I thought of the pages goal after I got my Goodreads account (goodreads.com) and saw that it gives you stats on everything you've read through the year, breaking down how many books, pages, and also a chart of different genres (or shelves). It calculated ten books and 4375 pages for 2011, and this wasn't logging every single book I read either.
Suddenly, twelve books seemed small.
In 2012, I started out the goal of trying to read 10,000 pages, and my stats were 36 books, and 8850 pages. Great number of books, but just shy of my page goal. Last year wasn't as good as 2012, but was still good. 25 books, and 8078 pages. Eleven less books, but only 772 pages less.
In 2012, the average size of the book I read was 245.83 pages. But, the average size book I read in 2013 was 323.12! Which means that even though I read less, I was reading bigger books!
IMPROVEMENT!!!
I decided to add a new goal this year. I will also write a quick summery/review of every book I read. Since I haven't written anything for the books last year, I'll do a quick rundown of all 2013 books.
My brother David bought me The Walking Dead Compendium 1, which contains the first eight volume's, and I was hooked. When I finished it, I went out and bought every single volume, and whenever the next one comes out, I buy it. This issue introduced a new antagonist, a position that has been missing since the Governor. While it's exciting to see someone come along who has to potential to be as bad, if not worse than the Governor, it came at the demise of one of my favorite characters, and it wasn't pretty. This one had a great ending that made me mad that I'd have to wait another five months for the next book to come out.
Bone is one of my all time favorite books. I have read it at least three times, which is a huge commitment, since it is 1344 pages long, and weighs as much as an encyclopedia. Michelle got me the 20th Anniversary Edition for Christmas the prior year, that comes in a hardcover and slipcase, and is printed in full color. I was afraid that the comic being in full color might take something from the story, since there was still some imagination of the mind in what the color of everything is, but instead it added a greater depth to the story. One of my favorite scenes from the book is when some of the characters are hiding from Rat Creatures during a lightning storm, and one frame shows them hiding in the dark, the next frame shows the lightning lighting up the sky to see all the Rat Creatures surrounding them, with the next frame going back the them hiding in the dark, and I was afraid that some of the power in that shot would be lost if it wasn't in black and white. No. It was better. I think I'll read this book again as part of my exercise routine.
I borrowed this from my brother Daniel, and I'm reminded that I need to buy it. This is a reimagining of Batman's origin story, and Bruce isn't the only person to get revamped. Alfred sticks out more as not just Bruce's father figure, but mentor. Focusing more on his Special Ops background, they made him someone who has the necessary physical and emotional scars to have the respect of a young man who just had his parent's taken from him.
Another one I borrowed from Daniel and need to get. This is the second part to a reimagining of Superman's story. He's younger, and trying to find his place in this world, and also what he is capable of. There's a part where he fantasizes about what he could do to a dictator before walking away realizing that violence isn't the answer to violence.
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| "The Hobbit" J.R.R. Tolkien |
This is a special edition of The Hobbit my sister Katie got me a few years back. It's a leather bound and slip case collectors edition. I wanted to read it before the movie came out, but still haven't seen either Hobbit films. Reading this a second time, I was remembering critiques that I learned Tolkien had about the book from my philosophy class on The Lord of the Rings that I couldn't not think about. I won't tell them to you here, because I don't want to ruin anything for people. But ask me about it sometime, and I'll tell you. But please don't hurt me.
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| "Building Stories" Chris Ware |
This is the most unique thing I read last year, if not ever. Technically, it's a graphic novel. Physically, it's a box filled with 14 Books, Booklets, Magazines, Newspapers, and Pamphlets, all telling a singular story. They aren't numbered, so where you began and end is entirely up to you, making each reading a different experience. I became a fan of Chris Ware after reading "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth." With a single page of artwork capturing more emotion than 20 pages of words, Ware's style isn't just changing literary comics or graphic novels, but literature itself.
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| "Forgotten God" Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski |
I read this book to lead few group studies at church. I blasted through it in a matter of days, but then reread every chapter as I was going along in the study. Chan is known for being convicting is his preaching, while also pointing at himself as an example, and this book is no different. I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, since most studies of The Holy Spirit tend to be overly charismatic, but not in this case. The basic gist of the book was that if we claim to have The Spirit in us, then we should be living as people who have Christ in us, and be Christ to the world. Worth rereading.
