Bookbarn International, Somerset, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
I don’t know any other way to put this than that I failed in 2017 when it came to reading. In the ten years, I’ve been keeping this list I’ve always got into the twenties. I used to get more than double that! I don’t know of any one thing I can point to in 2017 that kept me away from reading. I do know that no longer taking the train back and forth from work has had an impact. That 30 to 40 minutes every day, not including time spent at the stations was almost always dedicated to reading. And, I don’t have that time anymore. Another contributing factor might have been the size of some of the books I decided to read last year. I’m still only halfway through a dense 600+ page tome that I started in early 2017.
This year I’m going to try and set aside some time every day to read. Hopefully, that will translate into better numbers when this year comes to an end.
Click through to see the little that I did manage to read in 2017.
In 2016 I managed to beat 2015’s all-time-low but it came in at more than ten books less than the next closest year. 2016 was not as rough a year as 2015 but it remained a difficult one personally and professionally. Despite not getting much reading in I’ve continued to purchase books and my to-read list is becoming unwieldy. I’m hoping to knock off a significant number of titles in 2017. I don’t usually set goals but I’m going to try and read ten more than I did last year with my total somewhere in the 40s by end of year. I hope you’ll reach your reading goals this year as well.
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
