75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Hi everyone! I'm just joining and I don't know if I'll get all 75 done by the end of the year so I'm gonna just start today, May 1, and go for a year. I've never kept track of how many books I've read before so I'm not sure how I'm gonna do. I have been reading a lot recently, but I'm going back to college this month so i don't know if I can keep up my pace. I'm gonna try though. I'm kinda weird in the aspect that I read several books at a time, sometimes up to 10. I think I have a real short attention span because I will read some out of several books a night. Anyway, I'll start with the books I've finished in the last few days

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 246pg
2. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson 458pg
3. A Calculus of Angels (Book 2 of The Age of
Unreason) by J. Gregory Keyes 406pg.

But one of the neat things about school is that you get to count any books you read for class towards your total :) What are you studying, if I might ask?

yeah I'm hoping to read some classics that i have not read yet. I'm majoring in Biology and want to do some enviromental work when i graduate.

Just finished my next book. I went back and added the page #'s to my first books so at the end of the year i will know how many pages i read. i thought that would be neat to know

4. The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt 582pg.

Anyone who is looking for a great book, this novel was absolutely Amazing!!

5.Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber 148pg

Amanda, just stopping by to welcome you to the "75" group. It's great to have you here.

Good luck with college, too!!!

thank you so much and happy Mother's Day by the way

6.Infected by Scott Sigler 310pg. 4/5

I think this was the scariest best horror book I've ever read

I was thinking, I saw some other people started late too and wrote down some of the books they've already read this year so I'm going to try and remember some of the ones I've read since Jan.

7.Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire 3/5
8.Viriconium by M. John Harrison 5/5
9.The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch 3/5
10.Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman 5/5
11.The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy by Douglas
Adams 5/5
12.The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by
Douglas Adams 5/5
13.Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas
Adams 4/5
14.So Long and Thanks For All the Fish by Douglas
Adams 4/5
15.Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams 4/5
16.The Age of Unreason(Book 1 of the Age of
Unreason) by J. Gregory Keyes 4/5
17.The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks 2/5
18.City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer 3/5

I know there are a bunch more, but I can't think of any. Also I won't count it, cause I didn't finish it, but I started the Twilight book and thought it was the most one-layered awful piece literature(I cringe calling it lit.) that I have ever read. Although I know many people loved it, so I am sorry to them, but I just had to give my opinion.

Few more books I read this year before I joined

19.Vellum:The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan 466pg.
5/5
20.High House by James Stoddard 326pg 2/5

Just finished-

21.Thirteenth Child by Patricia C Wrede 344pg 3/5
This book was pretty good for a young adult book. I actually won it from the pre-read giveaway books on this site.

Oh boy, I havn't been able to read much at all since I started the summer semester at college.

22.Last Call by Tim Powers 535pg. 5/5

23. The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford 4/5

24.Lord Kelvin's Machine by James P Blaylock 4/5
25.Looking For Jake: Stories by China Mieville 226pg
4/5

26.World War Z by Max Brooks 342pg 4/5

Well, yours might be my new favorite reading list. What do you think of the Age of Unreason series? I've been meaning to read it for a while, but so far no luck.

Thanxs- The 1st book in Age of Unreason is excellent and the 2nd book is pretty good too, though not quite as good as the 1st. Top-notch steampunk. I have the 3rd, but havn't started it yet

27. The Tain by China Mieville 75pg. 3/5
28. The Golden Age by John C Wright 4/5
29. An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe 301pg 5/5

30.The Great and Secret Show, Bk. 1 of The Art by Clive Barker 672pg. 4/5
31.Everville, Bk. 2 of The Art by Clive Barker 646pg
5/5

As always Clive Barker is excellent and writes like no one else I've ever read. His stories are so addictive, almost right from the beginning. I've read 5 of his books now and loved them all.

32.Ink: The Book of All Hours, Bk.2 by Hal Duncan 530pg. 4/5

33.Hell House by Richard Matheson 301pg. 4.5/5

This was very good for anyone who likes horrors. Stephen King has said that Matheson is the author that inspired him the most to write

34. The Garden of Iden by Kage Baker 313pg. 1/5

Awful!! which was disappointing, because it looked like an interesting premise and I had high hopes for it. I even got the 2nd book in the series, that I now have no intention of reading

35.Mainspring by Jay Lake 324pg. 4/5

Great concept, probably would have given it a 5, but maybe I've just read so much steampunk lately that I'm a little tired of it. Excellent strong female characters!

