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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
8.50Leonard Q. Ross2
8.50Nicholas Mosley2
8.50Mark Twain2
8.25David Eddings20
8.25Kazuo Ishiguro4
8.14Raymond E. Feist7
8.00Hermann Hesse8
8.00"Margaret, Tracy" "Weis, Hickman"6
8.00Barry Miles3
8.00Vladimir Nabokov3
8.00Nnedi Okorafor3
8.00Robert M. Pirsig3

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
6.38Mongane 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 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
A Time of AngelsPatricia Schonstein62023-02
ZodiacNeal Stephenson62013-05
Magician's GambitDavid Eddings101988-08
The Quiet Violence of DreamsK Sello Duiker72003-08
Queen of SorceryDavid Eddings101986-09
Bearing an HourglassPiers Anthony41997-01
Soekie op HoerskoolE. Spence41987-04
HothouseBrian Aldiss71992-04
BintiNnedi Okorafor82017-07
Good MoneyJonathan Self52018-02
PortofinoFrank Schaeffer72007-01
Age of IronJ.M. Coetzee62001-05
The Angel and other poemsTatamkhulu Afrika82009-11
The Stone God AwakensPhilip Jose Farmer81992-08
Planet of ExileUrsula K. Le Guin71997-08
Hopeful MonstersNicholas Mosley81994-08
MicroserfsDouglas Coupland61999-11
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin101993-02
Stainless Steel Rat for PresidentHarry Harrison61987-05
The Last Green TreeJim Grimley82012-04