Will and Beyond

2011: So Many Books

As I’ve done for the last 2 years, I’ve obsessively tracked my book reading with Goodreads. Guess what? Even more books! I aimed for 100 books, and made 108. Even if you discount 3-5 graphic novels (depending on definition), I made it, huzzah!

Following roughly the same format as years past, here they are; title, author, rating, and strong recommendations in bold.

January – 12

American Gods [Neil Gaiman] (4/5)
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe [Charles Yu] (5/5)
Global Frequency Vol. 1: Planet Ablaze [Warren Ellis] (4/5)
Global Frequency Vol. 2: Detonation Radio [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
The City & The City [China Miéville] (5/5)
The Comedy of Errors [Shakespeare] (4/5)
Death Without Company [Craig Johnson] (5/5)
Henry VIII [Shakespeare] (4/5)
Eunoia [Christian Bok] (5/5)
Edenborn [Nick Sagan] (4/5)
The Nitrogen Fix [Hal Clement] (2/5)
To Kill a Mockingbird [Harper Lee] (5/5)

February – 5

Halting State [Charles Stross] (4/5)
The Sirens of Titan [Kurt Vonnegut] (4/5)
Everfree [Nick Sagan] (4/5)
The Truth [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
Ringworld [Larry Niven] (5/5)

March – 9

A Short History of Nearly Everything [Bill Bryson] (5/5)
The Mountains of Mourning [Lois McMaster Bujold] (4/5)
The Warrior’s Apprentice [Lois McMaster Bujold] (5/5)
Our Lady of Darkness [Fritz Leiber] (2/5)
The Vor Game [Lois McMaster Bujold] (4/5)
Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror [Jeffrey Goldberg] (5/5)
Molecules and Medicine [E.J. Corey] (3/5)
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency [Douglas Adams] (4/5)
The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul [Douglas Adams] (4/5)

April – 7

Thief of Time [Terry Pratchett] (3/5)
Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories about People Who Know How They Will Die [Ryan North, et al] (5/5)
Dune [Frank Herbert] (5/5)
Kindness Goes Unpunished [Craig Johnson] (4/5)
Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History [Penny Le Couteur] (4/5)
Forever Peace [Joe Haldeman] (4/5)
Monkey!: A Tale from China [Colin Teevan] (3/5)

May – 7

Stalking The Angel [Robert Crais] (4/5)
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West [Gregory Maguire] (5/5)
The Taqwacores [Michael Muhammad Knight] (4/5)
I Am America (And So Can You!) [Stephen Colbert] (4/5)
How to Profit From the Coming Rapture: Getting Ahead When You’re Left Behind [Steve Levy] (4/5)
HMS Pinafore [Gilbert and Sullivan] (3/5)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union [Michael Chabon] (3/5)

June – 8

Another Man’s Moccasins [Craig Johnson] (5/5)
Greetings from Bury Park [Sarfraz Manzoor] (4/5)
The Art of Racing in the Rain [Garth Stein] (5/5)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [Douglas Adams] (5/5)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Douglas Adams] (5/5)
Life, the Universe and Everything [Douglas Adams] (5/5)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish [Douglas Adams] (4/5)
Roman Blood [Steven Saylor] (3/5)

July – 9

At Home: A Short History of Private Life [Bill Bryson] (4/5)
The Autobiography of Santa Claus [Jeff Guinn] (4/5)
How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas [Jeff Guinn] (4/5)
Time Cat [Lloyd Alexander] (2/5)
A Dance With Dragons [George R.R. Martin] (5/5)
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)
The Hunger Games [Suzanne Collins] (5/5)
The Graveyard Book [Neil Gaiman] (4/5)
Guards! Guards! [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)

August – 14

Ethan of Athos [Lois McMaster Bujold] (5/5)
Cetaganda [Lois McMaster Bujold] (5/5)
Labyrinth [Lois McMaster Bujold] (4/5)
Catching Fire [Suzanne Collins] (5/5)
Mockingjay [Suzanne Collins] (4/5)
Blackout [Connie Willis] (3/5)
All Clear [Connie Willis] (4/5)
Dark Horse [Craig Johnson] (4/5)
Mostly Harmless [Douglas Adams] (2/5)
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn [Betty Smith] (5/5)
Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs [Ken Jennings] (5/5)
Sense and Sensibility [Jane Austen] (1/5)
A Wild Sheep Chase [Haruki Murakami] (4/5)
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said [Phillip K. Dick] (4/5)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists [Gideon Defoe] (2/5)

September – 16

Life and Times of Michael K [J.M. Coetzee] (4/5)
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology [Simon Winchester] (3/5)
The War of the Worlds [H.G. Wells] (4/5)
Beginning Place [Ursula K. LeGuin] (2/5)
Close to Critical [Hal Clement] (4/5)
Earthlight [Arthur C. Clarke] (5/5)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation [Lynne Truss] (5/5)
The Great Santa Search [Jeff Guinn] (4/5)
The Warlord’s Son [Dan Fesperman] (4/5)
The Wild Things [Dave Eggers] (4/5)
The Fountainhead [Ayn Rand] (5/5)
Prank University: The Ultimate Guide to College’s Greatest Tradition [John Austin] (2/5)
Where the Wild Things Are [Maurice Sendak] (5/5)
Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation [Olivia Judson] (4/5)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo [Stieg Larsson] (5/5)

October – 7

How We are Hungry [Dave Eggers] (4/5)
Othello [Shakespeare] (3/5)
The Girl Who Played with Fire [Stieg Larsson] (4/5)
This Immortal [Roger Zelazny] (1/5)
Star Light [Hal Clement] (2/5)
The Invisible Man [H.G. Wells] (3/5)
The Eye of the World [Robert Jordan] (5/5)

November – 7

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms [N.K. Jemisin] (3/5)
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit [Daniel Quinn] (4/5)
The Taming of the Shrew [Shakespeare] (3/5)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Through The Looking-Glass [Lewis Carroll] (3/5)
Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II [Jennett Conant] (4/5)
The Stingray Shuffle [Tim Dorsey] (4/5)
Lord of the Flies [William Goldin] (3/5)

December – 7

Codex [Lev Grossman] (3/5)
The Scarlet Letter [Nathaniel Hawthrone] (1/5)
Night Watch [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle] (4/5)
Ape House [Sara Gruen] (5/5)
How the States Got Their Shapes [Mark Stein] (3/5)
Jed the Dead [Alan Dean Foster] (5/5)

I have mini-reviews or at least some thoughts for each up on my Goodreads page, so you can look there for more insight on any of them. Lots of good books. Starting with Alice in Wonderland, I read a couple books on the Kindle app on my phone. It’s nice for when I finish a book on the metro, so I can keep reading for the rest of the ride.

Going to aim for 100 again this year. I doubt I’ll make it this time, but I’ll see what I can do.

Thank you, WMATA
For all of that reading time
I’m so literate

Godspeed.

2010: The Year in Music

As you’ve seen recently, I tend to obsessively track everything, which includes music that I listen to, and shows that I go to. For music, I use Last.fm. This isn’t the most informative chart, (generated here) but it’s very pretty: (click for zoom)

It mostly tells me that July was a dark month in my life. The graph is based off of my top 100 artists, (I think for each month) with the y-coordinate being number of tracks played.

I also went to 10 shows:

• We Are Scientists (Uninhabitable Mansions) @ Black Cat
• Shamrock Fest – Carbon Leaf, Scythian, Enter the Haggis (bunch of others) @ RFK Stadium
• Jukebox the Ghost, Tally Hall (Skybox) @ Black Cat
• Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (Obits, Screaming Females) @ 9:30 Club
• Medications (Deleted Scenes, Hume) @ U St. Music Hall
• Love in Stockholm @ Johnny D’s
• Robbers on High Street @ Black Cat
• Jukebox the Ghost (Elizabeth & the Catapult, Ruby Coast) @ Black Cat
• Tim Fite (Azure Ray, James Husband) @ Rock and Roll Hotel
• fun. (Steel Train, the Postelles) @ 9:30 Club

Mostly it’s the openers in parentheses, but it’s just the other people who were there, occasionally I was there to see an opener. Roughly a show a month; I should aim for a little more this year.

Obsessive tracking
I passed sixy thousand plays
Last.fm is great

Godspeed.

2010: The Year in Books

Just like last year I tracked my book reading using Goodreads, and wow did I read a lot. 97 books, so I met my goal of 75. Up just a few from last year’s 40. 22 of this year’s were graphic novels, so even if I were to discount those, I still just met my goal. I’m counting them anyway.

Here they are, with the rating in parentheses, and recommendations in bold. If you actually go to my Goodreads profile, you’ll be able to see short reviews on all of them, but that’s far too much work to link them all here.

