2018’s Year in Reading

Happy new year! Every year I keep track of what I read in a giant spreadsheet, and then on January 1 I add it all up and tell you about it.

A few years ago I started separating out work reading from leisure reading (though the fact that I get PAID to READ BOOKS is an endless source of delighted amazement to me); I don’t list the “work” books here other than as a total, as I’m never 100% sure what’s been announced and what hasn’t.

The totals have increased every year; last year made a HUGE jump, and I’m a little astonished about it. I read more “leisure” books last year than total books in 2015. My “work” reading decreased slightly, though my business actually got better; I moved into some more deeper editing (which takes longer and pays more), as well as another sidelight.

For comparison, the last few years’ totals:
2015: 63 total books read, of which 25 were leisure;
2016: 107 total, 27 leisure;
2017: 115 total, 23 leisure.

2018 blew those numbers out of the water. Last year I read 148 total books, 64 of which were leisure. I’m counting as “leisure” books I read for research, and for my book group, as well as books I just chose to read because I thought they sounded like fun. Most of them were! Some weren’t. That’s the way reading goes.

My 64 nobody-paid-me-to-read-these-books, in order of reading, were:
The Red, Linda Nagata
The Trials, Linda Nagata
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and the Shaman, Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric’s Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Wish You Well, David Balducci
The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric’s Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold
A is for Alibi, Sue Grafton
B is for Burglar, Sue Grafton
Going Dark, Linda Nagata
C is for Corpse, Sue Grafton
Penric’s Fox, Lois McMaster Bujold
D is for Deadbeat, Sue Grafton
E is for Evidence, Sue Grafton
The Iris Files: Notes from a Desperate Housewife, Karen G. Berry
F is for Fugitive, Sue Grafton
G is for Gumshoe, Sue Grafton
Old School, Tobias Wolff
H is for Homicide, Sue Grafton
Silver on the Road, Laura Anne Gilman
I is for Innocent, Sue Grafton
Without a Summer, Mary Robinette Kowal
J is for Judgment, Sue Grafton
Valour and Vanity, Mary Robinette Kowal
K is for Killer, Sue Grafton
L is for Lawless, Sue Grafton
Fiddlehead, Cherie Priest
M is for Malice, Sue Grafton
Being Mortal, Atul Gawande
N is for Noose, Sue Grafton
O is for Outlaw, Sue Grafton
Dragon Keeper, Robin Hobb
Dragon Haven, Robin Hobb
P is for Peril, Sue Grafton
City of Dragons, Robin Hobb
Q is for Quarry, Sue Grafton
R is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton
Blood of Dragons, Robin Hobb
S is for Silence, Sue Grafton
T is for Trespass, Sue Grafton
Rose Madder, Stephen King
U is for Undertow, Sue Grafton
V is for Vengeance, Sue Grafton
Come Along with Me [partial], Shirley Jackson
The Best of Nancy Kress, Nancy Kress
W is for Wasted, Sue Grafton
X [isn’t for anything], Sue Grafton
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
In High Cotton, Denise Grover Swank
Bumbling into Body Hair, Everett Maroon
Educated, Tara Westover
A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers
Y is for Yesterday, Sue Grafton
Marketing Steamy Romance, Kilby Blades
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers
Ancillary Justice [reread], Ann Leckie
Vurt, Jeff Noon
Wildfire Griffin, Zoe Chant
Gemstone: Gemini, Ann Gimpel
Starfire: A Red Peace, Spencer Ellsworth
Starfire: Shadow Sun Seven, Spencer Ellsworth
Starfire: Memory’s Blade, Spencer Ellsworth

Whew!

Did you read any of those? How many books did you read last year? How many do you want to read this year? What should I read this year? (The book I’m currently reading is Savages, by K. J. Parker; it’s fantastic, and I’m just barely getting started.)

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I usually try and make a second year-in-review post, but I’m not sure I can bear to do that just yet. I’m still dealing with the huge empty hole losing my mother has left. So much of 2018 was about her illness and her death…just when she was supposed to be getting better. So I’m not sure I’m in a place to write coherently about 2018. I’m just…thinking REALLY HARD about 2019 being SO MUCH BETTER in every way. Let’s go with that, okay?