Arctangential » 50 Book Challenge – 2009

With harmony divine.

avi — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:57:02 +0000

It’s been a while since I did a book project update. I blame work, mostly. Or myself. Either way, it’s been so long that this post is actually the last one for 2009. On the 14th, I finished reading Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s “The Shadow of the Wind”, which was my 120th book of the year. I also was able to do some math and make it work out that my page average this year was precisely 310 pages per book. Last year I really struggled at the end of the year to hit my more modest goal — this year I’m done 2 weeks early. Next year I’m going to still go for 10 books a month, but I’m going to bump my page average up to 330 per book. We’ll see how it goes. For those who care, here’s my final stats:

1. Isaac Asimov – Asimov’s Guide to the Bible – 1-15-09 (1295pp)
2. Stephen King – On Writing – 1-16-09 (288pp)
3. Isaac Asimov – Earth is Room Enough – 1-18-09 (192pp)
4. Ernest Pintoff – Directing 101 – 1-19-09 (220pp)
5. Isaac Asimov – The Wellsprings of Life – 1-21-09 (224pp)
6. Kurt Vonnegut – God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – 1-23-09 (190pp)
7. Dick Francis – Longshot – 1-24-09 (322pp)
8. Isaac Asimov – View from a Height – 1-27-09 (254pp)
9. MacDonald Harris – The Balloonist – 1-29-09 (280pp)
10. Florence King – With Charity Toward None – 1-31-09 (194pp)
11. Bill Bryson – Shakespeare: The World as Stage – 2-2-09 (199pp)
12. Tom Stoppard – Plays Five – 2-6-09 (593pp)
13. Isaac Asimov – The Neutrino – 2-8-09 (188pp)
14. Dick Francis – Odds Against – 2-10-09 (239pp)
15. Robert A. Heinlein – Citizen of the Galaxy – 2-11-09 (253pp)
16. Sarah Vowell – Take the Cannoli – 2-13-09 (219pp)
17. Isaac Asimov – The Universe – 2-18-09 (315pp)
18. John Tarrant – The Rommel Plot – 2-20-09 (250pp)
19. Henry D. Smith II – Hokusai – One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji – 2-24-09 (224pp)
20. Dave Duncan – The Gilded Chain – 3-2-09 (418pp)
21. Lynne Truss – Eats, Shoots & Leaves – 3-3-09 (209pp)
22. Dave Duncan – Lord of the Fire Lands – 3-6-09 (457pp)
23. Isaac Asimov – Science, Numbers and I – 3-8-09 (226pp)
24. Dave Duncan – Sky of Swords – 3-11-09 (466pp)
25. Virgil – The Aeneid – 3-19-09 (432pp)
26. Isaac Asimov – Asimov on Astronomy – 3-21-09 (271pp)
27. Brian M. Wiprud – Pipsqueak – 3-23-09 (293pp)
28. Isaac Asimov – Building Blocks of the Universe – 3-25-09 (287pp)
29. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations – 4-1-09 (628pp)
30. Stephen Baxter – Moonseed – 4-7-09 (663pp)
31. Stephen King – Duma Key – 4-10-09 (612pp)
32. Isaac Asimov – Asimov’s Mysteries – 4-13-09 (255pp)
33. Charles Burns – Black Hole – 4-14-09 (184pp)
34. Dick Francis – Dead Cert – 4-14-09 (256pp)
35. Isaac Asimov – The Human Brain – 4-18-09 (357pp)
36. Isaac Asimov – Environments Out There – 4-21-09 (96pp)
37. Syd Field – Screenplay – 4-21-09 (262pp)
38. Ken Grimwood – Replay – 4-22-09 (311pp)
39. Isaac Asimov – The Kite that Won the Revolution – 4-23-09 (148pp)
40. Michael Chabon – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – 5-1-09 (639pp)
41. Isaac Asimov – The Death Dealers – 5-4-09 (189pp)
42. Terry Pratchett – A Hat Full of Sky – 5-6-09 (278pp)
43. Isaac Asimov – Words of Science – 5-8-09 (319pp)
44. Tom McCarthy – Tintin and the Secret of Literature – 5-11-09 (211pp)
45. Isaac Asimov – Breakthroughs in Science – 5-12-09 (197pp)
46. Joseph Green – The Horde – 5-13-09 (191pp)
47. Isaac Asimov – Only a Trillion – 5-15-09 (221pp)
48. Benjamin Hoff – The Tao of Pooh – 5-16-09 (158pp)
49. Philip K. Dick – The Unteleported Man – 5-18-09 (202pp)
50. Isaac Asimov – The Martian Way and Other Stories – 5-19-09 (176pp)
51. Dick Francis – Enquiry – 5-20-09 (221pp)
52. Robert Crais – The Monkey’s Raincoat – 5-22-09 (201pp)
53. Isaac Asimov – The New Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science – 5-28-09 (864pp)
54. Melissa Bruder – A Practical Handbook for the Actor – 5-29-09 (94pp)
55. Thomas M. Disch – Fun with Your New Head – 6-1-09 (176pp)
56. Gordon Davis – The Liberation of Paris – 6-2-09 (199pp)
57. David Benioff – City of Thieves – 6-4-09 (258pp)
58. Gordon Davis – Doom River – 6-5-09 (185pp)
59. Isaac Asimov – Realm of Numbers – 6-6-09 (200pp)
60. David Alexander Smith – Future Boston – 6-9-09 (384pp)
61. Carol O’Connell – Judas Child – 6-12-09 (420pp)
62. Richard Brautigan – The Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, So the Wind Won’t Blow It All Away – 6-16-09 (531pp)
63. Caleb Carr – The Alienist – 6-20-09 (498pp)
64. Isaac Asimov – Realm of Measure – 6-21-09 (144pp)
65. MacDonald Harris – Herma – 6-30-09 (431pp)
66. Isaac Asimov – Fact and Fancy – 7-2-09 (206pp)
67. Junot Díaz – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – 7-7-09 (340pp)
68. Dick Francis – Rat Race – 7-9-09 (216pp)
69. Nevada Barr – Blind Descent – 7-12-09 (341pp)
70. Isaac Asimov – Words from the Myths – 7-13-09 (143pp)
71. Jorge Luis Borges – The Book of Imaginary Beings – 7-15-09 (236pp)
72. Agatha Christie – And Then There Were None – 7-16-09 (264pp)
73. Barack Obama – The Audacity of Hope – 7-21-09 (448pp)
74. H. P. Lovecraft – Tales – 8-2-09 (838pp)
75. Kristen Heitzmann – Freefall – 8-7-09 (462pp)
76. Isaac Asimov – Life and Energy – 8-13-09 (378pp)
77. Isaac Asimov – The Kingdom of the Sun – 8-16-09 (157pp)
78. Ariana Franklin – The Serpent’s Tale – 8-16-09 (387pp)
79. Josephine Tey – The Daughter of Time – 8-18-09 (206pp)
80. Isaac Asimov – The Collapsing Universe – 8-19-09 (204pp)
81. Junji Ito – Museum of Terror Vol. 1 – 8-20-09 (375pp)
82. Junji Ito – Museum of Terror Vol. 2 – 8-21-09 (376pp)
83. Isaac Asimov – The Search for the Elements – 8-21-09 (144pp)
84. Paul J. Salamoff – On the Set – 8-23-09 (240pp)
85. F. Scott Fitzgerald – This Side of Paradise – 8-26-09 (255pp)
86. Junji Ito – Museum of Terror Vol. 3 – 8-27-09 (391pp)
87. Caleb Carr – Killing Time – 8-29-09 (335pp)
88. Isaac Asimov – The Chemicals of Life – 8-31-09 (140pp)
89. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife – 9-3-09 (546pp)
90. Terry Pratchett – The Discworld Companion – 9-9-09 (477pp)
91. Joan Hess – Malice in Maggody – 9-20-09 (236pp)
92. Joseph Heller – Catch-22 – 10-1-09 (443pp)
93. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – 10-3-09 (226pp)
94. Dick Francis – Trial Run – 10-7-09 (290pp)
95. Kate Atkinson – Case Histories – 10-14-09 (373pp)
96. Isaac Asimov – Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology – 10-16-09 (941pp)
97. Zack Parsons – My Tank is Fight! – 10-17-09 (244pp)
98. Tana French – The Likeness – 10-21-09 (466pp)
99. Isaac Asimov – Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales – 10-22-09 (287pp)
100. Walter Jon Williams – House of Shards – 10-24-09 (309pp)
101. Isaac Asimov – The Caves of Steel – 10-25-09 (270pp)
102. Euripides – Bacchae – 10-26-09 (75pp)
103. Isaac Asimov – From Earth to Heaven – 10-28-09 (253pp)
104. Dick Francis – For Kicks – 10-29-09 (328pp)
105. Isaac Asimov – Words from the Exodus – 10-30-09 (203pp)
106. Julian May – The Surveillance – 11-3-09 (347pp)
107. Isaac Asimov – Words in Genesis – 11-4-09 (233pp)
108. Julian May – The Metaconcert – 11-6-09 (282pp)
109. Isaac Asimov – Realm of Algebra – 11-7-09 (143pp)
110. Eliot Pattison – The Skull Mantra – 11-11-09 (403pp)
111. Isaac Asimov – Twentieth Century Discovery – 11-13-09 (159pp)
112. Vladimir Nabokov – The Defense – 11-20-09 (256pp)
113. Isaac Asimov – Photosynthesis – 11-21-09 (193pp)
114. Bruno Maddox – My Little Blue Dress – 11-24-09 (297pp)
115. Dick Francis – Forfeit – 11-28-09 (222pp)
116. Jim Thompson – The Grifters – 11-30-09 (187pp)
117. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange – 12-3-09 (192pp)
118. Henry Rollins – Eye Scream – 12-4-09 (219pp)
119. Karen Elizabeth Gordon – The Deluxe Transitive Vampire – 12-7-09 (175pp)
120. Carlos Ruiz Zafón – The Shadow of the Wind – 12-14-09 (486pp)