36.Crawlers by John Shirley 383pg. 3.5/5

37.The Kingdom Beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt 5/5 556pg.
After reading this second book by Stephen Hunt in this loosely connected series, I think this is now up there with one of my favorite series of all time. Definitely right up there with Pullman's His Dark Materials.

38.Elantris by Brandon Sanderson 615pg. 1.5/5
Wow, was this book awful! Great overall idea, but long, drawn out juvenile style prose

39.Ambient by Jack Womack 269pg. 4.5/5

40.Salem's Lot by Stephen King 427pg. 3.5/5
41.Expiration Date by Tim Powers 441pg. 5/5

Powers was so incredibly unique, addictive, amazing and readable as usual. He writes like no other author I've read.

42. Afraid by Jack Kilborn 346pg. 3/5

43. You Suck by Christopher Moore 328pg. 2/5
Pretty poor writing with some funny parts

44.Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko 455pg. 2.5/5

Pretty disappointed thought this book would be a lot better

45. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 5/5

I love Adams and wish he was still alive to give the world more of his excellent work

Amanda wrote: "45. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 5/5

I love Adams and wish he was still alive to give the world more of his excellent work"

I love the couch stuck in the hallway!

Stacie wrote: "Amanda wrote: "45. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams 5/5

I love Adams and wish he was still alive to give the world more of his excellent work"

I love the couch stuck in t..."

Me too! His quirkiness is ingenious

46.Memoranda Book 2 of the Well-Built City Trilogy by Jeffrey Ford 230pg. 5/5

Wow- I always seem to forget what a great writer Ford is. His symbolic language says so many different things at once. I feel like I can only read a few pages at a time and then have to sit back and let them sink in. This was even better than The Physiognomist- the first book in the trilogy.

47. Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers 488pg. 4/5

48. The Burrowers Beneath by Brian Lumley 2/5
49. Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell 3/5

50.The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe 372pg. 4.5/5

51. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul By Douglas Adams 307pg. 4.5/5

Almost forgot to add the Eric Garcia series i read awhile ago, I liked them they were pretty funny. Not great but definitely good

52.Anonymous Rex By Eric Garcia
53Casual Rex by Eric Garcia
54.Hot & Sweaty Rex by Eric Garcia

55.On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson 4/5

56. Child of the River- The 1st Book of Confluence by Paul McAuley 306pg. 4/5
57.The Affinity Bridge by George Mann 2/5
58.Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt 455pg. 5/5

59.The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien 200pg. 5/5
60.Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory 288pg. 2888pg. 4.5/5

Amanda, you have such interesting books on your list. I read the review for The Third Policeman - sounds like it is both an odd and humorous read.

Kay wrote: "Amanda, you have such interesting books on your list. I read the review for The Third Policeman - sounds like it is both an odd and humorous read."

It was, it is not an easy read though. I had to reread a lot of sentences, it is very irish. an amazing book

61. Iron Council by China Mieville 4.5/5
was looking through my books for this year and realized there was acouple i hadn't put down. the Mieville book was one of them, i know there is one or 2 more but i'll have to go look.

62.The Knights of the Cornerstone by James P Blaylock 294pg. 3/5

63.A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 192pg. 5/5

64.Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 124pg. 4.5/5
65.Light by M. John Harrison 310pg. 5/5

66. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K Dick 244pg. 4/5

I'm gonna be cutting it close as to whether i make my 75 or not. I think i'll be able to, hopefully

Keep on going, Amanda! Maybe you'll find some unexpected reading opportunities . . . sometimes I do, over the holidays. (If I'm careful not to overcommit my time).

thanx Kay! i hope so

67.Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock 156pg. 4/5
68.Already Dead by Charlie Huston 277pg. 3/5

69.Subjects/Strategies: A Writer's Reader by Paul Eeschholz 784pg. 3/5
70.The Phoenix Exultant Volume 2 of The Golden Age by John C. Wright 305pg. 3/5