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| "Red Letter Revolution" Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo |
I picked up this book having read "The Irresistible Revolution" a few years back. I saw this book at Barnes and Noble a while back and gave it a shot. Years ago, Campolo coined the term "Red Letter Christian" for people who were Christian, but didn't agree with the politics usually attributed to Christianity, mainly being Republican. This book is a dialogue between Claiborne and Campolo about various issues ranging from Community, the Church, and Missions, to Economics, Immigration, and Politics. This book had a lot of good points to it, but felt more like they were finding Biblical reasons to have the opposite stance as the "religious right." However, agree with them or not, this book starts a much needed dialogue about why we have the the political beliefs we have, and what we should be. Be warned though, if you read this, you better have thick skin. You will be offended.
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| "Love Does" Bob Goff |
I first heard of Bob Goff from Donald Miller's book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" when him and his family jumped into a lake with all their clothes on to say bye to Don and his friend while they were leaving their cabin. Bob Goff embraces whimsy like no one else, and encourages you to live a life worthy of the love we've been given. Just go get this book.
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| "Start" Jon Acuff |
I first heard of Jon Acuff from his Stuff Christians Like site, and I loved how he was able to write something that was as funny as it was convicting. He started writing career books, the first being "Quitter," where he talked about the steps you can take to leave your job for the career you want. This book, "Start," is like a 288 page pep talk. Much needed for anyone wanting to finish a book, start a business, or switch careers. I liked Quitter better, but both books need to be read multiple times.
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| "Love Is an Orientation" Andrew Marin |
Almost every book I've been reading cites this book when talking about Homosexuality, so I finally decided to pick it up. This has to be the most important book I read last year. Marin doesn't take a stance on whether being gay is a sin or not. Instead, he stands in the middle and wants to build a bridge between the LGBT and Christian communities, and he gets arrows thrown at him from both sides. This book helps lay the groundwork for a conversation between two groups that would rather shoot arrows at the straw man instead of knowing the flesh and blood person on the other side. Every Christian should read this book.
Vol 18 came out, and due to the popularity of the TV series, they now sale the latest books at Target. I got this and read it in a matter of hours. Nothing much happened in this issue. Mainly it focused on Negan, the new baddy who will beat someone's head in with a baseball bat, keeping a smile on his face. Yeah. He's a sick man, and this volume showed more of how evil he really is. Vol 17 got me excited. 18 just frustrated me because I really just wanted something bad to happen to Negan. But I guess it shows you that you don't want him gone because you don't like him, but because he is pure evil.
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| "Cloud Atlas" David Mitchell |
I first saw the trailer for Cloud Atlas on Apple.com (because that's where you go to see movie trailers). It looked like a head-trip of a movie, and when I saw it was a book, I had to pick it up. This book also has some sentimental value since I bought it at City Lights (the bookstore in San Francisco, not the other place in Fresno...). The book is six different stories told throughout time in chronological order, with the first five cutting off half-way through (one story ends mid-sentence, because the next page is missing) until the sixth story, where the stories are then finished in reverse chronological order, all while keeping a forward motion. I still haven't seen the movie. I've herd it's pretty good.
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| "Torn" Justin Lee |
I saw this book while researching "Love Is an Orientation" and bought them at the same time. While "Love Is an Orientation" is more like a textbook, his book is more of a narrative about Lee's life. He starts out telling his story of when he started thinking he might be gay, how he went about trying to "fix" himself, and how he eventually came to accept himself. It gets a little preachy near the end, but the story itself of how he went into "ex-gay" ministries that offered no help to him because he has a good relationship with his father is enough to make you scream. Again, just like "Love Is an Orientation", a very important book.
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| "Intellectuals and Society" Thomas Sowell |
Thomas Sowell is an Economist, Social Theorist, Political Philosopher, i.e., Philosophy. I had a professor years ago who said he considers a philosopher to be someone with an idea and the stuff to back it up (he was saying that Steven Pinker, who is a Psychologist, is basically a Philosopher). This book only took me around seven months to finish. Very dense (I had to stop and look up the meaning to a bunch of big words), very long (600+ pages), but very good (the words and pages matched size of the content). The book basically went into his theory on conflicting visions (or worldviews) and how those with a worldview of having a superior intellect who work exclusively in the realm of ideas, (where the work begins and ends with ideas, not practical application) and their ideas are praised, not because they are beneficial to society, but because they have good intentions, and sound good.* This book changed the way I look at politics, especially the whole "wealthy one percent" argument.
*For a much better summery than I can give, just check out the Wikipedia page for the book.
