My Year in Reading 2016

I really didn’t think I would make it to 100 books this year. I went through a stretch when it was difficult for me to focus on reading. I did list 10 best books and some honorable mentions, but it was harder this year. I did more audio books this year. There will be fewer of those this year since my commute is shorter and I won’t be driving alone to Kentucky.I set my goal at 100 again, but my real goal is to continue to try to diversify my reading and to read at least one classic I have not read before.

Top ten books read in no particular order

The Winter Family by Cifford Jackman
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
The Fireman by Joe Hill
I Must Say by Martin Short
Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
End of Watch by Stephen King
But What If We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman
The Whistler by John Grisham
Bazaar of Bad Dreans by Stephen King
The End by Charlie Higson

Honorable Mention

Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth
Kraken by China Mieville
Ms Marvel vol 1 by G Willow Wilson
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Tell Us Something True by Dana Reinhardt
Let the Right One In by John Lindquist

Book I would most recommend

The Fireman by Joe Hill. It is very long, but it is worth the time.

Worst book I finished

If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher

Book I Dustbunnied

None this year. I would have stopped reading the above book, but it was for book club and I always finish book club books no matter how bad they are.

Number of books read: 101

Number of pages read according to Goodreads: 31304 – This is wrong. They have one book listed as 6 pages and I know it was around 200, but this is easier than trying to add them all up.

My Year in Reading 2015

Top ten books read in no particular order

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey
The Universe vs Alex Wood by Gavin Extence
Positive by David Wellington
Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
The Martian by Andy Weir
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Honorable Mention

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore
Pretty Ugly by Kirker Butler

Book I would most recommend

Either Station Eleven or Positive. Both end of the word type books. Positive has zombies.

Worst book I finished

The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell

Book I Dustbunnied

The Deep by Nick Cutter

Number of books read: 106

Number of pages read according to Goodreads: 37171

Exactly the same number of books as last year and less than 100 pages more than lat year. The biggest difference is that I read fewer books by authors just because I’ve read all of their stuff and read more books by authors new to me.

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I Have an Author “Type”

There is a study out there that says men like to read male authors and women prefer to read female authors. I have never analyzed my reading habits and author gender. I do know a lot of my favorite authors are male. I do, however, have quite a few female authors I read regularly. I like to joke that I sometimes have the reading habits of a teenage girl. I’m too lazy to do a count, but I could see my total skewing more toward the male authors. I don’t think this study says more than that people like to read what they know and that people feel more comfortable with the voice of someone with whom they relate. That’s why the push for more diverse titles is important, especially for kids. All kids need to be able to find books about someone like them.

I was thinking about this last night after I was working on a list of books for a class I will be leading at work. It is a list of good adult fiction for teens. I took many of the books of the Alex Awards list and added a bunch from my personal experience. As I was asking coworkers for some titles to add to the list, I mentioned that I needed to add some diversity, because although I didn’t know what most of the authors looked like I was pretty sure they were a little too similar. I googled the names of the authors and discovered that they were more alike than I realized. If I just looked at the author photos, I could assume that they were all related. Apparently, I don’t just have a thing for British and Irish authors, I I have thing for British, Irish and ginger authors. It was really weird. I can now add diversity to the list of my reading goals for 2015.

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My Year in Reading 2014

Top ten books read in no particular order

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Winger by Andrew Smith
The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig
Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
Breakfast Served Anytime by Sarah Combs
Revival by Stephen King
Butter by Erin Jade Lange
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larrsen
Seven for a Secret by Lindsay Faye

Honorable Mention

Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman
The Three by Sarah Lotz
Trouble by Non Pratt
The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit by Graham Joyce
Parasite by Mira Grant

Worst book I finished

Someone Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon

Book I Dustbunnied

Wolf by Lorenzo Carcaterra

Number of books read: 106

Number of pages read according to Goodreads: 37067

I have to say that this was not a banner year in reading for me. Too many mediocre books. It was hard to come up with the 15 best. I need to be more selective with my reading next year.

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Changing my reading and tv habits

Each year I set a reading goal. That reading goal has always been a quantity goal. Usually 100 books. I always meet that goal and this year I am ahead of my goal. I sometimes add in a page number goal. I’ve been thinking that I need to change the type of goal I set next year. I read a lot of books that I finish, but don’t love. They aren’t bad, but they are forgettable. I read a lot of authors out of habit even though they write the same book over and over again. I can read a Stuart a woods book in a day, but it’s not different than the last Stuart Woods book I read. I don’t discover new books anymore because I’m reading through my books from my reserve list instead of browsing the shelves. Many of those books are on my reserve list because they are written by authors I read regularly. Some of these authors are still consistently good their books might be in my top ten list for the year. Some of them are like the aforementioned Stuart Woods. They are consistent and boring and after I finish I wonder why I still read them. It is time for me to stop reading based on habit and start discovering new books and authors.

I do the same thing with TV. It’s really hard for me to give up on a former favorite show once it is not as good as it once was. Watch them becomes a chore. Something I’m doing out of habit not because I’m still enjoying it. I think in addition to habit, this also stems from my misguided belief that the show will return to its former level of entertainment. This never actually happens. If I can cut the cord on some of these shows, I will probably find time to read some of the new books mentioned above. I need to remember quality is better than quantity.

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My 20 Favorite Books of All Time

I was asked by an inmate at the jail to put this together since I won’t be at the jail to recommend books after next week. Things to keep in mind before reading my list:

1. I put this together in a couple of minutes using reminders from my ratings on Shelfari.

2. When I say favorite I don’t necessarily mean well written, classic, etc. Just books I enjoyed and have stuck with me.

3. I cheated and put three series in a spot instead of individual books.

4. I welcome comments, but don’t really care if you didn’t like these books, They are my favorites, not yours.

So, here is my list:

Twenty Favorite Books All Time:

1. The Stand by Stephen KIng

2. Swan Song Robert McCammon

3. Neverwhere Neil Gaiman

4. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

5. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry Mildred Taylor

6. Practical Demonkeeping Christopher Moore

7. The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice

8. The Sicilian Mario Puzo

9. Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson

10. Green River Rising Tim Willocks

11. The Shotgun Rule Charlie Huston

12. This is Where I Leave You Jonathan Tropper

13. Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein

14. Lord of the Rings series JRR Tolkien

15. Song of Ice and Fire Series George RR Martin

16. Dark Tower series Stephen King

17. A Time to Kill John Grisham

18. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

19. The Winter of Frankie Machine Don Winlsow

20. Hooligans William Diehl

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My Year in Reading 2013

Top Ten Books Read(in no particular order)

Doctor Sleep – Stephen King
Joyland – Stephen King
The Wool Series – Hugh Howey
Sons of the 613 – Michael Rubens
Last Girlfriend on Earth – Simon Rich
Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
Discount Armageddon – Seanan McGuire
Last Whisper in the Dark – Tom Piccirilli
Fuse – Julianna Baggott
Last Kind Word – David Housewright

Honorable Mentions

I Wear the Black Hat – Chuck Klosterman
Replay – Ken Grimwood
Rock Hole – Reavis Wortham
The Postmortal – Drew Magary
The Cydonian Pyramid – Pete Hautman

Book I Would Most Recommend

The Wool series by Hugh Howey

Worst Books I Read

Quiet – Susan Cain
Lionheart – Sharon Kay Penman

Books I Fed to the Dustbunnies

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain

Total Number of Books Read: 108 – same as last year.

Pages Read: 35,191(plus a few audio books and unpaged graphic novels)

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