It’s time for another book update. I’ve modified my book database software so it can generate this report, but that necessitated modifying the way some of the data was laid out, so some of the numbers here have changed slightly. Nobody cares. I don’t even care. Anyways.
I finished the fourth (or third) book in Hugh Cook’s Age of Darkness series. It was really good. This series is not really at all what I had been expecting; instead of being a series of books following a group of characters over time, each book covers the same time period, but centering on different characters and how they are affected by the major world events in that time period. The interactions that the different characters have with the events are very different: for example, in the first book there’s a major land battle and our main character (for that book) is in command over one side’s forces; we learn a lot about the battle in this book. In the third book, that book’s main character is a very low-ranking soldier on the other side of the battle and he actually sleeps through most of it because he’s sick.
Another really fun thing about this series is that each book in written in a different style of fantasy writing. The first book is classic Tolkeinesque high fantasy about a group of wizards on a Great Quest. The second (and third) book is a comedy about a bumbling hero who only wants to have sex. The fourth book is a feminist fantasy story, a-la Marion Zimmer Bradley, about a woman who begins the story as a slave and ends as empress of the realm. Each book is completely stand-alone, and could be enjoyed without knowing anything about the other books, although having read those, I find many sidelong references to the others quite enjoyable. I’m really looking forward to reading the next 7 books. Interestingly, this was originally planned to be a 60 book series; the first 20 about this time period, then 20 more about another time period and finally 20 more about a third time period. Unfortunately, the books didn’t sell well and Cook has stated publicly that he won’t be writing any more. Oh well.
1. Neil Gaiman – Anansi Boys – 1-6-08 (287pp)
2. Jonathan Vankin – The Big Book of Bad – 1-7-08 (93pp)
3. W. Michael Gear – The Warriors of Spider – 1-16-08 (367pp)
4. Max Brooks – World War Z – 1-19-08 (342pp)
5. Hari Kunzru – Transmission – 1-27-08 (276pp)
6. Bill Watterson – The Complete Calvin and Hobbes – 1-30-08 (480pp)
7. W. Michael Gear – The Way of Spider – 2-7-08 (408pp)
8. Dick Francis – Hot Money – 2-12-08 (423pp)
9. W. Michael Gear – The Web of Spider – 2-21-08 (648pp)
10. Philip José Farmer – The Maker of Universes – 2-22-08 (247pp)
11. Samuel R. Delany – Empire Star – 2-23-08 (132pp)
12. Philip José Farmer – The Gates of Creation – 2-25-08 (188pp)
13. Neil Gaiman – Don’t Panic – 2-27-08 (182pp)
14. Philip José Farmer – A Private Cosmos – 2-29-08 (275pp)
15. Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club – 3-1-08 (218pp)
16. Philip José Farmer – Behind the Walls of Terra – 3-3-08 (188pp)
17. John Swartzwelder – The Time Machine Did It – 3-4-08 (138pp)
18. Philip José Farmer – The Lavalite World – 3-6-08 (282pp)
19. David Mamet – On Directing Film – 3-7-08 (107pp)
20. Steven Gould – Helm – 3-11-08 (383pp)
21. Sharyn McCrumb – Missing Susan – 3-14-08 (401pp)
22. Philip José Farmer – Red Orc’s Rage – 3-15-08 (282pp)
23. Dick Francis – Break In – 3-18-08 (371pp)
24. Philip José Farmer – More Than Fire – 3-21-08 (312pp)
25. Hugh Cook – Wizard War – 3-25-08 (447pp)
26. Emily Brontë – Wuthering Heights – 3-30-08 (324pp)
27. Hugh Cook – The Questing Hero – 3-31-08 (186pp)
28. Hugh Cook – The Hero’s Return – 4-4-08 (204pp)
29. Jack Weatherford – Indian Givers – 4-4-08 (255pp)
30. Philip K. Dick – Eye in the Sky – 4-7-08 (255pp)
31. Hugh Cook – The Oracle – 4-12-08 (346pp)
Totals:
Books: 31
Pages: 9047
I have to read 953 pages in 2 more books by the end of the month to keep on track. Should be pretty easy.