Totals:
Books: 120
Pages: 37200
Avg. Pages per Book: 310.00

These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown

avi — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:06:13 +0000

It’s been like 2 months since I wrote anything in here. I have actually been doing some writing, but I’ve been throwing out more than I’ve been keeping. Also the new house and all that stuff is still taking up a fair amount of my time. Do you like excuses?

Despite it all, I’ve still been keeping up on my reading. I’m one book short of my goal for the end of the month, but I’m above my page goal, so I’m happy about that. I’ll write more later, promise.

The stats:

And managed for the good of inquiring minds,

avi — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:05:44 +0000

Ok, first post on my new blog. Super exciting. Or whatever. I’ve imported all of my old posts from livejournal, so any post older than this one is from there. Any comments on those posts from “do_not_lick” are me.

So, on to the book stats. Yup, I’m going to do the N Book Challenge again; I liked keeping track of what I read and seeing how much it actually amounted to. I also really enjoy looking back on my old lists and remembering when I read what. Kind of a book nerd nostalgia. This year I’m going to again aim for 120 books, or 10 books per month. I’m going to try for an average page count of 310 per book instead of 300. I think if I gradually increase my targets, I’ll eventually be reading twice as much as when I started this.

I’ll do another post later talking about the books themselves. I just want to get this numbers part out of the way first.

Totals:
Books: 11
Pages: 3658

I’m well on my way. More later.