Shield, by Poul Anderson. It's a sci-fi book about a young scientist who, after an expedition to Mars (which is inhabited by an advanced race), invents a device that creates forcefields. Taking it back home with him, he doesn't realize all the implications such a device could have on the world (which has been through two nuclear wars and is now effectively ruled by an unwieldy American dictatorship) and he starts bouncing around between government agents and criminals trying to seize him to exploit his invention. It mostly reads like a suspenseful espionage story that happens to be set in the future, only slowing down during a stretch in which characters start barfing political philosophy at one another for a few chapters. Although I agree with a lot of what Anderson is saying, he could have maybe found a more elegant way to express some of this stuff, especially since dialogue is probably his weakest point as a writer. That said, stories like this are among the reasons why he's one of my favorite sci-fi writers.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett

It's a Pratchett, in everything is good: humour, quirkiness, fantasy, inventivity, etc... The story is clever and the characters really interesting. But maybe it's aimed at a younger public than his "Discworld" series, at least that was my impression. An excellent read, of course.

So far in 2020: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/books_finished_in_2020/post9

I finished Wrath of Empires (Powdermage 5 of 6) yesterday. Great book. One of the best I've ever read, honestly. Sadly it can't be read in isolation of its series (Though you could start with #4 and be OK; it's written as two trilogies). The next/last one will be to me soon, requested from the library. I won't be reading any books until it's here.

I love Terry Pratchett, and he is probably my all-time favorite author, mostly for his Disc World series, but I also really like his other stuff, and even though I was either in my late 40s or early 50s when I read 'Amazing Maurice ...' , I enjoyed it greatly ,,, and the sequels.

So while the writing might be specifically aimed at younger readers, it is quite ageless overall in my view ... good writer's works are like that.

I love the way Pratchett gets inside the human mind and existence. His works may be Fantasy, but they are much more than that.

My reading list for 2020

Yeah, I felt it was aimed at a younger public mainly because it lacked the grizzly although humorous death you always encounter in the Discworld series. But the story was as gripping as his other writings! Indeed, a good writer is a good writer, whichever readers he/she is aiming at!

As much as I may enjoy reading a book, sometimes I need a break before continuing on with the next in the series. Such is the case with NOT ALONE. It was a long read and the main essence of the first part of the ongoing story, was essentially dealt with, so I can wait a while before continuing on.

Somewhat likewise with my unintentional read of the KITTEN AND KRAKEN story. I got lured into reading the sample of it at the end of another ebook, then was so intrigued about where the story was going, that I had to purchase the full novel and read that, which I have done. While I found out a lot, the story really leads into the start of one of the author's ongoing series. Luckily I have the first two novels in that, which she currently provides for free. But I feel the need of a break first, especially as reading her stories at this point in time, was unplanned, and I have other reads on my priority list. I probably won't want to let too much time pass by before getting back to reading the next part though, so I have started factoring that into my priority list.

To be honest, I often don't like reading the same genre for too long at this point in my life, so I vary genres a bit quite regularly. I find it keeps things a lot fresher and thus more interesting. On the other side of that coin though, I don't like to let too much time pass by before reading the next story in a series, so a short break is often sufficient.

What I read or started in 2019

What I have read so far and intend to read in 2020

Because I have good records of what I have read in prior years, I have been pondering the sense or viability of adding what I read in 2018 at least, to that topic here at GOG? It may be of interest to others, but I don't really know? I only started my contribution to these reading lists late in 2019.

I enjoy seeing what others have listed, if I can relate in some way, though I don't always comment ... or sometimes it takes me a while to ... on impulse.

Was tempted to say that it may be too much of a necro to go to the 2018 thread and likely better to just edit your 2019 post with past stuff as well, but then clicked the link and saw exactly which post that is, so yeah, not viable to put more years in one post considering the numbers and level of detail. So, in this case, seems fair to post in the appropriate thread, maybe just starting it off with saying it's to keep things organized or accurate or something like that.
But those tracking the books threads probably won't give you grief (or start a silent downvoting campaign) either way. And we're probably quite few anyway :/

That would be a really petty thing to do, to protest or downvote somebody for adding potential future reads to our lists, indeed. I, for one, know that I'm always glad to hear about books I don't know, even if it needs necro'ing.

I don't know why anyone would think raising an old thread is usually anything but good. "necroing" is not a bad thing.

