I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read since 2010 and this last year was by far the worst year so far. I’ve averaged about 50 books a year for the past five years, this year’s total comes in at a measly 23. There were a number of extenuating circumstances this past year (separation, new job, divorce, etc.) that took up not only time but mental space that I usually set aside for personal and professional reading. I’m hopeful that in 2016 things will trend back towards the mean.
I kept track, once again, of all the books I read in 2014. It came to a grand total of 48 this year. That’s six more than I read in 2013 and one more than I read in 2012. 2010 is still my best year in reading (69 books) since I started tracking this. My goal for 2015 is to break into the fifties this year.
January (3)
Sit Down and Shut up by Brad Warner
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
February (1)
This Gaming Life by Jim Rossignol
March (3)
What the Koran Really Says by Ibn Warraq
Note from Underground Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Origins of the Koran by Ibn Warraq
April (3)
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
Lumberjanes #1 by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
May (4)
King Lear by William Shakespeare
The Simon & Kirby Library: Horror! by Jack Kirby
A Darkling Sea by James Cambias
X-Men The Dark Phoenix Saga by Claremont & Byrne
June (5)
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Cities without Suburbs: a 2010 Perspective by David Rusk
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason
Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day, The Allied Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe by Wayne Vansant
July (4)
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Finder: Talisman by Carla Speed McNeil
August (4)
Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith by Ron L. Anderson
Cryptozoologicon, Volume 1 by Darren Naish
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Christ Myth Theory and its Problems by Robert M. Price
September (6)
Abominable Science by Daniel Loxton
Death Masks by Jim Butcher
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
Anatomy of a Game: Super Mario Bros. by Jeremy Parish
The Diamond Throne by David Eddings
The Ruby Knight by David Eddings
October (5)
The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings
Cthulhu in World Mythology by Jason Colavito
ZZT by Anna Anthropy
Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams
Terror by Dan Simmons
November (5)
The Sleep of Reason edited by Spike
Tomboy by Liz Prince
In the Dust of this Planet by Eugene Thacker
Flame and Smoke edited by Andy Keener
Light in the Dark edited by Andy keener
December (5)
Before the Storm by Rick Perlstein
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Doubting Jesus’ Resurrection by Kris D. Komarnitsky
Piranha Frenzy by Colin Campbell
To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North and William Shakespeare
Latest batch of books to review has arrived. I’m especially looking forward to the updated Cities without Suburbs and to get as look at more of a Jack Kirby’s work.
I was recently looking at my Amazon wishlist, it has quite a few books on it, and wondering when, if ever, I’d get around to purchasing and reading them. See, I made a deal with myself, and I’ve mostly kept it, that I won’t buy anymore new books until I finish all the ones I already have on my shelves. But, it doesn’t seem to matter how many of the books I take off the shelf and read there are always unread ones sitting on the shelves waiting for their turn. If reading wasn’t so enjoyable the task might be Sisyphean…
So, I decided to sit down and see just how many books I have to read before I can get to those new ones… It took awhile but here it is:
171 books
Roughly, I didn’t count a lot of the genre fiction collections I have lying around (Dune, Stross, Stevenson, Weeks, etc…) If you want to get a glimpse at what I’m interested in go ahead and click through to the spreadsheet, I didn’t list authors but some simple googling should lead you to these books.
Anyone have any suggestions on whittling this down to something manageable?
