Books for 2012 - List Thread

[Grimner]

New year, new books. New thoughts, new lists - both long and short. Enjoy!

(I need a list and I need it now, bandaged left hand or not.)


1) 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
2) Sector C - Phoenix Sullivan
3) Future babble - Dan Gardner
4) Carrion comfort - Dan Simmons
5) Coming of age in the Milky Way - Timothy Ferris
6) The hitman's guide to housekeeping - Hallgrimur Helgason
7) Puswhisperer - Mark Crislip
Singularity: Star Carrier: 3 - Ian Douglas
9) Smarter backpacking - Jorgen Johansson
10) Them - Jon Ronson
11) The psycopath test - Jon Ronson
12) The book of the bivvy - Ronald Turnbull
13) Hodejegerne - Jo Nesbø
14) Why are you atheists so angry? 99 things that piss off the godless - Greta Christina
15) Off Armageddon reef - David Weber
16) Why we get sick: the new science of darwinian medicine - Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams
17) By schism rent asunder - David Weber
18) Profeten fra Snåsa - Ronnie Johanson
19) By heresies distressed - David Weber
20) Why we believe in god(s): A concise guide to the science of faith - J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer
21) A mighty fortress - David Weber
22) How firm a foundation - David Weber
23) The ultimate hiker's gearguide - Andrew Skurka
24) Biblical Nonsense: A review of the Bible for doubting Christians - Jason Long
25) The lost fleet: Beyond the frontier: Invincible - Jack Campbell
26) An encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural - James Randi
27) A universe from nothing - Lawrence Krauss
28) Extreme fear - Jeff Wise
29) Goat dance - Douglas Clegg
30) Wicked: life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire
31) The gods themselves - Issac Asimov
32) Nailed: Ten Christian myths that show Jesus never existed at all - David Fitzgerald
33) Redshirts - John Scalzi
34) The god delusion - Richard Dawkins
35) Not the impossible faith: why Christianity didn't need a miracle to succeed - Richard Carrier
36) Wild - Cheryl Strayed
37) Wool Omnibus - Hugh Howery

Damn, Calinthalus has a point...

[random poet]

I got to fifty three years running; let's make it four! Four years. Not four books. Four years running.

title - author - rating (out of 10)

1.  The Journey to the East - Herman Hesse - 2
2.  Sullied - Zoe Sharpe - 7.5
3.  Huis clos suivi de Les mouches - Jean-Paul Sartre - 9
4.  Avant que le char de mon corps se mette à capoter - Jean-Sébastien Larouche - 8.5
5.  The Music of Chance - Paul Auster - 8.5
6.  Sea Peach - Catherine Kidd - 7
7.  Comme Faux - Carl Bessette - 7.5
8.  Jonquière LSD - Shawn Cotton - 7.5
9.  The Book of Genesis - R. Crumb - 7
10. Demain matin Montréal m'attend - Michel Tremblay - 5
11. The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow - 7
12. the portable conundrum - edited by Andy Brown - 7
13. Mile End - Michel Hellman - 9
14. L'oiseau tatoué - Herménégilde Chiasson - 8
15. Arguably - Christopher Hitchens - 8
16. Une saison au cœur de la reine - Yves Boisvert - 9
17. La maison de Matriona - Alexandre Soljenitsyne - 7.5
18. Le scandale du gaz de schiste - Philippe-Vincent Foisy & Julien McEvoy - 9
19. Nombreux seront nos ennemis - Geneviève Desrosiers - 8.5
20. Gyrophares de danse parfaite - Daniel Leblanc-Poirier - 6
21. Tomahawk - Christian Saint-Germain - 8.5
22. Nightcap for Nihilists - Norman Nawrocki - 7.5
23. the Paris Review, issue 199 - various - 8
24. le Littératron - Robert Escarpit - 9
25. Viivi & Wagner : Sinappihuntu - Juba - 8
26. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - 6
27. Without Feathers - Woody Allen - 7.5
28. Les lettres chinoises - Ying Chen - 4

[moj]

