Reading in 2013

Upon posting my reading log from January, I realized that I never posted my year-in-review from 2013.

I won't put the entire chart in, because it would be quite large. I will give a brief overview of the months, though!





As you can see, March was a huge outlier as far as books and pages read are concerned. In March I read the 17 The Walking Dead collections that were out at the time. This increased both my page count and the amount of books read. I read a similar number of pages in January, because my job at the time allowed me to read at work, and I took full advantage of that. I was reading the remainder of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels in January, which are definitely page turners.

Month	# Books Read	# Pages Read
January	4	2992
February	1	484
March	17	3023
April	2	719
May	4	2078
June	4	1459
July	7	1340
August	4	1821
September	4	1796
October	1	526
November	3	934
December	3	1157
Total	54	18329

All told, I read 54 books (17 of them graphic novels), and 18329 pages. That averages out to 4.5 books per month, and 1527.42 pages per month. 

A decent number of the books that I read in 2013 were compilations of novels, holding more than 1. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy holds 6 novels, The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft holds a few novels and a ton of short stories. The Foundation Trilogy holds a trilogy. These compilations, while not adding up to the 17 books that The Walking Dead make up, still make that outlier make the books read total more normal. 

It does radically change my pages read, though. Those graphic novels are comprised of 2328 total pages, making March read as 695 pages, and my total page count read as 16001, with an average of 1333.42 pages per month. 

In the end it's a moot point: The Walking Dead graphic novels are valid to include, though they do raise an outlier in the mix. 

Reading in January

In January I read a decent amount. Let's take a look!

Day	Read	Book	Total Read	Average Read
1	64	God Emperor of Dune	64	64
2	99	God Emperor of Dune	163	81.5
3	24	Heretics of Dune	187	62.3333333333333
4	32	Heretics of Dune	219	54.75
5	5	Heretics of Dune	224	44.8
6	5	Heretics of Dune	229	38.1666666666667
7	4	Heretics of Dune	233	33.2857142857143
8	7	Heretics of Dune	240	30
9	11	Heretics of Dune	251	27.8888888888889
10	5	Heretics of Dune	256	25.6
11	6	Heretics of Dune	262	23.8181818181818
12	26	Heretics of Dune	288	24
13	27	Heretics of Dune	315	24.2307692307692
14	19	Heretics of Dune	334	23.8571428571429
15	21	Heretics of Dune	355	23.6666666666667
16	13	Heretics of Dune	368	23
17	69	Heretics of Dune	437	25.7058823529412
18	74	Heretics of Dune	511	28.3888888888889
19	75	Heretics of Dune	586	30.8421052631579
20	82	Heretics of Dune & Chapterhouse: Dune	668	33.4
21	36	Chapterhouse: Dune	704	33.5238095238095
22	77	Chapterhouse: Dune	781	35.5
23	42	Chapterhouse: Dune	823	35.7826086956522
24	42	Chapterhouse: Dune	865	36.0416666666667
25	111	Chapterhouse: Dune	976	39.04
26	41	Chapterhouse: Dune	1017	39.1153846153846
27	76	Chapterhouse: Dune	1093	40.4814814814815
28	72	The House on Tradd Street	1165	41.6071428571429
29	34	The House on Tradd Street	1199	41.3448275862069
30	43	The House on Tradd Street	1242	41.4
31	75	The House on Tradd Street	1317	42.4838709677419

As you can see from the above chart and graph, I have read a total of 1317 pages this month, averaging 42.48 pages per day. 

I read 3 books in January: God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune, and am currently 224 pages into The House on Tradd Street, which is also part of a series. 

February is going to be a much busier month at work. We have a head search going on, which will probably require some long hours, at least 1 season event, and our Academic Program Review. I hope to continue my average of 42.5 pages per day in February, but I won't be disappointed if I don't. 

Now, time for some reviews!

God Emperor of Dune

After Children of Dune, I thought that I was going to thoroughly enjoy God Emperor. It was decent, but not half as good as Children. God Emperor is set 3500 years after the events of Children, but on the same world. Much of the same mythos is involved, as well as a couple of the same characters, but so much of it is different that Herbert had to lay down a completely new exposition. It really slowed the book down in he beginning. Like the previous 3 Dune novels, it was all worth it in the end. The end was so good that I give God Emperor of Dune 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Heretics of Dune

The events of Heretics of Dune take place 1500 years after that of God Emperor of Dune, and many of the same weaknesses that this brings to God Emperor are seen here as well. The positive note is that the world is built up much more, but the climax and aftermath, while still good, don't live up to the previous 4 books. That's why I give Heretics of Dune 3 out of 5 stars. 

Chapterhouse: Dune

Finally, a direct sequel! Chaptherhouse: Dune takes place less than a decade after the events of Heretics of Dune, and as such it is much easier to get into. It is a good book from start to finish, but it suffers from the Dune curse of being incredibly dense throughout. The climax, while great, isn't as mind-blowing as the first 4 books, which is why I give Chapterhouse: Dune 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

After reading the original 6 Dune novels, I'm ready for a break from the series. There are still 2 more books in the main series, both written by Frank Herbert's son and Kevin J. Anderson. I'm taking a hiatus from the series to whet my palate, though. It'll probably be a little while before I return to the series, but I do fully intend to read books 7 and 8.