Haiirouchuujin's 101010 Challenge

I enjoyed the 999 challenge, and I found it helped me to focus on reading and therefore get more done, so I'm doing the 101010 challenge this year.

I'm keeping the same categories that I had last year, and adding a category for books by and about Robert E. Howard.

I enjoy and collect Howard, and I've been meaning to re-read the cannon now that Del Rey has put out a good "preferred text" version of most of his work. There's nine books in that series so far with a 10th scheduled to be published in the next few months, so that's convenient.

The books that I'm starting out with in the other categories are books that I had originally in the 999 challenge but didn't get around to reading, substituting other books instead. I'm a little disappointed that there are so many books that I had intended to read last year that I just didn't get to. Hopefully I'll make more of a dent in those this year.

My categories are:

Anthologies
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Crime
Adventure
Non-Fiction
Western
Books by authors who are new to me
Books I started to read more than a year ago
Books by and about Robert E. Howard

Anthologies

1. Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.
2. The Fantastic Swordsmen edited by L. Sprague de Camp
3. Weird Tales #2 edited by Lin Carter
4. Frontier Cthulhu edited by William Jones
5. The Defective Detective in the Pulps edited by Hoppenstand and Browne
6. The Black Veil and Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths edited by Mark Valentine
7. Time Wars edited by Charles Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg
8. Spicy Adventure Stories Odyssey Publications number 1
9. The Mighty Barbarians edited by Hans Stefan Santesseon
10. The Mighty Swordsmen edited by Hans Stefan Santesseon

Fantasy

1. The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
2. Bard II by Keith Taylor
3. Dracula's Gold by Robert Lory
4. The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson
5. Sister of the Dead by Barb & J.C. Hendee
6. Thief of Lives by Barb & J.C. Hendee
7. The Guin Saga: Book Two: Warrior in the Wilderness by Kaoru Kurimoto
8. The Guin Saga: Book Three: The Battle of Nospherus by Kaoru Kurimoto
9. The Guin Saga: Book Four: Prisoner of the Lagon by Kaoru Kurimoto
10. The Guin Saga: Book Five: The Marches King by Kaoru Kurimoto

Science Fiction

1. The Six-Gun Solution by simonhawke::Simon Hawke
2. The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
3. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
4. Ashes of Victory by David Weber
5. Ghost in the Shell: The Lost Memory by Junichi Fujisaku
6. Interstellar Patrol by Christopher Anvil
7. The Lilliput Legion by simonhawke::Simon Hawke
8. The Men and the Mirror by Ross Rocklynne
9. The Hellfire Rebellion by simonhawke::Simon Hawke
10. The Cleopatra Crisis by simonhawke::Simon Hawke

Crime

1. One Endless Hour by Dan J. Marlowe
2. Killer's Wedge by Ed McBain
3. Breakout by Richard Stark
4. Poets and Murder by Robert van Gulik
5. Dan Turner: Hollywood Detective by Robert Leslie Bellem
6. The Shadow: The Red Blot and the Voodoo Master by Maxwell Grant
7. Again The Ringer by Edgar Wallace
8. Oh, Murderer Mine by Norbert Davis
9. Hard Guy by James A. Lawson
10. One Murder Too Many by George Harmon Coxe

Adventure

1. Captain Crossbones by Donald Barr Chidsey
2. Under Outlaw Flags by James Reasoner
3. The Destroyer #52: Fool's Gold by Richard Sapir & Warren Murphy
4. Quiller Barracuda by Adam Hall
5. Wolf of the Steppes by Howard Lamb
6. The Golden Skull by John Blaine
7. The Pirates of Shan by John Blaine
8. The Destroyer #48: Profit Motive by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir
9. Murder on Wheels by Kenneth Robeson
10. Quiller Bamboo by Adam Hall

Non-Fiction

1. Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly
2. Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult by Stephen Turnbull
3. Great Crimes of San Francisco Edited by Dean W. Dickensheet
4. Singer Sewing Basics
5. Connections by James Burke
6. Deadly Force by James Burke
7. The Neverending Hunt by Paul Herman
8. Wild Tales from the Police Blotter by C. J. Sullivan
9. Boogers are my Beat by Dave Barry
10. Eastern Standard Time edited by Jeff Yang

Western

1. Tex by Clarence E. Mulford
2. Johnny Nelson by Clarence E. Mulford
3. The Pecos Kid Returns by Dan Cushman
4. McGraw's Inheritance by J.T. Edson
5. The Lone Ranger and the Mystery Ranch by franstriker::Fran Striker
6. The Lone Ranger and the Gold Robbery by franstriker::Fran Striker
7. The Fortune Hunters by J.T. Edson
8. Satan's Back Trail by Marshall McCoy
9. The Lone Ranger and the Outlaw Stronghold by franstriker::Fran Striker
10. The Pecos Kid by Dan Cushman

Books by "new to me" authors

1. Bard by Keith Taylor
2. Spectros: Silverado by Logan Winters
3. The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont by Robert Barr
4. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
5. Murder on the Island by Robert R. Mill
6. The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
7. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont
8. Dhampir by Barb & J.C. Hendee
9. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
10. Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Books I started to read more than a year ago

1. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Quiller Meridian by Adam Hall
3. Sally's in the Alley by Norbert Davis
4. The Spider: Serpent of Destruction by Grant Stockbridge
5. Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson
6. The Three Palladins by Howard Lamb
7. The Destroyer #15: Murder Ward by Richard Sapir & Warren Murphy
8. Stuff the Lady's Hatbox by Carleton E. Morse
9. One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name
10. Jewels of Java by H. Bedford-Jones

Books by Robert E. Howard

1. The Black Stranger and Other American Tales by Robert E. Howard
2. Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard
3. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
4. The Best of Robert E. Howard: Volume 1: Crimson Shadows by Robert E. Howard
5. The Best of Robert E. Howard: Volume 2: Grim Lands by Robert E. Howard
6. Bran Mak Morn: The Last King by Robert E. Howard
7. The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard
8. The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard
9. The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard
10. The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard by Robert E. Howard

I read Dune for the challenge last year and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I guess I expected it to be more technical and complicated, but it was a really good story, which is what I like. I've heard that subsequent books in the series are not as good, but I really enjoyed that one.