I think it's good idea to just put the list in proper thread – i.e. 2018. The last post is from May 2019. What's the problem to bump the thread once more? I've even made a link in OP for you, so do not hesitate – it points the next (still non-existing) post in that thread :D

That's the reason I'm always +ing every single post in here :) Thanks for your lists and reviews!

Thanks for that.
Thanks one and all for the fine encouraging words. :)

What I read in 2018.

It's only a short list as you will see.

Include me

I read a lot, so i will use this post here as a table of contents, similar to the OP, and link my posts here.
I want to contribute, because , honestly, i do not really have someone arount to whom i can talk about the stuff i read.

I mostly read fantasy and science fiction.

Most stuff i read is in english, but there are some books in german that i might read. I will include these anyway.

Sherlock Holmes

The ?complete? works of Sherlock Holmes

I have finished this early in 2020, but have started in november last year.

I actually do not know if these are actually complete. This was included on my new ebook reader (Pocketbook Inkpad X). It is not the first time i read Sherlock Holmes, but the editition i read years ago (also included with an ebook reader :p) did not contain the last set of short stories after the WW I story.

I like these short stories. It is easily visible why Sherlock Holmes is so present in modern pop culture. But a few things where notable: He says "elementary" maybe twice in the books, and Moriarty's role is way overblown in most modern Sherlock Holmes representations.

I like how these books offer a glimpse how late victorian life in London might have been. Especially interesting is the increase in technology in the last set of stories. There are automobiles and telephones, i found that fascinating compared to the earlier stories.

This is is among the oldest english books that i have read, if you exclude stuff by Shakespeare i had to read in school. Considering that it was actually easier to understand than i expected. Sure, there is lots of archaic vocabulary, but most of it can be understood from the context.

Sherlock Holmes is good Period Fiction. TV and movies mostly go overboard ... over simplify, limit focus, etc.

I've read them all, novels and short stories, and several other works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

I did not read them until midlife - I'd avoided them because of all the TV etc hype and it just seemed they would be too pedestrian. I did a similar thing with Isaac Asimov's stories ... he seemed too straight to me, thus boring, not fanciful or imaginative enough.

Boy, was I wrong on both accounts. Never never judge before trying ... or a book by its cover. ha ha ha

Obviously I did eventually try them and love them both.

I guess in my defense, I was more into fantastical stuff when younger .... in Fantasy and Science Fiction primarily .... though I also read James Bond, The Saint and Biggles, etc. So a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and others. I tended to avoid the more straight-laced stuff ... read enough of them at school.

Another defense, was financial ... I had a very limited budget, so it paid to choose wisely ... and I could never afford all I wanted anyway. A great love of music always made this even more difficult.

My reading list for 2020

INCLUDE ME

Eye in the Sky (1957) by Philip K. Dick 3/5

A group of eight (including their guide) falls into the a Bevatron. For some reason they are plunged into the "personal" world of one of their companions, a world where that person's beliefs, paranoias and phobias are real and their rules are law.
The first of these worlds is that of old bigoted war veteran Arthur Silvester who's a member of an obscure Islamic cult. This was written in the 1950s, so Christanity was rather taboo (especially in the magazines), while other religions were safer. Today, it's the other way around of course, with any hint of criticizing or making fun of Islam being "problematic".
Realizing that something is wrong, the protagonist John W. Hamilton figures out that they are literally "inside the head" of one of their companions, and the only way back to the real world is to knock out or kill Silvester.
But instead of returning to their own world they end up in a new alternate reality.

Fredric Brown already used this idea in What Mad Universe and used it more successfully IMO.

Dick was always obsessed with "what is real?", and in his early career before writing novels he was also concerned about consumerism. In this book he's concerned, and rather too preachy and unsubtle IMO, with things like bigotry, racism, puritanism, religion and McCarthyism.
The guide at the Bevatron is black, and is one of the first specifically black characters in old SF, and he's also smart, educated and he even has thin lips (sorry, but I thought Dick mentioning his thin lips was funny).

Bottom line: OK entertainment, but not very interesting, but with some funny passages. Like Time out of Joint the last part is weaker than first part.
I read a physical copy (access to which was the reason I decided to read it in the first place), and the downside to that is that it's much more cumbersome to quote the most funny and interesting parts.