Sunday, February 15, 2015

What I Read in 2014

About this time last year I did a retrospective on the books I read in 2013, so I suppose I should do the same again.  This is nothing to do with me scraping for content.  I could write a meaningful post if I wanted to.  I'm just doing this now.  Here's the list.

About Time Vol. 6 by Tat Wood
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis Collection Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev
Marvel Masterworks: The Silver Surfer Vol. 1 & 2 by Stan Lee and John Buscema
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Marvel Timeline Project: Book 1 by Jeff Diescher & Murray Ward
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I only managed to read 31 books last year, which is significantly down on 2013's total of 52.  I had set the goal of reading some more contemporary authors, but obviously I failed there; most of the things I read were written before I was born, and a decent number were written before my grandparents were born.  What can I say, I read a lot of audiobooks, and the ones in the public domain are free.

Edgar Rice Burroughs came out on top, as I read eleven of his books last year.  I'm pretty certain at this point that I've exhausted the good part of his catalogue, although I really would like to finish all of his John Carter books.  Second was J.K. Rowling.  About halfway through the year I got the itch to reread some of my favourite series now that they're done.  I got through Harry Potter (which holds up rather well) and the first three Wheel of Time books before moving on to some things I've never read before.  I'll get back to it, but The Wheel of Time is a hefty series.  Reading it all would eat up a lot of 2015.

The Worst Book I Read in 2014: This is a difficult category this year, because I didn't read anything I would classify as bad.  The award probably has to go to one of the many mediocre Edgar Rice Burroughs affairs I trudged through, but as those books tend to merge into one in my mind it's hard to differentiate. And let's be honest here: I enjoyed them all.  They ain't good, but I'm a sucker for a trashy pulp adventure novel.  In the end the one that sticks out is Tarzan the Untamed, for the sheer amount of anti-German vitriol that oozes from every page.  It may not be the worst, but it's the worst one I remember.

The Best Book I Read in 2014: No contest, hands down, it's Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.  I read it before about 15 years ago, and it was one of the best damn books I'd ever read.  It still holds that distinction, and nothing else I read last year can touch it for inventiveness, humour and pathos.

WHAT MY OTHER BLOGS SAID:
Marvel Year By Year: How the Blog Works - In which I explain how my Marvel blog is going to work.  This post, like the blog, is a work in progress, so it might not be the most coherent thing I ever wrote.
AD&D Monster Manual part 52 - In which I dissect the entries for Sylphs, Su-Monsters and Thought Eaters.  You can't go wrong with a creepy psychic platypus, people.

OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:

What I'm Reading:
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

What I'm Watching:
The Walking Dead season 5
Resurrection season 2

What I'm Playing:
Crossy Road on my phone
Orthanc on a PLATO emulator
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii

 

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