Reading

Kill decision  - Daniel Suarez
Let's pretend this never happened - Jenny Lawson


READ

1. hard rain - Barry Eisler
2. American gods - Neil Gaiman
3. the deputy Victor Gischle free to read on the kindle.
4. The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain - Daniel Gardner
5. Fun and games  - Duane Swierczynski.
6. Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency - Douglas Adams
7. The hunger games - Suzanne Collins
8. Right as Rain by George P. Pelecanos
9. My Horizontal life by Chelsea Handler
10. Rain Storm -Barry Eisler
11. Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
12. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
13. Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith
14. To the Devil, My Regards - Smith, Anthony Neil & Gischler, Victor
15. Mockingjay   Suzanne Collins
16. Girl walks into a bar - Rachel Dratch
17. Amped - Douglas Richards

[pandamonium]

Thanks Grimner. I'll sticky this thread.

eta: I've also made a Discussion thread. LET'S DO THIS.

• Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson (A)
• A Game of Thrones - GRR Martin (E)
• A Clash of Kings - GRR Martin (E)
• A Storm of Swords - GRR Martin (E)
• Black Jack Justice - Gregg Taylor (T)
• Out of Oz - Gregory Maguire (A)
• Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (E)
• Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (E)
• Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (E)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - NK Jemisin (A)
• Blackest Night - Geoff Johns (E/G)
• Logicomix - Apostolos Doxiados & Cristos Papdimitriou (T/G)
• Fingersmith - Sarah Waters (E)
• Stardust - Neil Gaiman (T)
• Wicked Bugs - Amy Stewart (A)
• Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (T)
• Wicked - Gregory Maguire (E)
• Making Money - Terry Pratchett (A)
• The Wind-Up Girl - Paulo Bacigaluppi (A)
• Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire (E)
• The Crime Cabal - Gregg Taylor (E) (reread)
• The Mind Master - Gregg Taylor (E) (reread)
• The League of Extraordinary Men: Century #1/2/3 (1910/1969/2009) - Alan Moore, et al. (G/E)
• The Android Assassins - Gregg Taylor (E)
• Confessions of a D-List Supervillian - Jim Bernheimer (A)
• You Suck - Christopher Moore (E)
• Bite Me - Christopher Moore (E)

(A) = audiobook
(T) = treebook
(E) = ebook
(G) = graphic novel

[Calinthalus]

Oh Crap....I have to read 50 before November this year?  Damn those Mayans for not making a longer calendar.

On a more serious note:
01.  Anne McCaffrey - The City Who Fought
02.  Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Won
03.  S.M. Stirling - The Ship Avenged
04.  Jody Lynn Nye - The Ship Errant
05.  Levitt & Dubner - Superfreakonomics
06.  Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions
07.  Sean Faircloth - Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All and What We Can Do About It
08.  Thomas Marcinko - Astronauts and Heretics
09.  Jeff Sharlet - The Family
10.  Terry Pratchett - Witches Abroad
11.  Terry Pratchett - Small Gods
12.  Christopher Hitchens - Arguably
13.  David Sedaris - Naked
14.  Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
15.  Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire
16.  Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay
17.  Daniel Okrent - Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
18.  Terry Pratchett - Lords And Ladies
19.  Michael Specter - Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
20.  Terry Pratchett - Men At Arms
21.  Penn Jillette - God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales
22.  Terry Pratchett - Soul Music
23.  Brian Cox - Why does E=MC2?
24.  Terry Pratchett - Interesting Times
25.  Scott Sigler - Infected
26.  John McWhorter - Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English
27.  Terry Pratchett - Maskerade
28.  George R.R. Martin - A Dance With Dragons
29.  Siddhartha Mukherjee - The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
30.  Terry Pratchett - Feet Of Clay

[DK]

OK, it's been a couple of years since I tried this, lets give it another go.

01. Terry Pratchett - Snuff
02. Garth Ennis et al - The Boys V.9: The Big Ride (GN)
03. Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows - Neonomicon (GN)
04. George R.R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
05. Jon Ronson - The Psychopath Test
06. Jack Hessey - Steam Queen
07. Stephen Hunt - Six Against The Stars
08. Richard Dawkins - A Selfish Gene

[CSArchi]

1. Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
2. Griftopia Matt Taibbi

Both Christmas gifts from my brother-in-law.