You have lots of good books listed for this year's reading. I especially like the look of the Harold Lamb selections so will be interested to hear what you think of those.

I've enjoyed what I've read so far, but I keep getting distracted by other books. I'm hoping I'll finally finish it this year.

I keep seeing the characters from the David Lynch movie in my head while I'm reading it, which I'm finding a little distracting.

I've read other books by Lamb and enjoyed them. The new series from Bison Books looks like it will be good.

He's an author that I know I like, so I pick up his books when I see them, but I don't get around to reading them as quickly as I want to.

Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a hoot.

Thanks for the rec, I'll move it up higher on my to-read pile.

I was a little worried because I'm an old-time pulp fan and I find that modern attempts to write "pulp-style" just don't do it for me.

Be interested to see what you think as its on my tbr pile, for some reason I keep picking it and not getting past the 1st paragraph!

17> The more old-time pulp you know, the more you'll be able to get out of it. I'm not familiar with any of it, so many cameos went right over my head, but pulp-loving friends who also read it were delighted.

And don't cheat to look at Wikipedia in advance to see who shows up. You'll miss some nice surprises.

I might have to take a look at that one too!

I finished Connections by James Burke. This one goes into a non-fiction slot.

I remember watching the PBS show he hosted based on this book when I was younger. I remember liking that show, which is why I picked this up when I saw it at a library book sale.

The book is not as good as I remember the TV show being. I didn't think the connections he makes between inventions as he describes the history of various innovations were quite as solid as I recalled.

But I still thought it was interesting and I learned some neat stuff. I reminded me a little bit of "Guns, Germs and Steel" as that too traced the path of the development of humankind through innovations, but it took a different path and centered on more recent history.

I did think it was well-written and a pleasant read.

I'm also reading Dune and Snow Crash for my challenge this year, so I'll be checking back to see what you think of them, as well as your other books. You have some great choices!

>22 remusly: Thanks, I've been meaning to read those for years and I've just not gotten around to it.

It's all more incentive to get reading.

I'm already further behind that I planned. I've been reading "Gardens of the Moon" and it's great so far, but it's a thick book. In between reading chunks of that, I've been working on "Stuff the Lady's Hatbox" which I had a hard time getting into, but now I'm 2/3rds to the end and it's picked up quite a bit.

But now I really want to get to work on Dune, Snow Crash and Chinatown Death Peril. Decisions, decisions.

Gardens of the Moon is a fabulous book. I read it as part of last year's challenge and had to change one of my categories for this year so I could read much more of the series. The new category could be a cause for me not meeting my target though as, like you say, they're not exactly on the thin side. But I'm not going to let it worry me as they're certainly books I want to read anyway.

I'm also probably going to read Snow Crash so will be interested to see what you think of that one.

I'm very impressed with Gardens if the Moon so far. Erikson is doing a marvelous job of showing and not telling. Without using any data dumps, he's communicated a very rich and complex world only with what his characters encounter and their dialog.

It's got great character, epic scope, action and intrigue and a complex plot. It's not a standard quest fantasy, there's no dark lord, just multiple characters with opposing agendas.

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series, but I'm also more than a little daunted by the fact that Gardens is, I think, the shortest book and there are 9 more huge bricks to complete the series. Finishing it is going to be a long term project for me.

I'm falling behind already, and I felt like a quick, light read. So I picked up McGraw's Inheritance by J. T. Edson, one of the Floating Outfit books.

It was fun, but as most of Edson's work, it wasn't very deep.

Dusty Fog, this time accompanied only by his cousins Red Blaze and Betty Hardin, get involved with an attempt to stop one of their friends from inheriting a ranch.

There's a little mystery about who is behind the assassination attempts and why the villain wants the ranch, but it's mostly just a series of gunfights and fistfights.

It's a serviceable entry in the series. As usual there is the requisite hero-worship of Fog, who Edson makes out to be the greatest gunfighter, range detective and cowboy ever.

It avoided the most common annoyances of the series, but I did miss the presence of the other members of the floating outfit. Edson did go overboard with his research on various guns, but unlike some of his books, he didn't have any famous characters appear, didn't have two women get into a cat fight, didn't preach about the evils of liberals, describe his views on the rightness of the South's cause, or replace cuss words in dialog with "something".

So it's one of the good ones, I suppose. A fun, light read with lots of action and not much to think about, which was just what I wanted to read.

I finished "Deadly Force" by Chris McNab today. It was the first book I've received through the Early Reader's program. This was from the September batch, but I didn't receive it until January.

I liked it, it was a good, solid historical survey of the evolution of the police use of force. There was a good balance between statistics and facts and interesting examples.

I finished Ross Rocklynne's The Men and the Mirror.

I'd enjoyed his short story "Time Wants a Skeleton" so I was looking forward to this collection early science fiction stories. Unfortunately, the stories in this collection haven't aged well.

The characterization, when it's not entirely absent, is clunky. The stories are very complicated excuses to frame a problem around a scientific principle, but the science isn't very solid anyway.

Not recommended.