Monday, January 25, 2010

2010 Reading Challenge

Flushed with success from the 10 Book Challenge at the end of last year, I'm hopping into Vickie's Olympic Reading Challenge for this year. We'll just have to see if I rate any metallic substance at all.

We've discussed the whole mood reader/stitcher thing. Given that, it's nuts to set out a list of things I "will" read this year. (Witness the differences between this list and the one I just realized I have on the sidebar which I did maybe 2 weeks ago.... lol) But for humor value, at this very minute the things that pop into my head as likely 2010 reads are:

1. Poul Anderson -- Three Hearts and Three Lions
2. a book about Switzerland
3. Roger Zelazny -- Nine Princes in Amber (and hopefully the rest of the 1st set of Amber)
4. Jasper Fforde -- Eyre Affair (and hopefully the next Tuesday Next)
5. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro -- Hotel Transylvania
6. Rachel Caine -- Heat Stroke (and maybe the next in the series)
7. Charlaine Harris -- Club Dead (and possibly the next in the series)
8. Neil Gaiman -- Odd and the Ice Giants
9. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman -- Good Omens
10. Simon Green -- several Nightside and several Secret History
11. something by Tony Hillerman
12. something by Arthur Conan Doyle
13. several Rex Stouts
14. several anthologies (leading the pack: Mean Streets; Solaris 1,2, and 3; The Starry Rift; Pump Six; Unusual Suspects; Wild Cards 1,2; Space, Inc.; .....)
15. something Patricia McKillip
16. something Jack McDevitt
17. a couple James White's
18. several nonfictions (see below)
19. an art book
20. Ken Grimwood -- Rewind
21. Zakour -- Plutonium Blonde
22. several of Glen Cook's Garretts
23. Roger Zelazny -- My Name is Legion
24. Sharon Shinn -- The Shape Changer's Wife
25. a couple Laurell K. Hamiltons
26. Jim Butcher -- Fool Moon (and hopefully another)
27. Sharyn McCrumb -- St. Dale
28. something Supreme Court ... or 2 somethings
29. several Terry Pratchetts (well, duh!)


Nonfiction:
1. Blechman -- Pigeons
2. Gordon --The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction
3. Weidensaul -- Of a Feather: A History of American Birding
4. Gilbertson -- American Cut
5. Burleigh -- Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt
6. something about Switzerland
7. Something by McPhee
8. Vogel -- The Pentagon: A History
9. Vise -- The Bureau and the Mole
10. Zoellner -- Uranium
11. White -- A. Lincoln
12. Rinella -- American Buffalo
13. Ellis -- American Creation
14. Blum -- American Lightning
15. Meacham -- American Lion
16. Bird -- American Prometheus
17. Sun Tzu -- The Art of War
18. Hawking -- A Brief History of Time
19. Brown -- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
20. Stiles -- The First Tycoon
21. Rolt -- Victorian Engineering
22. Florence -- The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope
23. Goldstone -- Four Queens
24. Sobel -- Galileo's Daughter
25. Winchester -- Krakatoa
26. Lankford -- American Astronomy
27. Baer -- See No Evil
28. Guide to Smithsonian Architecture
29. White -- Lincoln's Greatest Speech

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A nice selection. Besides the obvious (Anderson, Zelazny, Caine), may I recommend Pump Six (extraordinary collection). I also like Eclipse 1 and 3. McDevitt is good, but he does write semi-connected series, so if you haven't read any it's better to start near the beginning. Go NOW and read Grimwood's Rewind. After I read it I immediately wanted to nominate it for a Hugo, only to realize that it was several years old. How did we all miss it?

In the Caine/Harris genre, I like Rosemary and Rue by my friend, Seanan McGuire and Melissa Snodgrass' The Edge of Reason.

Good luck with the Hawking. May you be the first person to finish it. About half way through The First Tycoon. Somewhat interesting, but very thorough, therefore in parts boring. My nonfiction tends towards food, economics and brain chemistry, so not much to recommend to you there.