Crappiest Books of 2011

Only a Bottom 5, given the few books I made it through this year.

It's not really fair to have #3-5 in this list, given that they're not sucky books--and especially not in the league of suck that #1-2 occupy. They're just not as good as those in the Top 5. If I'd managed to read more in 2011 these three would have been middle of the road.


5. Pronto.

4. Castle of Deception.

3. The Chaos Gate.

2. I, Jedi. Well-deserved second-suckiest. I still hate to do it, since Stackpole's a good guy, but I can't cut this book any slack.

1. Darksaber. I can't bag on this one enough. I still want to have it mounted in a block of acrylic, opened to the suckiest part, but that might mean having to read this hideous construction again.

Top Books of 2011

It's been a rough year again as far as reading goes. I've been too tired to read much of the time.

It took me close to two months to read "Buckaroo Banzai"--and only part of that is because the book drags somewhat.

I made it through 22 books this year; last year it was 36. Compare that to somewhere just under 100 in 2009.

Twenty-two books is a lot of down-time--a lot of sleeping, actually. Once I'm done here, I'm headed for bed again.

I don't really have enough for a Top 10, though, so here's the Top 5 for 2011:

5. Jaws. Actually, I'm still in the middle of this book, but it could be several more weeks before I'm done, at this rate.

4. Zahn's Thrawn Star Wars trilogy. They're still as good as the first time I read them in the early '90s. I wish the other SW books were as good. Too many of them suck.

3. Getting Great Guitar Sounds, because of a simple phrase near the end: "If you make a mistake, make it like you mean it." I took this to apply to all playing--Play it like you mean it. It helped me to stop worrying so much about sounding like the recording I'm playing along with and just have fun.

2. Maximum Bob. The title alone makes it worth reading.

1. Dresden #13: Ghost Story. Dammit, Jim, now I have to wait till mid-2012 for the next one!

Top Ten Sucky Books of 2009

As long as we're looking at the top books, might as well look at the bottom.

10. Back to the Future (George Gipe)

9. Back to the Future II (Craig Shaw Gardner)

8. Aliens (Alan Dean Foster)

7. Splinter of the Mind's Eye (Alan Dean Foster)

6. Alien (Alan Dean Foster)

5. Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (Brian Daley)

4. Han Solo's Revenge (Brian Daley)

3. Han Solo at Star's End (Brian Daley)

2. Tregarde 03: Jinx High (Mercedes Lackey)

1. Valdemar 07: Brightly Burning (Mercedes Lackey)


Bonus:
0. Star Trek #65--Windows on a Lost World (V E Mitchell) It took a lot to out-suck Lackey's offering. Congratulations to Mitchell for writing the worst book of 2009!

Top Ten books of 2009

Everyone else seems to be making lists and I'm STILL reading Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" after nearly 3 weeks.

10. Final Approach (John J. Nance)

9. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Richard Feynman)

8. Star Trek: Imzadi (Peter David)

7. 2010: Odyssey 2 (Arthur C. Clarke)

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur C. Clarke)

5. Valdemar 12: Exile's Valor (Mercedes Lackey)

4. Valdemar 11: Exile's Honor (Mercedes Lackey)

3. God Is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens; audiobook)

2. The Jungle (Upton Sinclair; audiobook)

...and even though I'm still working at it:

1. The Demon-Haunted World (Carl Sagan)