2015 Books reviewed

First off, this is not a "Best of 2015" list. I don't want to end up on Richard's list.

Looks like it was a little thinner this year for books. But that was probably due to me finishing my masters and cutting our audible account in September. Last year's total was 46, so I'm down nine. However, that is books reviewed not read. I think I read a half dozen ebooks that I didn't review (not quite "if you can't say something nice" but close enough) and I read a lot of monographs for classes and such. The list looks a lot shorter because I had more repeat authors this year that last year (5 books from Elizabeth Moon, 3 from Brian McClellan, 6 from Brandons - Mull and Sanderson).

Curtsies and Conspiracies and Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger
1633 and 1634: the Baltic War by Eric Flint (and David Weber)
Legion, Legion: Skin Deep, and The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Slaves of Socorro, and Scorpion Mountain by John Flanagan
Dracula by Bram Stoker
William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher
Sky Raiders, Rogue Knight, and Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull
The Seventh Sigil by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes
Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, and The Autumn Republic, (The Powder Mage trilogy) by Brian McClellan
Trackers by Peter Haran
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The Ethos Effect by L.E. Modesitt, jr. (I have actually read three others and am in the middle of a fourth by Modesitt's but haven't reviewed them yet. I wanted to get the whole set read).
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Thursdays with the Crown, and Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George
Farmer in the Sky by Robert A Heinlein
Dune by Frank Herbert
Trading in Danger, Marque and Reprisal, Engaging the Enemy, Command Decision, and Victory Conditions (Vatta's War series) by Elizabeth Moon
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
Her Brother's Keeper by Mike Kupari
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

Favorite book this year - Silver in the Blood. It was a great romp for all ages and held me entranced for the whole thing. I loved the mythos of the family and, like Dracula, knowing what's coming just builds the suspense. With that said, The Aeronaut Windlass comes in a very close second. Steampunk, airship combat, great characters. It was close. Interesting enough, both of those books are ones I read, not had read to me. There runners up for favorites were Son of the Black Sword and Rithmatist, both by great authors who are really good with character and plot. Correia has joked that he doesn't mind coming in behind Butcher and he does again. But not by much.

However, I have to mention that The Power Mage trilogy takes favorite series. And that probably takes first place for the year overall. It was an incredible ride through an awesome world with great characters and all the awesome. What's more is that Brain McClellan is a new author and this is his debut series. Like I said, all the awesome. Vatta's War was also very good and ranks high on the favorites.

All in all, it was a good year for reading. There was some great stories that I look forward to re-reading/listening to, and others I can't wait to share with my children (I've already pawned off a bunch on my friends). I can't wait to see what next year brings. I've already got several I'm looking forward to reading and others I just need to finish.

2014 Book stats

Several years ago my mother sent me a list of the books she had read for the year. Each entry included a brief (one to two sentence) description, as well as if she listened to it or read it. It was six pages long, front and back. As part of my reflections on 2014 I thought I would list the stats for books I reviewed this last year. Out of the It appears that I've read about 46 books that ended up being reviewed. I'm pretty good about writing my reviews (although I need to write one for my latest ebook), so I consider this a pretty good list of my years reading. It ranges in genre and time period, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the vast majority of them.

Books reviewed:
The Chestnut King by Nathan D. Wilson
Closer, Spiral, and Terminal by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Middleworld by J and P Voelkel
Sands of Nezza by M.L. Forsman
On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen by David Weber
The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
Cress by Marissa Meyer
Dead Six and Swords of Exodus by Mike Kupari and Larry Corriea
City of the Saints by D.J. Butler
Words of Radiance and The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladston
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
Black Out by Robison Wells
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
Wednesdays in the Tower by Jessica Day George
Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Lockwood and Co.: The Screaming Staircase, and The Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stoud
William Shakespeare's Star wars: Verily and New Hope, and The Empire Striketh Back, by Ian Doescher
Monster Hunter Nemesis, Hard Magic, Into the Storm, Spellbound, and two short stories by Larry Correia,
Storm Front, and Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman
The Hollow City by Dan Wells
The Mouments Men by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter
The Royal Ranger (Ranger's Apprentice book 11) by John Flanagan
Hounded, Hexed, Hammered, and Tricked, by Kevin Hearne
The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories, and Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
1632 and In the Heart of Darkness by Eric Flint
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester
Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Garriger

Favorite book of the year: A toss up between Words of Radiance and Monster Hunter Nemesis. WoR was impressive, engrossing, engaging, and spectacular. However, I've listened to MHN three times in the six months I've had it. Which is higher praise? Hard to tell. WoR is the thickest book Tor publishing CAN publish based on their current book making equipment. That translates to over 45 hours worth of listening. I will re-listen to it in preparation to getting the next book and I look forward to that. However, MHN is my go to book when I'm looking for something fun to keep my occupied between credits. That same could be said of all of Larry's (and Mike Kupari's) books, but MHN was just the one that hit three times repeated.

Next years reading goals: I've got a non-fiction on Stonewall Jackson that I'm looking forward to. I also will be continuing the Honor Harrington and 1632 series, but I don't know how long. I will also be restarting (and finishing) my masters program, so I'll get a big dose of academic and professional reading in. Who knows? I've never reviewed a Monograph collection before. I'd like to get a bit more non-fiction in - which will most likely be histories or biographies, but I'd like to grab a science book or two.

