As is my custom, I keep an Excel spreadsheet of all the books I read, and add them up at the new year, and publish the list here.
As is my more recent custom, I don’t tell you the names or authors of the books I read for work, as a number of them may not be published (or even announced) yet.
It’s fascinating to compare to prior years. In 2015, I read a total of 63 books, 25 of those for pleasure. In 2016, my total was 107, with 27 for pleasure. So, 38 jobs increasing to 80 in the space of one year: my getting-paid-to-read business is clearly booming! I knew I was busier than ever…it’s actually comforting to see numerical proof of that. (I never count as I go along; I prefer to know only when the year is finished.)
Anyway, without further ado, here is the list of books I read last year just because I wanted to:
Waters, Sarah, The Paying Guests
Byatt, A.S., The Children’s Book
Novik, Naomi, Uprooted
Beagle, Peter S., The Last Unicorn
Connolly, Tina, Seriously Wicked
Henderson, Randy, Finn Fancy Necromancy
Dickinson, Seth, The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Lawson, Jenny, Furiously Happy
Jemison, N.K., The Fifth Season
Bennett, Robert Jackson, City of Blades
Grossman, Lev, The Magician’s Land
Anders, Charlie Jane, All the Birds in the Sky
King, Stephen, Doctor Sleep
Addison, Katherine, The Goblin Emperor
Cooper, Brenda, Edge of Dark
Buckell, Tobias A., Crystal Rain
Palmer, Ada, Too Like the Lightning
Johansen, Erika, The Invasion of the Tearling (ARC)
Corey, James S.A., Leviathan Wakes
Levine, David, Arabella of Mars
Mostert, Natasha, Season of the Witch
Hendee, Barb & JC, The Dead Seekers (ARC)
Corey, James S.A., Caliban’s War
Corey, James S.A., Abbadon’s Gate
Corey, James S.A., Cibola Burn
Okorafor, Nnedi, Binti (novella)
Kadrey, Richard, Butcher Bird
Though now I realize I must clarify further: of the 27 above, 8 were for our book group (which kind of confuses me, as we meet every month), but the rest were chosen just by me. I’m in the middle of the fifth Expanse book now, so that’ll be my first pleasure book of 2017 (already have a work-book on the list).
What was your favorite thing YOU read last year?