I’ve been chronically late posting updates of what I read in the previous year so this post is kind of ironic this year that it’s the earliest I’ve posted a round up for the previous year (2019) and the latest I’ve post a rounded up for an earlier year (2018).
I don’t do these summaries to brag or to be performative. I do them largely for myself as a means of documenting when I read something and to take stock in what types of authors & stories I’ve been reading. I never go into the year with the plan to read more of a certain genre or specific author’s books. I may have a vague idea that I want to check out an author that I haven’t read before, but I certainly don’t have a checklist or score card going into the year.
Having said that I do like to mix it up and read Science Fiction, Fantasy, and non-Fiction in varying amounts. I will read the occasion mainstream literature, but speculative fiction has kind of broken my brain for those type of stories. I have been trying to include more poetry and graphic novels in my reading lists.
So let’s jump in the Wayback machine and go back to 2018 when I pledged to read 36 books on my Goodreads challenge that year, an increase of 6 books over the 2017 goal. I fell short reading 30, which was the same number I read in 2017. Below is a quilt of covers laid out in approximately the order I read them in.
I “discovered” a lot of new authors in 2018 that I hadn’t read before. 15/30 books were by authors I hadn’t previously read. My reading choices were pretty evenly split between Science Fiction and Fantasy with a couple of non-fiction, poetry, and graphic novels thrown in for good measure. More than half the authors I read were female in 2018. Most of the books I read came out in the last few years or at least post 2011. With 3 being from the 1990s. As in previous years, I won’t get into reviewing the books I read here. 2018 was definitely a good year of reading for me with the majority of the books being memorable reads that I would heartily recommend to friends.
Moving on to 2019 my pace was a lot slower than I had anticipated. For starters I began ride-sharing with a co-worker which cut into my audio book listening. That compounded by health issues in the second half of 2019 really put a damper on my target of 36 books. In the end I read 13 books.
2019’s reading selection tended to skew towards Science Fiction with 8/13 being SF related and only 3 books had Fantasy elements in it. Usually I am split a lot more evenly. More than half the books I read were by female authors. I also read 3 books with Time Travel elements in them this year – The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, and Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield. I read 2 non-fiction books both of which were actual physical books as opposed to e-books or audio books.
So that’s my reading habits in a nutshell. I am aiming for 36 books again in 2020. I’ll see what happens. I’ve already went through my back log of books I bought in the last couple of years and I have over 50 books to choose from and that doesn’t include the audio books and e-books I have on my electronic TBR piles. Plus I know of a few authors with debut novels coming out in 2020 that I hope to add to my reading list. Going to be a busy reading year.
What are you looking forward to reading in 2020?
I keep seeing people I really like having read The Lady From the Black Lagoon – I’m adding it to my reading list.
Until this post, I hadn’t realized how many audiobooks you listen to. Which must be so wonderful for you as they have a richness to them that is unlike reding off the page. I especially love it when they are read by the author as they put emphasis on words and phrases that I might not have thought to.
Hopefully in the new year, I’ll get to listen to a few as well. Currently listening to Range on long car trips but I broke down and bought it on paper so I can actually get through it before it grows stale.
As you know, I love these Reading Round-up posts and look forward to them every year.
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Thanks. I am glad you enjoy the reading round up posts. I’d love to spend more time reviewing the actual books, but I really need to do that as I finish them. I love audio books because the voice actors/narrators bring such wonderful performances to the books. Luke Daniels is one of my favourites. I highly recommend Kevin Hearne’s and Deliah S. Dawson’s fantasy satire trilogy that begins with Kill the Farm Boy. It’s like a version of Fractured Fairytales meets Terry Pratchett.
I need to make more use of my own personal blog so this is something I can do. I’m terrible at book reviews, but an overview is doable. I really like your breakdown; something I might steal in the future.
I’m always interested in what other people are reading or have read to see if there’s anything I want to add to my own TBR list. I’ll be adding you on Goodreads after this.
I used a service called Scribd in 2018 which allowed me to read and listen to a lot more books. I just might have to get back on that.
Good luck on meeting your reading goal for 2020.
Thanks! Glad to inspire people to read more and think more about what and who they read. If anything on my list looks intriguing feel free to ask for my capsule review on them.
I’ll look for your add on Goodreads.