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December 31, 2005

The 2005 Reading List

For the second year in a row, I finished the year with 70 books read. In analyzing them, oh so briefly, 20-25% of them are Star Trek related, down a bit from last year, reflecting the change in Pocket’s publishing program. A higher than usual number, some 7 or 8 books, actually appeared on the Times best seller list, either in 2004 or 2005. My pal Keith DeCandido is tied with Robert B. Parker as the most read author with three books apiece (Keith edges Parker by editing two anthologies I also read). Since I like to sample new stuff, I was exposed to at least 21 authors for the first time not counting writers who appeared in some of the anthologies. The most entertaining surprise offering may well be Me and Orson Welles, a slim but engaging novel by Robert Kaplow.

This, of course, is coupled with the 100+ comic books each month plus regular issues of Time, The Week, Entertainment Weekly, Smithsonian, Premiere, Hollywood Life, Starlog, CFQ, Alter Ego, Back Issue, Comic Buyers’ Guide, Wizard and odd issues of other titles. The day also starts off with the Connecticut Post and USA Today plus bits and pieces from the Times and then there’s the material I have to read as part of the job. Therefore, I am happily exposed to many wonderful ideas, notions and nuggets of information and the good news is, I still have my I want to learn or be exposed to.

For those interested, the full list of titles is behind the cut:




  • John Adams	
    
David McCullough
    


  • Star Trek: To Reign in Hell	
    
Greg Cox
    


  • Star Trek: Voyager - Spirit Walk 1	
    
Christie Golden
    


  • Star Trek: Voyager - Spirit Walk 2	
    
Christie Golden
    


  • Star Trek: Ex Machina	
    
Christopher L. Bennett
    


  • Darkness, Take my Hand	
    
Dennis Lehane
    


  • Men of Tomorrow	
    
Gerard F. Jones
    


  • McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories	
    
Michael Chabon, editor
    


  • Downtown: My Manhattan	
    
Pete Hamill
    


  • Road to Purgatory	
    
Max Allan Collins
    


  • Star Trek: Worlds of the Federation 2	
    
Martin & Mangels/J. Noah Kim
    


  • Star Trek: Worlds of the Federation 3	
    
David R. George III/Keith R.A. DeCandido
    


  • Star Trek: Titan - Taking Wing	
    
Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
    


  • Star Trek: Engines of Destiny	
    
Gene DeWese
    


  • Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon - Engines of Destiny	
    
Keith R.A. DeCandido
    


  • Moneyball	
    
Michael Lewis
    


  • Cold Case	
    
Robert B. Parker
    


  • Chloe does Yale	
    
Natalie Krinsky
    


  • Slippage	
    
Harlan Ellison
    


  • Baseball Literacy
    
David H. Martinez
    


  • Slaves Unchained	
    
Susan Wright
    


  • Kiss Her Goodbye	
    
Allan Guthrie
    


  • Finding Serenity	
    
Jane Espenson, editor
    


  • Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book	
    
Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon
    


  • Neverwhere	
    
Neil Gaiman
    


  • Star Trek: Errand of Rage Book 1	
    
Kevin Ryan
    


  • Star Trek: SCE - Breakdowns	
    
Keith R.A. DeCandido, editor
    


  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Hollow Men	
    
Una McCormack
    


  • The Best Seat in the House	
    
Pat Weaver
    


  • Anansi Boys	
    
Neil Gaiman
    


  • Towelhead	
    
Alicia Erian
    


  • Zorro	
    
Isabel Allende
    


  • Star Trek: Vanguard	
    
David Mack
    


  • Forever Free	
    
Joe Haldeman
    


  • One Tough Mother	
    
Gert Boyle
    


  • Over Her Dead Body	
    
Kate White
    


  • The Studio	
    
John Gregory Dunne
    


  • Danger City	
    
Contemporary Press
    


  • Playground	
    
Jennifer Saginor
    


  • Star Trek: Tales from the Captain's Table	
    
Keith R.A. DeCandido, editor
    


  • The Kite Runner	
    
Khaled Hosseini
    


  • Alias APO	
    
Greg Cox
    


  • The Plot	
    
Will Eisner
    


  • Star Trek: Articles of the Federation	
    
Keith R. A. DeCandido
    


  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	
    
J.K. Rowling
    


  • Appaloosa	
    
Robert B. Parker
    


  • A Long Way Down	
    
Nick Hornby
    


  • Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell	
    
Susanna Clark
    


  • Freakonomics	
    
Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
    


  • Star Trek: Death in Winter	
    
Michael Jan Friedman
    


  • Me and Orson Welles	
    
Robert Kaplow
    


  • The Grapes of Wrath	
    
John Steinbeck
    


  • Batman Begins	
    
Denny O'Neil
    


  • Fantastic Four	
    
Peter David
    


  • The American Boy	
    
Richard Taylor
    


  • I, Alien	
    
Mike Resnick, editor
    


  • Top of the Heap	
    
Erle Stanley Gardner
    


  • Star Trek: Titan - Red King	
    
Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
    


  • Little Girl Lost	
    
Richard Aleas
    


  • The Camel Club	
    
David Baldacci
    


  • Star Trek: Voyager - Distant Shores	
    
Marco Palmieri, editor
    


  • Blood and Roses	
    
Ann Tonsor Zeddies
    


  • Serenity	
    
Keith R.A. DeCandido
    


  • Sword of Orion	
    
Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
    


  • Private Wars	
    
Greg Rucka
    


  • Taken Liberty	
    
Steven H. Wilson
    


  • The Gutter and the Grave	
    
Ed McBain
    


  • The Girl with the Long Green Heart	
    
Lawrence Block
    


  • It's Superman	
    
Tom DeHaven
    


  • School Days	
    
Robert B. Parker

    • Posted by Bob Greenberger at December 31, 2005 09:44 AM

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    Comments

    Looks like a good list...a little hard to read the font. Quite a number of them I've read. Not a Star Trek reader though. But the baseball books and the Neil Gaiman books and a number of the others. I should keep a list this year.

    I likely read around 30 books a year. And a few of those are Doc Savages, having finally collected the whole series I was trying to read them in the order they were orginally published, but I have hit a string of bad ones and kind of got stuck.

    Reading the latest Discworld novel at the moment.

    Tom Dakers,
    Calgary

    Posted by: tom dakers at January 1, 2006 12:02 PM

    Thanks for your kind comments about my novel ME AND ORSON WELLES.

    --Robert Kaplow
    (slim but entertaining)

    Posted by: Robert Kaplow at January 15, 2006 10:07 AM