Annual Books Read Statistics for 2020
ere is this year’s Annual Books Read Statistics and Thoughts
Post!
Here are the statistics for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 (and
the list), 2010, 2009 (and
the list).
Books Read: 323, including the following:
81 novels
37 MG and YA
60 board books
87 essays and non-fiction and comics
30 short stories, plays, and sample chapters
28 poems
I can see the differences already: Having finished school in July, and having
more time to read at night as the kids grow older, means I’ve had more time to
read novels, even while keeping up with my own writing!
2019: 36 novels, 181 board books, MG, and YA (plus
ongoing rereads), 31 essays and non-fiction and comics, 14 short stories and scripts
and plays, 16 poems
2018: 66 novels, 133 board books (plus ongoing rereads), 27 essays and
non-fiction and comics, 14 short stories and scripts and plays, 21 poems, 23
YA/MG books
2017: 49 novels, 45 board books, although the railway books by Rev. Awry and
the Beatrix Potter collection total 49 books (which involve ongoing rereads, including
the board books from last year), 27 essays and non-fiction and comics, 24 short
stories and scripts, counting the stories read in anthologies as one since I
didn’t read all the stories, 17 poems, 13 YA/MG books
2016: 168 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 45 board books and over 30 books
in the Folio Society collected works of Beatrix Potter, 28 short stories, and
25 poems; Journal of Inklings Studies and Tolkien Society’s Amon
Hen and Mallorn issues (counted as one)
2015: 91 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 29 board books, and 12 poems
2014: 111 novels and short stories (plus essay collections, comics, and poetry)
2013: 188 novels and short stories (plus poetry)
2012: 142
2011: 124
2010: 92
2009: 131
2008: 101
Note: Not counted every year: ongoing rereads of board books from
previous years, monthly readings of Amon Hen and annual readings of Mallorn,
most school readings, most beta reads, and tens of thousands of words written
and read for writers’ houseparties on thelitforum.com, plus other forum writings,
magazines, newspapers, etc.
Average over 52 Weeks: 325/52=6.2, or three books, two board
books, one essay, and a poem, roughly.
This doesn’t seem entirely accurate. I read and reread about 10 or more board
books a day! And about an essay and poem every week. Novels vary, depending on
whether I’m binging an Agatha Christie reread or not! I also lump all the
rereads of board books and count them as one entry, just for the record, but
this doesn’t really reflect how often they get read! I also read quite a few
sample chapters on Kindle and for some reason didn’t keep track of them!
2019: 278/50=5.6, or two books, two board books, one essay, and a poem
2018: 289/52=5.6, or two books, two board books, an essay, and a poem
2017: 175/50=3.5; two books, two board books, one poem
2016 (averages for this and earlier years are over 50 weeks, usually not
counting poems): 4.8, or three books, four board books, and four short stories
or essays
2015: 2.6, or two books and one short story and one board book
2014: 2.2, or two books and one short story
2013: 3.5, or three books and two short stories (one more than the previous couple
of years)
Authors Read: 159, counting very many board books.
This is an approximate number, as this category gets harder to count each year
with all the various children’s books. The fact that it’s lower than the past
couple of years may be because I went through another Agatha Christie reread
this year...
