Reading in 2016

I had a pretty good reading year in 2016. I read 14,797 pages, and 41 books. Those books were (in order I read them).

1. Star Wars: Before the Awakening
2. A Canticle for Leibowitz
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Red Rising
5. Golden Sun
6. Morning Star
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Rey's Story
8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Junior Novel)
9. The Devil in the White City
10. Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Escape
11. Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Snare
12. Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Nest
13. The Vampire Chronicles #1-3
14. Star Wars: Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Vol. 1: Aliens
15. seveneves
16. Star Wars: Bloodline
17. The Big U
18. Anathem
19. A Natural History of Dragons
20. John Dies at the End
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey
22. Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Steal
23. Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space: The Dark
24. Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt
25. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
26. The Gunslinger
27. The Drawing of the Three
28. The Waste Lands
29. Wizard and Glass
30. Wolves of the Calla
31. Song of Susannah
32. The Dark Tower
33. Our Kids, The American Dream in Crisis
34. The Wind Through the Keyhole
35. Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies
36. Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists
37. Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide
38. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Fin's Story
39. Star Wars: Ahsoka
40. Star Wars: Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
41. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Books Read in 2016

Pages Read in 2016

My goal for 2017 is to read 52 books, an average of 1 book per week. I've already got 2 books under my belt. I've got a fair amount of large books on the schedule for this year. Excitement abounds!

July Reading

Since my last post, I did a fair amount of reading.

I finished with most of the Star Wars teen fiction in July (and completely finished it in early August). My favorite books in the young adult portion of the canon has to be the Servants of the Empire series.

Servants of the Empire follows Zare Leonis, as he navigates through the imperial systems in an attempt to bring the empire down from within. I can't really go into more detail without spoilers, so I won't. But it's good.

Edge of the Galaxy - The first in the Servants of the Empire series

All in all, I read 12 books in July: Star Wars #6, Darth Vader #6, Princess Leia #5, Kanan The Last Padawan #3, Lando #1, Darth Vader #7, Dark Disciple, Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy, Ezra's Gamble, Rise of the Rebels, The Rebellion Begins, Droids in Distress. Many of them were comics (which really brought my book count up), and many of them were young adult novels (which also brought my book count up). All of the books I read in July were Star Wars.

Pages read per day in July -- I should include a date reference along the bottom next month...

August has already seen quite a few Star Wars novels being read, but (unless I get more comics in the mail), I've completely caught up with the Star Wars EU!

Currently, I've read Rebel in the Ranks, Ezra's Duel With Danger, Kanan The Last Padawan #4, Imperial Justice, Battle to the End, The Color of Magic, The Clone Army Attacketh, Star Wars #7, You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost).

7 of the 9 books I've already read this month are Star Wars. Two of those are comics, four are young adult novels, and one is a telling of the second film in Shakesperian style. I say Shakespearian style rather than iambic pentameter because (while it is in iambic pentameter), the series is rife with references to Shakespeare's plays, which is an added fun note to the book.

The other 2 books I've already read this month are "The Color of Magic" by Terry Pratchett (the first Discworld novel), and "You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)" by Felicia Day. Both were very good. I'm excited to read further Discworld novels.

I plan to read at least two more books this month: Clash of Eagles and Go Set a Watchman. Clash of Eagles came highly recommended by a very close friend, while Go Set a Watchman was lent to me by a coworker who read it and isn't sure what to think about it.

Next month, Force Friday will take over my life! Aftermath, Lost Stars, Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo Adventure, and The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure all come out on Force Friday (September 4th). Later in the month, more Star Wars novels that I've preordered release as well! William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge releases on September 8th, while September 22nd sees the release of A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy; The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to be a Jedi; and Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!

Oh, and the 1st season of Rebels comes out on September 1st. I've been waiting for this release to watch the season, so I'll power through that before embarking on the 9 books that release in September.

Sick and Reading

On Friday and Saturday I was sick. Hardly able to leave the bed, sleeping all day sick. On the plus side, I was able to read a few pages in between each bout of sleep, something that brought me back into the fold(ed page).

I had just finished Interview with the Vampire late last week, a book I picked up in May. Not that it took me that long to read, just that I wasn't very committed to the book. It really grabbed me at the end.

But this weekend, I read Dark Disciple, the latest installment in the new Star Wars EU. It was fantastic. Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos (who you may recognize from the Clone Wars TV series) made a rather unlikely pair to attempt to cut down Count Dooku. The character progression for both of the main characters was fantastic, and I particularly enjoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi serving as moral compass for the reader in the morally ambiguous debacle in the Clone Wars. I was a big fan. 9/10, great book.

Dark Disciple

I also read a few Star Wars comics (Star Wars #6, Darth Vader #6 and #7, Princess Leia #5, Kanan: The Last Padawan #3, and Lando #1. Comics count in Goodreads, which is making me rocket through my reading goal.

I picked up a couple of young adult books in the new Star Wars EU, and have begun with Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy today. It's a rather short book (at 172 pages), and I'm on pace to finish it this evening. I hope to start in on the Discworld series soon with The Color of Magic.

If you're not already my friend on Goodreads, feel free to add me on http://www.goodreads.com/j11harms. I'm much more consistent about providing updates about my reading on there, even if it is just an update, without comment.

Readin'!

Hey there, Yea, Verily fans. It's almost football season, so be prepared to read about lots of Texas A&M and Carolina Panthers news. Sorry in advance for my interests. I guess?

I've been readin'. I've been readin'.

So far in 2014 I've read 18 books.

In January I finished reading the Dune Series (those books that Herbert wrote before he passed). So I read 3 books, (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse: Dune), and 1317 pages.

In February I read 2 books (The House on Tradd Street and The Girl on Legare Street) and 638 apges.

In March and April, I didn't read very much... at all. I read 22 pages in March, and 30 pages in April. I didn't finish a book in either month. Work was busy, life was busy. Blah, blah, blah. It happens.

In May I read a lot. I read 5 books (The Strangers on Montague Street, Return to Tradd Street, Thief's Magic, William Shakespeare's Star Wars, and The Empire Striketh Back), and 1354 pages.

In June I read 2 books (Rogue Squadron and Wedge's Gamble), and 879 pages.

In July I read a lot again. I read 5 books (The Silkworm, The Kyrtos Trap, The Jedi Doth Return, The Bacta War, and Star Wars 2014 Sampler) and 1560 pages.

So far, July has been my biggest month in pages, and a tie in number of books read in July and May (at 5).

I haven't had a huge month so far in August, but I've read consistently, with only 1 evening with no pages read so far, and I've already finished Snow Crash. As I said, not a huge month, but not horrid either.

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.