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| "Jesus for President" Shane Claiborne Chris Haw |
If you ever see this book somewhere, pick it up and just look through it. It is a beautiful book. Each page is like a piece of art with words. The book is all about politics, and is more like an argument for Christian's being Liberal. Again, it makes for a good read if you like having your beliefs challenged. Although, some of the ideas feel like they started with the politics and added the theology to back up their ideas. It was worth the read, but I disagreed with a lot of it. I think the main thing I learned from this book is that I need to read more books I disagree with.
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| "Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card |
After about eight years, I finally decided to read Ender's Game. The movie was FINALLY coming out, and I needed to read the book. I haven't read Science Fiction for a while, so it was fun to dive back into this world. I kept kicking myself that I didn't read this sooner. It has been on my shelf for six years, and I only said "someday I'll read it." Man. The story was great, but the real power of this book is in Card's style. Ender is given the task of saving humanity, whether he likes it or not, and you can feel the weight it puts on his soul. Even if you've seen the movie, this book is a must read.
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| "Speaker For the Dead" Orson Scott Card |
I then went straight to reading the rest of The Ender Quintet. This book was very different from Ender's Game, but the style was still very much Card. A friend told me that in a way, this is the start of a whole new trilogy, and that had to be the best way to put it. Set three thousand years in the future with Ender only aging about 30 years, and once again, he is tasked with saving the world. This time, however, it's a different planet, and he can better handle the weight of this task. The amazing part of this book is how it is a huge setup for the next two books, but you don't know until you get to the other books.
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| "Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers" Shane Claiborne Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove |
I needed a break from the Sci-fi for a bit, so I grabbed a short read from my shelf. I bought this book at Urbana four years ago. They had a $5 book deal every day and this was one of them. Of course, it was Shane Claiborne. This focused more how to read prayers from the Bible as plans of action. A very new concept. However, after reading other books by Claiborne, this one had more of the same stories and analogies in it, and like the other books, felt more like it started with politics and added the scripture afterwards. It seemed like he was finding a new way to say the same thing over again. I don't know if I'll be reading any new books by Claiborne for a while.
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| "Xenocide" Orson Scott Card |
I got back into the Ender series, and this had to be the hardest of the four to read. It started dealing with more abstract ideas, while adding a whole set of new characters. This one continued to lay the groundwork for the next book, but also answered questions from the last one. While not my favorite in the series, it was still Orson Scott Card.
Things start to pick up. I liked this one. That's all I'll say.
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| "EntreLeadership" Dave Ramsey |
I'm trying to start some business stuff (ask me sometime in person. Otherwise I'll keep you posted on here), and I heard this is a good book for a person starting out. The book is half leadership, half business. It basically outlines everything Ramsey did from the start of his company and how he grew it debt free, and also the leadership mistakes he made, and lessons you can only learn from running you own business. It's kind of like, "Learn from my mistakes." Another book I'll probably be rereading.
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| "Children Of the Mind" Orson Scott Card |
The final book in the Ender Quintet wrapped up everything nicely. I'm not sure if Card had everything planned out ahead of time, or just let things fall into place. Either way, I liked it. You could probably put all three books after "Ender's Game" (Speaker For the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) into one long book. I also know that this isn't the end for Ender books, because there is another series (the Shadow series) and prequels and other books that take place during these books. I have Ender's Shadow, but I have other series I'm trying to get to (Like the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin).
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| "RASL" Jeff Smith |
Daniel got me this book for Christmas. Jeff Smith, the author of Bone (the mentioned earlier) just finished his second series about an art thief who travels between parallel universes that runs into trouble. It's darker and more mature than Bone. Took me all of two days to read, but I think I need to read it again. It had a lot to do with Tesla and some of his theories. I'm not sure how much of it is based on some of Tesla's actual theories, and how much of it is fiction, but it made for a crazy trip. I can't wait to see what Smith comes out with next.
The last book of the year that I read. I picked it up at Barnes and Noble for 50% off. If you've heard of The Oatmeal, then I don't need to say anything. If you haven't heard of it, check the website (http://theoatmeal.com/), but be warned, it is offensive stuff. I need to get the other books. It's fun stuff to just pick up and read for a quick laugh.
That's it. My goal this coming year is to do a quick summery/review of a book whenever I finish it instead of waiting until the end of the year to do a long post like this. You get major points if you read every single word of this post. If you didn't, I wouldn't blame you.
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