Wow I read a lot of books last year.
I keep a giant master spreadsheet, see; but I don’t tally anything up until New Year’s Day, when I come here to post about it; so as the year progresses, I have only a vague idea at best of what my totals might be.
In 2021, I read 141 books. That includes 82 for work, and 59 for not-work (including books I read by clients just because I chose to, and books I read in a book group, and other reasons).
For comparison, the last few years’ numbers are: 2020: 86 total (61 for work); 2019: 112 total (86 for work); 2018: 148 total (84 for work); 2017: 115 total (92 for work); 2016: 107 total (80 for work); and 2015: 63 total (38 for work).
Glancing over those numbers, it looks like my work has held pretty steady—but that I went crazy on the “leisure” reading. I guess that’s what happens when there’s a pandemic and you have to basically stay home all year.
Over the last few years, I’ve only listed the “not-work” books in these blog posts, because I didn’t want to give away any clients’ secrets, but this year a) I don’t think there’s many secrets to give away in my list (I’ll elide the few I’m not entirely sure about), and b) I won’t tell you which reads were work versus not-work, just in case I’m wrong about my guesses.
So here’s everything I read last year!
- Shannon Mayer, Shadowspell 4: The Year of the Chameleon
- Sonia Orin Lyris, Landfall
- Kathia, Dancer of Truths
- Lawrence Block (ed.), Collectibles
- Shannon Mayer & Kelly St. Claire, A Court of Honey and Ash
- Daniel Abraham, A Shadow in Summer
- Phillip A. Weaver, I am LIAM
- Lucius Shepard, Youthful Folly and Other Lost Stories
- Lyla Payne, Not Quite Buried
- Denise Grover Swank, It All Falls Down
- Daniel Abraham, A Betrayal in Winter
- Lewis Shiner, More Collected Stories
- Shannon Mayer, Shadowspell 5: The Year of the Chameleon
- Emily Kimelman, Unleashed
- Emily Kimelman, Death in the Dark
- Molly Tanzer, A Pretty Mouth
- Emily Kimelman, Insatiable
- Molly Tanzer, Rumbullion
- Emily Kimelman, Strings of Glass
- Molly Tanzer, The Pleasure Merchant
- Daniel Abraham, An Autumn War
- Emily Kimelman, The Devil’s Breath
- Chaz Brenchley, Everything in All the Wrong Order: The Best of Chaz Brenchley
- Emily Kimelman, Inviting Fire
- Emily Kimelman, Shadow Harvest
- Emily Kimelman, The Girl with the Gun
- Emily Kimelman, In Sheep’s Clothing
- Emily Kimelman, Flock of Wolves
- Emily Kimelman, Betray the Lie
- Emily Kimelman, Savage Grace
- Emily Kimelman, Blind Vigilance
- Kathia, The Words You Say
- D.G. Swank & A.R. Casella, Bad Luck Club
- Anthony Ryan, City of Songs
- J.N. Baker, Until Dawn: Into the Dark
- Emily Reed, Lost Secret
- Daniel Abraham, The Price of Spring
- Emily Reed, Dark Secret
- Joe Abercrombie, A Little Hatred
- Joe Abercrombie, The Trouble with Peace
- Brenda Clough, Marian Halcombe
- D.G. Swank & A.R. Casella, All the Luck You Need (novella)
- D.G. Swank & A.R. Casella, The Luck of the Draw (novella)
- Ruth Hogan, The Keeper of Lost Things
- Ava Miles, The Dreamer’s Flower Shoppe
- Emily Kimelman, Fatal Breach
- Brenda Clough, The King of the Book
- Anne Glenconner, Lady in Waiting
- Steven Jones and David A. Sutton, The Best of Dark Terrors
- Brenda Clough, The Jaguar Queen of Copal
- Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
- Joe R. Lansdale, Radiant Apples
- Brenda Clough, The Earl in the Shadows
- H.C. Mills, Unnatural Laws
- H.C. Mills, Unusual Enemies
- John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire
- Shannon Mayer, Shadowspell 6: The Year of the Chameleon
- [Client Name], [Secret Book Title]
- John Scalzi, The Consuming Fire
- Caitlin Kiernan, Vile Affections [&] Cambrian Tales
- David Zindell, The Orca’s Song
- Cathleen Schine, The Evolution of Jane
- John Scalzi, The Last Emperox
- David Zindell, If I Am God
- Lois McMaster Bujold, Masquerade in Lodi
- Jessica Eissfeldt, My Budy Holly Summer
- Kelley Armstrong, A Twist of Fate
- Chaz Brenchley, Dust Up at the Crater School
- Jenny Lawson, Broken (in the best possible way)
- Jim Mahoney, Life Lessons
- Shannon Mayer, Midlife Zombie Hunter
- Denise Grover Swank, The Lies She Told
- Mira Grant, Square3
- Brenda Clough, The True Prince of Vaurantania
- Josh Malerman, Ghoul n’ the Cape
- [Client Name], [Secret Book Title]
- D.B. Jackson, Thieftaker
- Shannon Mayer, High Risk Love
- Shannon Mayer, Of the Heart
- D.G. Swank & A.R. Casella, Love at First Hate
- Ann Patchett, State of Wonder
- J.N. Baker, Until Dawn: Pitch Black
- Shannon Mayer & Kelly St. Claire, A Throne of Feathers and Bone
- Kathia, Singer of Visions
- Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
- Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog
- Brenda Clough, The River Horse Tsar
- John Wiley, Eddy Johnson, Book Dealer
- Kevin Hearne, Hammered
- Kim Catron, Threshing of Straw
- Denise Grover Swank, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
- Kevin Hearne, Tricked
- Ava Miles, Beside Golden Irish Fields
- Kevin Hearne, Trapped
- [Client Name], [Secret Book Title]
- Kevin Hearne, Hunted
- Genevieve Mckay, Everyday Horses
- Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing
- Gail Carriger, Delightfully Deadly
- Xiaolu Guo, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
- Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Brenda Clough, The Nautilius Knight
- Shannon Mayer, Kingdom of Storms
- Cherie Priest, Holy Terror
- Cassandra Alexander, Year of the Nurse
- Brenda Clough, The Compass of Truth
- Diane Chiddister, One More Day
- Jonathan Thomas, Malign Providence
- Caitlin Kiernan, From Weird and Distant Shores
- James Galvin, The Meadow
- Larry Niven, Ringworld
- Jim Chmielewski, Two Ships
- Cheryl Strayed, Wild
- David Sweeney, Scanned Clean
- John Barth, The Floating Opera [reread]
- Tavaris Carter, Black Stones
- Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles full and expanded edition
- Brenda Clough, The Pirate Princess
- Denise Grover Swank, Shades of Truth
- Tad Williams, Tailchaser’s Song
- Tobin Marks, Endeavor’s Run
- Shannon Mayer, A Killing Curse
- Arkady Martine, A Desolation Called Peace
- Kathia, This Could Be the Night
- Kathe Koja, The Cipher
- Brenda Clough, The Single Musketeer
- Ava Miles, Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
- Marilyn Holt, Making Angels
- Deanna Raybourne, A Curious Beginning
- [Client Name], [Secret Book Title]
- Robin Hobb, Ship of Magic
- Shelley Katz, Alligator
- John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider
- Brenda Clough, The Cobra Marked King
- Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends [reread]
- [Client Name], [Secret Book Title]
- Josiah Bancroft, Arm of the Sphinx [reread]
- Josiah Bancroft, The Hod King [reread]
- J.N. Baker, Until Dawn: Dead of Night
- Josiah Bancroft, The Fall of Babel
- Jo Walton, The Just City