2019 Book Summary

I like collecting data and statistics. This is the report of the books I read in 2019.

Total Books Read: 95 (including picture books and re-reads)
Official Total Count: 81 (only first-read books over 100 pages)
Audiobooks: 36
Physical books: 37
Ebooks: 9

Average rating: 3.55 (out of 5)
Two-thirds of books read were fantasy/science fiction/paranormal.

Best Books:
Age of Death (Michael J Sullivan)
The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Stuart Turton)
Oathbringer (Brandon Sanderson)
Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik)

Series Progress:
Finished Lockwood & Co.; most excellent (Jonathan Stroud)
Finished Keys to the Kingdom (Garth Nix)
Finished Dresden Files except for a short story collection (Jim Butcher)
Finished The Reckoners trilogy (Brandon Sanderson)
Made small progress in Discworld (Terry Pratchett)
Finished the Dimensions in Death trilogy (The Brothers Washburn)

Best Indie Books:
A Soul Divided (Daniel M Quilter)
The Windfall App (Teresa Richards)

Best Nonfiction:
Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon (David West Reynolds)

Disappointing books:
Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey)
Ringworld (Larry Niven)
I had high hopes for these and was disappointed.

DNF Books:
Ancillary Justice (Ann Leckie)
I got really bored.

Worst Book of the Year:
An Ember in the Ashes (Sabaa Tahir)
This book was terrible. It sucked on every level. I hate it with a passion. It’s on my Top 5 Worst Books Ever list. It would have been a DNF but I needed it for a challenge.

2019 Comic Con: Day 3

Day 3 I dressed in my Harry Potter (Ravenclaw) robes. They were quite comfy. First thing in the morning a volunteer even asked for my picture. I went in the ballroom first to see Tom Holland. I was kind of surprised I got in as he is very popular. He started a bit late. He was interesting, though it got annoying with all the girls yelling out, “I love you!” the whole time.

I stayed in the ballroom for the next hour so I could be in place for Matthew Lewis after that, which is who I really wanted to see. I ended up seeing the actress of the animated Mulan. Matthew Lewis was a lot of fun to see.

After that I spent some time in the vendor hall. I got a Brian McClellan book signed and then bought two new J. R. Johansson books and got them signed. At 2 I went to the ballroom for two Star Wars actors, but that apparently got canceled. So I wandered again until 3 and went to a horror and humor panel, but that just turned into a pro-politically correct discussion. 

Then I wandered again and got Larry Correia’s autograph. I met Glenn at 5 for a writers’ panel that had some writer friends on it. Then we stayed in the room for a panel by the local ghost hunters’ group. That was very fascinating. They had some voice recordings of spirits and a few photos and explained how they research the paranormal. It was just interesting.

Matthew Lewis

Harry Dresden

Steampunk “Wicked” — these are the same gals
I was in line with for Brandon Mull