Normal Life

It doesn't seem like a lot of interesting things have been happening of late. We've fallen into a routine at home and work without there being many changes. This is good and bad as it means that nothing has gone wrong in our lives and yet things seem somewhat mundane. I have to agree with M.C. from "A Laugh or Death Situation" that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being normal. As someone who has experienced some of the things that she has, I can relate to her situation - and I don't have problems with having a "normal" life.

We really do enjoy our quite life. This isn't to say that we don't have fun, but it is quite in that our evenings are taken up with homework, reading books, talking, and chores. On the really exciting days we'll all end up in the kitchen while dinner is cooking dancing to the music on the radio. I started teaching Kanga the Cha-Cha the other day. I need to work on my leading technique. She and Tigger (who has started jumping off of everything, like his namesake) will usually play well together after dinner until it's time for pajamas. If they get them on quickly enough we'll read some books before prayers and bed. Kanga is getting better at reading, as is clear as we read the Book of Mormon after dinner every night.

Thinking of the Book of Mormon, and other sacred texts, I have plenty of memories as a kid when I was happy when my parents forgot or didn't have time to read after dinner. This was because I always thought there were other things that were more fun to do. My parents started the tradition of reading after dinner when I was about Kanga's age and have kept it up for the last twenty-five years. We've alternated through the Book of Mormon, the New Testament, and the Doctrine and Covenants, but always returned to the Book of Mormon. We're doing the same thing in our family. We are almost 200 pages through and it's only been over a year and a half. We do what we can with small children, but like I said, Kanga's reading has been improving and she is able to get through a lot of the words a lot better. She's due for some more testing and one of the things they do to practice is read nonsense words. I think words like "Limhi," "Amulek," and "Abinidi" make pretty good practice. Not to mention all the "heretofores", "therefores," and "delivereds" she's had to deal with. I remember my parents joking that the teachers would be surprised when their kids could read rather uncommon words with ease, but struggle with many basic ones. I think about it often when Kanga is reading.

We're continuing preparations for the arrival of Baby Roo in September. I'm calling him Roo because he bounces around like mad in his mother and he'll be sharing a room with his older brother. That and I'm positive that Kanga will be great at giving him instructions and helping to take care of him. Last night we had some delicious potato casserole with chorizo. The last time we made it I enjoyed putting the leftovers in tortillas for my lunch for a week afterwards. This time though we froze the massive amounts of leftovers so that we could have a read made meal should we need it after Roo shows up. We're also looking for a bunk bed for the two boys. We've seen some great ideas of taking the slats out of the bottom bunk and putting a crib in there. That will maximize the space in their room. I hate to say it, but there will probably come a point in the next ten years or so when we will have to move just to find a bigger home. We love this house (and yard) but fitting three kids in there is going to be an interesting challenge.

This has turned out longer than I initially thought it would. Life is good and that is really all there is to it.

Waiting for books

As my Facebook feed suggests, I'm counting down the days until I get my Audible credits and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson comes out (two days for my credit and next week for Sanderson's book). To quote the great Spaniard - I hate waiting. There are few things as wonderful and frustrating as discovering a new series or new author because unless they have retired from writing you'll have to wait for the next book to come out. I know some that will wait for the entire series to be finished before they try it, just so they won't have to wait. I don't do that, simply because my desire to enjoy or find out now is stronger than my hatred of waiting later. It also means that I often end up juggling books, plots, characters, and such as I wait. I've rarely had a problem with this, so I don't find myself rereading everything before when the new book comes out. But Angel will tell you that I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning if I'm expecting something.

Waiting for Audible credits is pretty bad because it means that I'm waiting for books that have already come out that I just have to wait to get. I mentioned to my dad that this next credit is already spoken for - Dead Six by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari. Dad thought the book was selling for $14 (it's actually $24) and wondered why I would spend a credit on it when the credit cost me $11. I explained that one of the reasons we got Audible was to curb my impulse binge book buying. I'm always looking for a new book and am known to grab books I'm interested in when I'm at the store. I am greatly able to curb my book buying by knowing that I have a new audio book I get get every month. Hence, my reason for using a credit on a book that isn't much more than the credit cost me.

I've come to really enjoy Audible. It lets me enjoy books when I wouldn't normally be able to read them - i.e. driving, yard work, housework, lying in bed with the lights off. Even though Angel and I listen to books on CD on our daily commute I still can go through a 18+ hour Audible book before my next credit comes. Again, I hate waiting and generally count down the days and have the book I want already picked out. I've already listed to close to thirty books over the last year but have only read a dozen or so in paper. One of my coworkers asked if I miss the pages. I don't miss anything about reading. I enjoy it all. There are still books that I buy (just fewer of them) and read in hardback. Cress by Marissa Meyer and House of Hades by Rick Riordan are two and I know I'll pick up Sands of Nezza by M.L. Forman at some point. Not to mention the 100 Cupboards books by N.D. Wilson, which I listened to on CD first. I don't think that you can only enjoy books in a particular format: audio, paper, electronic. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. Yes, I'm a fan of paper books - I like the smell, feel, and weight of a book in my hands. My audible books fit nicely into my pocket and are good productions that I can enjoy anytime and just about anywhere. I don't own an e-reader, but I'm not opposed to them. I've been considering getting a small tablet and if so it would be e-book compatible. For now, I don't mind packing a book if I need to and if I'm just looking for recreational reading on the move, I have my audible books.