Thursday, December 08, 2011

A Christmas Tradition

Or better...a Steven Crawford's blog tradition.

That's right. It is time for the 2011 Christmas list. What wonders will I ask for this year? Probably mostly books.

1. Books

Richard Baxter complete works
Vol 3
Vol 4
Vol 7

Actually, any volumes except for 2, 5, 6, and 10 would be great!

Russian literature
Lectures on Russian Literature
Poetry
Biography of Dostoevsky

To prepare for the arrival of my marimba
Bach

Other books you think I might like

2. Other things

I need some comfy brown dress shoes

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

2011 Book Awards

1. Best New Author

China Mieville

2. Best Science Fiction

Leviathan Awakes by James RA Covey

3. Best Decision

To try to read as much Russian literature as possible

4. Most Helpful

Christian Ethics by Richard Baxter

5. Best Sequel

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

6. Best YA Series

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

7. Best Book About Two Cities that Share the Same Physical Space but Different Psychological Space

The City and the City by China Mieville

8. Best Biography

Peter the Great by Robert Massie

9. Best Suicide

Kirilov in Demons

10. Best Book of the Year (tie)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Demons by Fyodr Dostoevsky

11. Worst Book of the Year

[Redacted] by [Redacted]

Books I have read in 2011 (so far)

Books are listed chronologically

Russian literature

I read Demons for the first time during my trip to St. Petersburg this summer, and immediately went on a bender that lasted until October. Most of the following works were translated by the peerless team of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

31. Demons by Fyodr Dostoevsky
32. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
34. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
36. The Idiot by Fyodr Dostoevsky
41. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
45. Crime and Punishment by Fyodr Dostoevsky
47. Notes from Underground by Fyodr Dostoevsky
51. Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman
52. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
54. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Other Literature (and literature like substances)

4. Emma by Jane Austen
14. Freaky Deaky by Elmore Leonard
39. Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Russian related works and history

Another passion of mine.

18. Sashenka by Simon Sebag Montefiore
26. The Possessed by Elif Batuman
33. The Crimean War by Orlando Figes
44. Russia: Experiment with a People by Robert Service
45. Peter the Great by Robert Massie
57. The Siege of Leningrad by Anna Reid
59. Ostkrieg by Stephen K. Fritz
67. Passage Through Armageddon by Bruce W. Lincoln

Other History

2. Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
6. The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham
9. God's War by Christopher Tyerman
20.The English Revolution by Diane Parkiss
24. World 3.0 by Pankaj Ghemewat
53. Hope and Memory by Tsvetan Toderov

Christian Books

3. Theirs is the Kingdom by Robert Lupton
5. Institutes, Book III by John Calvin
10. Christ's Last Disclosure of Himself by William Greenhill
16. Christian Ethics by Richard Baxter
17. On the Song of Songs by Bernard of Clairvaux
21. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan
25. Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
28. The Great Exchange by Philip Everson
30. The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond
42. William Carey by Walter Bruce Davis
43. The Navigator by Bob Foster
46. If I Perish, I Perish by W. Ian Thomas

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Weird Fiction

1. Conventions of War by Walter John Williams
7. Prador Moon by Neil Asher
8. Echo by Jack McDevitt
11. The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
13. Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks
15. Manifold Space by Stephen Baxter
22. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
23. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
27. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
29. A Feast of Crows by George R. R. Martin
35. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
37. A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
38. Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele
40. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
48. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
49. The Peace War by Vernor Vinge
55. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
56. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
58. Leviathan Awakes by James R. A. Covey
60. A Fire Upon Deep by Vernor Vinge
61. Firebird by Jack McDevitt
62. The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge
63. The City and the City by China Mieville
64. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
65. The Scar by China Mieville
66. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
68. Embassytown by China Mieville

Books so Terrible I Can't Believe I Finished Them, Let Alone Decided to Read the Sequel

12. Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson
19. A Feast of Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

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Some Asides

Rereads

4, 41, 45, 60

Books I read to research a speaker at our national conference

25

Books which offered political insight that was out-of-date (but still of some use):

2, 53

Series which I read completely or in some part

Alex Benedict series (8, 61)
A Song of Fire and Ice (22, 23, 27, 29, 37)
The Hunger Games series (48, 56, 64)
Wheels of Time (35, 55)