An old Year-end Review for 2004

While cleaning up my hard drive, I found files where I kept track of the books I read for a given year. Someone had given me the idea (back in the 90s, I believe) to open a text file, and add the name of the book I'd read. What follows below looks like an "end of the year" post made to a bulletin board somewhere. It's past my time on Usenet. Many of these may have appeared elsewhere in this blog, if not the entire post itself. I'll post these files one per month.

It looks like 2004 was a banner year for me, but given that many were Lemony Snicket books, it's a little less impressive.

2004: The Year in Review

2004 -- It was a year of catching up on a number of series books. And it was probably the most books I've read in a long time (even if 12 of them were Lemony Snicket)

The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien
The Broken Blade, Ann Marston
The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket
The Reptile Room, Lemony Snicket
The Wide Window, Lemony Snicket
The Miserable Mill, Lemony Snicket
The Austere Academy, Lemony Snicket
Cloudbearer's Shadow, Ann Marston
Rogue Pirate, John Gregory Betancourt
The King of Shadows, Ann Marston
The Ersatz Elevator, Lemony Snicket
The Vile Village, Lemony Snicket
The Hostile Hospital, Lemony Snicket
The Carniverous Carnerval, Lemony Snicket
Let Freedom Ring, Sean Hannity
Maybe (Maybe Not), Robert Fulgrum
The Slippery Slope, Lemony Snicket
The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicket
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves, Lynne Truss
Tom Clancy's Net Force: Night Moves
Tom Clancy's Net Force: Breaking Point
The Kingdom of Infinite Numbers: A Field Guide, Bryan Bunch
X-Files: Whirlwind, (does it matter who it's by?)
Tom Clancy's Net Force: Point of Impact
The Grim Grotto, Lemony Snicket
Tom Clancy's Net Force: Cybernation (in this one, the title actually had something to do with the story)
Vulcan!, Kathleen Sky
Stars & Stripes Forever, Harry Harrison
Stars & Stripes In Peril, Harry Harrison
Stars & Stripes Triumphant, Harry Harrison


Also
Graphic Novels: (I don't normally get to read these, but I found a stack at the local library and went through them!)
Batman: Terror (good)
Tales of the Slayers (very good, it was worth picking rather than the Buffy books)
Batman: Child of Dreams (pretty good, but pretty long)
Spiderman: The Death of Gwen Stacey (excellent -- even for reprints)
Spyboy/Young Justice (ick)
Batman: The Arrow, the Ring & the Bat (good story, but the splash pages were annoying) The family had our own little book club, with the Snicket series (so far) divided up amongst family members to be passed around. The Net Force books were a series that I received as a gift, except that the first book in the series wasn't there. Oh well. I picked up one of Harrison books at a book sale, and a friend told me he had the other two.

An old Year-end Review for 2003

While cleaning up my hard drive, I found files where I kept track of the books I read for a given year. Someone had given me the idea (back in the 90s, I believe) to open a text file, and add the name of the book I'd read. What follows below looks like an "end of the year" post made to a bulletin board somewhere. If it's 2003, it's past my time on Usenet. Many of these may have appeared elsewhere in this blog, if not the entire post itself. I'll post these files one per month.

2003: The Year in Review

I know this is a couple of weeks late, but what the hey, I'll post it anyway.

Books read in 2003. Not many as I drove to work for most of the year, losing my prime reading time on the subway. (At bedtime, I'm usually too exhausted to get more than a handful of pages. Teaching will do that.) And getting 12 teaching credits took up a lot of time. (Textbooks are excluded from my list.)

Anyway:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien. I was reading it when the year started, having never read it before.

Congo, Michael Crichton: Library sale book. Enjoyed it.

Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams: Mostly crap.

Some "Buffy" book about Faeries by the author of Ghost Roads (another Buffy book I read a couple of years back). Actually, it was a good thing that I had read Ghost Roads because the author makes a lot of Buffy references, most of which I think I caught, from the show. When she tossed in a G.R. character reference, I was thrown at first. (Hey, that's non-canon stuff!)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling: Probably my favorite one to date (though subject to change). I was totally taken in by this one, waiting for something so fricking obviously to happen and then have an alternate that I didn't suspect happen.

Destiny's Road, Larry Niven: Enjoyed it, very much. A world-building travelogue with a story wrapped around it so that you dont' realize that you have a world-building travelogue. (That's the way to do it.)

Kingmakers Sword, Ann Marston: First part of a trilogy I stumbled across a few years back. I found part I in the library. Great book, and it didn't matter that I know how some of it would turn out because I had read part II.

The Western King, Ann Marston: I had to reread it after part I. Still as good on the second read-through. Better, because I had part I as an intro this time.

(part three is on reserve at the library)

Holes, Louis Sachar: Saw the movie, so I read the book. I'll rank it as the best movie adaptation of a kids book that I've seen. Enjoyed the book, and appreciated that there was a little more to some of the characters in the book.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Dyson Sphere: Thought it would be good, but I didn't particularly care for it. Like the use of Hortas, hated the story and the ending. Added Note: I didn't write down the author's name?

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling: Didn't thrill me as much as the others. The "one year per book" rule was a little strained as was the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Could've been shorter.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, J. K. Rowling: OK, I'm caught up with the Potter books now. Liked it better than four, but I thought that some of it was either forced or unnecessary.

The Harry Potter books weren't a re-read. They were a first read. I was late to the party with those. I was initially turned off by online friends who complained how Scholastic Books had overly "Americanized" the first book.

The King of Shadows (Marston)

The King of Shadows, Ann Marston, 1998

Book five is an improvement over books three and four as it weaves together the stories of two descendants of the Celi who fight for justice and freedom and that of a Somber Rider who has the blood of the original, ancient and magical people of that land flowing through his veins. Events will set these three on a collision course and shape the future on the island.

Unfortunately, I had to do some research on this one, as I did with the last one. I don't remember anywhere near as much as I thought I would. Without checking, I wouldn't have remembered the title of the book, which is technically Book of the Swords in Exile trilogy, not book five in the Celi/Skai/whatever series.

Cloudbearer's Shadow (Marston)

Cloudbearer's Shadow, Ann Marston, 1998

This is the first book in the Swords in Exile trilogy, the sequel to Marston's Rune Blade trilogy. In my opinion, it is all entirely one series because the first trilogy had no ending. In fact, this story starts one generation after the previous one ended, which was standard for the first three books.

I don't remember much about this one, which says something in itself because I remember much about the first two books and I could tell you all the things I hated about book three. This book was more like Broken Blade than the first two books, but it did move the story along. Heavy on the romance and coming of age (and magic).

Still, I'm glad I reserved it at the library and was able to track down a copy so many years after picking up that discount copy of The Western King.

The Broken Blade (Marston)

The Broken Blade, Ann Marston

I was incredibly happy when I got the call that this book had arrived at my local library, by my request.
I can't remember being so disappointed in a book. It was still a good book, but it wasn't up to the level of the previous two books, nor was it a satisfying conclusion to the first trilogy. (I wasn't too happy about that "first" business, either.)

Where the stories in the first two books spanned years, this book spanned four months -- one week followed by a four-month gap followed by another week. Most of the action is centered on a couple of individuals. We rarely, if ever, lose their point of view even though an entire island nation is under attack. One character was dismissed with "and we never saw him again". Is that a fitting farewell for a character that was supposed to be the King's greatest ally? (That designation was according to a prophecy, mind you.)

Yes, I went on to read the next three books.

The Western King (Marston) -- reread

The Western King, Ann Marston

Even more fun the second time around. The next generation continues the story years later. And there is another generation coming. Third book is on reserve.

I had to reread it after reading part I. Still as good on the second read-through. Better, because I had part I as an intro this time.

This is still one of my favorite fantasy books, and it was better for having read the preceding book.

Update: There was a review in my log book. My computer log doesn't have the same sequence for some reason. One of them was out of order.

Kingmaker's Sword (Marston)

Kingmaker's Sword, Ann Marston

Excellent. I'm glad I reserved it from the library. I'm rereading the Western King right after it. I have a few Harry Potter books to read before I reserve part 3.

First part of a trilogy I stumbled across a few years back. I found book 1 in the library. Great book, and it didn't matter that I know how some of it would turn out because I had read book 2.

A great fantasy tale. The story is completely told in one book, but the overarching theme spans generations (and books). It explained a few things that I had to take for granted when I had read The Western King.

The Western King (Marston)

The Western King, Ann Marston 1996.

I knew that this was book two in a trilogy when I picked it up. Bought it anyway. Loved it. The story takes place 20 years after the first volume and doesn't require that you know anything about book one. This story spans several years and flows well. It's not like, "Here's one afternoon's events, and here's another afternoon five years later." It's a well-thought-out tale of three brothers -- one a Prince, one destined to be King, and a younger twin who will have three sons, according to a prophecy -- their father, who is the Regent, and the rest of their family. The try to unite their island against an enemy that has occupied a portion of land for 20+ years, even as the raider's home territory -- indeed, the entire continent -- is falling before a darker evil. Half of the prophecies are fulfilled before the end of this book. Others deal with the future and should be resolved in the final volume. Great book at a great price. I stayed up late reading extra chapters. This book makes up for the crap I bought at the same time at the same price. I may have to look for the other two books.

I eventually used the Public Library system to track down the other five books in the two trilogies. These reviews will show up eventually, but I was disappointed to learn that the story didn't have any closure at the end of book three and I had to find three more books.