Tag / Kindle

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Prolific Authors – Seven Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the three authors I’ve read seven times, a decrease of two from two years ago.

Airframe – Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton

The prolific author, who died in 2008, first entered my bookshelf in 1989, when I was assigned to read The Andromeda Strain as part of my high school Biology class.  He continued to be a big part of my 90s reading, but has only added a single title, Airframe, in this century.

Rebecca Forster

One of my first Kindle finds, I’ve read the first seven entries in her Witness series.

J.K. Rowling

All seven entries in the Harry Potter series, which I read in 2016, make up Rowling’s total.  She continues to write under a pen name, but her horrific political views make it unlikely that she would end up on this list twice.

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Prolific Authors – Six Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the four authors I’ve read six times, two more than two years ago.

Swan Song – Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand

The best-selling author of novels set on her home island of Nantucket added four new novels to my read shelf these past two years.

David Mack

All six of his entries come from Star Trek: The Next Generation works I’ve read on my Kindle.

Sarah Pekkanen

She has teamed up with Greer Hendricks for four novels but has branched out on her own again in recent years.

Break No Bones – Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs

The creator of the books that were the inspiration for Bones, she has been rising steadily as I’ve gained a newfound appreciation for the novel series.

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Finishing A Challenge

Every quarter, Kindle releases a reading challenge as a way to gamify reading on their platform.  The Spring 2025 challenge, which wraps up tomorrow, was the first one I’ve ever completed, finishing all fifteen achievements.  Those achievements were:

Days Read

  • Bronze Reader: read on any 15 days during the challenge
  • Silver Reader: read on any 40 days during the challenge
  • Gold Reader: read on any 75 days during the challenge

The Gold Reader is the one I usually have an issue with.  Either due to other commitments or reading actual physical books, I’ve always fell short of the 75 days out of the 90 or so within the quarter.

Books Completed

  • Bookish: read one book
  • Bookworm: read two books
  • Bibliophile: read three books

This one is always easy.  For reference, I wrapped this one up less than two weeks into April.

Streaks

  • Head Start: read one day during the month
  • Perfect Week: read 7 days in a row (Sunday through Saturday)
  • Perfect Month: read every day for a calendar month (ex. every day in February)

Again, the Perfect Month is where I usually fall short.  This time I was able to complete that particular achievement in April.

Mystery

  • Case Closed: complete a Kindle book.
  • Afterglow: read at least three days between April 29 and May 2
  • Smart Start: read on a Monday in May. Can level up with each additional Monday you read in May
  • Parasol: complete one of the Amazon editor’s Summer Reading picks
  • Weekend Warrior: read on both Saturday and Sunday during a weekend in June
  • Insider: Follow an author on Amazon

The mystery selections are usually rolled out throughout the quarter, leaving little opportunity to plan ahead for them.  I ended up following an author simply to complete the goal here, but the Parasol one I finished by accident, as Alex Finlay’s Parents Weekend happened to be on the list.

Having finally completed one of these challenges, I hope I won’t be as hooked to their games, as it has certainly seen me focus on Kindle books to try and finish a challenge rather than reading an actual book.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2025 Edition

A new year is upon us, and it is time to once again set a goal of reading a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.

Last year, for the fourth straight year, I completed my goal, finishing the year with 61 books read.  Prior to that, I’d had a low point of 8 books back in 2010 and a high point of 59 books.

Since I have nothing but time again this year and am still a remote worker, I’m going to give it another go.  I’ve got plenty of new books stocked up, both in the Kindle app on my iPad and actual physical books, not to mention my handy dandy library card, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

  • You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2025 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2025.
  • Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
  • Poetry collections do indeed count.
  • Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2025 only counts as 1 read).
  • Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year looks like it will be In a Strange City by Laura Lippman, the sixth entry in her Tess Monaghan series.  Here’s hoping 2024 is another good year when it comes to books.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2024 Edition

A new year is upon us, and it is time to once again set a goal of reading a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.

Last year, for the third straight year, I completed my goal, finishing the year with 59 books read.  Prior to that, I’d had a low point of 8 books back in 2010 and a high point of 55 books.

Since I have nothing but time again this year and am still a remote worker, I’m going to give it another go.  I’ve got plenty of new books stocked up, both in the Kindle app on my iPad and actual physical books, not to mention my handy dandy library card, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

  • You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2024 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2024.
  • Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
  • Poetry collections do indeed count.
  • Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2024 only counts as 1 read).
  • Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year looks like it will be The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman, the latest entry in his Thursday Murder Club series.  Here’s hoping 2024 is another good year when it comes to books.

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Prolific Authors – 18 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we finish things off with a new leader, the lone author I’ve read 18 times, a level unseen two years ago.

