Tremick's Reading List, 2008

As a new tradition, at the beginning of the year I am going to share with my readers a complete list of books I have read in the previous year, in order. I will also provide my rating, 1-10. I keep obsessively detailed information on every book, including the date I begin and finish reading, a tally of pages read, and a pages-per-day rate for each book. And then I rate each book on a chart, and each author gets a cumulative rating.

I have been keeping this list since 1999, there are to date 188 books on the list, adding to a total 79,881 pages read so far, at an average rate of 47 pages per day.

Book List for 2008:

• New Theories of Everything (Nonfiction), John D. Barrow (No rating)
  
• The Road, Cormac McCarthy (10)
  
• The Holographic Universe (Nonfiction), Michael Talbot (No rating)
  I stopped reading this half-way through because it became ridiculous and hardly credible as science. Interesting ideas in the first half, though.
  
• The Elegant Universe (Nonfiction), Brian Greene (No rating)
  A must-read for a clearer understanding of string theory and multiple dimensions, but pretty heavy most of the way.
  
  Robot & Foundation Series
  Then I decided to re-read Asimov's entire Robot & Foundation series, my favorite and I declare the best science-fiction series available.
  
• The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (9)
  
• The Naked Sun, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (9)
  
• The Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (9)
  
• Foundation, Isaac Asimov (3rd reading) (10)
  
• Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov (3rd reading) (8)
  
• Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (10)
  
• Foundation's Edge, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Foundation and Earth, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Robots and Empire, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Forward the Foundation, Isaac Asimov (2nd reading) (10)
  
  
• No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy (7)
  I actually read this in the middle of my Asimov re-reading, before watching the movie. Book was good, movie was not worth Best Picture. No comparison to "The Road."
  
• Ringworld, Larry Niven (8)
  Hugo & Nebula award-winner; a wonderful surprise of creativity and entertainment.
  
• Sundiver, David Brin (6)
  I read this because it came before the Hugo/Nebula-winning "Startide Rising," but found it to be a slow book.
  
• Protector, Larry Niven (7)
  A quick read and adds insight to his Ringworld series
  
• The Ringworld Engineers, Larry Niven (8)
  Almost as good as "Ringworld" and still a great read.
  
• Neuromancer, William Gibson (6)
  This is another Hugo/Nebula award-winner, the creator of the term "cyberspace" and the "cyberpunk" genre. I found it interesting but the writing can be hard to follow; not all it was hacked-up to be, in my mind (I hope you appreciate my pun).
  
• Startide Rising, David Brin (7)
  This was much more interesting than "Sundiver," but still on the slower side. I was still not a huge fan of Brin.
  
• The Ringworld Throne, Larry Niven (6)
  At this point, the Ringworld series starts to get a little slower/less interesting.
  
• John Adams, David McCullough (No rating)
  I only started reading this--a few hundred pages (it's huge). It is very interesting and well written, but I have a hard time sustaining myself through thick tombs of history.
  
  Buddhism
  This is where I decided to do some "research" into Buddhist philosophy, which I found to be attitude-changing if not completely life-changing. I would like to read more about Buddhism because I like the way Buddhist thinking feels, and like myself better when I can actually put that thinking into good practice
  
• The Heart of Buddha's Teaching (Nonfiction), Thich Nhat Hanh (No rating)
  
• How to Practice (Nonfiction), His Holiness the Dalai Lama (No rating)
  
• Peace Is Every Step (Nonfiction), Thich Nhat Hanh (No rating)
  
  
• Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (6)
  The last of the vampire series started with "Twilight." Why did I read these books? For some reason I needed to know how it ended. Nothing much happens in this book, despite its length, save for a lot of teenage melodrama.
  
• Foundation, Mercedes Lackey (7)
  
• Rendezvous With Rama, Arthur C. Clarke (7)
  Another Hugo/Nebula award-winner. This had a similar feel to "Ringworld," an exploration of a fantastic alien technology. Fascinating and mysterious.
  
• Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny (6)
  I bought a thick anthology, "The Amber Chronicles," which includes all 10 books (more like novellas) that fall into this series. All the Zelazny on this list is part of the series. Interesting fantasy, but too short for a great depth of world-building or character development, so it ends up feeling rather shallow as far as fantasy goes.
  
• The Guns of Avalon, Roger Zelazny (7)
  
• Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card (9)
  You've seen my painfully long review; nuf said
  
• Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card (2nd reading) (9)
  Exile then spawned a re-reading of all of Card's Ender books that followed, according to plot timeline.
  
• Xenocide, Orson Scott Card (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card (2nd reading) (8)
  
• Sign of the Unicorn, Roger Zelazny (6)
  
• The Hand of Oberon, Roger Zelazny (7)
  
• The Courts of Chaos, Roger Zelazny (6)
  The first half of the series, following Prince Corwin, ends on a disappointing note--interesting, but no grand-finale in my mind.
  
• Seventh Son, Orson Scott Card (9)
  I loved the Ender books so much, thought I would meet Alvin Maker as well. Another great surprise, who would have thought alternate-history fantasy could be so intriguing. Card is a master of characters and believable fantasy. I shall read the entire series.
  
• Red Prophet, Orson Scott Card (8)
  

In the first days of 2009, I also read Card's "Prentice Alvin," and am currently reading "Consider Phlebas," the first of Iain M. Bank's Culture books, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

I hope this list helps if you're looking for ideas, and otherwise gives some insight into my reading interests.