I’ve been reading 75 books lately.
At least, that’s what Goodreads says, and it’s true, as long as you count audiobooks, comics, RPG supplements, and the like. Some people don’t. People draw lines in different ways. I figure most years I pad my numbers with a few comics or young adult books, but it balances out when I read some textbooks or something like Ulysses that takes me months to digest. If you count the way Goodreads counts, I’ve been above 75 books every year since 2019. Until now.
This year, I thought I set my goal at 50, and was unpleasantly surprised this summer to learn I’d aimed for the more ambitious 55. I could have padded my way in easily, but I elected not to. Mostly because I haven’t read all that many books this year. Most of what I’ve read has been Spider-Man comics, and that feels a little too much like cheating.
At the time of this writing, I’ve finished 54 books per Goodreads, and an I’m working on my 55th, Crime and Punishment. It’s unclear if I’ll finish it by the end of the year (I’ve got about 200 pages to read in 11 days). Likely I’ll pick up speed with just a few days left, and if it’s real close I’ll tear through another Agatha Christie on the 29th.
But that’s not to say I haven’t read any books this year. By my count, the breakdown looks like this:
Kids books / Novellas: 3
Comics: 23 (Mostly Spider-Man (mostly Ultimate), followed by Ninja Turtles, Static Shock, indie Image books, and Batman)
Non-Fiction: 4 (My favorite was What If 2 or the first half of Paul Allen’s Biography, my least favorite was The Curse of Oak Island)
Fiction: 24. Mystery (lots of Agatha Christie books), Classics (Dracula, Treasure Island, The Stranger), Sci-Fi (Wool, Red Team Blues, Titanicus (40k), Area 51, The Fifth Season), Spy, Romance.
My favorite book of the year was a surprise to me: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. I really did not care for the sequel to Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, so I put off reading the third book in that series for a long time. It picks up right where the second ends, and improves on it in almost every way! A pleasant surprise.
My least favorite finish of the year was probably The Stranger, which was full of unlikeable characters and made me rather sad to read. I also read This Is How You Lose The Time War at the recommendation of many, many people, and thought it was fine. The first half was a little purple and a little meandering, but the end pulled together strong.
The complete list of books I read this year can be found on Goodreads.