Reading Roundup Wrapup: December 2018

Pick of the month: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey. This is one of those months where though I read a decent amount of strong stuff, nothing in particular rose to the top (also I read a decent amount of mediocre stuff). But the third Expanse novel was a good one, giving me exactly what I want out of the series: good sci-fi action in an interesting milieu. Other good books were The Christmas Invasion, Paper Girls 5, and The Spy Who Loved Me, any of whom on a slightly different day might have taken this.

All books read:
1. Star Wars: Purge by John Ostrander and Alexander Freed, with Haden Blackman
2. Star Wars: Dark Times, Volume Two: Parallels by Mick Harrison
3. Wooers and Winners; or, Under the Scars: A Yorkshire Story, Vol. I by Mrs. G. Linnæus Banks
4. Machineries of Empire, Book Three: Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
5. Wooers and Winners; or, Under the Scars: A Yorkshire Story, Vol. II by Mrs. G. Linnæus Banks
6. The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming with Vivienne Michel
7. Bernice Summerfield: The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis by Xanna Eve Chown
8. Wooers and Winners; or, Under the Scars: A Yorkshire Story, Vol. III by Mrs. G. Linnæus Banks
9. Paper Girls 4 by Brian K. Vaughan
10. Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan
11. Paper Girls 5 by Brian K. Vaughan
12. The Professor’s Wife: A Story by Leonard Graham
13. The Octave of Claudius by Barry Pain
14. Star Trek: Titan: Fallen Gods by Michael A. Martin
15. Time Capsule by Lalla Ward with Paul W.T. Ballard
16. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within by Christopher L. Bennett
17. Abaddon’s Gate: Book Three of The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
18. Bernice Summerfield: Filthy Lucre by James Parsons and Alexander-Stirling Brown
19. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

Quite a good show-- my best since June 2017, in fact!

All books acquired:
1. Ahistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe: 4th Edition, Volume 1 by Lance Parkin & Lars Pearson
2. Ahistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe: 4th Edition, Volume 2 by Lars Pearson & Lance Parkin
3. Paper Girls 5 by Brian K. Vaughan
4. Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion by Jenny T. Colgan
5. Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 8: Desolation by Yoshiki Tanaka
6. Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo Omnibus by Mark Waid with Karl Kesel
7. The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
8. Tono-Bungay by H. G. Wells
9. Collected Seventh Doctor Comic Strips, Volume 5: Emperor of the Daleks: Collected Comic Strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine by Dan Abnett, Warwick Gray, Paul Cornell with John Freeman and Richard Alan
10. Collected Multi Doctor Comic Strips, Volume 1: Land of the Blind: Collected Comic Strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine by Dan Abnett, Gareth Roberts, Nick Briggs, Kate Orman, and Warwick Scott Gray
11. Collected Twelfth Doctor Comic Strips, Volume 4: The Phantom Piper: Collected Comic Strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine by Scott Gray
12. The Massacre of Mankind: Sequel to The War of the Worlds by Stephen Baxter
13. The Complete Orsinia: Malafrena / Stories and Songs by Ursula K. Le Guin
14. Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland by Dave Barry
15. The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
16. The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale retold by Jeanette Winterson
17. Red or Dead by David Peace

Christmas always nets me a lot of books, of course; in fact, I think it's the only time each year I really get new ones in a substantive amount anymore! #9-14 were presents from family, while #16-17 I got from LibraryThing's SantaThing event. #15 I found on a cart of free books in a mall in northeast Ohio, so that was nice.

Books remaining on "To be read" list: 656 (up 3)
Books remaining on "To review" list: 15 (no change)

These days, even in months where I read a lot of books, they don't necessarily come off my "To be read" list, thanks to the quirks of my weird system. But this month was a good month for reading stuff off the list; #1, 7, 14-19 in my first list above all came off it! In any other month that would allow me to gain some ground, but I got so many books this month, that I actually lost ground. Oh well. Maybe I can maintain this into January.