angsty and certainly doesn't give you sudden magical abilities of being sage-like.  Regardless of all that, it was an interesting and fairly fast read.

Ringworld was pretty cool.  Definitely hardcore scifi and a little bit wandering here and there, but I enjoyed it.  The idea of living on a world like that and the idea of a civilization being around for so long are compelling. 

June/July

Been reading VERY slowly lately, I hate it. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Perks was great as always, I'd recommend it for nearly anyone.  I hadn't read the first Harry Potter in ages and honestly didn't really enjoy it this time.  I remember how it used to make me feel, but that magic is totally gone... Her writing is transparent and awful now.  If its possible to over-read a book, I've definitely done it with HP1.  I'm moving on to the second one though and possibly will go through all 7, depending on how I feel.  I guess I've really moved into being a sci-fi/fiction person, and cut out fantasy from my list? 

May

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Red Shift by Alan Garner

I honestly don't know when I finished each of these books, I sort of lost track of the blog for a while.  Both of these books, especially Red Shift, took me a very long time as well.  Sometimes its nice to slow down and savor a book.  Thats not what happened with these books though.  

Red Shift sucked.  A lot.  I had no idea what was going on the whole time I was reading it.  I just read it because I didn't want to give up, and because the rest of my life was taking over my brain so I didn't have the space to focus on changing books.  When I finished I had to read the Wikipedia page to understand what I'd just read.

There's nothing in particular to say about Second Foundation other than to mention that its the 3rd in a trilogy, so if you liked the other two, try this one.  I thought it was OK but nothing special 

Definitely don't try Red Shift.  It was awful and I don't know why anyone likes it or would recommend it.  Again with Second Foundation, by the time you get along to reading it, you should be able to decide for yourself if you want to continue with the trilogy or not.

April

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

No words.  Just no words.  I just finished A Prayer for Owen Meany a second ago.  It definitely took its time in being read.  Not in a bad way, but not in a luxurious way either.  Kind of how Catch-22 made me feel.  But it was worth it.  This book made me 'feel', which seems like something good for a book to be doing...  But don't pick it up if you aren't a reader!  Wow, I'm just in shock from this book...

There isn't much to say about Foundation and Empire.  Its the second in a trilogy, 'nuff said.  Read it if you like Asimov's stuff, otherwise why bother?

Classification System

To make the blog easier to use for its intended purpose (helping people find books they might like to read) I've decided to classify all the books I've read based on what type of book it is, and who I think would like to read it.  Clearly this is an ongoing and evolving project!  For now, here is a summery of the classification system I am currently using:

1-Beach read

2-New to scifi

3-Luxurious read

4-Hardcore scifi/fantasy

5-Occasional reader

6-I didn't like it

And now for a more in depth explanation:

 

1-Beach read

These books are quick and often mindless.  They are good for a day at the beach or a long plane ride.  People who don't often enjoy reading may also like these books.

2-New to scifi

I know that scifi can seem a forbidding and crazy world from the outside.  These books are definitely scifi, but more friendly for those who have a hard time with really crazy scifi concepts. 

3-Luxurious read

I would compare reading these books to eating your favorite food, lying on a picturesque field filled with flowers, snuggling in bed, floating peacefully on a pool float, chilling in a hot tub,  and every other decadent experience I can imagine, all at the same time.  These books sometimes progress slowly, so aren't always new-reader friendly.

4-Hardcore scifi/fantasy

Pretty self-explanatory.  If you like scifi or fantasy,  you will probably like this book.  If you generally don't enjoy scifi/fantasy, try a different book!  

5-Occasional reader

If you enjoy reading but don't really get to do it so often, these are books you might enjoy.  They may not be catching enough for non-readers, but they are definitely interesting without falling into any sort of extremes (extremely scifi, extremely trashy, etc)

6-I didn't like it

Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean you won't like it!  These are books that, for whatever reason, I didn't find interesting.  

Every labelled book in the list on the right-hand side now has a category, according to this system!

March

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Through a Scanner Darkly (graphic novel version) by Philip K Dick 

Every now and then I try and become more well-versed in scifi.  'My' genre is definitely scifi, but I am constantly aware of how pitifully few of the classics I have read, and how poorly versed I am in the genre.  (Sure I can help a newbie get started, but I haven't read anything by many of the 'big great' authors: Dick, Asimov, Clark, etc) So from time to time I 'work' on broadening the breadth of my scifi literacy.  This is definitely in part a rebound from the Card kick!

Oh and if you were wondering, The Forever War was great!  I read it in about 24 hours.  At first I thought I wouldn't like it, but I really got sucked in.  I'd suggest it for people who like: scifi, military fiction, futuristic dystopia.  Those new to scifi might have a hard time though.  

Really enjoyed the Foundation books.  Just ordered some more from the library.  Only for real scifi lovers though.  (But scifi fans will love it!) 

Through a Scanner Darkly was weird and trippy and reminded me of A Clockwork Orange a little.  Has scifi undertones but could probably be mainstream enough for a general fiction reader.  I didn't realize that I'd ordered the graphic novel version.  I wonder if the non-graphic novel version is different/better/worse?  Not sure I'd have the patience for it though.

February

Continuing the Card kick...

Again, all by Orson Scott Card:

Xenocide

Children of the Mind

Shadows in Flight

I'm pretty meh about these books.  Shadows in Flight is simply the most recent Ender's Game book which I obviously had to read.  Honestly it wasn't all that good and didn't really add all that much to the series aside from highlighting one tiny detail.

I love Xenocide and Children of the Mind, but in a very passive way mostly to do with how I felt about them in the past than to do with my current reading experience.

This is the end of the Card kick, so get ready for some variety coming up!

January

I'm on a Card kick like I said I'd be.

So, all by Orson Scott Card:

Ender's Game

Ender's Shadow

Shadow of the Giant

Speaker for the Dead

I'd recommend Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow to pretty much everyone.  Let me know which you read first, I wonder if the order you read them has an effect on which you like better.  Shadow of the Giant is only for true Bean fans, and Speaker for the dead is good for adult sci-fi lovers.  Back to reading!

Last Book.

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Did I like it: It floored me.  Exquisite book.
Should you read it: I wish I could say just yes but it has elements of fantasy.  Please do try it though!
Synopsis: A game between the students of two enchanters takes place in a romantic and dream-like circus

Sure I didn't quite finish this in 2011, but I'm going to call it as being close enough.  Its quite late now so I'll put more details here later, but in short, this book was amazing.  It was devastating, mind boggling, beautiful, painful and wonderful... all at once.  Probably one of the best books of the year.  More about this later.  You should read it though.

And now, for the final tally:
I read 44 books this year.  Some weeks and months I read many more or many less than others, but overall this averages out to slightly more than 4/5 of a book per week.  

What comes next?  Well I'm going to embark on my almost-annual Ender's Game Journey, and after that I'll keep reading.  I think I'll put short updates on this blog, mostly because its been really nice to look back on what I've read and see what I thought, but also to continue to build a resource for people who are looking for reccomendations.  I plan on going back through all the posts and re-tagging them based on what type of reader I think would like that book.

Its been a great year for me, literarily and otherwise.  I have great hopes that 2012 will be even better.  Happy new year!