Sgt Big G still needs to read

Last year I wanted to get 25 of my 800 books off the shelf and I manged to read 14 of them. This year I'm going to try for 25 again, but the number of unread books seems to have grown to over 1,200. I'm not sure how that happened, I'm pretty sure I did not get 400 more books last year, 100 maybe. Maybe 800 was too low fr last year.

My cutoff date will be 1/1/10, so any book I owned before that date will count, hopefully I can finish up last years X-mas books this year.

Good luck with the challenge this year.

Hi! Good luck clearing those shelves!

(But isn't it funny how the books seem to multiply . . .? :-)

1. Hospital Station by James White

Didn't thrill me and I won't be reading the rest of the series. I got this from PBS in 2009. 24 to go.

2. A Date Which Will Live in Infamy: An Anthology of Pearl Harbor Stories That Might Have Been Ed by Brian Thomsen & Martin Greenberg

An average collection of alternate history stories concerning the attack on Pearl Harbor. I got it from Book Mooch in July 2008.

2 down already is good progress!
My theory is that if you leave books alone, they undergo mitosis...

3. The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

A SF classic, I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I got it from PBS in July 2008.

4. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

It was no Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I got it from Bookmooch in January 2009.

5. The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock

Entertaining but too short for the story it told. Got it from my Dad when he retired 15 or so years ago.

too short for the story it told

Great comment! Authors seem to have trouble with that -- they're either too short or too long-winded. (Right now I'm reading a book that looks like it may be too long for the story it tells.)

6. The Sowers of Thunder by Robert E. Howard

Medieval battles between Frank and Muslim. Drinking, fighting, cleaving of skulls, everything a book needs. I think this one came from my Dad as well.

7. What Ifs? of American History Edited by Robert Cowley

Good collection of alternate history essays. Received from PBS, March 2008.

I read a combined Volume I & II of that book last year. I really enjoyed it!

8. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

I'm trying to rectify the lack of Hemingway that I have read. There's nothing I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. I enjoyed it, although at times I had a hard time believing in the love affair.

9. Future War edited by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois

A collection of military SF short stories. Most of them were alright, a couple I've read before, there was only one that I can truly say I didn't like and didn't finish. If you like military SF, you'll like this, if you don't, you won't.

I've had both of these fr awhile, don't even know where they came from.

10. Wastelands:Stories of the Apocalypse Ed. by John Joseph Adams

Short stories about the apocalypse. X-mas 2008.

11. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Sequel to Old Man's War but not as good. Purchased from SFBC in November 2008.

12. The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Sequel to #11, about as good, wraps up the story. Received from PBS in January 2009.

Half way there.

What did you think of Wastelands? I've had it on my wishlist for a while.

13. Pastwatch:The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card

Good time travel, alternate history book. I got this from Bookmooch in March 2009.

#16 - Like most short story collections there were some very good, a bunch that were OK, but only one I really didn't like. Unfortunately that was the last one in the book so it didn't end as well as it could have. If you like end of the world stories, you should like the book.

Thanks! Sounds like about what you usually expect from an anthology, really.

14. Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos by Robert D. Kaplan

Not as good as The Coming Anarchy but worth reading. I got this book from PBS in August 2008.

15. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan

His last but far from his best. I bought it from C & W Used Books in 2005.

16. Lt Leary, Commanding by David Drake

Book 2 of the RCN series, average. Got it from SFBC sometime in 2007.

17. The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

Average time travel story. Got it from PBS in February 2008.

18. Up the Line by Robert Silverberg

Slightly less then average time travel story. I think it came from my Dad sometime before 2007.

19. Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excusion into the American Museum of Natural History by Douglas Preston

A history of the museum and manys of its collections. Interesting book. Not sure where I got it, sometime in 2009.

20. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

A sort of Bladerunner SF novel, first in a series. I got it from PBS in December 2008.

21. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

Aliens barricade the earth. I got it from PBS in May 2009.

22. The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian

Aubrey-Maturin continue. I got it as an X-mas gift in 2008.

23. Dr. No by Ian Fleming

James Bond. I've had this forever as part of my effort to read all of the Bond books in order. I'm averaging less then one a year.

Almost to 25 with about a month left.

I loved the Patrick O'Brian series, I read them pretty much one right after another.

Do the James Bond books hold up? I can't help but imagine they would be pretty dated.

A bit dated, technologically speaking. And every now and then, we get an offhand "free, white, and 21" sort of statement.

24 & 25 - Yes, the technology is definately dated. Some of the language has obviously changed since the late 50's- early 60's. The Cold War has ended and most of the colonies are independent now. But generally I've found these type of things to be mostly in the background and they do not disrupt the story.

Thanks, I loved the James Bond books way back in the sixties, I should pick up a couple to revisit.