Archive for the '2008' Category

2008 Reading List

Published on 1 January 2009 in 2008, reading and books. 5 Comments

The numbers:

Number of books read in 2008: 99
New reads: 95

Number of books read in 2007: 85
Number of books read in 2006: 64
Number of books read in 2005: 56

Average read per month: 8.25
Average read per week: 1.9

Number read in worst month: 1 (July; travelling in Europe)
Number read in best month: 14 (June)

Male authors: 37
Female authors: 31

Fiction: 87
non-fiction: 12 (marked *; 2007: 10, 2006: 4, 2005: 2)

Scifi/fantasy: 33
Mystery/crime: 35
Literature/fiction: 17
Graphic novels: 0
Horror: 1 (this was also my only book I read in Malay.)
YA: 8
Poetry: 2 — thanks to Dorothy Porter (R.I.P.)

Languages: Read very little in languages other than English in 2008. This can probably be remedied in 2009 by using the library more.
Malay: 1
Chinese: 0

January
The weavers of Saramyr by Chris Wooding
The skein of lament by Chris Wooding
Ascendancy veil by Chris Wooding
T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
The savage altar by Åsa Larsson
Disordered minds by Minette Walters
The clan of the cave bear by Jean M Auel

February
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Spirit walker by Michelle Paver
The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini
Soul eater by Michelle Paver
Seeker by Jack McDevitt
Chindi by Jack McDevitt
The many-coloured land by Julian May
The golden torc by Julian May

March
The nonborn king by Julian May
The adversary by Julian May
Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas
Harry Potter and the deathly hallows by J.K. Rowling
Shaman’s crossing by Robin Hobb
Forest mage by Robin Hobb
Renegade’s magic by Robin Hobb
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Voices by Arnaldur Indridason

April
Stiff by Shane Maloney
Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
A question of blood by Ian Rankin
Maigret in Holland by Georges Simenon
The keys to the street by Ruth Rendell
Surrender by Sonja Hartnett
Where late the sweet birds sang by Kate Wilhelm
Once in a house on fire by Andrea Ashworth*

May
The brush-off by Shane Maloney
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Nice try by Shane Maloney
A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Flanders panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Twisted by Jonathan Kellerman
Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
The Seville communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman
Death qualified by Kate Wilhelm
The white earth by Andrew McGahan
The spare room by Helen Garner
Bones to ashes by Kathy Reich

June
Written in bone by Simon Beckett
A dog’s ransom by Patricia Highsmith
Mindstar rising by Peter F Hamilton
A quantum murder by Peter F Hamilton
The nano flower by Peter F Hamilton
Paris on a plate by Stephen Downes*
The painter of signs by R K Narayan
The magician’s nephew by C S Lewis
Have mercy on us all by Fred Vargas
The rape of Nanking by Iris Chang*
Huysman’s pets by Kate Wilhelm
River town by Peter Hessler*
The three evangelists by Fred Vargas
The stone diaries by Carol Shields

July
Seeking whom he may devour by Fred Vargas

August
Wash this blood clean from my hands by Fred Vargas
From doon with death by Ruth Rendell
The Margarets by Sherri Tepper
Nekropolis by Maureen McHugh
For the defense by Kate Wilhelm

September
This night’s foul work by Fred Vargas
The guardians by John Christopher
Ancient shores by Jack McDevitt
Socialism is great by Lijia Zhang*
Family matters by Rohinton Mistry
Where the Indus is young: Walking to Baltistan by Dervla Murphy*
A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry
Mother tongue by Bill Bryson*

October
Maigret and the lazy burglar by Georges Simenon
The mermaids singing by Val McDermid
The wire in the blood by Val McDermid
Slowly down the Ganges by Eric Newby*
The haunted monastery by Robert Van Gulik
An alien light by Nancy Kress
Someday the Rabbi will leave by Harry Kemelman

November
At winter’s end by Robert Silverberg
The queen of springtime by Robert Silverberg
Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh
Percutian berdarah by Rajawali
1984 by George Orwell

December
The man who went up in smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
The slap by Christos Tsiolkas
El Dorado by Dorothy Porter
The ghost map: A street, a city, an epidemic and the hidden power of urban networks by Steven Johnson*
Little brother by Cory Doctorow
The man on the balcony by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Ugly by Constance Briscoe*
Dune by Frank Herbert
Mao’s last dancer by Li Cunxin*
The monkey’s mask by Dorothy Porter
The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell*
Deadstock by Jeffrey Thomas
The amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Most surprising:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did, given its slow pace and many religious/spiritual musings.

