Happy New Year!
Spinning Silver by
Naomi Novik. It was on my list, but I might not have gotten to it this year
without the recommendation, and I'm glad I did because it led to three more
awesome reads this year and more to come!
2018 Reading Stats
As usual, borrowed and modified from Boston Bibliophile.
How many books read in 2018? 73, which is the most I've read
since I started this blog 10 years ago!
How many fiction and nonfiction? 57 fiction, 12 nonfiction,
including 4 books on baking (getting back to my roots after 21 nonfiction last
year!), and 4 and a half books of poetry, including a novel-in-poetry (The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo) and a
novel half written in poetry (The Sisters
of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner).
Male/female author ratio? 55 books by women including one
man/woman team, two short story collections by people of all genders, and 16
books by men.
Writers of Color/Minority Writers? At least 14 books by
writers of color and an additional 13 by Jewish writers.
Favorite book of 2018? The
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and The
Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Longest and shortest book titles?
Shortest title: This is a three- way tie: Untwine by Edwidge Danticat, L'Appart by David Lebovitz, and The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Longest title: This is
the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Longest and shortest books?
Longest: The Cider House Rules by John Irving, at
973 pages.
Shortest: Blue Iris
by Mary Oliver, at 73 pages.
How many books from the library? 47, including 10
audiobooks--this may be my best year ever for library books!
Which countries did you go to through the page in your year
of reading?
Fictionalized Belarus and other unspecified fictional
Eastern European countries; many regions and fictionalized versions of the
United States (Maine, Tennessee, California, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico,
rural Idaho, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Boston, Denver); Paris; a
post-post-post ad infinitum apocalyptic world; 1500s England, Amsterdam, and
Portugal, plus 1960s Israel and 2000s London; a ring of dying sentient planets;
and space.
Any translated books?
Again, I did pretty badly on that. I read most of The Last Wish by Andrezej Sapkowski,
translated from the Polish, which the Witcher videogame is based on. I need to
do better on this next year.
Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
Four books by Naomi Novik, which won't stop anytime soon
since I'm planning to read the rest of her Temeraire series!
Any re-reads?
Strangely, no.
Favorite character of the year?
Baz from Carry On.
Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific
recommendation?
Which author was new to you in 2018 that you now want to
read the entire works of?
Naomi Novik!
Which books are you annoyed you didn't read?
None, I'm good!
Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
I'd owned and been meaning to read The Cider House Rules for a while, so glad I finally got to it!
Also, I finally got to the Broken Earth trilogy, which I'd been meaning to read
since The Fifth Season came out!
How many books did you read on your ereader?
Two, I think. I could
do better on that next year.
Oldest book read? Wednesday
the Rabbi Got Wet by Harry Kemelman, published in 1969
Newest? Family Trust
by Kathy Wang, published in Oct. 2018
How many SFF books did you read? 21, including some SF/F crossover fic, like All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane
Anders (a sci fi/fantasy mind meld), The
Speed of Clouds by Miriam Seidel (about SF fandom but also includes fanfic),
and the Broken Earth trilogy (morphs from fantasy to sci fi). A pretty
cool year in speculative fiction for me!
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