Reading year in review

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I'm currently reading Inside Straight, but for study-related issues, I'm unlikely to finish it in 2010. So here's my reading year in review. Yeah, I know we did this a few months ago too. But now it's time for the final tally!

THE COMPLETE LIST OF FICTION

Kader Abdolah: Het huis van de moskee
Dan Abnett: First and Only
Dan Abnett: Ghostmaker
Ryunosuke Akutagawa: Rashomon
Keith Baker: The City of Towers
Keith Baker: The Shattered Land
Scott Bakker: Disciple of the Dog
Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou: Logicomix (graphic novel)
Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
Harlan Ellison (ed.): Dangerous Visions
David Gemmell: Hero in the Shadows
David Gemmell: White Wolf
Thomasine Gyllembourg: Two Ages
Kim Harrison: Dead Witch Walking
Robin Hobb: Dragon Haven
Robert E. Howard: Red Nails (novella)
David Langford: The Space Eater
George R. R. Martin: The Armageddon Rag
George R. R. Martin: Dreamsongs I
George R. R. Martin: Dreamsongs II
George R. R. Martin: Dying of the Light
George R. R. Martin: Fevre Dream
George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle: Windhaven
George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham: Hunter's Run
J. M. McDermott: Last Dragon
Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon
Garth Nix: Across the Wall
Kenneth Oppel: The Devil's Cure
Albert Sanchez Pinol: Pandora in the Congo
Ricardo Pinto: The Standing Dead
SFX: Pulp Idol 2007
SFX: Pulp Idol 2008
Charles den Tex: Onmacht (novella)
Peter Watts: Blindsight

BEST BOOK

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. There is a reason this book is still read 160 years after its original release: it is just that good.

Runners-up:

2. Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb
3. Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

1. Those Warhammer 40k books by Dan Abnett. I like what I've seen of the 40k setting, and Abnett is supposedly the best writer in that universe, but I found his books to be pretty dull stuff.
2. Disciple of the Dog by Scott Bakker. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad book. It's just that my expectations were way too high.
3. Those books by Keith Baker. My expectations weren't very high and they still managed to fall short.

UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. I didn't expect it to be quite so much fun, but it was!

OBSERVATIONS

1. I really, really like GRRM.
2. There was more variation than in previous years. Mostly fantasy, it's true, but there was also SF, a smattering of historical novels and even a couple of thrillers. I want to keep this up.
3. Very few female authors, and even fewer if you look at the reasons for reading them. I read a book by Lisa Tuttle because she co-wrote it with GRRM and a book by Thomasine Gyllemborg because it came with a lengthy analysis by the male philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Only Hobb and Harrison were read on their own merits, and I was (obviously) already familiar with Hobb. I'm a little worried by this. I'm not a sexist, but why was nearly everything I've read this year written by men?

On to 2011!