The monkey’s mask by Dorothy Porter
Loved this amazingly effective murder mystery written in verse.

Lots of enjoyable reads this year, among them Peter Hamilton’s Greg Mandel trilogy, the Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö books, the Fred Vargas books, River Town by Peter Hessler (reminded me of my year in China), The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson.

Least enjoyed:
Written in bone by Simon Beckett
My note in my diary about this book: Everyone dies in the end. Not sure I found it believable.

For 2009 I hope to:

  • Read more non-fiction. I’m pleased that I increased the number of non-fiction titles I read in 2008. I don’t really know why I haven’t been reading more non-fiction, given that I have learned so much from the books I have read.
  • Read more poetry.
  • Read more in other languages  - Malay, Indonesian, Chinese. Must keep working on my Dutch, too.

M asked if I record all the books I haven’t finished - I don’t. If I did this list would be far, far longer.

It’s amused me how much I looked forward to compiling this list and creating a clean page to record my reading for 2009. I also enjoy looking at other people’s lists. So far, lists from ricklibrarian, John Dupuis. Yours?

Year’s end

Published on 31 December 2008 in 2008 and ruminatin'. 2 Comments

2008 just seems to have whizzed by. Christmas over again for another year.

No pictures today, as our camera is bung (dropped on its eye by a six-year-old, sigh) and is away, being repaired. I am missing it terribly; it feels strange to not have any Christmas photos. If you want to see part of what my Christmas this year was like, visit the Food Pornographer - the fruit platter was my contribution. Our challenge for Christmas Day was to make it through the three meals we were invited to - breakfast at my parents’, lunch with my in-laws, and dinner at M’s aunt’s. Unfortunately we didn’t do very well - by the time we’d had breakfast and lunch, we were way too full and too tired to contemplate dinner, so we visited but didn’t stay for that meal. Luckily it was quite pleasant weather-wise, with a mild (for December) 26.6°C (79.8°F) maximum on the day.

It’s been extremely hot here in Perth for the last few days. Today’s forecast is for a maximum temperature of 37°C (98.6°F). Yesterday it got up to 39°C (102.2°F). It seems to have taken a while to warm up this summer, but it was bound to happen eventually.

I have yet to prep (read: take out of its wrapper) my 2009 diary. I have kept a paper diary for years. It’s a personal diary - for work I use the Outlook calendar. I like making little handwritten notes about my day, although I don’t necessarily do this every single day. I also use my paper diary to note a book title when I have finished reading it. For the last few years I have been using pocket-sized day-to-a-page Moleskine diaries, however for 2009 I have a large diary. The idea is that I might write more if I have more room. We’ll see.

I hope you’ve all had a good Christmas break - and have a Happy New Year!

Are we there yet?

Published on 15 December 2008 in 2008 and ruminatin'. 1 Comment

I find it amusing that quite a few people think that there’s nothing happening at uni at this time of year. (The same people who think that teachers just show up at class and teach, without having to do any prep, or marking, or learning for themselves, I guess.) Just because the students have finished for the year doesn’t mean everything has shut down at uni. We might not be dealing with huge hordes at the moment, but there’s still plenty that needs to be done: serving the students who are still here, doing updates that can’t be done when we’re busy, finishing off 2008’s projects, and planning for next year (in a large library like MPOW things don’t usually just happen).

I’ll be working all the way until Christmas Eve, too, so I can’t let myself get too much into the spirit of things for the time being. I find that I do enjoy this time of year - not so much for the festivities, although I do enjoy catching up with people I don’t see much during the year- but I like reflecting over what I’ve done in the year. This year’s been a busy and enjoyable one. I’ll have a bit of time to reflect, as I will be holidays until 5 January.

2009 should be an interesting one. My stint acting in my current role actually ends in March, so something will have to happen before then - hopefully involving me reapplying for the position. A case of dominoes, in that it all depends on another position - if the person acting there gets her job, then I will have the opportunity to apply for my job. If she doesn’t, she comes back to her substantive position, which is the job I have been doing this year. I then have to go back to my old role. The good/bad thing is that I know I don’t want my old job.

Jobs aside, I also have Aurora to look forward to - this is an annual leadership “institute” for librarians, which is somewhat competitive to get into. This happens in February, and I am really looking forward to it. And then there’s the paper to complete for Educause. Am also meant to be on a panel, for the same conference, with Kathryn and Peta. Lots to do!