<3Katherine

[Parrot]

1. Frauds, Myths, And Mysteries: Science And Pseudoscience In Archaeology by Ken Feder
A slim but very information dense book exploring all sorts of historical and present day misunderstandings and outright lies about archaeological evidence.  A fascinating read, highly recommended.

2. Thor's Angels by Dan Carlin
A look at the bad boys of history and how they shaped the world.

3. The Book Of Genesis
One of a collection of books in what is called the.... Bayble?... no, that's not it... I think it's the Bibble. Yes, that's it! The Bibble!  Anyway, it's an interesting piece of historical fiction... the writing's very unsophisticated and the story telling is on the poor side, but apparently a lot of people like it.

4. The Book Of Exodus
Starts off strong with a lot of plagues and smiting, but fizzles out at the end in a bunch of exacting and tedious instructions that nobody cares about.

5. The Book Of Judges
I flipped ahead for a bit... thought I'd read about Samson.  Man, that guy's an idiot!

6. The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Written in 1915 during WWI, Burroughs imagines the world of 2137.  The Great War never officially ended, and the Americas (now one country called Pan-America) has isolated itself completely from Europe and Asia.  All ships are strictly forbidden from crossing the 30th meridian, even by accident.  But an accident happens and one captain finds himself stranded on the lost continent, to discover that civilization has devolved into barbarism.

7. The Story Of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
Classic story about the man who could speak with animals.   Very interesting to actually read the original text instead of the extremely condensed version we all heard as children.

8. The Book Of Leviticus
Mostly made up of a bunch of bizarre rules and rituals, of no relevance to anybody.

9.  The Book Of Numbers
Aptly named.  Full of counts and tallies.  And a guy gets killed for picking up sticks on the sabbath.

10. The Book Of Deuteronomy
In which everything that has happened to the Israelites in the other books gets repeated.  It's God's data redundancy plan!

11. The Book Of Joshua
The Israelites go on a killing spree and take over a bunch of land.

12. The Authoritarians By Bob Altemeyer
Altemeyer covers his research into people who score highly on tests for High Right Wing Authoritarianism.  Fascinating and disturbing results, especially when combined with people who score highly on tests to see if they're social dominators.  This book is distributed freely online.

13. Crash Go The Chariots by Clifford Wilson
A 1972 book arguing against the claims in Erich Von Daniken's "Chariots Of The Gods?".  Started out with some good stuff, especially the discussion on the Easter Island statues.  But then it quickly goes off the rails and the author spent most of the rest of the book arguing that Daniken's wrong because the Bible is right and the idea that God was actually an alien is extremely insulting. There's an interesting chat with a physicist at the end about the possibility of life on other planets though.

14. The Book Of Ruth
Another book of the Bible.

15. God No by Penn Jillette
Interesting book of stories from Penn Jillette's life told to illustrate his thoughts on the morality of the ten commandments.

16. The 4% Universe by Richard Panek
A fascinating look at the discovery of dark matter and dark energy and the people in physics, astronomy, and cosmology who were instrumental in getting us this far.  Had to read over much of it several times just to get a general idea of what was going on, but it was very interesting.

17. The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
Heavy read, but worthwhile.  Very interesting look at the forces that have shaped society and have gradually made our world more peaceful.

18. Tender Hearts Taste Better in Butter by Weston Ochse
Cute story about a world where the mob exists side by side with ogres and demons.

[branico]

Here we go!

01.  The Better Angels of Our Nature:  Why Violence Has Declined - Steven Pinker | 7 Jan | 5/5
02.  Why We Get Fat:  And What to Do About It - Gary Taubes | 14 Jan | 5/5
03.  Indignation - Philip Roth | 16 Jan | 4/5
04.  Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth - Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou | 19 Jan | 5/5
05.  Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut | 8 Feb | 3.5/5
06.  2 B R 0 2B - Kurt Vonnegut | 9 Feb | 3.5/5
07.  The Defenders - Philip K. Dick | 9 Feb | 3.5/5
08.  The Skull - Philip K. Dick | 9 Feb | 3.5/5

[PANTS!]

01) The other HollyWood: the uncensored oral history of the porn film industry
02) A Canticle for Lebowitz

Currently I am reading:

Implementing SAP ERP Sales and Distribution - obviously for my work.
Civil Warland In Bad Decline by George Saunders
SAP Query - again for work
The Golden Compass - I read this to my daughter at night.

