I started cataloging the books I’ve read at LibraryThing. Entering the book title is easy; ranking them is hard.

Seems like every time I go back to add books, I end up changing the number of stars of about the half the books. “Well, after reading this book that one isn’t so bad.”

And looking at the rankings, it looks like I don’t like any books at all. I am stingy with praise, not just for books. I expect everything to reach for perfection. So many of these books reach for just good enough, it seems.

I have to remind myself the authors are writing the best they can, and that a lot of people read for comfort; they don’t necessarily want a book that makes them think. I’m the same way — I put down Clouds End to read Elantris, even though Clouds End is a much, much, much better book.

At my local library, people who check out books get a printed receipt listing the books. Sometimes they return the books with the receipt tucked inside.

It’s kind of fun to see what books other people check out. How’s this combination?

• The writer’s market
• Generation me: why today’s young
• Evidence of harm: mercury in vac
• Objection!: how high-priced defe
• The forest for the trees: an edi

Too bad there isn’t room on the receipt for the whole title.

Why do the young do what?

Mercury in vacation spots? Mercury in vacuum tubes?

High-priced defense lawyers, probably, but the book could be about defecators. I’d object to that one.

The last one is easy: that’s the book I checked out, The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers.

Only two books a week, or one book every three days. It doesn’t seem like a lot, considering that some days I’ve finished two books. Guess they must have been short books.

I don’t finish all the books I start, either. After several weeks I finally gave up on Anna Karenina. I got tired of her little white hands, etc., and was more than ready to have her jump in front of an oncoming train. I know lots of people love that book. Maybe they read a different translation.

I have nothing good to say about the books I didn’t finish, so I left them off the list. Ha. That’ll make it harder to figure out which books I’m talking about when I complain about their bad writing.

Fifty books in a year? Bah. Of course, my kids are grown up, my yard’s a mess, and I have no social life.

Here’s a list of the books I read last year, excluding nonfiction and short stories.

1. Anderson: The Broken Sword
2. Anderson: Three Hearts and Three Lions
3. Baker: The Anvil of the World
4. Beagle: The Last Unicorn
5. Bear: Songs of Earth and Power
6. Bear: Darwin’s Radio
7. Berg: Transformation
8. Berg: Revelation
9. Berg: Restoration
10. Berg: Son of Avonar
11. Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
12. Bray: Devlin’s Luck
13. Briggs: The Hob’s Bargain
14. Brooks: The Sword of Shannara
15. Brust and Bull: Freedom and Necessity (more . . .)

I missed reading the The Sword of Shannara when it first came out nearly 30 years ago, so when I saw it on the library shelf I had to pick it up.

Thirty years ago I would have enjoyed the book a lot more. It does have some fun bits, especially the parts where it’s more like a RPG than a takeoff of Lord of the Rings, as in these sections: (more . . .)