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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
8.25David Eddings20
8.25Kazuo Ishiguro4
8.14Raymond E. Feist7
8.00Hermann Hesse8
8.00"Margaret, Tracy" "Weis, Hickman"6
8.00Nnedi Okorafor3
8.00Robert M. Pirsig3
8.00Tatamkhulu Afrika3
8.00Barry Miles3
8.00Vladimir Nabokov3

Top authors (quantity)

AvgAuthorNo. Books
7.63Ursula K. Le Guin41
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
6.56Robert 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
7.29Damon Galgut7

20 most recent books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
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
Blood to PoisonMary Watson52023-05
Keeper of Kelpie SecretsJacqui Lighton12023-04
A Time of AngelsPatricia Schonstein62023-02
The Seed and the SowerLaurens van der Post72023-01
The Woman and the ApePeter Høeg62023-01
Thorns to KilimanjaroIan McCallum52023-01
Soft Vengeance of a Freedom FighterAlbie Sachs42023-01
The Mysterious Affair at StylesAgatha Christie62022-12
Native Life in South AfricaSol Plaatje42022-12

20 random books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
Rich Dad, Poor DadRobert T. Kiyosaki42003-07
FrankensteinMary W. Shelley72020-09
Darkness at SethanonRaymond E. Feist92000-02
The VanRoddy Doyle62005-09
The RevenantsSheri S. Tepper21990-12
Enchanter's End GameDavid Eddings91990-01
LolitaVladimir Nabokov81992-12
Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a LakotaWallace Black Elk51996-07
The Word for World is ForestUrsula K. Le Guin61997-01
The Secret Diary of Laura PalmerJennifer Lynch72000-02
WanderingHermann Hesse82000-06
The Cement GardenIan McEwan72002-11
Blue Remembered EarthAlastair Reynolds62015-03
KrakenChina Mieville 32021-11
The Powers That BeMike Nicol61996-01
David CopperfieldCharles Dickens91993-02
Out of the Unknown"A.E., E" "Van Vogt, Mayne Hull"51992-01
August 1914Alexander Solzhenitsyn72017-03
Jack Kerouac: King of the BeatsBarry Miles82006-02
Foundation's EdgeIsaac Asimov81993-10