Last night, a quick trip to one of my favorite book bins -- the Book Sale branch along Valero Street -- yielded another couple of prized finds: a John Scalzi book entitled The Android's Dream, and the 11th book in the Left Behind Series -- Armageddon. Actually, there was a third find -- the 12th book in the Left Behind Series -- Glorious Reappearing -- but held off from buying it as I was a little short on moolah.
With those two books, plus a recent purchases of The Angel's Game (Carlos Ruiz Zafon), The Alloy of Law (Brandon Sanderson), and Forever War (Joe Haldeman) brings the total number of books purchased this year to 35. Those 35 books cost almost a total of P7,000. Yes, a lot of pesotas that could've gone to other things but let me put it this way. I think the P7K was better spent on books rather than booze or cigars, right?
I think that's why my wife tolerates my bibliophilic tendencies as this vice is less stressful and straining than if I was into booze and cigars.
Because the books were a combination of brand new and second-hand books, the average price per book is currently pegged at 197.74. Last year, I bought only 20 books but a big chunk of those were brand new (you can put the blame squarely on the sudden addiction to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series for that) so the average price per book was P213.91.
Out of the total 35 books purchased, I've managed only so far to finish reading 19 of them although I'm now working on the 20th. And as can be glimpsed from the right side of this blog, that 20th book is the GRRM-edited Wild Cards I.
All in all, 2012 has been a good year for reading books, finding new authors, discovering new worlds, listening to new voices with amazing stories, and getting on with the action. The 19 books I've read only indicate books I bought this year and also read this year. In between these books-bought-this-year, I've read books I've purchased from previous years but haven't read yet.
If last year was yours truly joining the bandwagon that was GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, this year was adventuring with Brandon Sanderson in his Mistborn Trilogy and being introduced into his harsher world in the Stormlight Archive. Superb writing and the lush, rich world-building easily catapulted Sanderson into one of my favorite writers. I still have two Sanderson books on the TBR list and one of these days, I'll also scoop up copies of his earlier works Elantris and Warbreaker.
2012 was also the year I met Thomas Covenant and learned of his anti-hero leanings and struggles as the afflicted protagonist in Stephen Donaldson's The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever. I had Books 2 and 3 on the bookshelf collecting dust before I managed to score the important Book 1 of the series. I'm sure to read the further adventures of the leper-hero but same case as before, I already have Books 2 and 3 of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever but have yet to find a second-hand copy of The Wounded Land, Book 1 of the series. Then there's also The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I've yet to see second-hand copies of any of the three books already published (the fourth and final book will be published next year).
Surprising reads for this year (which means books that I quite enjoyed reading) were Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, China Mieville's The Scar, Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Dean Alfar's The Kite of Stars and Other Stories.
Unlike in previous years, I wasn't into much short stories this year. In fact, Wild Cards I is only the second book of short story compilations I've picked up to read this year following Alfar's The Kite of Stars and Other Stories. And Wild Cards I is the only short story anthology I've bought this year. There were several anthologies and compilations to be had in the various book bins and book stores I went to but I held off from buying them, focusing instead on buying novel-length books.
This year, I finally completed Kevin J. Anderson's Terra Incognita trilogy after the mass market paperback appeared. And speaking of epic series, I had a bit of a fetish with my Sanderson books -- I wanted the Gollancz editions (UK soft-bound version), not the mass market paperback versions so I had to wait months until the Gollancz editions appeared on the bookshelves before purchasing. So far, patience has worked and my Sanderson books line up prettily on the shelf.
Added a couple of Redwall books to my collection -- The Long Patrol and Loamhedge -- and that just leaves me six books short of collecting the entire series written by the late Brian Jacques. And mind you, my Redwall series are all second-hand bought although I might be tempted to buy out the last remaining books brand new if ever (Fully Booked surprisingly has the last six books I need). The Redwall series I intend to keep as I intend to pass these on to my daughters when they come of age (and hopefully also develop the taste for reading SF&F).
Three books were added to my Left Behind series this year, with a fourth incoming before the year is out. That would leave me with just one book remaining to complete the main series. After which I will then hunt for the trilogy prequel.
For next year, aside from being on the lookout for Sanderson and Jacques books, I'll be adding to The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by both Erikson and co-creator Ian Cameron Esslemont, and try adding to my Dune books collections. I'll also build up my Ender's Game Series although I'm a bit half-hearted for this series given talks that the latter books turn philosophical. I'm also looking to read more Mieville books and I'm hoping mass paperback editions become available.
I'll also continue adding to my YA horde with additional volumes in the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James Owen and Tony DiTerlizzi's The Search for Wondla has piqued my interest. I've yet to read the second installment in Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society series entitled The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma which I already have and after I read that, it'll be then that I'll decide whether I'll buy the prequel The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict.
Authors that I'd like to read next year might include Paolo Bacigalupi (The Windup Girl, Shipbreaker), Joe Abercrombie (First Law Trilogy, Best Served Cold), Glenn Cook (The Books of the North, The Books of the South), Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle), N.K. Jemisin (The Inheritance Trilogy), Hannu Rajaniemi (The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince).
