Books of 2010

This year I'd like to keep track of the various books I read. This post is a listing which I'll update from time to time along with micro review- maybe a sentence or two. I'm no literary critic, but I know what I like. My rating system works like this-

Rating: - Freaking Awesome! This is a keeper that I'll probably reread a year or two from now.
Rating: - Pretty Good. A book I would recommend to most everyone.
Rating: - Ok. You might like it if you enjoy this type of book.
Rating: - Lame. Not worth anyone's time.

Now, on with the list of books I've read this year:

1. Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne - Enjoyable read that was diminished by some rather unbelievable decisions by some of the characters and also that the story felt rushed. George Martin lite.
   Rating: 1/6/2010
2. The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II - Historical fiction that is anything but historical. Maybe if you don't know anything at all about WW2, you might find this enjoyable. Five minutes of looking stuff up on wikipedia would have been more research than what went into this. I only got through half of it before concluding that the author didn't know very much about WW2 and I couldn't put any trust into what he wrote.
   Rating: 1/15/2010
3. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right - Quick, very interesting read about using check lists to improve quality. Now, how to use this concept in website development?
   Rating: 1/17/2010
4. Grey Seer - Good read with plenty of ideas to use for WFRP. If you like the TrollSlayer books, you'll like this one.
   Rating: 1/28/2010
5. The Burning Land - Good read, but it felt like I already read this one before. Cornwell needs to come up with some new plots.
   Rating: 1/31/2010
6. Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible - Mainly first-hand accounts from the first few days of the Battle of the Bulge. Pretty interesting, but I prefer books with a bit more analysis.
   Rating: 2/18/2010
7. The Legacy: Legend of Drizzt, Book VII - Sappy but fun, Drizzt books are a guilty pleasure of mine.
   Rating: 2/23/2010
8. Starless Night: The Legend of Drizzt, Book VIII - Lots of dead drow and good info on Menzoberranzan in this one.
   Rating: 2/26/2010
9. Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid - Pretty funny, but not George Carlin funny. Needs more rants, less Denis Leary biographical info.
   Rating: 3/1/2010
10. Siege of Darkness: The Legend of Drizzt, Book IX - Fight, fight, fight, zzzz....
    Rating: 3/8/2010
11. SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance - A great read with lots of fascinating info, I just wish it was longer.
    Rating: 3/12/2010
12. Dungeons And Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide 4th Edition - Good stuff for beginners, but I found it rather dull. Except for maybe two charts, this book is not really needed for playing D&D.
    Rating: 3/22/2010
13. Dungeon Master 4th Edition For Dummies - A very good addition to the DM's Guide with a nicely done little dungeon for a 2nd level party.
    Rating: 3/28/2010
14. Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition - Good listing of monsters. It could have used some more fluff though.
    Rating: 4/4/2010
15. Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook - Needs a much better index and I could have done without the new races.
    Rating: 4/8/2010
16. Passage to Dawn: The Legend of Drizzt, Book X - I think I'm done reading these for a long, long time.
    Rating: 4/8/2010
17. Hackmaster RPG: Frandor's Keep - One of the best adventure settings/modules I've ever read. It sets the standard for how to do a sandbox right.
    Rating: 5/30/2010
18. The Fall of Berlin 1945 - A very good book about a very bad time in history.
    Rating: 7/15/2010
19. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (Stainless Steel Rat, Book 1) - Quick, fun read- perfect for the beach and full of ideas of a Traveller campaign.
    Rating: 7/18/2010
20. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted - More Stainless Steel Rat, this time in the army.
    Rating: 7/20/2010
21. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues - Even more about the Stainless Steel Rat. The weakest of the set I read.
    Rating: 7/22/2010
22. Royal Assassin - I want to dislike this series for the lame names and the passivity of the main characters, but I just can't. Robin Hobb is a very good writer and really hooks me into their lives.
    Rating: 7/28/2010
23. Assassin's Quest - Great ending to this trilogy.
    Rating: 8/10/2010