Books read this year: 2014

Its been over three months since I last wrote a post here, and
one and a half months since I have been planning to write one.

After lots of delays, which have seen me experimenting like
anything, with lots of new updates, I think I can finally settle
down to sort out my thoughts and write a post: Books read this year.

One of my resolutions for this year was reading 100 books. I am
nowhere near that 100 mark, though I have crossed 80 so far, and
think I can manage another 2-3 by the end of December. Its been one
hell of a ride in terms of books read, lessons learnt (and
forgotten).

What started me on the book reading path had been reading the
Inheritance cycle last year. Continuing on the same theme, I had
decided on reading up some of the more read fiction and fantasy
novels. And I managed to wrap off some of the series I have
wanted to. They include the Lord of The Rings and the Middle
East Saga, the Harry Potter series, the Drenai Saga, and the Wheel
of Time Series. And I must say, having read epics like the Wheel of
Time, which spans over some 12000 pages with 15 novels in it, I
find most of the other fiction works I now read child's work. It
literally feels like reading your old school text books once you
have graduated from the college.

It doesn't surprise me therefore, how the purists and the literary
critics try to tear down every other novel they have read, giving
reviews which the general masses hardly understand. I mean, once
you have spent ages reading Shakespeare and other such classical
books, which have enamored their readers for centuries now, how can
anything other than other works that equal a masterpiece get the
praise that is due to it. Of course, the reverse is not true; Just
because someone always writes scathing reviews doesn't mean they
know a lot, now do they?
But that is not the purpose of this point, the purpose is to
capture the books that I managed to read this year, so here goes
the complete list

• Percy Jackson Series - The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Series - The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Series - The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Series - The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Series - The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson Series - The Demigod Files - Rick Riordan
• Middle Earth Series - The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Middle Earth Series - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Arctic Incident- Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Eternity Code - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Lost Colony - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Time Paradox - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer
• Artemis Fowl Series - Artemis Fowl: Last Guardian - Eoin Colfer
• The Rosabal Line - Ashiwn Sanghi
• The Accidental Prime Minister - Sanjay Baru
• Lean Startup - Eric Lies
• The Third Eye - T. Lobsang Rampa
• The Day I stopped drinking milk - Sudha Murthy
• The Oath of the Vayuputras - Amish Tripathi
• The Drenai Series - Legend - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - Waylander - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - The King Beyond The Gate - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - The First Chronicles of Druss - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - Druss - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - White Wolf - David Gemmell
• The Drenai Series - The Swords of Night and Day - David Gemmell
• Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
• American Gods - Neil Gaiman
• Only The Paranoid Survive - Andy Grove
• Nine Parts of Desire - Geraldine Brooks
• I am Malala - Malala Yousafzai
• iWoz - Steve Wozniack
• Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
• The Idea Man - Paul Allen
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 00 - New Spring - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 01 - The Eye Of The World - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 02 - The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 03 - The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 04 - The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 05 - The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 06 - Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 07 - A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 08 - The Path of Daggers - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 09 - Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 10 - Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 11 - Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 12 - The Gathering Storm - Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 13 - Towers of Midnight - Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan
• The Wheel Of Time Series - Book 14 - A Memory of Light - Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan
• Calico Joe - John Grisham
• Star Dust - Neil Gaiman
• Better - Atul Gawande
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K.  Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K.  Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K.  Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter Series - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling
• The Drenai Series - Waylander II: In the realm of the Wolf - David Gemmell
• The Game Changers -  Alok Kothari, Rahul Kumar and Yuvnesh Modi
• The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Unbreakable - M. C. Mary Kom
• Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramhans Yogananda
• Made In America - Sam Walton
• Delivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh

Now many of these books and series deserves a post in itself, and I
wish I had the time to write about each of them, but I guess then I
will spend the rest of my days this year just finishing up this
post.

All I can say is, all those books have left behind a lot of crazy
ideas, and for once and all, I think I no longer have any regret
for not having read them earlier.