Saturday, January 26, 2019

Books I Read in 2018

It's that time of year again!  I note that I have essentially stopped blogging, as my last post was one year ago to list books I read in 2017.  But since my reading list is all in one place, I don't think I'll disturb where it is placed. 

After an abysmal year last year, I had a moderate bounce back and read 31 books this year.  Still not as many as I'd like, but then, there never seem to be enough books read.  Here is the list:

January

The Merry Wives of Windsor - William Shakespeare
Dragons of the Highlord Skies - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

February

The New Testament - Various
Sauron Defeated - J.R.R. Tolkien
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
The Book of Mormon - Various

March

Being Nixon: A Man Divided - Evan Thomas
Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

April

Morgoth's Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer

May

Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life - James Cannon

June

Dragons of the Hourglass Mage - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
The Book of Mormon - Various
The War of the Jewels - J.R.R. Tolkien

July

As You Like It - William Shakespeare
Authority - Jeff VanderMeer
Time of the Twins - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

August

Jimmy Carter - Julian Zelizer
The People of Middle-Earth - J.R.R. Tolkien

September

Acceptance - Jeff VanderMeer
The Doctrine & Covenants - Various
War of the Twins - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
The Book of Mormon - Various

October

The Pearl of Great Price - Various
Reagan: The Life - H.W. Brands
Dark Wraith of Shannara - Terry Brooks

November

The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown
1984 - George Orwell
The Book of Mormon - Various

December

Test of the Twins - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush - John Meacham

At long last, I have finished the History of Middle-Earth series.  I really enjoyed those despite the slog it took to get through them.  Certainly made me appreciate the depth of Tolkien's work once again.  Truly, the man was a genius.

As ever, I have enjoyed the re-reads.   Particular books I would mention in praise were The Boys in the Boat, which was excellent, and the George H. W. Bush biography, which I happened to be in the middle of when President Bush died.  What an amazing man he was.

I loved so much about Ready Player One, but ultimately found it to be disappointing.  Same thing with the Southern Reach trilogy by VanderMeer.  Mostly just amazing books . . . he has quite a talent for evoking certain emotions.  But, I ended up hating the ending so much that it kind of ruined the series for me.

And there you have it.  Another year down, still not sniffing the goal of 52 books in a year.  I will probably have to wait till retirement.  :-)

It's tradition to write something to my very best friends here.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Ah, good old Dragonlance. Nice to see you revisiting your (and my) roots; pretty sure you introduced me to that series.

Gary said...

While they are not classic literature by any stretch, they remain among my very favorites. Definitely some nostalgia at work there.