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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
8.50Nicholas Mosley2
8.50Mark Twain2
8.50Leonard Q. Ross2
8.33Jonny Steinberg3
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
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
FoeJ.M. Coetzee62024-01
The NumberJonny Steinberg92023-12
SummertimeJ.M. Coetzee72023-12
Wish You Were HereJodi Picoult52023-12
The Blue DoorAndre Brink72023-11
Arctic SummerDamon Galgut92023-11
The Real Enid BlytonNadia Cohen72023-11
The Heart Goes LastMargaret Atwood62023-11
The Master of PetersburgJ.M. Coetzee82023-10
SearoadUrsula K. Le Guin72023-10
Stories van die KantlynTheuns Stofberg2023-09
Deep Wheel OrcadiaHarry Josephine Giles42023-08
Portrait with KeysIvan Vladislavic52023-07
Up Against ItLaura J. Mixon42023-06
A Room with a ViewE.M. Forster62023-05

20 random books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
The Subtle KnifePhilip Pullman92003-07
The Teachings of Don JuanCarlos Castenada61998-07
Fools and Other StoriesNjabulo. S. Ndebele71994-03
Always Coming HomeUrsula K. Le Guin91996-04
Ecology for BeginnersStephen Croall61994-09
The Buddha of SuburbiaHanif Kureishi72009-05
The Scarlett LetterNathaniel Hawthorne61995-01
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin91996-04
The Golden TorcJulian May62021-03
A Writer's DiaryStephen Watson61998-03
The Famished RoadBen Okri91994-02
The Cape of Flames Various52001-01
The Art of the Good Life Rolf Dobelli52021-12
Funny Money: In Search of Alternative CashDavid Boyle72005-10
"Rich man, poor man"Irwin Shaw81988-05
The Birthday of the WorldUrsula K. Le Guin72004-09
The White CastleOrhan Pamuk62011-07
Rocannon's WorldUrsula K. Le Guin71997-08
In Black and WhiteJake White, Craig Ray62009-10
MetamorphosisJean Lorrah61995-02