stellahibernis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stellahibernis) wrote2019-01-01 01:16 pm
stellahibernis) wrote2019-01-01 01:16 pm
Books books books
I did indeed reach my reading goal for 2018, which was to finish one book a week on average. Final tally was exactly 52, although to those very pedantic, who remember the length of a non-leap year is 52 weeks and one day (aka me), I also got halfway through Dracula, so on average I definitely reached my goal. Most of the books I read were new to me, only 8 were rereads.
A couple of months in I also decided to pay particular attention to reading female authors, because if you just go with what's ~known, especially when a lot of the books aren't super new, it's very easy to end up with a 10/90 split. As a result, more than half, 29, of the books I read were by female authors, which I was satisfied with.
I read some authors that considering the amount and variety I've read it's a surprise I never did before (Jane Austen! I really loved Persuasion), and continued my Discworld journey. I only started a few years ago, and my sister's been feeding me a steady diet of them. She has all of them, and gives me always a few at a time to read. At the beginning it was not in the order of publication (the advise to not start with Colour of Magic is sound), but for a while now I've been sufficiently immersed that we continue in order. I've got twelve more to go.
Other than that, I found some new favorites, especially N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, and unfortunately happened on some less worthwhile reading too.
I did have to pick and choose a bit to reach the goal, so many longer books had to wait their turn. Looking at that, it'll be more difficult to get to 52 this year since many in my pile to read are long ones, but on the other hand I read a lot of fic last year too (probably at least as much as I did books), and if some of that time gets allocated to reading books, I even might read as many as I did last year. Guess we'll see.
The current book for me is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I've read once before, but have been wanting to read again, there's always new things waiting on subsequent reads. I doubt I'll finish it within a week, considering its thousand pages, not to mention it's not the fastest read around.
A couple of months in I also decided to pay particular attention to reading female authors, because if you just go with what's ~known, especially when a lot of the books aren't super new, it's very easy to end up with a 10/90 split. As a result, more than half, 29, of the books I read were by female authors, which I was satisfied with.
I read some authors that considering the amount and variety I've read it's a surprise I never did before (Jane Austen! I really loved Persuasion), and continued my Discworld journey. I only started a few years ago, and my sister's been feeding me a steady diet of them. She has all of them, and gives me always a few at a time to read. At the beginning it was not in the order of publication (the advise to not start with Colour of Magic is sound), but for a while now I've been sufficiently immersed that we continue in order. I've got twelve more to go.
Other than that, I found some new favorites, especially N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, and unfortunately happened on some less worthwhile reading too.
I did have to pick and choose a bit to reach the goal, so many longer books had to wait their turn. Looking at that, it'll be more difficult to get to 52 this year since many in my pile to read are long ones, but on the other hand I read a lot of fic last year too (probably at least as much as I did books), and if some of that time gets allocated to reading books, I even might read as many as I did last year. Guess we'll see.
The current book for me is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I've read once before, but have been wanting to read again, there's always new things waiting on subsequent reads. I doubt I'll finish it within a week, considering its thousand pages, not to mention it's not the fastest read around.