Jeffery Deaver

In 1999, the first entry of Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, The Bone Collector, was adapted into a film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  Around that time, I picked up a paperback copy, which I read in 2000.  I slowly added additional titles as I would find them as remainders, picking up new hard covers for $3 or $4.

The Midnight Lock – Jeffery Deaver

Things increased in 2015, when I started picking up titles on deals through the Amazon Kindle store or from the library, leading to thirteen additional books added to my read bookshelf, with The Burning Wire, which I read earlier this year, being the most recent prior to the start of this countdown.

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Prolific Authors – 17 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue things today with the sole author I’ve read 17 times.

Nancy Holder

My most prolific author first came to my attention in 1998, when I read Halloween Rain, her first entry, along with Christopher Golden, in the series of books based on the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Twelve of her 17 entries, all of which are tie-ins to either Buffy and/or Angel, were read between 1998 and 2002.  After a nine-year layoff, she returned to my attention in 2011 with Carnival of Souls.

Heat – Nancy Holder

Another five years went by, before she returned again with two books in 2016, one in 2018, and then, finally, one in 2021.  Seeing as I have depleted my backlog of Buffy novels, she’s likely to stay put for the foreseeable future, unless someone re-releases these cheaply on the Kindle.

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Book 49 (of 52) – The Outsider

The Outsider – Stephen King

When a young boy is brutally murdered, the police and the district attorney think they have an impeachable case, with DNA and fingerprint evidence matching their chief suspect.  After they arrest him, though, they find out he has an iron-clad alibi, allowing bits of doubt to creep in.  When he is killed on the way to his arraignment, more mysterious happenings start to occur, leading a group of interested parties to hire an investigator who has previous experience with the strange and unexplainable.  When the natural world does not have an explanation for what is happening, will a police officer be able to expand his thinking to include the supernatural as a possibility?  And can they stop the supernatural creature before it attacks again?

Stephen King’s The Outsider, released in 2018, first made my acquaintance in 2020, when the adaptation aired on HBO.  I watched the first episode and meant to go back for the rest, but never did.  At some point, I picked up a copy of the eBook on the Kindle app and, being the Halloween season, this seemed like a good time to dive in.  It took a while for King to get to the “Stephen King” part of the tale, but once it did, it was an enjoyable ride.  Some of the characters from this book appear in other King works, so I feel like I now have a nice springboard back into his more recent output.

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Prolific Authors – 4 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. Since I’ve far surpassed my “normal” reading output the last three years, I thought it would be nice to once again take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through the start of October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the ten authors I’ve read four times, an increase of four over the past two years.

Scott Adams

The now-cancelled creator of Dilbert, who can’t seem to help himself from spouting racist takes on Twitter, Adams used his famous character to write a number of humorous business books, the most recent of which I read in 2012.

The Big Nowhere – James Ellroy

James Ellroy

The author of the L.A. Quartet, which I finished off with The Big Nowhere in 2014.

Gillian Flynn

The former Entertainment Weekly writer turned in to one of my favorite authors, though she hasn’t written a new full length work since 2012’s Gone Girl.

Rebecca Forster

One of my first Kindle finds, I’ve read the first four entries in her Witness series.

Diana G. Gallagher

The author, who passed away in 2021, can credit the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for all four of her entries, the most recent of which I read in 2011.

You Are Not Alone – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Greer Hendricks

After spending two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster, she has teamed up with Sarah Pekkanen for four novels, which I’ve read one annually starting in 2020.

Grady Hendrix

Winner of a 2018 Bram Stoker Award, the horror novelist debuts thanks to the four novels I’ve read over the past three years, starting with The Final Girl Support Group in 2021.

Kimberly McCreight – Reconstructing Amelia

Kimberly McCreight

A New York Times bestselling author thanks to her debut novel, Reconstructing Amelia, she has been a steady presence since 2013.

Sarah Pekkanen

She has teamed up with Greer Hendricks for four novels, one of which I’ve read one annually since 2020.

John Vornholt

Three fourths of his works that I’ve read come from the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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Book 45 (of 52) – Intellivore

Intellivore – Diane Duane

Summoned to deep space, the Enterprise rendezvous with two other ships to investigate disturbing reports of missing colonies and transport ships.  What they find is a giant planet capable of moving at warp speed that can eat the consciousness of intelligent life that it encounters along the way, leaving behind living bodies with no brain activity.  When Dr. Crusher discovers a way to protect the crew from being killed, Captain Picard turns the ship over to Data, allowing him to try and destroy the planet before it kills him, and the Enterprise crew.

Intellivore, the 45th entry in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series of books, was first released back in 1997.  This tale from author Diane Duane is broader in scope than most, almost more cinematic than its counterparts.  After the disappointment of A Hard Rain, this was a nice bounce back for the series, which saw a number of entries on sale in the Kindle store last month.