13 September 2011

Books I read way back in 2008

As I continue on my reading challenge for 2011 it is beginning to look unlikely that I'll get anywhere near 100 books. Part of the problem is all the gaming and reference books I don't fully read cover-to-cover. Second is how busy work has been this summer, my reading time has been cut considerably. Finally are all the magazines and journals I read from month to month, lots of good reading time spent on periodicals which aren't counted for the challenge.

In any case I did find a list of many of the books I read in 2008. I thought I'd post it here. It helps show that while I'm not going to succeed with my current challenge, I at least am reading more full books than I did a few years ago.

SOME OF THE BOOKS I READ IN 2008

1) Illusion of Victory: by Thomas Fleming. Actually I started reading it in 2007, but I'll be done soon. It's basically about American involvement in World War I and shows Wilson to be possibly the worst President we've ever had - except for LBJ.

2) Star Wars on Trial: by David Brin & Matthew Woodring Stover. This book wasn't all that good. David Brin had well thought out arguments but Stover would resort to personal attacks and brining up things that had nothing to do with Star Wars. It didn't help I went into the who thing on Brin's side, I wanted to see a good debate, but just had my original opinions confirmed.

3) The Superhero Handbook: by Michael Powell. A humorous look at getting into the superhero business.

4) Rising Sun Victorious: by Peter G. Tsouras. A collection of ten alternate histories for the Pacific War where the Japanese manage a victory.

5) Pale Blue Dot: by Carl Sagan. An interesting book on the future of humankind in space. There were points where I didn't like Sagan's writing style, but a good book overall.

6) King Leopold's Ghost: by Adam Hochschild. History book about the murder of approx. ten million people in the Belgian Congo.

7) MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: by Joseph Gibaldi. I'm reading this one from cover-to-cover to make sure I'm up on the latest style rules for research writing.

8) From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain: by Minister Faust. This book is turning out to be better than I thought it would be. Dr. Brain, the leading therapist for super powered individuals has to help the world's most powerful, and dysfunctional, super group.

9) The Prisoner of Zenda: by Anthony Hope.

10) Rupert of Hentzau: by Anthony Hope. This is the sequel to Prisoner of Zenda. It has been great. You have to read Prisoner of Zendafirst, but this book was not what I expected it to be.

11) Paris 1919: by Margaret MacMillan. The victorious Allies from World War I setting things up for the second war as well as creating Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Palestine... I don't think they got anything right.

12) Sherlock Holmes: the Complete Novels and Stories volumes I & II: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have to go back and read the stories I skipped over the first time through.

13) Write is a Verb: by Bill O'Hanlon. This is one of those books on writing a book. It is actually one of the better ones out there.

14) The Power-House: by John Buchan. A very interesting tale of a powerful world-wide conspiracy set in London.

15) The Wreck of the Titan: a.k.a. Futility. By Morgan Robertson. Similar in some ways to the story of the Titanic, but written years prior. In some ways better than I was expecting, in others it was as bad as some reviews I read.

16) Dracula: by Bram Stoker. Despite being a huge horror/monster fan as a kid I don't think I actually read this until now. I love the format of this novel.

17) The Thirty-Nine Steps: by John Buchan. Murder and espionage just prior to the outbreak of The Great War.

18) Master of the World: by Jules Verne.

19) The First Men in the Moon: by H.G. Wells. Proof that Wells does deserve his place on the list of great science fiction authors.

20) When Gravity Fails: by George Alec Effinger. I'm not much of a cyberpunk fan, but I did like this book.

21) Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: by Nancy Kress. Just another one of those 'how to write' books.

22) Men's Adventure Magazines: A collection of hundreds of images from post WWII men's adventure magazines from the Rich Oberg Collection. Some cool stuff.

23) Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce: by Stanley Weintraub. The story of the spontaneous celebration of Christmas along some of the trenches during the Great War.

24) Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive: by Celia Sandys. History of Winston Churchill in South Africa during the Boer War.

25) The Historian's Toolbox: by Robert C. Williams. All about the methods and craft of historical research.

26) Assignment: Eternity: by Greg Cox. A Star Trek novel. Not as good as I was hoping it would be.

27) MicroNations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations. This book is interesting. There are a few real micronations in it and a large number of silly ones.

28) The Gladiator: By Harry Turtledove. The latest in his Crosstime Traffic series. This book was written much better than the last couple in the series. It was quite good.

29) Greenmantle: By John Buchan. Second in the series of Richard Hannay novels. Very interesting given the geo-political situation a century later.

30) Mr. Standfast: By John Buchan. Third in the Richard Hannay series. German agents are infiltrating a British pacifist group during the Great War.

31) The Eternal Lover (a.k.a. The Eternal Savage): by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

32) The Third World War August 1985: by General Sir John Hackett & Other Top-Ranking NATO Generals & Advisors. A very interesting book written in 1978 giving a detailed description of WWIII given the geo-political situation in '78 and where the authors thought it could lead.

33) Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72: by Hunter S. Thompson. I don't think I finished this one. I'll have to go back and do so at some point.

34) Ishmael: by Barbara Hambly. A Star Trek novel that crosses Trek over with the old TV show Here Come the Brides. Cameos from various characters from sci-fi and western sources. Much better than Assignment: Eternity.

35) 1984: by George Orwell.

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