A Year of Reading

A year ago I began keeping a Reading Journal for several reasons.  To track what I'm reading, to see how much I'm reading, to prevent me from buying books I've already read unless I want to reread them and to have a place to do short reviews.
Well it's been an interesting year.  Since last August 18 I have read 137 books, that's about .37 books a day.  I had no idea.  But I do read quickly and I read several books at the same time.
What have I discovered about my reading habits?  Well, I like mysteries, always had.  This year I read all of Tana French's books (In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place and Broken Ground).  I'd read In the Woods before but decided to reread it after reading The Likeness because one of the characters is in both books.  Her books are spellbinding.  She writes about crime in Ireland and her characters are wonderfully, flawed people. She gets better with each book,  I wish she had written 40 books instead of only 4.  Well worth rereading because they're so much more than mysteries.

I'm also heavily into Charles Todd a mother/son writing team whose protagonist is a shell-shocked policeman who returns to Scotland Yard after World War I, carrying in his head Hamish, the Scotish soldier he had executed for refusing to lead his men into battle.   Some titles in this series are:
Search the Dark, A Fearsome Doubt, Legacy of the Dead


The books I'll remember long after this year?  There are a number.

11-22-63   By Stephan King a story of a man who travels back in time to try and prevent the assination of President Kennedy.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle  by Barbara Kingsolver  I blogged about this book before, a great book about being a locovore.

Money Ball  by Michael Lewis A must for all baseball fans

Fair Maiden  by Joyce Carol Oates  A very different story of love.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern    A story of magic and love and a circus I'd love to visit.

Every Last One by Anna Quinllen  The story of a family destroyed by obsessive love.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLean  A fictionalized account of the marriage of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley.  Made me want to read more about them.

During the year I also read some real duds!
Books I WOULDN'T  recommend include:

The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek  Chick Lit, which I don't read, my only excuse is that I've been considering reading The Great Gatsby and I thought this might give me some insight into the story.

Mrs. Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs  I like quirky stories but this one just wasn't well written.

Kiss Mommy Goodbye  by Joy Fielding  Boring and not particularly well written.


So what am I reading now, well I'm reading:

The Orlando Trilogy by  Isabel Colegate  I've read several of her books this year, including The Shooting Party and I like her very much.

The Time Baroness by Georgina Young-Ellis  I love time travel books even when they're "cheesy".

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan  I'm rereading this whole series because the final book, # 14 or 15, is coming out in January.


And I'm waiting for A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway to come in.

It's been a good year for reading.