2019: 180, counting very many board books
2018: 181, counting very many board books
2017: 100, give or take, counting many of the board books
2016: 130, but 103 without board books
2015: 91
2014: 61
2013: 88
2012: 105
2011: 89
2010: 63
2009: 57
2008: 69
Note: Not counted: Beta reads and anthologies
Most Books by One Author: Not counting authors appearing twice or thrice, or
various board books (I read 8 books by Mo Willems!), I read:
Judith Holofernes (various essays)
Linwood Barclay (4)
Kate Davies (4)
Anthony Horowitz (4)
Val McDermid (4)
There Will Be Some Introspection
— On The Road with Amanda Palmer by Jack Nicholls and Gabrielle Motola (4)
Amanda Owen, the Yorkshire
Shepherdess (4)
John Scalzi (4)
Donald J Sobol (4)
Judy Blume (5)
JRR Tolkien (6)
RB (10)
Beverly Cleary (11)
Agatha Christie (19)
Charles M Schulz (26)
2019: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (12), Charles M. Schulz (10),
Dr Seuss (9), Roger Hargreaves (8), Mo Willems (8), George R. R. Martin (8),
John Scalzi (6), Kait Nolan (5), Eric Hill (5), Nick Bland (4), Robert Munsch
(4)
2018: Katherine Paterson (4), John Scalzi (6), Lynne Reid Banks (6),
Detection Club (7), JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith (8), Kait Nolan (8), Tolkien
(8), and 13 Mr Men and Little Miss books (not counting the ones I keep
rereading!)
2017: Robert Munsch (10 plus rereads), Kait Nolan (7) and Monica Byrne (6),
followed by four each by Tolkien and Diana Gabaldon and Laura Bradbury, in
addition to the Rev. Awry and Beatrix Potter.
2016: Louise Penny, JK Rowling, Tolkien, followed by Kait Nolan and Monica
Byrne, plus Neil Gaiman and Somerset Maugham
2015: tied between Tolkien and Gaiman (with second place tied between many authors
(Agatha Christie, Walter de la Mare, Joel Dicker, Catherine McKenzie, Kait
Nolan, Brenda Novak and Marilynne Robinson) and two board book authors, Sandra
Boynton and Julia Donaldson (the creator of the Gruffalo and the Acorn Wood
series))
2014: Tied between Louise Penny and J.K. Rowling (Gaiman and Tolkien come in a
close second)
2013: Neil Gaiman (plus LM Montgomery, Josephine Tey, Tolkien, Brenda Novak,
Stephen King, EL Konigsburg, and Budge Wilson)
2012: Tolkien and Stephen King, plus four Talli Roland books!
2011: I reread The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, Outlander, Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Tales of Beedle the
Bard (before seeing the last movie)
2010: I again reread the Anne of Green Gables series,
including The Road To Yesterday
2009: Rereads included Rowling, Gabaldon, and Agatha Christie
Oldest Book: Oldest works (not the actual copies but the
stories and poems) were: Three Tang Dynasty Poets (Penguin Classics)
A Great Wagon by Rumi (poem)
The Saga of King Heidrik the
Wise by Christopher Tolkien
Sir Orfeo translated by JRR
Tolkien (reread)
The Book of the Sword by Richard
Francis Burton (skimmed)
Sailing beyond Seas by Jean
Ingelow (1820–97; poem)
Solitude by Baudelaire (poem;
read by Neil Finn https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio)
White Nights by Dostoevsky
(reread)
Notes From Underground by
Dostoevsky (reread)
A Plain Cookery Book by Charles
Elme Francatelli
Little House in the Big Woods by
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Hansel and Gretel (Grimm's Fairy
Tales; reread)
12 Days of Christmas
The Little Mermaid by Hans
Christian Andersen (reread)
Masque of the Red Death by Edgar
Allan Poe read by Neil Gaiman on Hallowe'en (reread)
2019: The Velveteen Rabbit (reread; tears!), A Bush Christening by AH
Paterson, The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne (reread), In ancient days
tradition shows (Old English poem), The Cockatoucan by E Nesbit, Jabberwocky by
Lewis Carroll (poem; reread), Tis a Fearful Thing by Yehuda Halevi (poem), Running
Water by AE Mason, My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth (poem), Don Fernando
by Somerset Maugham, From this hour I ordain myself by Walt Whitman (poem), In
her maiden bliss: edited version of a review by JRR Tolkien of Hali Meidenhad:
