Challenge: 50 Books discussion

It begins anew! I shied away from longer books last year as I fell behind and played catch-up. I have a bunch of longer books I intend to read this year. I read 51 books/17953 pages last year. My main goal for 2014 is to surpass 18000 pages.

1. A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin | 1016 pages
Damn cliffhangers! I can finally join the mass of people waiting for the next book.

1016/1800 pages

The rest of January:


2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss | 662 pages
A fantasy book with a wider appeal for those who don't dabble much in fantasy. This book was quite the adventure. As part one of a trilogy this first book begins the life journey that Kvothe undertakes to become the Kvothe the world knows. It was highly enjoyable and should remain one of my favorites of the year.


3. American Gods by Neil Gaiman | 656 pages
This book was slow going during the first half. The short stories between chapters were interesting and kept me going. I started enjoying the book a lot more during a pretty ordinary section were no fantasy stuff happened. I suppose I settled in after constantly wondering what was going on. From then on the way it all came together was quite the road trip as the story dipped further into the world of these American gods.


4. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness | 478 pages
Conclusions! Who needs them? This book has a brutal cliff hanger. I have no choice but to read the next book soon. If the other two books are as good as this one I may have another series to add to my favorites.


5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | 374 pages
Anyone who grew up playing video games would have a blast reading this. Every time I read something about this book the use of 80's references was mentioned multiple times. I thought I would miss out on the references, but I was suprised to find that I knew a good amount of them. Great read! The most fun I've had reading in a while.


I may have to raise my page goal at some point.

6. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie | 384 pages
An impressive debut novel. A space opera with an intriguing main character, a well thought out world, and interesting concepts. It took me a while to wrap my head around it's various oddities, but overall it was fantastic. Looking forward to the release of the next one.


7. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson | 638 pages
I Finally got around to reading some Brandon Sanderson. His debut novel, a stand alone fantasy novel, follows three point of views. I liked it, but I found one of the viewpoints much more interesting than the other two and the book was a bit slow at times.


8. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson | 386 pages
As I read Steelheart I was expecting more, but then the last act won me over and addressed my concerns. The revelations at the end open up the possibilities for the rest of the series and so I eagerly await book two.


9. Mitosis, Legion, and The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson | 298 pages total
A short story and two novellas combined into 1 item due to page count.
Legion has a cool premise that I would like to read more of.
The Emperor's Soul was really good. A self contained story with plenty of substance and a terrific ending.


Pages read:

10. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin | 183 pages
A young wizard's journey to rectify a wrong and in the process mend himself. This fantasy classic has great imagery of Ged's long mostly solitary journey through land and sea. I enjoyed the mysterious nature of the antagonist and its various incarnations. This is not a traditional adventure it is much more introspective.


11. Insurgent by Veronica Roth | 525 pages
Underwhelming


12. Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock | 592 pages
An interesting alternative history book. In contrast to the orthodox view Fingerprints of the Gods posits that human civilization had its beginnings thousands of years earlier than currently believed. Instead of a relatively linear progression this alternate history is one of ancient regressions. Fingerprints of the Gods highlights our incomplete knowledge of ancient history and its many mysteries. Aside from the intriguing ideas there's plenty to learn about various civilizations and the archaeological sites discussed.


13. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt | 365 pages
This book explores the rediscovery of ancient texts by the humanists and the fuel these texts provided to the Renaissance. The practice of industrious copying in monasteries had an integral role in the survival of many ancient texts that would otherwise have been lost to time. One text in particular Lucretius's On The Nature of Things, a philosophical epic with ideas that threatened the religious establishment, becomes the focus of the book. This slice of history is explored in detail and though it's not very long it got redundant at times. Highlights include an interesting look at the culture of Rome's Catholic Curia and the philosophy of Epicurus.

Pages read:

14. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker | 496 pages
Totally fantastic. The way the various characters are woven together was really well done. I was sucked in from the beginning.


15. Allegiant by Veronica Roth | 526 pages
I read this trilogy because of it's immense popularity, but it wasn't for me. There were too many issues I couldn't get past and I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief.


16. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan | 526 pages
This is a violent hardboiled cyberpunk novel. So far every time I have read anything remotely cyberpunk I have a good time and this was no different.


17. Prodigy by Marie Lu | 371 pages
Started off slow, but once things picked up it didn't let up.


18. Champion by Marie Lu | 305 pages
An entertaining action packed dystopian trilogy.

Pages read:

19. Vicious by Victoria Schwab | 364 pages
All I knew about this book was that it involved superpowers. This was unexpectedly dark and really good.


20. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness | 536 pages
A different book than book one, much bigger in scope. It does a great job at setting the stage for the final book.


21. The Martian by Andy Weir | 369 pages
The tale of a stranded Astronaut surviving on Mars. Fascinatingly detailed and thrilling throughout.


22. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness | 603 pages
The Chaos Walking Trilogy was fantastic. The books kept getting better and better.

Pages read:

23. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson | 647 pages
Neat magic system that's a big a part of the world and made the fight scenes much more vivid. Exciting conclusion.


24. Comptia Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: Sy0-301 Study Guide by Darril Gibson | 574 pages


25. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson | 763 pages
A middle book that sets up the third one. Though it was interesting to see the unstable mess that is left after the heroes are victorious and are left to repair a world falling apart.


26. Foa Reference Guide to Fiber Optics: Study Guide to Foa Certification by Jim Hayes | 208 pages


27. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages
This sci-fi classic is a great thought provoking read set in a genderless world.


28. Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence | 352 pages
I'm a fan of Mark Lawrence's writing style. I like the gritty fantasy world he has created in his Broken Empire books.


29. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson | 724 pages
The last book in the trilogy expands the world a whole lot. This book is ambitious. It blew my mind a few times.

30. More Than This by Patrick Ness | 472 pages


31. Red Rising by Pierce Brown | 382 pages


32. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds | 512 pages


33. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson | 336 pages


34. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak | 360 pages


35. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss | 994 pages

Pages read: