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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
8.50Jonny Steinberg4
8.50Mark Twain2
8.50Leonard Q. Ross2
8.50Nicholas Mosley2
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

Top authors (quantity)

AvgAuthorNo. Books
7.57Ursula K. Le Guin49
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
The Essence of Tibetan BuddhismLama Thubten Yeshe72026-07
The Pickwick PapersCharles Dickens62026-07
Nutrition for DummiesCarol Ann Rinzler42026-06
Bodhisattva AttitudeLama Zopa Rinpoche62026-04
Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy72026-03
Life as We Know it and Other Stories rln62026-01
Still LifeZoe Wicomb62025-11
The Birthday of the WorldUrsula K. Le Guin72025-10
Moral AmbitionRutger Bregman52025-09
Shards of HonorLois McMaster Bujold72025-09
The TellingUrsula K. Le Guin82025-08
The Lathe of HeavenUrsula K. Le Guin72025-08
No Time to SpareUrsula K. Le Guin82025-07
Very Far Away From Anywhere ElseUrsula K. Le Guin62025-06
RadixA.A. Attanasio62025-06
The JungleUpton Sinclair72025-05
The Bee StingPaul Murray72025-05
The Unreal and the RealUrsula K. Le Guin72025-04
Bodhichitta: Practice for a Meaningful LifeLama Zopa Rinpoche92025-04
Winnie and Nelson Portrait of a MarriageJonny Steinberg92024-11

20 random books

TitleAuthorScoreDate read
Collision CourseNigel Hinton71987-07
Untorn TicketsPaul Burke62004-05
Huon of the HornAndre Norton61993-10
Grantchester GrindTom Sharpe52009-03
The Penelopiad Margaret Atwood72015-07
Wanting Enlightement is a Big MistakeSeung Sahn72008-11
BintiNnedi Okorafor82017-07
The Wild ShoreKim Stanley Robinson81997-12
The Third ProphecyAhmed Essop52009-10
The Subtle KnifePhilip Pullman92003-07
Enhanter's End GameDavid Eddings101986-09
A Simple Man – Kasrils and the Zuma enigmaRonnie Kasrils62018-03
War in HeavenDavid Zindell101999-11
Ecology and Development in the 3rd worldAvijit Gupta21996-11
The Enemy Within (Mission Earth 3)L. Ron Hubbard51993-12
To my Children's ChildrenSindiwe Magona51998-05
Against a Dark BackgroundIain M. Banks62009-10
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ.K. Rowling42002-01
My LifeGodfrey Moloi62016-02
Room 207Kgebetli Moele52007-02