An alliterative prose homily of the thirteenth century, edited by FJ Furnivall
and O Cockayne, first published in the Times Literary Supplement
2018: Oldest works were Songs of Innocence and Experience by
William Blake (reread), the poem “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver
Goldsmith, and the poem “An Eclogue: Willie and Sandy” by Robert Fergusson
2017: The oldest stories were by Herman Melville and Leo Tolstoy, as well as
the original Beauty and the Beast by Villeneuve and The Narrative of
Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, and poems by Blake
and Wordsworth
2016: The oldest physical copy is this impressive collection of Byron’s works
from 1835. The oldest stories and poems and letters were by Shakespeare, John
Evelyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robbie Burns, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy
Bysshe Shelley
2015: In Dubious Battle (Steinbeck), Absent in the
Spring (Westmacott (Christie)), and Jim at the Corner (Farjeon),
in physical copies. In reprints and new editions, there were many from the
1930s, but the oldest were Heidi and Wodehouse’s retelling of William Tell,
plus the short story “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” by MR James,
from 1904
2014: Childe Harold by Lord Byron and The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
2013: Keats and Byron’s poetry, The Count of Monte Cristo and,
considering stories and not publication date, Land of the Seal People by
D Williamson. Plus a John Clare poem, an old song from the Shetlands on Kate
Davies’ blog, and the short story “Why, Of Course” by JE Casey, from 1912
2012: Cyrano de Bergerac and Voltaire were the oldest authors; the oldest
published books (not reprints) were the anthologies The Land of My
Fathers – A Welsh Gift Book, and Princess Mary’s Gift Book, both
from 1914, including stories and poems by Arthur Conan Doyle, Kipling, etc.
Plus Ah King by Maugham, Shakespeare in London by
Marchette Chute (reread), and Helena by Evelyn Waugh
2011: 14th Century Book of Good Love by Archpriest Juan Ruiz,
though the translation was only 100 years old. Plus the chapter on the Earl of
Rochester from Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, and Murder Must
Advertise by Dorothy Sayers, as well as Wodehouse
2010: Earl of Rochester, and Perreault’s fairy tales, plus Hours at the
Glasgow Art Galleries by TCF Brotchie, An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa
May Alcott and When the Going Was Good by Waugh
2009: Shakespeare and a handful of books from pre-1950
2008: Oldest authors were Aesop and Pliny, and oldest original book was by
Dorothy Sayers, followed by John Fante and Steinbeck
Newest Book: Books and stories published in 2020,
including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies (and a handful from 2019):
Goodbye, Bobby McGee by Lee Ann Dalton (poem)
Gedicht: Labradoodle (aus meinem
Gedichtband "Du bellst vor dem falschen Baum") by Judith Holofernes
(poem)
various memoir essays by Judith
Holofernes
As you get older by Alice
Rebekah Fraser (poem)
Interior Decorating Tips for the
Post-Apocalypse by Alice Rebekah Fraser (mini comedy article)
My Soul Rests by Taylor
MacDowell (poem)
Fabrication by Kate Davies
(poem)
10 Years in the Making by Kate Davies (essays)
Wheesht by Kate Davies
Knitting Season by Kate Davies
A Sad Story by Dorothy Una
Ratcliffe (poem)
What You Need To Be Warm by Neil
Gaiman (poem)
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Calico Hearts by Roxie Clarke
String of Hearts by Roxie Clarke
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Jack and Della by Marilynne
Robinson (short story)
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
The Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
Still Life by Val McDermid
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid
Broken Ground by Val McDermid
The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel
Circe by Madeline Miller (loved it!)
Make You Feel My Love by Kait Nolan
A Very Wishful Wedding by Kait Nolan
chapter 1 of a new story by Kait
Nolan!
Til There Was You by Kait Nolan
Ten Little Words by Leah Mercer
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
L'Enigme de la chambre 622 by Joel Dicker
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
You Can’t Catch Me Catherine Mckenzie (ARC)
Death Clerk by Catherine
Mckenzie (chapter 1 of a serial story)
Outlander season five episode 11
by Diana Gabaldon (script)
RB novella, flash fiction,
screenplay, and short stories
The Obituary by Clare O'Dea (short
story)
The Fifth Step by Stephen King
(short story)
Best Laid Plaids by Ella Stainton (sample)
Ohio by Monica Byrne (play)
How to Stay Sane in an Age of
Division by Elif Shafak
There Will Be Some Introspection
— On The Road with Amanda Palmer by Jack Nicholls and Gabrielle Motola
new preface to Broken Open
by Elizabeth Lesser
There Will Be No Intermission artbook by Amanda Palmer (second edition)
introduction to the new
translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley (available at https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780374110031)
Adventures of the Yorkshire
Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous
Outlander Kitchen 2 by Theresa Carle-Sanders
The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien:
The Places That Inspired Middle-Earth by John Garth
Dreyer's English: An Utterly
Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer (the UK edition)
A Recipe for Marketing Indie
Books by SK Quinn
John Howe artbook (Ulule
crowdfunded)
The Ickabog by JK Rowling
But Not the Armadillo by Sandra
Boynton
2019: 44, including roughly 12 Forumites and blogging buddies
2018: 53 (roughly), including nine Forumites and blogging buddies
2017: 31, including roughly six Forumites and
blogging buddies, depending on how loosely I define them
2016: 41, including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies
2015: 11 less than 2014, which had exactly the same number (37) as in 2013! 7
Forumites in 2015, and 3 blogging buddies (not counting older books of blogging
buddies that I caught up on reading!)
2014: 5 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies
2013: 4 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies, and the Cabinet of Curiosities
authors, plus the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
(with an introduction by Neil Gaiman)
2012: 36, including 9 Forumites
2011: 44
2010: 13 plus 10 Forumites
2009: Many more, including books by kc dyer, Hélène Boudreau, Linda Gerber and
Diana Gabaldon -- Forumites all!
2008: 2, by Joanna Bourne and Marilynne Robinson
Stories/Authors I Didn’t Like: This is the category under which I hide some
honesty. Some of the books that I feel obligated to read (for review purposes
or because I received them as gifts) leave me cold. I try not to be mean when
doing a review post, especially when sharing a review on Amazon.
There were a few morethan usual this year. I ended up skimming Last Orders
by Graham Swift and Esther's Inheritance by Sandor Marai. I just wasn’t
in the mood for that sort of non-linear storytelling.
I really wanted to like Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and I enjoyed the
historicity, but in the end, I just wanted a deeper pov.
I liked the idea of La tresse by Laetitia Colombani, and the ending came
together really well, but the storytelling seemed a bit trite (all tell and no show).
I was a bit surprised at how difficult it was to reread The Little Mermaid by
Hans Christian Andersen and The BFG by Roald Dahl to my daughter (age
6). The former was a bit preachy and featured a not entirely happy ending. I
skimmed quite a lot at the end and told her the mermaid had simply gone home
after all. I have no trouble with Andersen’s preachiness or his sadness (I
loved as a kid and still love The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf). But six may be a
bit young. The BFG is fun, but still a bit hard to explain to a
six-year-old in a sheltered world (giants swallowing up entire orphanages full
of children!).
I read the Kindle sample of Wanderers by Chuck Wendig and wasn’t
inspired to read more. I doubt I’ll ever try to rewrite The Stand myself; I’m
always startled by those who dare to try.
Finally, there was The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. I had
just taken one of her workshops at the Surrey International Writers' Conference
and I really really wanted to like this book. But I didn't enjoy it as much as
I thought I would. For one, the narrator sounded way too modern for someone
born in the 1920s and writing in the 1950s, including her use of modern slang.
The constant references to trenches with regard to World War II were a bit
jarring. There were typos! And, overall, though far be it from me to say this,
the characters really didn’t seem to grow or change, and there were a few
episodes (e.g. the conversation on the boat in Chicago, and the night of the
food riots) that simply had no arcs, where the emotion simply fell flat.
