MainBy AuthorBy ScoreBy YearBy Month

These pages are all about the books I've read. In 1985 I started recording and rating the books I read, perhaps to remind myself not to reread some forgettable trash, or perhaps to honour my first '10', The Lord of the Rings.

I've kept it going more or less continually since then, first on paper, then on Access, and now, more usefully, with a MySQL database. No obsessive compulsive comments please. A partial version of the list exists on my Goodreads profile.

You can do all the things the statistician part of me finds exciting - rank books and authors, view average scores for a particular month etc. Use the menu options at the top. I've included a few of the more interesting options below and to the right as a 'front page'. If you don't find them exciting, hit that back button now.

Top authors (at least 2 books)

AvgAuthorNo. Books
9.76J.R.R Tolkien25
9.63Ken Wilber8
9.50John Boyd2
9.00Robert Johnson2
8.86David Zindell7
8.83Philip Jose Farmer6
8.75Stephen Donaldson4
8.50Jonny Steinberg4
8.50Leonard Q. Ross2
8.50Nicholas Mosley2
8.50Mark Twain2
8.25David Eddings20
8.25Kazuo Ishiguro4
8.14Raymond E. Feist7
8.00Hermann Hesse8
8.00"Margaret, Tracy" "Weis, Hickman"6
8.00Robert M. Pirsig3
8.00Tatamkhulu Afrika3
8.00Barry Miles3
8.00Vladimir Nabokov3

Top authors (quantity)

AvgAuthorNo. Books
7.63Ursula K. Le Guin43
5.86 Various35
9.76J.R.R Tolkien25
7.14Frank Herbert22
8.25David Eddings20
7.69Margaret Atwood13
7.08Isaac Asimov12
6.45Tom Sharpe11
6.90Kim Stanley Robinson10
6.89J.M. Coetzee9
6.56Robert Heinlein9
9.63Ken Wilber8
8.00Hermann Hesse8
7.75Isabel Allende8
6.38Iain M. Banks8
6.38Mongane Wally Serote8
6.13Arthur Conan Doyle8
6.00William Shakespeare8
8.86David Zindell7
8.14Raymond E. Feist7

20 most recent books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
Winnie and Nelson Portrait of a MarriageJonny Steinberg92024-11
DraculaBram Stoker72024-11
Love Letter to the EarthThich Nhat Hanh42024-11
The Diamond That Cuts Through IllusionThich Nhat Hanh52024-11
Freedom Through UnderstandingLama, Lama Yeshe, Zope Rinpoche72024-11
The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of ComputationCory Doctorow72024-10
The Stars My DestinationAlfred Bester62024-09
Evolution: A novelKen Barris62024-09
Flowers for AlgernonDaniel Keyes82024-08
The Mosquito CoastPaul Theroux72024-08
DarkdawnJay Kristoff62024-07
GodsgraveJay Kristoff62024-06
Manifesto: A New Vision for South AfricaSongezo Zibi52024-05
Saving South AfricaChris, Sandile Pappas, Mnikathi52024-05
The Prague CemeteryUmberto Eco62024-04
The Other WindUrsula K. Le Guin72024-03
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya Angelou82024-03
NevernightJay Kristoff62024-02
Grace NotesBernard MacLaverty72024-01
TehanuUrsula K. Le Guin82024-01

20 random books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
MagicianRaymond E. Feist71999-09
The Dark HalfStephen King51991-07
Around the World in Eighty DaysJules Verne51987-07
The Third ProphecyAhmed Essop52009-10
The MiddenTom Sharpe62000-12
The Broken River TentMphuthumi Ntabeni32020-08
The Bone PeopleKeri Hulme81997-05
Rich Dad, Poor DadRobert T. Kiyosaki42003-07
The HobbitJ.R.R Tolkien91985-07
The Dying AnimalPhilip Roth92012-05
Earth is Room EnoughIsaac Asimov51992-05
Spellsinger - 5Allan Dean Foster71992-02
RadixA.A. Attanasio71999-08
The Two TowersJ.R.R Tolkien101989-03
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald61997-10
City at the End of TimeGreg Bear52014-04
Sleeping MurderAgatha Christie62022-11
Mafeking RoadHerman Charles Bosman71994-02
Body RagsGalway Kinnell81998-05
The acts of King Arthur and his noble knightsJohn Steinbeck61997-08