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
8.50Nicholas Mosley2
8.50Mark Twain2
8.50Leonard Q. Ross2
8.25David Eddings20
8.25Kazuo Ishiguro4
8.14Raymond E. Feist7
8.00Hermann Hesse8
8.00"Margaret, Tracy" "Weis, Hickman"6
8.00Vladimir Nabokov3
8.00Nnedi Okorafor3
8.00Robert M. Pirsig3
8.00Tatamkhulu Afrika3

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
6.38Mongane Wally Serote8
6.38Iain M. Banks8
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
The Third ProphecyAhmed Essop42018-11
My Booky WookRussell Brand52010-12
The White CastleOrhan Pamuk62011-07
The Rituals of InfinityMichael Moorcock71986-04
ChikaraRobert Skimin71991-01
The Two TowersJ.R.R Tolkien101985-08
Chapterhouse DuneFrank Herbert72021-05
The Everlasting Gospel: A Study in the sources of William BlakeA.L. Morton82007-07
"Ah, but your land is beautiful"Alan Paton81987-03
Comet in MoominlandTove Jansson62013-11
The PromiseDamon Galgut72022-07
Emergency ContinuedRichard Rive81997-09
Globalization and its discontentsJoseph Stiglitz62007-02
The RatsJames Herbert61993-05
Heaven's MirrorGraham Hancock72001-03
Northern LightsPhilip Pullman72016-12
Lady Of AvalonMarion Zimmer Bradley62002-09
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManJames Joyce72019-03
The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain91992-07
The acts of King Arthur and his noble knightsJohn Steinbeck61997-08