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Tim's Tremendous Tomes


Timstar

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My last blog kind of fizzled out towards the end of last year, life got in the way then I lacked the motivation to get back to it.

 

So I thought I would change it completely this year and insted of focussing on SF/F/Horror  I will post about the numerous tomes I am hoping to read at some point. This will be an ongoing, rather than a yearly blog, as I won't get through that many in a year.

 

I will also update on my other reads and purchases.

 

I will not be including any tomes that are part of a series, unless they can be read as stand-alone. Otherwise half my fantasy shelf will be on here.

Edited by Timstar
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My tomes:

 

Fiction: post-8698-0-37466600-1421412849_thumb.jpg

 

Non-Fiction: post-8698-0-22550500-1421412872_thumb.jpg

 

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, I was in a rush. I pulled all my biggest books, whilst there isn't a strict criteria, they are all generally over 800 pages. Some have already been read but most haven't.

Edited by Timstar
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As with last year I have a couple of ongoing, passive challenges.

 

50 books to read before you die challenge.

 

There are many lists which state 1000 books you must read or something along those lines, which is a ridicolous amount. I think 50 is quite achievable. So I am slowly working through this list.

 

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JR Tolkien 
1984 by George Orwell
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
A Passage to India by EM Forster
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
The Bible
The Cantebury Tales by Geofrrey Chaucer
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Money by Martin Amis
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pulman
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
The Outsider by lbert Camus
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Divine Comedy by Alighieri Dante
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
 
20/50
 
Crossed out in red means I have read them this year.
Edited by Timstar
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Hugo Award Winners

 

1953 - The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

1954 -Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

1955 - They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton

1956 - Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

1958 - The Big Time by Fritz Leiber

1959 - A Case of Conscience by James Blish

1960 - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

1961 - A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr

1962 - Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

1963 - The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

1964 - Way Station by Clifford Simak

1965 - The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber

1966 (tie)- And Call Me Conrad by Roger Zelazny

1966 (tie) - Dune by Frank Herbert

1967 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

1968 – Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

1969 - Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

1970 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

1971 - Ringworld by Larry Niven

1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer

1973 - The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

1974 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

1975 - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

1976 - The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

1978 - Gateway by Frederik Pohl

1979 - Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

1980 - The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

1981 - The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

1982 - Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh

1983 - Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov

1984 - Startide Rising by David Brin

1985 - Neuromancer by William Gibson

1986 - Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

1987 - Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

1988 - The Uplift War by David Brin

1989 - Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh

1990 - Hyperion by Dan Simmons

1991 - The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

1992 - Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

1993 (tie) - A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

1993 (tie) -Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

1994 - Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

1995 - Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

1996 - The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

1997 - Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

1998 - Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

1999 - To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

2000 - A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge

2001 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

2002 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2003 - Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer

2004 - Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

2006 - Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

2007 - Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge

2008 - The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

2009 - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2010 (tie) - The City & The City, China Miéville

2010 (tie) - The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi

2011 - Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

2012 -Among Others by Jo Walton

2013 - Redshirts by John Scalzi

2014 - Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

 

12/63

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It's great to see your new reading log up and running. :) Happy reading in 2015 and good luck with all your challenges (you're very brave!).

 

That's it for now, I'm currently reading Ulysses and will post my thoughts when it's done. Also reading Cannery Row by Steinbeck and Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb.

 

I hated Ulysses so much!  :banghead:  Good luck with it.

 

I've been thinking of going back and re-reading Hobb's Farseer trilogy, to see if I can get into her work a bit more: she seems to have done quite a lot these past couple of years and I feel like I might be missing out. I look forward to your thoughts on Renegade's Magic. :)

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Robin Hobb is one of my favourite fantasy authors, though I imagine I might be in the minority on that one here. Other than Andrea and Laura, I don't think anyone else has enjoyed her books.

Edited by Devi
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Robin Hobb is one of my favourite fantasy authors, though I imagine I might be in the minority on that one here. Other than Andrea and Laura, I don't think anyone else has enjoyed her books.

 

I enjoyed her Farseer trilogy, though was disappointed with the third book. Which books of hers would you recommend reading after that? There are so many I have no idea where I should start. :giggle2:

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Thanks all! It's been good so far.

 

 

Is Ulysses as frightening as they say?

 

I hated Ulysses so much!  Good luck with it.

 

I wouldn't call it frightening, it's certainly not a nice easy narrative and I can see why some... less educated people might not like it :D:giggle2:

 

I have certainly enjoyed bits of it and the prose is wonderful, for the most part. I'm just over half way now.

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Here's the full list of the books pictured above:

 

Fiction:

 

Tigana – Guy Gavriel Kay

Magician - Raymond E. Feist

Shogun – James Clavell

The Once and Future King – T.H. White

Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry

Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon (Currently Reading)

Imajica – Clive Barker

The Talisman – King/Straub

Black House - King/Straub

Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand

Ulysses – James Joyce (Currently Reading)

Don Quixote – Cervantes (Read)

The Count of Monte Cristo – Dumas (Read but a different translation)

Les Misérables – Hugo (Read)

War and Peace – Tolstoy

Under the Dome – King (Read)

11/22/63 – King (Read)

The Stand – King (Read but want to re-read soon)

 

Non-Fiction

 

Rise and Fall of the British Empire – Lawrence James

A History of Christianity – Diarmaid MacCulloch

The Crusades – Thomas Asbridge

The First World War – Martin Gilbert

The Second World War – Martin Gilbert

 

 

As you can see I haven't read many.

 

I finished Cannery Row by Steinbeck at the weekend, it was a nice short read. A quirky book with some interesting characters, I'm hoping to read the sequel, Sweet Thursday soon. Overall 8/10

 

I also started Gravity's Rainbow which I thought would take me ages but I ended reading 100 pages in one sitting, the prose is dense but delightful, it just sucked me right in. At 950 pages it will still take a while :S

 

I also began Myke Cole's Fortress Frontier, the second in his Shadow Ops series. I did not want to put it down!

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I like the look of that '50 books' list, Tim. Did you make that up or find it somewhere? It reminds me of a beautiful metallic bookmark I saw once, which had a list of 50 books on it to read. I think perhaps someone else on here has mentioned the bookmark before. It wasn't you, was it?

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I like the look of that '50 books' list, Tim. Did you make that up or find it somewhere? It reminds me of a beautiful metallic bookmark I saw once, which had a list of 50 books on it to read. I think perhaps someone else on here has mentioned the bookmark before. It wasn't you, was it?

:giggle2: Hehe, I think it was. That is where I got the list from. Possibly not the best list ever made but it does have a broad spectrum of genres which will hopefully getting me reading a few I might not have otherwise done.

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Did you give up on Deadhouse Gates then? :giggle2:

 

I can see why some... less educated people might not like it :D:giggle2:

 

:lol: You're only insulting yourself there, Young, because I'm (fairly) certain we're almost equal qualification-wise. ;):P

 

Glad you're enjoying the Shadow Ops series! I quite enjoyed the first book but still haven't got around to reading the second. I might have to push it forward a bit since you say it's so good. :)

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