Finally, back to The Stand, I could really have used a much better sense of
what was going on in the rest of the world! Also, on a personal note, I was a
bit disappointed that having gone to the trouble to include her as a character,
she didn’t explain in her author’s note the real-life story of Sabiha Gokcen,
who was the adopted daughter of Ataturk.
2019: The Outsider by Stephen King: the ending kind of fell flat;
Rising Heat anthology featuring Jillian Barnes; hers was the only story
I really liked in the anthology! Worth getting it for that alone; Educated
by Tara Westover: this was a very well written book, but I got bogged down by
the family’s weirdness and skipped the middle bit to read the ending chapters; Square
by Barrett and Klassen: weird for weirdness’ sake, it seems; Mr Birthday
by Hargreaves: I wish people would stop putting Roger Hargreaves’ name on these
books, as none of the new ones are actually written by him!
Year One by Nora Roberts: this one seemed a bit too much like trying to hop
into a new-to-her genre just to have more books out in more genres; nothing original
in the story
2018: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, which was great fun to read;
I simply think the last part should have been a long sequel instead; A
Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, which was interesting
but rather surface-y; and Cosmos by Carl Sagan, which I
couldn’t finish. Too bombastic
2017: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow and Bartleby the
Scrivener by Herman Melville, which I’ve read before. It always drives
me crazy. (Not counting Sophie’s Choice by William Styron,
which was not at all what I expected it to be like.)
2016: “The Bog Girl” by Karen Russell (short story) and Peanuts Volumes I to VI
-- new strips written by random new authors!
2015 (see the 2015 post for my reasons): Two classic Little Golden Books:
Colors Are Nice by Adelaide Holl and Leonard Shortall and The Poky Little Puppy
by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren; one new book: JaMaDu: Pippa et
le crocodile; another kids’ book: Emily’s House by Niko Scharer and Joanne
Fitzgerald; two war-time tales (WWI and WWII): Death of A Century: A
Novel of the Lost Generation by Daniel Robinson, and Maisie
Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; a classic: The Martian Chronicles by Ray
Bradbury (I blogged about this Bradbury book here); an author I otherwise love: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a
Year by Sue Townsend; and What to Expect the First Year by
Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
2014: 2 romances, and the short story collection The Progress of Love by Alice
Munro
2013: 1 book I didn’t like but finished: Gone Girl by Gillian
Flynn; and 1 book I didn’t like and didn’t force myself to finish: Jenny
Lawson’s semi-autobiographical memoir (I explained a bit about why on the
Forum)
2012: No books I actively disliked, but 2 I felt “meh” about: Before Versailles,
and Inkheart
2011: Jonathan Franzen, Philippa Gregory and Gillian Bagwell
2010: Libba Bray and Thomas Cobb
2009: Ilyas Halil
2008: 3 authors (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ian McEwan and Ian Rankin) and 1 story
(“Hairball” by Margaret Atwood)
Books That Made Me Cry: In the last few years I’ve tried to remember to
keep track of this throughout the year because it’s not very accurate at
year-end when I can’t remember.
But I forgot again!
