FRIENDS ONLY
Updated 22nd September 2012

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I'd say I failed miserably at my reading goals last year, but that's not strictly speaking true. My initially goal was 99 books, 24 of which would be high fantasy books. In June, I upped my overall goal to 125 books. In the end I hit 107 books, 17 of which were high fantasy books. I'm pretty happy with that.

In 2015, I want to slow things down, and I'm going to set my Goodreads goal at 84 books. That breaks down to 78 novels, or one and a half books a week, plus six graphic novels.

Full 2015 List
001 : Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
002 : The Leftovers - Tom Perrotta
003 : Because It Is My Blood - Gabrielle Zevin
004 : The Raft - S.A. Bodeen
005 : Night Film - Marisha Pessl
006 : Death Masks - Jim Butcher
007 : The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black
008 : East of West, vol 1 - Jonathan Hickman
009 : The City - Stella Gemmell
010 : Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson
011 : Locke & Key, vol 3 - Joe Hill
012 : The Lives of Tao - Wesley Chu
013 : Strange Weather in Tokyo - Hiromi Kawakami
014 : Dangerous Woman - Various
015 : iZombie, vol 1 - Chris Roberson
016 : May We Be Forgiven - A.M. Homes
017 : Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett
018 : Rat Queens: Sass & Sorcery - Kurtis J. Weibe
019 : The Three - Sarah Lotz
020 : In the Age of Love and Chocolate - Gabrielle Zevin
021 : The Death's of Tao by Wesley Chu
022 : Dead Spots - Melissa F Olson
023 : The Fade Out: Act One - Ed Brubaker
024 : Saga, Vol 3 - Brian K Vaughan
025 : Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
026 : The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
027 : Stoner - John Williams

After the near ridiculous number of books I read last year, I've decided to set my GoodReads challenge at 99 books for 2014. That's more than I challenge myself to in 2013 and still less than I read in 2013, but I'm hoping to read fewer graphic novels, and I've also decided to challenge myself to read at least 24 high fantasy novels. The latter tend toward being quite hefty in most cases.

The books listed below are therefore the for high fantasy challenge. My full reading list will be/is below the second cut. Below the first cut is a table of all the unread physical books I own at the start of 2014. My plan is to cross those off as I get around to reading them. My own version of Mount TBR.

High Fantasy Challenge

001 : The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
002 : The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke
003 : The Rogue by Trudi Canavan
004 : Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd
005 : The Traitor Queen by Trudi Canavan
006 : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
007 : Polgara the Sorceress by David & Leigh Eddings
008 : The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
009 : Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
010 : Storm Glass by Maria V Snyder
011 : The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
012 : Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder
013 : Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
014 : The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
015 : Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
016 : Spy Glass by Maria V Snyder
017 : Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

( The TBR TableCollapse )

( Full 2014 ListCollapse )

previous years

This year I've decided to do an additional challenge in addition to my GoodReads challenge. I've decided to challenge myself to read twenty-four dystopian books (inspired by this challenge at Blog of Erised. I also want to have a go at writing reviews for them. I have no doubt these will be terrible.

The books listed immediately below are therefore for the dystopian challenge. My full reading list will be/is hidden behind a cut lower down the post.

Dystopian Challenge
001 : Insurgent by Veronica Roth
002 : Railsea by China Mieville
003 : Wither by Lauren DeStefano
004 : Mystic City by Theo Lawrence
005 : Shards and Ashes by Various
006 : Wool by Hugh Howey
007 : Delirium by Lauren Oliver
008 : Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead
009 : The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
010 : Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
011 : All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
012 : Shift by Hugh Howey
013 : Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

( Full 2013 ListCollapse )

previous years

001 : The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
002 : I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
003 : The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
004 : Spire by Aaron Safronoff
005 : Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
006 : Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
007 : Winter's Passage by Julia Kagawa
008 : The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
009 : The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
010 : Everneath by Brodi Ashton
011 : The Secret Circle - The Initiation by LJ Smith
012 : The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
013 : The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
014 : A Dance with Dragons by GRRM
015 : Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
016 : The City & The City by China Mieville
017 : The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
018 : Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
019 : Graveminder by Melissa Marr
020 : The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
021 : The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
022 : The Secret Circle - The Captive by LJ Smith
023 : The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
024 : Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
025 : American Vampire vol. 2 by Scott Snyder et al
026 : First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher
027 : The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
028 : The Secret Circle - The Power by LJ Smith
029 : Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James [ review ]
030 : Moon Called by Patricia Briggs [ review ]
031 : Witchblade Origins vol 1 by David Wohl
032 : Witchblade Origins vol 2 by David Wohl
033 : Pure by Andrew Miller
034 : A Pocketful of Eyes by Lili Wilkinson [ review ]
035 : Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
036 : From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas [ review ]
037 : The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
038 : Across the Universe by Beth Revis [ review ]
039 : Kraken by China Mieville
040 : Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
041 : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
042 : The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
043 : The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices by Wilkie Collins & Charles Dickens
044 : The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter [ review ]
045 : Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
046 : Lady of the Shades by Darren Shan
047 : Divergent by Veronica Roth
048 : Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
049 : Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon
050 : 666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce
051 : Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
052 : Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon
053 : Working Stiff by Rachel Caine
054 : Slated by Teri Terry
055 : The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
056 : Snuff by Terry Pratchett
057 : She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor
058 : The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen
059 : Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman et al
060 : Dark Star by Bethany Frenette [ review ]
061 : Cold Days by Jim Butcher
062 : Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
063 : 'Tis the Season by China Mieville
064 : Summerland by Michael Chabon
065 : Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
066 : The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper
067 : Unholy Night by Seth Grahame Smith
068 : Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

previous years

I've just done a pretty huge flist cut. My life - and the purpose of this LJ - has changed so much in the last twelve months that it feels appropriate.

I've done a small friends cut. Dead accounts for the most part but a couple of others as well (either because I haven't commented on their journal or because they haven't commented on mine). I've removed a lot of comms as well.

Anyone who feels like removing me from their flist feel free to do so.

This year I'm going to be doing the 15000 Pages Challenge for a change. It will be interesting to see whether I read more books or less in getting the the total compared to previous challenges.

Where possible, I'll use the total page count from the physical copies of books. Where I'm reading ebooks, however, I'll take the page count from Waterstones or Amazon where appropriate.

Page Count: 26348/15000 [175.65%]
COMPLETE!

( The BooksCollapse )

previous years

I spent this morning and early afternoon curled on the couch reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, so I didn't have the television or my computer on. As a consequence I missed the news breaking that Gary Speed had died.

Most of you won't know who he was. In short, he was a true gentleman and a great football professional. He came through the Leeds academy system, played for them when they won the final old Division One title in 1992 (the last before the introduction of the Premier League), and after leaving went on the play for Newcastle, Bolton, Sheffield United and Wales. He was the first player to reach 500 appearances in the Premier League, and went on to manage the Blades and Wales. Watching him play for Leeds was a massive part of my childhood experiences at Elland Road. He was - and always will be - a Leeds legend and the faithful will always remember him.

The really sad thing is that he is believed to have killed himself. He was only 42 years old, and yesterday he appeared on Football Focus (the Beeb's Saturday lunchtime pre-kick off football show) along with Gary McAllister (another Leeds legend). I can't imagine what he must have been feeling to go from there to going home and killing himself.

Going to go have a bit of a cry now. He was my favourite player for a long, long time.

RIP Gary Speed

Fair notice - I've started deleting fic.

Fanfiction.net is the first place being hit. The places that aren't burnishedspells or dracoandginny.com will go next. Not sure which of those two will go first after that.