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).