Leslie and Earl both embarked on the great book count in the last few years, so I thought I would give it a try. I have no idea how many books I usually read in a year. I would say a book a week might be average, but if I am rereading things I usually burn through them pretty fast.

—JANUARY 1, 2012

What I Read 2012…

Gonna count ’em up!

Oath of Fealty Elizabeth Moon 2010 ePub
Paladin’s Legacy Book 1 (New Paksenarrion series)

Black on Black K.D. Wentworth 1999 ePub
Heyoka Blackeagle Series Book 1

Cobra Gamble Timothy Zahn ARC 2012 ePub
Cobra Wars Book 3

A Desert Called Peace Tom Kratman 2008 ePub
A Desert Called Peace Series Book 1

Spellwright Blake Charlton 2010 ePub
Spellwright Book 1

Spellbound Blake Charlton 2011 ePub
Spellwright Book 2

Kings of the North Elizabeth Moon 2011 ePub
Paladin’s Legacy Book 2

Stars Over Stars K.D. Wentworth 2001 ePub
Heyoka Blackeagle Series Book 2

Pandora’s Legions Christopher Anvil 1972 ePub

There Will Be Dragons John Ringo 2003 ePub
The Council Wars Series Book 1

Carnifex Tom Kratman 2007 ePub
A Desert Called Peace Series Book 2

The Lotus Eaters Tom Kratman 2010 ePub
A Desert Called Peace Series Book 3

Emerald Sea John Ringo 2003 ePub
The Council Wars Series Book 2

Against the Tide John Ringo 2005 ePub
The Council Wars Series Book 3

East of the Sun and West of the Moon John Ringo 2006 ePub
The Council Wars Series Book 4

Starfishers Glen Cook 1982 ePub
Starfishers Book 2

I Want my Hat Back Jon Klassen 2011 HC

Naamah’s Curse Jacqueline Carey 2010 Mass Market Paper
Moirin Trilogy Book 2

Echoes of Betrayal Elizabeth Moon 2012 ePub
Paladin’s Legacy Book 2

A Rising Thunder David Weber 2012 ePub
Honor Harrington Series Book 13

Eagle Against the Stars Steve White 2000 ePub (Reread)
Eagle Against the Stars Book 1

Wolf Among the Stars Steve White 2011 ePub
Eagle Against the Stars Book 2

Naamah’s Blessing Jacqueline Carey 2011 ePub
Moirin Trilogy Book 3

The Two Faces of Tomorrow James P. Hogan 1979 ePub (A reread, but I haven’t read it in decades)

Cally’s War John Ringo & Julie Cochrane 2004 ePub (Reread)
Cally’s War Book 1

Sister Time John Ringo & Julie Cochrane 2007 ePub (Reread)
Cally’s War Book 2

Honor of the Clan John Ringo & Julie Cochrane 2009 ePub (Reread)
Cally’s War Book 3

Dragon Keeper Robin Hobb 2010 ePub (Reread)
The Rain Wilds Chronicles Book 1

Dragon Haven Robin Hobb 2011 ePub
The Rain Wilds Chronicles Book 2

City of Dragons Robin Hobb 2012 ePub
The Rain Wilds Chronicles Book 3

Dragon Ship Sharon Lee & Steve Miller 2012 ePub eArc
Liaden Universe Series

The Road of Danger David Drake 2012 ePub
RCN Series Book 9

Windrider’s Oath David Weber 2004 ePub
War God Series Book 3

Warmaid’s Choice eArcDavid Weber 2012 ePub
War God Series Book 4

The Rolling Stones Robert A. Heinlein 1952 ePub (Reread)

Double Star Robert A. Heinlein 1956 ePub (Reread)

Citizen of the Galaxy Robert A. Heinlein 1957 ePub (Reread)

How Firm a Foundation David Weber 2011 ePub
Safehold Book 5

Red Shirts John Scalzi 2012 ePub

The Killing Moon N.K. Jemisin 2012 ePub
Dreamblood Book 1

The Yngling John Dalmas 1971 ePub (The Orc Wars Anthology)
Yngling Saga Book 1

The Homecoming John Dalmas 1984 ePub (The Orc Wars Anthology)
Yngling Saga Book 2

Have Space Suit — Will Travel Robert A. Heinlein 1958 ePub (Reread)

Farmer in the Sky Robert A. Heinlein 1950 ePub (Reread)

Starman Jones Robert A. Heinlein 1953 ePub (Reread)

The Beast Master Andre Norton 1959 ePub (Reread)

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance Lois McMaster Bujold 2012 ePub eArc

The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956 ePub

Between Planets Robert A. Heinlein 1956 ePub (Reread)

Friday Robert A. Heinlein 1982 ePub (Reread)

Glory Road Robert A. Heinlein 1963 ePub (Reread)

Tiger Burning Bright Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey, 1996 massmarket (Reread)

The Enchantment Emporium Tanya Huff 2009 ePub
Enchantment Series Book 1

The Wild Ways Tanya Huff 2011 ePub
Enchantment Series Book

Judgement at Proteus Timothy Zahn 2012 ePub
Quadrail Series Book 5

Kris Longknife: Daring Mike Shepherd 2011 ePub
Kris Longknife Series Book 9

Monster Hunters International Larry Correia 2007 ePub
Monster Hunters Series Book 1

A Companion to Wolves Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear 2007 ePub (Reread)
Wolves Series Book 1

The Tempering of Men Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear 2011 ePub
Wolves Series Book 2

The Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch 2006 ePub
Gentlemen Bastards Sequence Book 1

Freehold William Z. Williamson 2004 ePub
Freehold Book 1

Better to Beg Forgiveness William Z. Williamson 2007 ePub
Ripple Creek Book 1

On Basilisk Station David Weber 1993 ePub (reread)
Honor Harrington Book 1

The Honor of the Queen David Weber 1993 ePub (reread)
Honor Harrington Book 2

The Short Victorious War David Weber 1994 ePub (reread)
Honor Harrington Book 3

Field of Dishonor David Weber 1994 ePub (reread)
Honor Harrington Book 4

Flag in Exile David Weber 1995 ePub (reread)
Honor Harrington Book 5

Midst Toil and Tribulation David Weber 2012 ePub
Safehold Book 6

The Price of the Stars Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald 1992 ePub (reread)
Mageworld Book 1

Star Pilot’s Grave Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald 1993 ePub (reread)
Mageworld Book 2

By Honor Betray’d Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald 1994 ePub (reread)
Mageworld Book 3

Mouse and Dragon Sharon Lee & Steve Miller 2010 ePub eArc (reread)
Liaden Universe Series

Necessities Child Sharon Lee & Steve Miller 2013 ePub eArc
Liaden Universe Series

Darkship Thieves Sarah A. Hoyt 2010 ePub
Darkship Series

Darkship Renegades Sarah A. Hoyt 2012 ePub
Darkship Series

Orphans of the Sky Robert A. Heinlein 1941 ePub (reread)

Run Silent, Run Deep Edward L. Beach 1955 ePub (reread)

Storm from the Shadows David Weber 2009 ePub
Saganami Series Book 2

A Voweller’s Bestiary: from aardvrk to guineafowl (and H) JonArno Lawson 2008 HC

Shadow of Freedom David Weber 2013 ePub eArc
Saganami Series Book 3

Heritage of Hastur Marion Zimmer Bradley 1975 ePub
Darkover

The Road to the Rim A. Bertram Chandler 1967 ePub
John Grimes Saga — Early Grimes Book 1

To Prime the Pump A. Bertram Chandler 1971 ePub
John Grimes Saga — Early Grimes Book 2

The Hard Way Up A. Bertram Chandler 1972 ePub
John Grimes Saga — Early Grimes Book 3

The Broken Cycle A. Bertram Chandler 1979 ePub (reread)
John Grimes Saga — Early Grimes Book 4

The Total: 85 books/year, .23 books/day or 1.6 books/week

Well try as I might, this all I had in me. I think it’s pretty representative of a typical year. As you can see I am still pretty addicted to SF schlock with the occasional bit of odds & ends thrown in. We all have our guilty pleasures… 😉

This is the third year I have had an ereader and you as see I have pretty much converted totally. Synching books between my iPad, iPhone and Sony ereader makes having a book convenient to hand when I want one pretty much guaranteed. And I am soooo in love with Baen’s eArcs. Speaking of which, I applaud Tor for going DRM-free and now my two favourite SF publishers now are providing their front and backlists for my reading pleasure without me have to resort to hacking the DRM.

In addition, most of my books are still in boxes so I have had to acquire digital versions of some of the books I already owned, as well a bunch that I read in the distant past. I now have 234 books in my digital library and acquire more constantly. I love the ease and convenience of buying them online, but I have to say, someone, somewhere, needs to build a better online bookstore. They all pretty much universally suck. It is the only thing I really miss about paper books: browsing and reading jacket copy.

All my books are now in epub format although I had to convert a few. I stand absolutely opposed to the proprietary nature of the emerging ebook landscape. Book formats like Kindle’s azw and the whole idea of booksellers making devices that are geared to convince users to only buy books from a single source are anathema to the whole nature of a knowledge culture and the inherent spirits of books. Don’t buy your books from a single source, don’t buy DRM books and especially don’t buy formats you can’t move to another reader.

Although a bit clunky and with an interface far from polished, I highly recommend Calibre as your digital library management tool. It’s what Apple or Adobe should have made in the first place. Manage books and meta data, synch to all your devices, convert formats and even remove DRM automatically. Oh, and free with a great support community. Calibre removes the restriction that the bookselling industry (now unfortunately overrun buy soulless multinationals) is trying to impose on consumers. Again I applaud Baen as a publisher that is trying to keep the industry from becoming solely the purview of big box mentality. Tor is soon to open their own ebook store and more and more publishers (and indeed authors) are offering their wares on their own sites and in this age of Google and easy access to information and knowledge, I hope that we start to shop around and not make ourselves slaves to Amazon, Apple or Kobo.

All of my books have been acquired legally except for a few, which I am in the process of replacing with legitimate copies. I note that you get what you pay for and the few copies of ebooks I have acquired for free were chock full of errors, formatting glitches and bad typography.

Anyway, that was 2012 in my books world. Read on…