January – 5

Transmetropolitan Vol. 2: Lust for Life [Warren Ellis] (4/5)
Lincoln’s Dreams [Connie Willis] (4/5)
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary [Simon Winchester] (5/5)
Me of Little Faith [Lewis Black] (3/5)
Kidnapped [Robert Louis Stevenson] (4/5)

February – 5

Witches Abroad [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)
Remake [Connie Willis] (4/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 3: Year of the Bastard [Warren Ellis] (4/5)
Cat’s Cradle [Kurt Vonnegut] (5/5)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America Along the Appalachian Trail [Bill Bryson] (5/5)

March – 11

Lords and Ladies [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)
Eric [Terry Pratchett] (3/5)
The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction [Leofranc Holford-Stevens] (2/5)
The Misanthrope [Molière] (2/5)
Ella Minnow Pea [Mark Dunn] (5/5)
The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Human Mind [Amir Aczel] (4/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 4: The New Scum [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
Kafka on the Shore [Haruki Murakami] (5/5)
The Time Machine [H.G. Wells] (5/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 5: Lonely City [Warren Ellis] (4/5)
Island [Aldous Huxley] (4/5)

April – 11

Transmetropolitan Vol. 6: Gouge Away [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
Men at Arms [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
Cyrano de Bergerac [Edmond Rostand] (4/5)
Power Up [Doug TenNapel] (4/5)
V for Vendetta [Alan Moore] (4/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 7: Spider’s Thrash [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 8: Dirge [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
Marabou Stork Nightmares [Irvine Welsh] (5/5)
The Prince and the Pauper [Mark Twain] (5/5)
Frankenstein [Mary Shelley] (5/5)
Interesting Times [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)

May – 12

Norwegian Wood [Haruki Murakami] (4/5)
Dr. Faustus [Christopher Marlowe] (2/5)
Maskerade [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)
Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degeneration [Irvine Welsh] (3/5)
Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas [Garth Ennis] (5/5)
Cujo [Stephen King] (5/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 9: The Cure [Warren Ellis] (4/5)
Transmetropolitan Vol. 10: One More Time [Warren Ellis] (5/5)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius [Dave Eggers] (5/5)
Dance Dance Dance [Haruki Murakami] (5/5)
Tinkers [Paul Harding] (3/5)
The Quiet War [Paul McAuley] (5/5)

June – 11

Hogfather [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle [Haruki Murakami] (4/5)
Galapagos [Kurt Vonnegut] (5/5)
A Game of Thrones [George R.R. Martin] (5/5)
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe [Bill Bryson] (3/5)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress [Robert Heinlein] (5/5)
Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love [Dava Sobel] (4/5)
King Lear [William Shakespeare] (5/5)
Fool [Christopher Moore] (5/5)
Preacher Vol. 2: Until the End of the World [Garth Ennis] (4/5)
Purgatorio [Dante Aligheri] (1/5)

July – 9

A Clash of Kings [George R.R. Martin] (5/5)
The Door into Summer [Robert Heinlein] (5/5)
Boneshaker [Cherie Priest] (5/5)
Me Talk Pretty One Day [David Sedaris] (4/5)
Bel Canto [Ann Patchett] (4/5)
Await Your Reply [Dan Chaon] (5/5)
Slaughterhouse-Five [Kurt Vonnegut] (4/5)
Preacher Vol. 3: Proud Americans [Garth Ennis] (5/5)
Jingo [Terry Pratchett] (2/5)

August – 4

In a Sunburned Country [Bill Bryson] (4/5)
Atomic Robo Vol. 1: Atomic Robo & the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne [Brian Clevinger] (4/5)
A Storm of Swords [George R.R. Martin] (5/5)
Stranger in a Strange Land [Robert Heinlein] (3/5)

September – 16

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (4/5)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (4/5)
The Windup Girl [Paolo Bacigalupi] (4/5)
Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (3/5)
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (3/5)
A Feast for Crows [George R.R. Martin] (5/5)
Shadows in Bronze [Lindsey Davis] (4/5)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (3/5)
The Ride Home [Joey Weiser] (5/5)
Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour [Bryan Lee O'Malley] (3/5)
The Last Continent [Terry Pratchett] (4/5)
Zeitoun [Dave Eggers] (5/5)
Cycle of Fire [Hal Clement] (5/5)
Needle [Hal Clement] (4/5)
Oryx and Crake [Margaret Atwood] (5/5)
Through the Eye of a Needle [Hal Clement] (4/5)

October – 4

Ice World [Hal Clement] (4/5)
The Fourth Bear [Jasper Fforde] (4/5)
Carpe Jugulum [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
Half Life [Hal Clement] (3/5)

November – 7

Perdido Street Station [China Mieville] (4/5)
xkcd: Volume 0 [Randall Munroe] (5/5)
Trouble with Lichen [John Wyndham] (3/5)
The Fifth Elephant [Terry Pratchett] (5/5)
Stowaway to Mars [John Wyndham] (5/5)
Skeleton Man [Tony Hillerman] (4/5)
The Scar [China Mieville] (4/5)

December – 2

Cryptonomicon [Neal Stephenson] (5/5)
The Cold Dish [Craig Johnson] (4/5)

A lot of fantastic books. My goal this year is 85; less than I did last year, but bigger than last year’s goal. You can tell I moved in with Amy in Springfield and have been taking the metro a LOT more.

