2012 Books

I should probably just use Booklist for this, but ... meh. That would require going to a separate site. So... 2012, the year I didn't reread a single book. I have to say, I'm enjoying it so far. Reading a ton of shit I wouldn't have normally read. Crime books, political thrillers, post-cyberpunk, sci-fi comedy, some epic fantasy stuff, urban fantasy. Sorry, no non-fiction here. I need non-fiction with a pulse, sorta in the vein of The Hacker Crackdown, The Perfect Storm or The Hot Zone.

Also, kinda interesting, and perhaps a little sad ... none of the first 25 books has been a printed copy.

1. The Last Run, by Greg Rucka
2. The Crown Conspiracy, by Michael J. Sullivan
3. The Digital Plague, by Jeff Somers
4. The Electric Church, by Jeff Somers
5. The Eternal Prison, by Jeff Somers
6. American Assassin, by Vince Flynn
7. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
8. The Sentry, by Robert Crais
9. The Athena Project, by Brad Thor
10. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
11. Glasslands, by Karen Traviss
12. Child of Fire, by Harry Connolly
13. Kill Shot, by Vince Flynn
14. One Rough Man, by Brad Taylor
15. Transfer of Power, by Vince Flynn
16. The Magician King, by Lev Grossman
17. Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice, Book 3), by George R.R. Martin
18. Assassin's Code, by Jonathan Maberry
19. Sasha, by Joel Shepherd
20. Alpha, by Greg Rucka
21. Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson
22. Redshirts, by John Scalzi
23. All Necessary Force, by Brad Taylor
24. The Third Option, by Vince Flynn
25. The First Rule, by Robert Crais
26. Wool (Omnibus ed., vols. 1-5), by Hugh Howey
27. The Prestige, by Christopher Priest
28. Separation of Power, by Vince Flynn
29. Executive Power, by Vince Flynn
30. Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer
31. Memorial Day, by Vince Flynn
32. Kiss the Dead, by Laurell K. Hamilton (hardback; first one of the year; also, meh) 
33. Halo: Primordium, by Greg Bear
34. Fated, by Benedict Jacka
35. The Spirit Thief, by Rachel Aaron
36. The Spirit Rebellion, by Rachel Aaron
37. The Spirit Eater, by Rachel Aaron
38. Spirit War, by Rachel Aaron
39. Libriomancer, by Jim C. Hines
40. Cursed, by Benedict Jacka
41. Taken, by Benedict Jacka
42. The Thursday War, by Karen Traviss
43. Avempartha, by Michael J. Sullivan
44. Shadow's Son, by Jon Sprunk
45. John Dies at the End, by David Wong
46. Clean, by Alex Hughes
47. Cold Days, by Jim Butcher (hardback; been waiting all year for this one)
48. Consent to Kill, by Vince Flynn
49. Act of Treason, by Vince Flynn
50. Protect and Defend, by Vince Flynn
51. Extreme Measures, by Vince Flynn (eh, what can I say? They're quick, fun reads.)
52. Pursuit of Honor, by Vince Flynn
53. The Last Man, by Vince Flynn

So I apparently left out a book. I forgot to add in #46, so as of yesterday (12/21/2012, the end of the world), I thought I was still a book short. Bought the latest Vince Flynn book, tore through it, and then went to put it on the list when I noticed on the Kindle that Clean was on there, but not on the list. I actually made the goal. Dumb, I know, but I really didn't think I was going to pull it off after getting sidetracked in November with Halo 4. I'll probably even try to get through a couple more books before Jan. 1. I've got eight days, after all.

Seems a little silly, I guess, keeping track of this. Steph always treated this endeavor with a "what, you want a pat on the back or something?" sort of attitude. I think I was doing it for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to see if I had the discipline to actually pull it off. If you have discipline in one thing, you can apply it to another. Two, I just wondered if I could actually do it. I remember a couple of years ago reading that Robert Jordan would read 50-some-odd books a year as a matter of course. I dunno if I could do it again. I know I couldn't do it with non-fiction or epic fantasies or something like that (though there were a couple of those in there).

I had one rule on top of it all -- I couldn't read any books I'd already read. One of my favorite things to do is reread a good book. It's like getting to revisit one of your favorite memories or something. Takes you back to that happy place. I'm looking forward to doing some rereading in 2013. That said, I think I finally have a taste for finding new authors. I'll be hitting the Amazon shelves pretty hard again.

Anyway, there's the list of the books I read in 2012. Anyone actually reads this and wants to chat about them, let me know. I thought about doing book reviews mid-way through this ordeal, but ... I've done the reviewing thing. Gonna pass on that.

As for me, feels kinda good to have accomplished a goal. I wonder how many goddamn pages that was in total?