Thursday, January 04, 2007
Just Read: 2006
Since I kept track of all the books I read last year, I figured it would be interesting to compile some stats.
According to my ratings at the time, my favourite book of 2006 was Cryptonomicon (with a rating of 6/5) and my least favourite was Timeline (2/5). January saw me finish the most books (4), with both March and October seeing me not finish any. The longest book I read was Cryptonomicon (1168 pages) and the shortest was Murder Unprompted (164).
According to the Amazon page count, I read a total of 8390 pages of fiction novels, which averages to 699 pages per month, or 23 pages a day. I gave an average rating of 3.5, and the average length of each book was 441 pages. Just under half the books I ready were by authors I'd not read before and Neal Stephenson was the only author I read two books by this year. Interview with the Vampire was the only book I had read before, although I had attempted to read Name of the Rose.
And just 'cause I felt like it, here's the number of pages I read each month (generated using my super-secret formula)
According to my ratings at the time, my favourite book of 2006 was Cryptonomicon (with a rating of 6/5) and my least favourite was Timeline (2/5). January saw me finish the most books (4), with both March and October seeing me not finish any. The longest book I read was Cryptonomicon (1168 pages) and the shortest was Murder Unprompted (164).
According to the Amazon page count, I read a total of 8390 pages of fiction novels, which averages to 699 pages per month, or 23 pages a day. I gave an average rating of 3.5, and the average length of each book was 441 pages. Just under half the books I ready were by authors I'd not read before and Neal Stephenson was the only author I read two books by this year. Interview with the Vampire was the only book I had read before, although I had attempted to read Name of the Rose.
And just 'cause I felt like it, here's the number of pages I read each month (generated using my super-secret formula)
Labels: justread
Just Read: December
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Discovered: I figured after nearly 15 years, I'd give it another read
About it: Louis is a vampire. And he's a bit bored of it. So he decides to tell some guy with a tape recorder all about it. It was a great story when I first read it, but I was an angsty teenager at the beginning of a massive vampire kick. This time around, it was tired and annoying. For most of the book I just kept thinking about Lestat's final line in the movie:
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Discovered: A wondering book at the Crisp Cafe
About it: A big company has invented a time machine. The sent back a historian and loose him, so then send back his grad students. Of course, they don't actually get to that bit until half way through the book. Here's a hint - if your book is called "Timeline", and you talk about going back in time in the blurb, you don't need to spend half the book building up to the amazing revelation that the Mysterious Big Company has a time machine. 'Cause really, we kind of saw it coming...
My Rating: 2/5
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Discovered: Post-Christmas sales
About it: Rather then sum up the plot of Fight Club, I'd rather just comment on my awesome copy of it. But I've already done that.
My Rating: 4/5
Discovered: I figured after nearly 15 years, I'd give it another read
About it: Louis is a vampire. And he's a bit bored of it. So he decides to tell some guy with a tape recorder all about it. It was a great story when I first read it, but I was an angsty teenager at the beginning of a massive vampire kick. This time around, it was tired and annoying. For most of the book I just kept thinking about Lestat's final line in the movie:
Oh, Louis, Louis. Still whining, Louis. Have you heard enough? I've had to listen to that for centuries....My Rating: 2.5/5
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Discovered: A wondering book at the Crisp Cafe
About it: A big company has invented a time machine. The sent back a historian and loose him, so then send back his grad students. Of course, they don't actually get to that bit until half way through the book. Here's a hint - if your book is called "Timeline", and you talk about going back in time in the blurb, you don't need to spend half the book building up to the amazing revelation that the Mysterious Big Company has a time machine. 'Cause really, we kind of saw it coming...
My Rating: 2/5
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Discovered: Post-Christmas sales
About it: Rather then sum up the plot of Fight Club, I'd rather just comment on my awesome copy of it. But I've already done that.
My Rating: 4/5
Labels: justread
Monday, December 11, 2006
Just Read: November
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Discovered: A birthday book
About It: It's the future. Society is divided into tribal groups. Nanotechnology has progressed to a point where virtually anything can be replicated (and constructing objects is a very similar process to programing). Oh, and there's this girl named Nell who gets given a pretty special book. That's about all I'm going to say, except that it was pretty awesome.
My Rating: 4/5
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Discovered: The Lifeline Book Fair
About It: A detective is investigating a murder in 1969 Berlin. But this is Berlin if the Reich had won the war. It makes for a really interesting and different setting. As for the story itself, I honestly could not tell if the protagonists were going to make it or not. It's been a long time since I read a book that gave my stomach a knot of excitement for the last 50 pages.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Discovered: A birthday book
About It: It's the future. Society is divided into tribal groups. Nanotechnology has progressed to a point where virtually anything can be replicated (and constructing objects is a very similar process to programing). Oh, and there's this girl named Nell who gets given a pretty special book. That's about all I'm going to say, except that it was pretty awesome.
My Rating: 4/5
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Discovered: The Lifeline Book Fair
About It: A detective is investigating a murder in 1969 Berlin. But this is Berlin if the Reich had won the war. It makes for a really interesting and different setting. As for the story itself, I honestly could not tell if the protagonists were going to make it or not. It's been a long time since I read a book that gave my stomach a knot of excitement for the last 50 pages.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Labels: justread
