Books of the Year

One thing that I like to do, being the obsessive type that I am, is to keep a list of the books I read. So, I thought I'd share this year's (or rather, last year's) list with you faithful blog readers, whether you're interested in it or not. The total for 2002 comes to 94 books (unless I've miscounted, which is always a possibility), which probably seems like a lot, but is actually a mildly disappointing number. Once upon a time, I kept up a pretty steady reading average of three books a week, but the internet and other pursuits have really cut into my book time in the last few years. Still, looking back, I'd have to say that it wasn't a bad year at all on the literary front. There's a lot of fun books on this list, a lot of interesting books... Not much in the way of Great Works of Literature, admittedly, but you can't have everything.

A few notes about the list: 1. Asterisked titles are books that I've reviewed on my web page. As you can see, I've been really, really remiss about doing the reviews. 2. A few of the links aren't to exactly the same book that I read, but to the closest thing I could find. This was mainly just a problem with omnibus volumes of one sort or another. 3. I've only included the writers' names on the graphic novels. This is not meant to diss the artists, whose contributions are just as important, but only to avoid having to type out long lists of names repeatedly.

Anyway, here ya go:

Betty's 2002 Reading List

The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy by Mike Ashley (ed.)

The Arrow of Time by Peter Coveny & Roger Highfield

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

*Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything by Craig Charles

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King

The Ghost in the Mirror by John Bellairs

*Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

*Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis

First Contract by Greg Costikyan

Kiln People by David Brin

Tears of the Oracle by Justin R. Richards

The Education of Robert Nifkin by Daniel Pinkwater

Transmetropolitan: Lonely City by Warren Ellis

Sexing the Brain by Lesley Rogers

The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Strange New Worlds by Dean Wesley Smith (ed.)

The Chrestomanci Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones

A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn

The Farscape Episode Guide for Season One by Talis Pelucir

Lady Crymsyn by P.N. Elrod

The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Scientist in the Crib by Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff & Patricia K. Kuhl

Did You Say Chicks?! by Esther Friesner (ed.)

*The Face of the Enemy by David A. McIntee

*Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson

In the Dark by Richard Laymon

Alien Art by Gordon R. Dickson

The Best of Jack Vance by Jack Vance

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating & Sex by Joshua Piven, David Borgnicht & Jennifer Worick

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester

Starrigger by John DeChancie

Dead Romance by Lawrence Miles

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore

Dragonshadow by Barbara Hambly

Postmodern Pooh by Frederick Crews

Strange New Worlds II by Dean Wesley Smith (ed.)

Brain Child by George Turner

Transmetropolitan: Gouge Away by Warren Ellis

A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King

The Rant Zone by Dennis Miller

Mendoza in Hollywood by Kage Baker

Return to the Fractured Planet by Dave Stone

Dracula in London by P.N. Elrod (ed.)

Laughter: A Scientfic Investigation by Robert R. Provine

*Teranesia by Greg Egan

Quidditch through the Ages by J.K. Rowling

Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

*Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy Television by Joe Nazzaro

Half Past Human by T.J. Bass

*Child of the Hunt by Christoper Golden & Nancy Holder

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

The Onion: Dispatches from the Tenth Circle by Robert Siegel (ed.)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

The Joy Device by Justin Richards

Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

Black Holes & Time Warps by Kip Thorne

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Another Day in Cubicle Paradise by Scott Adams

Blooded by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder

Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart

The Turing Option by Harry Harrison & Marvin Minsky

Twilight of the Gods by Mark Clapham & Jon de Burgh Miller

Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway by Dave Barry

Doctor Who -- Four to Doomsday by Terrance Dicks

The Moor by Laurie R. King

Red Limit Freeway by John DeChancie

Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language by Douglas R. Hofstadter

*Return to Chaos by Craig Shaw Gardner

Paradox Alley by John DeChancie

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Farscape: The Illustrated Companion by Paul Simpson & David Hughes

The Silicon Dagger by Jack Williamson

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

*A Primate's Memoir by Robert M. Sapolsky

The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 1 by Greg Cox

The Eugenics Wars, Vol. 2 by Greg Cox

Inner Navigation by Erik Jonsson

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Bill, The Glactic Hero: The Planet of the Robot Slaves by Harry Harrison

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion by Jude Fisher

The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub

Foxtrot: Assembled with Care by Bill Amend

Uncharted Territory by Scott Andrews

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Route 66 A.D. by Tony Perrottet

The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book 1: Out of the Madhouse by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder