What I read in 2019

Last year, a friend of mine posted a list of the books they read in 2018, I thought it was a great idea so I posted a list myself on Facebook.  This year I'm posting the list here, since I find this a very useful exercise in self-reflection. What I am reading often impacts my mood, but it also reflects my mood.

Looking over this year's list (see below, these trends stood out:

# of Rereads: 48
# by or about Inklings: 13
# by Joseph Delaney: 10
# Dragonlance: 3 (or 5?)
# Thieves World: 10
# by Jim Butcher: 20

I often reread books, I find it useful for getting the most from a work.  The % of rereads was very high this year, because I reread several favorite series that I haven't looked at in some years, the Dresden Files, the Dragonlance Chronicles, and the Wardstone Chronicles. I also started rereading the Thieves' World anthologies and novels, but that is in the way of research as I've been putting together a comprehensive chronology of that series. I'm about a third of the way through it.
I expanded from my ongoing study of Tolkien to looking fore closely at other members of the Inklings, especially C.S. Lewis.  I read several of his works that I hadn't read before, one of which, 'Til We have Faces, was truly exceptional.

It is very rare that I refuse to finish a book, but it happened this year; Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons by Jeffro Johnson. It was not only inaccurate in its take on the various books listed in Appendix N of the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide, it was hateful and just poorly done.

I also managed to publish two books and two articles of my own last year.  The articles were on Operation Mountain Storm for Landpower in the Long War: Projecting Force After 9/11 and "Historiography for Marines" published in the November 2019 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette. The books were The Legacy of American Naval Power: Reinvigorating Maritime Strategic Thought, An Anthology (pdf here) and The United States Marine Corps: The Expeditionary Force at War. I also co-authored the concluding essay in Dr Breanne Robertson's excellent Investigating Iwo (pdf here).

For next year, I'd like a few more original reads, and just more reading in general. I'll definitely finish rereading Thieves' World, and more of the Otto Prohaska novels by Biggins. I'd also like to reread some Plato, it has been a long time. I'll certainly read more Tolkien. Otherwise, it will be fascinating to see where the literary year takes me.

What I read in 2019:

71. Andrew Offut, Swords Against Darkness III
70. Asprin & Abbey, The Dead of Winter
69. Jean Shepherd, A Christmas Story
68. Roger Zelazny, A Night in the Lonesome October
67. JRR Tolkien, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
66. JRR Tolkien, The Children of Hurin
65. Charles Dicken, A Christmas Carol
64. JRR Tolkien, Letters from Father Christmas
63. JRR Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
62. Benjamin Armstrong, Small Boats and Daring Men
61. John Biggin, The Emperor's Coloured Coat
60. Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked this way Comes
59. Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree
58. Bram Stoker, Dracula
57. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch
56. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane
55. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer
54. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Attack of the Fiend
53. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye
52. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Clash of the Demons
51. Joseph Delaney, The Last Apprentice: Fury of the Seventh Son
50. Joseph Delaney, Spook's: A New Darkness
49. Joseph Delaney, Spook's: The Dark Army
48. Joseph Delaney, Spook's: The Dark Assassin
47. C.S. Lewis, Til We Have Faces

46. C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
45. C.S. Lewis, The Horse and his Boy
44. C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
43. C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
42. Alistair MacLean, Guns of Navarone
41. Alistair MacLean, Force 10 from Navarone
40. C.S. Lewis, Perelandra
39. Beatrice G Heuser & Athena S Leoussi, Famous Battles and How They Shaped the Modern World
38. Michael Palmer, Stoddert’s War: Naval Operations during the Quasi-War with France, 1798-1801
37. J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin
36. Philip Zaleski & Carol Zaleski, The Fellowship: The Literary LIves of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams
35. Humphrey Carpenter, The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends
34. Janet Morris, Beyond Wizardwall 
33. Janet Morris, Beyond the Veil
32. Janet Morris, Beyond Sanctuary
31. Asprin & Abbey, Wings of Omen - Kindle version.
30. Asprin & Abbey, The Face of Chaos - Kindle version.
29. Asprin & Abbey, Storm Season - Kindle version.
28. Asprin & Abbey, Shadows of Sanctuary - Kindle version.
27. Asprin & Abbey, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn - Kindle version.
26. Asprin & Abbey, Thieves' World - Kindle version.
25. Margret Weis & Tracey Hickman, The Annotated Chronicles (Dragonlance Chronicles) (really 3 books)
24. Jim Butcher, Storm Front
23. Jim Butcher, Fool Moon
22. Jim Butcher, Grave Peril
21. Jim Butcher, Summer Knight
20. Jim Butcher, Death Masks
19. Jim Butcher, Blood Rites
18. Jim Butcher, Dead Beat
17. Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty
16. Jim Butcher, White Night
15. Jim Butcher, Small Favor
14. Jim Butcher, Turn Coat
13. Jim Butcher, Changes
12. Jim Butcher, Ghost Story
11. Jim Butcher, Cold Days
10. Jim Butcher, Skin Game
9. Jim Butcher, Side Jobs

8. Jim Butcher, Brief Cases
7. Margret Weis & Tracey Hickman, Dragons of the Highlord Skies: The Lost Chronicles, Volume II
6. George S. Brooks, James Durant: An Able Seaman of 1812
5. Lacey & Brunner, Ortiz: To Live a Man's Life
4. Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812
3.Jame Haley, A Darker Sea: Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812
2. Margret Weis & Tracey Hickman, Dragons of the Dwarven Depths
1. Jame Haley, The Shores of Tripoli: Lieutenant Putnam and the Barbary Pirates

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.