Erich T. Wade

Did I say 275? And final? I meant 276. And final.

I forgot to include The Masterharper of Pern in the Ninth Fall time period, what with it being a prequel to Dragonflight and all. But seeing as how I remember it being one of my favorites, it pretty much has to go in.

Also, erm. Most of the shorts set in the 9th fall are collected in A Gift of Dragons, with the last one in that collection generally considered undatable, so . . . I guess that’s on the list, too. *cough*277*cough*

What are you looking at me like that for? It’s a static list. I swear it’s static. As long as none of the five or six or so active series on it publish any more books before I’m done, it’s going to just hold still. Right? Right.

Right, I’ve finished the final, definitive version of the my 2012 reading list. I’m not going to repost it here because it’s long, and most of it has already been posted. A couple of notes:

• The list, based on the NPR Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of All Time, and subtracting those books I have read, currently stands at 275 books.
• This is because there are a crapton of series in there.
• In many cases I could probably skip other books in the series but prefer not to.
• In some cases I have decided to skip other books in the series for various reasons.
• For example, I’ve previously read numerous Drizzt books, but never the Homeland trilogy, so I’m just reading the Homeland trilogy. Yes, I know I said I’d skip the Drizzt books this year. Shoot me.
• For another example, I’m not only reading the first Pern trilogy; I’m reading the rest of the books in the Ninth Fall era. This only comes to about ten of them, and the Ninth Fall is my favorite time period in the series. I may also read some of the 9th fall shorts, like The Girl Who Heard Dragons and Runner of Pern, which puts me in severe danger of accidentally reading the rest of the stories in the collections they’re in.
• For a final example, only one of the books in Pratchett’s Discworld series is on either list. I could read the whole Discworld series, but it’s forty books long and then I wouldn’t have any more to look forward to. Pratchett’s books are tasty treats that I save and savor.

This list is looking more and more like a two- or three-year goal, especially considering that since setting the goal I’ve read 37 books, of which 12 were listed titles. This is almost a perfect ratio of 2 non-list books to 1 list book – indeed, the only reason it isn’t is because I’m not at a number divisible by three. The next two I’m likely to finish are Dragondrums, which is listed, and Legends from the End of Time, which isn’t, and if that goes as expected it will be a perfect 2:1 ratio when I hit 39 books. This is not intentional, just amusing.

And, erm. If I maintain that 2:1 ratio, this list might take a little while.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, which feels nice. Reading is something that often falls by the wayside when I’m doing a lot; being a full-time housespouse with a two-year-old and writing a novel manages to keep me pretty busy. I should say that reading books tends to fall by the wayside – I’m always up to date on my webcomics, and I sample a lot of blogs. Usually I spend some of my free time playing various games, but that’s been pretty thoroughly squashed by books lately.

Since setting my reading goal for 2012, I’ve read Fahrenheit 451, Stranger in a Strange Land, Ender’s Game, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy clean through. I also finished Wuthering Heights and the Tao Te Ching (the edition translated by Ursula K. Le Guin). The latter two aren’t on my list, but I was reading them at the time. I’ve already come to realize that I’m not going to be able to stick to the list for a whole year – I don’t want to wait that long to read Mansfield Park, and I’ve been meaning to reread the Harry Potter series . . . my reading habits are just too spontaneous. Earlier today I started reading the Wheel of Time series again, then accidentally stopped by the library and picked up Starship Troopers and Robin McKinley’s Sunshine. I’m probably a third of the way through the latter and should really be going to bed right now, but I’m in a talkative mood.

I finished Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land a couple of days ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to say about it ever since. I feel like I have to say something. Luckily, I went back and read Jo Walton’s review of it on Tor.com*, and she pretty much nailed it. In short: Fantastic premise, problematic treatment of female characters, homophobia that may or may not only be on the part of the characters. On a more personal note, polyamory doesn’t bug me, but organized religion wigs me right out. Nothing personal – it just makes me uncomfortable. I’m glad to read that his other works are less problematic; I hope to read quite a few more of them, and I want them to be better than this. It’s a good book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

I picked up Sunshine today for basically two reasons: it’s on the list, so I’ve gotta read it some time in the next 14 months; and the only thing I really knew about it is that it’s vampire fiction. And generally speaking, I really like vampire fiction: when I was younger I read a lot of Anne Rice and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I even liked the Twilight books alright pretty much until I started encountering the fandom at large, though I do have my issues with . . . well, pretty much all of the characters. I remember liking Alice, though not why. It’s been a few years. I’ve lost a lot of sleep since then. Moving on.

The salient point is, I started reading Sunshine today, and it’s fantastic. Granted I’m only a third of the way in, but I pretty much love everything about this book. I think part of this is a reaction to the two new books I’ve most recently read, Fahrenheit 451 and Stranger in a Strange Land- both of them are very much concept books, without much in the way of relatable characters. Sunshine has a bit of concept – the setting is a very interesting take on urban fantasy, so far – but the characters are truly fantastic. And now that I think about it, so’s the plot; it’s covering a lot of ground and keeping the story on high without really being noticeable, which is pretty much the best kind of plot.

Right. I feel like I had more to say when I sat down, but I suspect that I’m rapidly ceasing to make sense. In my defense, I got stuck reading a good book and now it’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m not used to being up at 1:30 any more. I go to sleep at nine in the evening. Pity me and stuff.

*I’m one of those people who enjoys reading reviews, but only after I’ve experienced the work being reviewed. My starred items list in Google Reader is full of Tor.com reviews of books I’m going to read some day.