[pandamonium]

Currently I am reading:

The other HollyWood: the uncensored oral history of the porn film industry

I can't reccomend it. It is basically a transcript of the TV documentary they did. As such it is very dry reading.

This can't be accidental.

[goodthink]

1. The Strain: Guillerlo Del Toro (First in a trilogy? Can't recall)
2. The Magicians: Lev Grossman
3. Travelling with the Pomegrantes: Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
4. Denialism, how irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet and threatens our lives: Micheal Specter
5. What the Dog Saw: Malcolm Gladwell
6. Asleep: Molly Caldwell Crosby
7. The Well Dressed Ape
8. Dunk and Egg, GRRM
9. The Moral Landscape: Sam Harris
10. Fixing My Gaze: Susan R. Barry
11. Demon Haunted World: Sagan (ebook on playbook)




Legend: Bold = current read ::: Strike through = read ::: italic = owned, waiting

[Gaffer]

Here we go.

01. The Cybernetic Brain by Andrew Pickering
02. Bonk by Mary Roach
03. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
04. Genius by James Gleick
05. The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist
06. Chaos by James Gleick
07. The Information by James Gleick
08. Psychology Applied to Modern Life by Dana Dunn, Elizabeth Hammer, & Wayne Weiten
09. Meaning and Argument by Ernest Lepore
10. Space Chronicles by Neil deGrasse Tyson
11. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
12. The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
13. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
14. 1493 by Charles Mann
15. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
16. The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
17. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
18. Persuasive Games by Ian Bogost
19. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
20. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
21. Looking for Alaska by John Green
22. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
23. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
24. Paper Towns by John Green
25. Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy edited by Richard Greene & K. Silem Mohammad
26. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
27. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
28. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
29. End This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman
30. Confront and Conceal by David E. Sanger
31. The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
33. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
34. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
35. Moral Combat by Sikivu Hutchinson
36. Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal
37. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

[Skeptress]

By far my latest start date. 

A1. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
A2. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
A3. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
4. A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin
5. The Anatomist's Apprentice by Tessa Harris
A6. 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
7. The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
8. The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
A9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick
10. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
A11. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
12. Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly by Donald Thomas
A13. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
R14. Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
R15. The Night the Bell Rang by Natalie Kinsey Warnock
16. A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
17. And Another Thing by Eion Coifer
18. InterWorld by Neil Gaiman
19. Mister Creecher by Chris Priestly
20. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
21. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
22. Inside by Maria V. Snyder
23. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
24. Matched by Ally Condie
A25. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
A26. The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker
A27. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
A28. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
29. Teach Me by R. A. Nelson
30. Magic by Neil Gaiman
A31. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
G32. The Gunslinger Born by Stephen King
A33. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
34. Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
A35. The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick
36. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
37. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
G38. The Walking Dead Compendium 1
A39. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
A40. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
41. What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb
42. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
43. Housekeeping by Marilynn Robinson
44. Marcelo in the Real World by Franscisco X Stork

A=Audio
R= Read out loud to the children
G= Graphic Novel

4-1-12: SuperDave will think it's and April Fool's joke when I say that 20 is the best book I've read so far this year and it's JF.
6-28-12: #37 best book so far this year
7-8-12 Sewing a lot therefor listening to audio books a lot
7-24-12 #42 blew my mind, on my top ten list of books ever read
7-30-12 #43 another fantastic novel

[SJMann]

Sure I'll give this a try, should help motivate me to read more.
That and now I have a kindle!

1. The Wee Free Men  - Terry Pratchett    - I had kind of avoided reading the Tiffany Aching Discworld books on account of them being listed as for adolescents. But wow, The Wee Free Men is now one of my favorite ones. Although the rest of that series weren't as good.

2. A hat full of sky - Terry Pratchett
3. Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
4. I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett
5. 59 Seconds - Richard Wiseman
6. From Ramen to Riches - James Wood
7. Moneyball - Michael Lewis
8. Starting Strength - Mark Rippletoe
9. Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
10. Bossy Pants - Tine Fey