Dean Sas

During 2012 I have read 57 novels, which is significantly less than the previous year (83 between 09/10 and ¹²⁄₁₁), when I first received my Kindle but still probably more than most other years since I was a child.

Here is what I read during 2012, in rough chronological order:

1. Guns, germs and steel by Jared Diamond – Similar to Why the Rest Rules (for now) and equally as enjoyable
2. Start Small, Stay Small – Rob Walling
3. A people’s history of the United States by Howard Zinn – Some parts very interesting, some parts dull.
4. Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
5. American Pyscho by Bret Easton Ellis – Enjoyable, but sick, very sick.
6. Watership Down by Richard Adams
7. A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin – Reread as a precursor to the latest series being on tv.
8. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – Really enjoyed this entire series
9. Ender’s Shadow: Book One by Orson Scott Card
10. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
11. Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott – interesting but not great
12. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
13. Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
14. Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
15. Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card
16. Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card
17. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
18. A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
19. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – quite enjoyed the first two parts of this fast paced YA series.
20. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
21. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut – surreal but ultimately felt like a struggle
22. Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
23. A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
24. A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin
25. A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin – really enjoyed, intending to reread to ensure I captured all of the detials
26. Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett – A discworld novel, I read one from the Guards! series every so often as a short light hearted interlude after an intensive reading session.
27. Makers by Cory Doctorow – another re-read
28. The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr
29. Dune by Frank Herbert – I’d started reading this series before but didn’t remember getting to the end so I decided to re-read. Dune is the best of the Dune series.
30. Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
31. Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
32. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbet – It is a dull drag, I stopped my re-read after this novel, previously I read the sequel to this one, but remembered that that too is a dirge.
33. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – The finale of the Hunger Games series, quite different to the previous two, slightly clumsy but still enjoyable.
34. A Walk-On Part: Diaries 1994-1999 by Chris Mullin – The first chronologically of the Mullin diaries but the last one I read. The whole series is a really good inside look into British politics from the perspective of an MP/junior minister rather than from the PM or cabinet. This isn’t the best in the series but worth a read if the others were enjoyed.
35. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton – The first film I saw at the cinema, I enjoyed the book too.
36. The Lost World by Michael Crichton – Very different to the film, a worthy sequel.
37. Next: A Novel by Michael Crichton – A dystopian fiction about genetic engineering nad intellectual property. Worryingly close to fact.
38. Congo by Michael Crichton – The most similar Crichton novel to Jurassic Park. Very enjoyable.
39. Disclosure: A Novel by Michael Crichton
40. Airframw by Michael Crichton
41. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
42. Childhoods’ End by Arthur C Clarke – I didn’t realise until I got about half way through that I’d actually read this before, which must have been a very long time ago.
43. The autobiography of Malcom X by Malcom X – What a remarkable life.
44. Why The West Rules (for now) by Ian Morris – Re-read. A history of the development of Chinese and Eurasia. Not dry at all.
45. Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctrow from the first humble bundle
46. Pump Six and other stories by Paolo Bacigalupi – Several future dystopian short stories – I really wished most of these were full fleshed novels.
47. The Secret World Chronicles by Mercedes Lackey – The beginning of a series of books partially populated by X-men like superheroes. I really enjoyed this, was most disapointed to find the other books are not yet available as ebooks.
48. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link – A mixed bag of short supernatural stories. Some are great (the title novel), some are less compelling.
49. The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. Another Guards! discworld novel
50. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi – Similar to Starship Troopers, my first Scalzi novel, I intend to read more.
51. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach – I found this short novel split across several /r/nosleep posts and decided to buy it immediately. A good example of how self-publishing can work.
52. Final Empire: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – The start of a fantastic fantasy series. Not sure where I picked up on this from but I’m glad I did.
53. The Well of Ascension: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
54. The Hero of Ages: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – The finale to the series.
55. The Alloy of Law: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – Set in the same world as the other Mistborn books, but 300 years later.
56. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes – An interesting book set in a world where criminals have magical animal familiars.
57. Utter Folly: A high comedy of bad manners by Paul Basset Davies. A pretty funny farce in the English countryside.

I started reading War & Peace a few weeks ago, which is obviously going to take a while, I think I’m about 25% of the way through.