Damn, I got so close
One away from a hundred
I’m so literate!

Godspeed.

2010: The Year in Video Games

We’re not quite at the end of the year yet; I’ll make any necessary edits later, but I doubt I’ll be starting anything new. Everything is broken down by section, then ordered chronologically starting with the most recent. Highlights are in bold.

Games I’m playing:

Mirror’s Edge
LEGO Harry Potter (Years 1-4)
LEGO Rock Band
Echo Bazaar

Games I beat:

Fallout 3
Mass Effect 2
Too Human
LEGO Batman
LOST: Via Domus
Monkey Island: Special Edition
Assassin’s Creed

Games I played:

Geometry Wars Evolved²
Rainbox Six: Vegas
Rock Band 2
N+
Castle Crashers
‘splosion Man

Most of my gaming is on my 360, so this was pretty easy to figure out by browing my XBL profile. It’s alot cheaper to play now that I’m just trading games via CAG instead of buying everything new. My queue of games to play for 2011 is extensive, but I’m most pumped for Bioshock 2 and Resident Evil 5.

I have time for this?
We’ll keep on pretending yes
Procrastination!

Godspeed.

Books I Read in 2009

I started tracking my reading with Goodreads, which allowed me to easily figure out which books I’ve read this year. You can look there for all of my ratings, and reviews on the later books, but in short I have bolded all of my strong recommendations. With no further ado:

February

The Trial [Franz Kafka]
The Tales of Beetle the Bard [J.K. Rowling]
Iron Orchid [Stuart Woods]
The Camel Club [David Baldacci]
The First Scientist: A Life of Roger Bacon [Brian Clegg]

March

Watchmen [Alan Moore]

April

Hidden Prey [John Sandford]
The Bro Code [Barney Stintson]

May

Ronin [Frank Miller]
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players [Stefan Fatsis]
The Last Olympian [Rick Riordan]

June

Dead Babies [Martin Amis]
The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime [Miles Harvey]

July

The Day of the Triffids [John Wyndam]
Who’s Afraid of Schrödinger’s Cat? An A-to-Z Guide to All the New Science Ideas You Need to Keep Up with the New Thinking [Ian Marshall]
What is the What [Dave Eggers]

August

On Human Nature [Edward O. Wilson]
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character [Richard Feynman]
Why There’s Antifreeze in Your Toothpaste: The Chemistry of Household Ingredients [Simon Field]
Mort [Terry Pratchett]

September

Wyrd Sisters [Terry Pratchett]
Twitter Wit: Brilliance in 140 Characters or Less [Nick Douglas]
Feet of Clay [Terry Pratchett]
Small Gods [Terry Pratchett]

October

Sourcery [Terry Pratchett]
To Say Nothing of the Dog [Connie Willis]
Trainspotting [Irvine Welsh]
Equal Rites [Terry Pratchett]

November

The Colour of Magic [Terry Pratchett]
Passage [Connie Willis]
The Light Fantastic [Terry Pratchett]
Transmetropolitan Vol. 1: Back on the Street [Warren Ellis]
Moving Pictures [Terry Pratchett]
Transmetropolitan Vol. 0: Tales of Human Waste [Warren Ellis]
Reaper Man [Terry Pratchett]
Getting Opera: A Guide for the Cultured but Confused [Matt Dobkin]

December

Pyramids [Terry Pratchett]
Uncharted Territory [Connie Willis]
Doomsday Book [Connie Willis]
Crocodile on the Sandbank [Elizabeth Peters]

So that’s everything: 40 books in a year. This year I’m going to shoot for a solid 50. Not much of an improvement, especially considering how little I read in the beginning of the year, but 100 would be the next big number, and that sounds way too daunting, that’s almost 2 a week.

[Photo: Flickr]
[Photo: Flickr]
[Photo: Flickr]

That’s lots of reading
Mucho time on the Metro
Forced literacy

Godspeed.