Sunday, January 01, 2017

Books of the Year 2016

And so we come to the end of 2016. Thank goodness!

Here's the list:

  1. "Pathfinder: A Song of Silver", by James Jacobs
  2. "Fifth Edition Foes", by Necromancer Games
  3. "The Man in the Iron Mask", by Alexandre Dumas
  4. "A Confederacy of Dunces", by John Kennedy Toole *
  5. "Bloodbound", by F. Wesley Schneider
  6. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom *
  7. "Pathfinder: The Kintargo Contract", by Jim Groves
  8. "The Shepherd's Crown", by Terry Pratchett
  9. "Doctor Who: Shada", by Gareth Roberts
  10. "Pathfinder: Breaking the Bones of Hell", by Amber E. Scott
  11. "Pirate's Prophecy", by Chris A. Jackson
  12. "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Clone Army Attacketh", by Ian Doescher
  13. "Trigger Warning", by Neil Gaiman
  14. "Brideshead Revisited", by Evelyn Waugh *
  15. "Pathfinder: The Hellfire Compact", by F. Wesley Schneider
  16. "Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales", by Justin Richards
  17. "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge", by Ian Doescher
  18. "Wars of the Roses: Bloodline", by Conn Iggulden
  19. "The Long Utopia", by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
  20. "The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
  21. "Pathfinder: Wrath of Thrune", by Thurston Hillman
  22. "Rogues", edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
  23. "Hellknight", by Liane Merciel
  24. "Pathfinder: The Inferno Gate", by Patrick Renie
  25. "Possession", by A.S. Byatt *
  26. "House of Silk", by Anthony Horowitz
  27. "Curse of Strahd", by Wizards of the Coast
  28. "Ilse Witch", by Terry Brooks
  29. "Moriarty", by Anthony Horowitz
  30. "Pathfinder: For Queen and Empire", by Stephen Radney-MacFarland
  31. "How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps", by Jared Blando
  32. "The Shadow of the Wind", by Carlos Ruiz Zafon *
  33. "Doctor Who: City of Death", by James Goss
  34. "Warriors of the Storm", by Bernard Cornwell
  35. "Tuesdays with Morrie", by Mitch Albom *
  36. "Pathfinder: Scourge of the Godclaw", by Larry Wilhelm
  37. "Liar's Bargain", by Tim Pratt
  38. "House of Smoke", by Sam Christer
  39. "Spelljammer: Beyond the Moons", by David Cook
  40. "Doctor Who: Engines of War", by George Mann
  41. "Career of Evil", by Robert Galbraith
  42. "The English Patient", by Michael Ondaatje *
  43. "Trigger Mortis", by Anthony Horowitz
  44. "Spelljammer: Into the Void", by Nigel Findlay
  45. "Pathfinder: Hell Comes to Westcrown", by Ron Lundeen
  46. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", by Douglas Adams
  47. "Antrax", by Terry Brooks
  48. "Pathfinder: In Search of Sanity", by F. Wesley Schneider
  49. "The World According to Garp", by John Irving *
  50. "Starspawn", by Wendy N. Wagner
  51. "Spelljammer: The Maelstrom's Eye", by Roger E. Moore
  52. "Software Systems Architecture", by Nick Rozanski and Eoin Woods
  53. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne
  54. "Storm King's Thunder", by Wizards of the Coast
  55. "Pathfinder: The Thrushmoor Terror", by Tito Leati
  56. "Notes From a Small Island", by Bill Bryson *
  57. "Spelljammer: The Radiant Dragon", by Elaine Cunningham
  58. "The Night Manager", by John Le Carré
  59. "Tome of Beasts", by Kobold Press
  60. "Morgawr", by Terry Brooks
  61. "Le Petit Prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry *
  62. "Shy Knives", by Sam Sykes
  63. "Spelljammer: The Broken Sphere", Nigel Findlay
  64. "The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul", by Douglas Adams
  65. "Consider Phlebas", by Iain M. Banks
  66. "N.E.W. Science Fiction Role-playing Game", by Russ Morrissey
  67. "Cold Comfort Farm", by Stella Gibbons
  68. "Pathfinder: Dreams of the Yellow King", by Ron Lundeen
  69. "Spelljammer: The Ultimate Helm", by Russ T. Howard
  70. "The Salmon of Doubt", by Douglas Adams
  71. "Volo's Guide to Monsters", by Wizards of the Coast
  72. "For the Love of God, volume two", by Don Carson
  73. "Holy Bible", by Various Authors *

So, that's 73 books, including thirteen from The List. Of these, there are nineteen RPG books, and six re-reads - the first five books in the "Spelljammer" series, plus a third read-through of the Bible. All the sublists were completed. All in all, I'm happy with that.

The book of the year is "Tuesdays With Morrie", by Mitch Albom, which narrowly beat out the same author's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and also "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Those were all great books - not quite up there with "The Grapes of Wrath" or "Tale of Two Cities", but definitely in the top ten. Given that last year didn't have any truly great reads, to have three this year was nice.

The weakest book of the year was "Morgawr", the third book in the "Voyage of the Jerle Shannara" trilogy by Terry Brooks. This unfortunately creates something of a dilemma for me - I had intended to use the Shannara books as one of my sub-lists for 2017, but am now not sure I can be bothered. I'm going to try the next trilogy, and then I'll decide.

The target for 2017 is again to reach 60 books, which should be doable. This year I'm declaring five sub-lists: the Pathfinder (12), Pathfinder Tales (6), and Books from The List (12) series will continue unchanged, plus I'm aiming to read through Iain M. Banks "Culture" novels (9 to go), and also some of the remaining Shannara novels (12) - though I'm now not sure of the last. The rest of the books will be new releases, including the final two books by Terry Pratchett (which is rather sad, but on the other hand they've lasted longer than we have any right to expect).

No comments: