2020 Reading Retrospective

2020-12-31

Well. That was a year. I went kind of nuts this year and read 239 books. Granted, that includes graphic novels (they’re shorter and read quickly, but they’re still definately books) and books I read with my children. But it’s still a total of 68k pages, averaging 285 pages per book. An average of 186 pages per day. Not bad at all. Some more statistics:

239 books, 95 non-graphic novels/children’s books
110 graphic novels, 120-371 pages, average was 174
34 children’s books, 48-352 pages, average was 163
26 audiobooks
31 different series, 27 books were not in a series
51 different authors, 24 had one book each, highest was 35 (Fables), average was 4.7 books / author

Not bad.

The Boys, Volume 9: The Big Ride The Boys #9

2020-12-30

If The Boys, Volume 8: Highland Laddie was a filler, The Boys, Volume 9: The Big Ride is a return to form.

Homelander is nuts. Butcher is nuts. Everyone is nuts. Hughie meets the old boss and gets some more backstory (wow this world is screwed up) and is back into the game.

Dawnshard The Cosmere * The Stormlight Archive #3.5

2020-12-28

Well that was unexpectedly wonderful. I was all set to dive into the behemoth that is Rhythm of War and then I noticed that there’s a 50k word ‘short’ to read before it. I loved Edgedancer, so let’s give this a try!

In the end, this I do not regret at all. Edgedancer is a story that could was too long to be an interlude and too different to be in the main storyline, but having read it is a story that every much needed to be told.

The Boys, Volume 8: Highland Laddie The Boys #8

2020-12-28

Warning: NSFW

This was … not great. Hughie is having a crisis of faith (which is a long time coming). In doing so, he goes back home to Scotland… and strange things happen.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2020-12-28

But I tell you one thing, I don’t want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that’s just sad.

That is one heck of a story. In a nutshell: decades ago, there was a woman named Henrietta Lacks who developed cancer. While treating her, a doctor took a sample of her cells, which turned out to be rather unusual. Unlike any other cells found before (or since?), they never died. They just kept growing and dividing and living forever.

The Boys, Volume 7: The Innocents The Boys #7

2020-12-26

Warning: NSFW

BELIEVE!

The Boys, Volume 6: The Self-Preservation Society The Boys #6

2020-12-24

Warning: NSFW

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The Obelisk Gate The Broken Earth #2

2020-12-22

Well that was a crazy book. In the The Fifth Season, we spend pretty much the entire story in Essun’s head, learning how the world of the Broken Earth works and watching the beginning of its end. In The Obelisk Gate, things have gotten far worse as the cataclysm really sets in–and yet there are rays of hope.

One of the most interesting bits to me was that rather than having three different points of view from the same woman’s life, this time we’re following multiple different characters in roughly the same timeline. We have Essun (etc) of course, but also a plotline with Schaffa the guardian (he’s was already fascinating and terrible to being with), and the third following Essun’s daughter Nassun as she comes into her powers and has to survive traveling with her father.

The Boys, Volume 5: Herogasm The Boys #5

2020-12-21

Warning: NSFW

Once a year, the comics run a big teamup event where all the superheroes get together to save the world from a terrible threat. Except… of course they don’t. Instead, they go to an island resort and have a giant super-orgy.

The Boys, Volume 4: We Gotta Go Now The Boys #4

2020-12-19

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In the Boys Universe, there’s a giant pile of superhero teams. There’s the Seven of course, but also all manner of just as twisted other ones out there.