Monday, February 1, 2010

January in Reading: The Bet, The Smugness, The Plan

Total Works Read: 14
Work Breakdown: Novels – 5, Comics - 9
Format Breakdown: Hardcover – 1, Softcover – 4, Scans – 9

Total Pages Read: 4,793
Pages by Format Breakdown: Hardcover – 376, Softcover – 1,316, Scans – 3,101
Average Pages by Day: 154 – 155
Compared to Previous Month: + 16,6% increase

Grades/Rank: A – 7, B – 5, C – 2
Male/Female: M – 11, F – 3
Release Dates: 1998, from 2002 to 2010
Genres: Giant Blend [Sword & Sorcery, Dystopian, PNR, Fantasy, Contemporary, Fantasy Science Fiction, Superhero etc. etc.]

WORKS:

“Veracity” by Laura Bynom [on SQT’s blog]
“Herogasm” by Garth Ennis
“The Ultimates” vol.1 & vol.2 by Mark Millar
“The Ultimates” vol.3 by Jeph Loeb
“Circle of Fire” by Keri Arthur [on the Book Smugglers]
“Gentlemen Prefer Succubi” by Jill Myles [will be reviewed soon]
“Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami [a re-read for a challenge]
“Fables” by Bill Willingham [Part I, Part II, Part III]
“I Kill Giants” by Joe Kelly
“Madame Mirage” by Paul Dini
“Breakfast on Pluto” by Patrick McGabe [for pure pleasure]
“Savage Red Sonja: The Queen of the Frozen Wastes” by Doug Murray [will not be reviewed]
“Ythaq: The Forsaken World + No Escape” by Christophe Arleston [will be reviewed on SQT’s blog]

Analysis/Goals:

Back in December 2009, I made a pact with Gav from NextRead to read minimum six novels per month [all for the sake of downsizing our never ending TBR lists or should we say catalogues]. It should also be noted that Michael from Only the Best SFF also joined us on the bandwagon at least for January [I am not sure whether he will attempt it again], but he had a bit of wrestling to do and couldn't complete the six novels quota. Gav made it public that he almost made his quota. Last we talked he was 5,5 novels in and since I am no prude I will acknowledge this as a success. I, on the other hand, kicked some fucking ass and I will brag with the accomplishment.

As promised January was a heavy hitter in terms of reading. Just piecing this post took me an hour and I am left with a naughty headache, but that may be a result from a rather unfortunate walk in the snow/rain/wind with boots that seem to absorb every snow/ice puddle. Whatever the reason, this is my list and I am quite proud of what I did with the limited time I have been given in January [the dreaded exams] and I started reading seriously after the fifteenth, so this calls in for special bragging rights. I am a bit burned by all this, but it will be remedied this month, which I have all to myself. ALSO, Mark Newton, if you are reading this [who am I kidding, you are not], the speed with which you read a book does not affect the quality of the experience. This is a topic I will discuss only to make you kneel before me. *clears throat*

The data here speaks by itself so there is no analysis needed, but perhaps clarification is needed to why I have so many male authors, why the genres and releases by year are in such dissonance and why I have given so many excellent grades. It all has to do with comic books. It is a largely male dominated field and with wide variety of genres and with a rich abundance of titles during the years. I also tried to be as diverse as possible in my choices and this is the result.

As far as February is considered, I have big plans. Officially, I am aiming for ten novels that are primary, but I want to squeeze in two more and perhaps add 10-12 comic book mini-series in between novels. I have the whole month, so why not indulge myself…

7 comments:

Adele said...

Impressive love. :)

Mark Newton said...

Of course I am reading it - I have agents everywhere. Plus you pointed it out to me on Twitter. :)

I admit some are gifted with the ability to read quickly and in enough detail - and I'm jealous all of you who can do that!

But there are many who skim-read in the need to meet review deadlines etc, and that is surely doing reviewers, fans, and writer no favours at all? You can take in information on the surface, but miss a million subtleties beneath it.

Adele said...

I am a reasonably quick reader but the speed depends a lot on the type of book and the writing style. City of Ruin took time because the of the subtler details threaded through and also because Mark is weird. Other books i'll read in an hour.
I guess I agree with what Mark is saying but I love the author baiting and think it should be a feature of all your posts hun. ;)

ediFanoB said...

Don't worry, I'm still in the race :) But I have had a slow start.

I read DROOD by Dan Simmons, THE BOOKMAN by Lavie Tidhar and A SHADOW IN SUMMER by Daniel Abraham. And 90 pages of THE GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erikson.
So I'm three books behind. Therefore I try to read eight books in February:

GARDENS OF THE MOON by Steven Erikson
DEADHOUSE GATE by Steven Erikson
SEEDS OF EARTH by Michael Cobley
SPELLWRIGHT by Blake Charlton
THE EXODUS GATE by Stephen Zimmer
THE BELLY OF THE BOW by K.J. Parker
THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS by J.K. Nemisin
THE STOLEN MOON OF LONDOR by A.P. Stephens.

I thought I need a slight advantage and therefore I started to read yesterday... :))

Harry Markov said...

@ Mark: I will address this in a Sunday post to distinguish between the reading.

@ Adele: I agree completely.

@ Michael: Brilliant to have you back and with this impressive line-up.

Anonymous said...

Harry, I'll quite happily join you in your quest to read 6 books a month :) I managed it last month (just!) and all I need to do is allocate more time to reading than gaming or other time consuming activities.

So, what do I need to do? :)

Harry Markov said...

Nothing much. It is an informal as possible. We just compare notes with links between us guys and see whether we stuck with the goal. You have your summary posts, so there will be no alien feelings for you.

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