Here are the few I did note:
The Best/Worst Christmas Present Ever by Budge Wilson (reread)
Where My Books Go by WB Yeats (poem)
Lost and Found by Jean Little
Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (reread)
Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary (reread)
2019: I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven, The
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (annual reread; first time on screen!), The
Velveteen Rabbit (reread), The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson and Axel
Scheffler
2018: White Fang by Jack London, Autumn Street by
Lois Lowry, the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, The Lord of the
Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (always), and Color Me Gray and Cutting
to the Chase by Rose Phillips
2017: Vera Brittain, and The Golem and the Jinni by Helene
Wecker
2016: Louise Penny, Kait Nolan, and The Gustav Sonata by Rose
Tremain
2015: The Lord of the Rings; Be Careful, It’s My Heart by
Kait Nolan; The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (reread);
and Going Back by T.L. Watson
2014: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny; The Lord of
the Rings; Harry Potter series; The Art of Asking by
Amanda Palmer; Liza of Lambeth by Maugham; Written in
My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon; and How To Fall In
Love and One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern
2013: Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi; The Lord of the Rings by
Tolkien (reread); The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by
Tolkien; The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand; The
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and
Annie Barrows; and She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (skimming
reread) (it’s that last line (“Thayer, I saw her!” I yell. “I saw!”) that gets
me. Every. Single. Time.
2012: Bag of Bones by Stephen King; Dandelion Wine by
Ray Bradbury; The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; All
Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; The Fault
In Our Stars by John Green; The Casual Vacancy by
Rowling (because of Krystal); and Lunatic Heroes by C. Anthony
Martignetti (if you haven’t yet, you have to listen to him reading the chapter
The Swamp. Bullfrog.
2011: The Scottish Prisoner, and Outlander, both by
Diana Gabaldon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by
Rowling, and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, all of which
were rereads, but there was also Rowing in Eden by Barbara
Rogan; The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle; This
and That by Emily Carr; The Summer of Skinny Dipping by
Amanda Howells (I bawled); Dancing Through the Snow by Jean
Little; Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay; The Day of
the Pelican by Katherine Paterson; and Fifteen by
Beverly Cleary
Youngest Books: So many board books!
I’ll do what I did last year, and highlight one with illustrations:
That’s Not My Dinosaur (Usborne), combined with dinosaur pyjamas received as a
gift!
2019: So many board books! I was really excited to discover The Witch Next Door and The Witch Grows Up by Norman Bridwell – I loved these books as a kid! I highlighted the recipe at the back of Elliot Bakes a Cake by Andrea Beck because I’ve baked this cake!
2018: So many board books! The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak, and Baby Farm Animals by Garth Williams (Little Golden Books) because the pig looks just like Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web.
2017: Bear’s Adventure by Benedict Blathwayt
2016: Things That Go
2015: The Acorn Wood series by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Paddington Bear All Day and Paddington Bear Goes to Market by Michael Bond; The Going To Bed Book, Moo, Baa, La La La and But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton; Chu’s Day and Chu’s Day at the Beach by Neil Gaiman; Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg; Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai; and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Also these four board books: Pop-up Peekaboo! Farm by Dawn Sirett and Sarah Davis; Colors Are Nice by Adelaide Holl and Leonard Shortall (Little Golden Book); Baby’s Very First Touchy-Feely Book (Usborne) by Stella Baggott; and Baby’s Very First Touchy-Feely Colours Play Book (Usborne) by Fiona Watt and Stella Baggott
2014: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss (reread) (brought to you by Neil Gaiman) and Emil In the Soup Tureen by Astrid Lindgren, plus a few YAs and MGs. Not sure if Go the F*^$ To Sleep and You Have to F*%$ing Eat count
2013: Quite a few board books, just as in the last few years, including: two Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems; Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman; The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman; The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman; Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman; To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss; Who’s A Pest? by Crosby Newell Bonsall; Star Trek Book of Opposites; Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch; and Rainy Days with Bear by Maureen Hull. Also quite a bit of YA and MG
Fluff but Fun Books: All of these were rereads:
Ha Ha Bonk Book by Allan and Janet Ahlberg
Unriddling by Alvin Schwartz
Garfield in Disguise by Jim
Davis
Garfield Swallows His Pride by
Jim Davis
Garfield Plays It Again by Jim
Davis
Tintin and the Crab With the
Golden Claws
All This and Snoopy Too by
Charles Schulz
We’re All In This Together by
Charles M Schulz
Think About It Tomorrow, Snoopy
by Charles M Schulz
You’ll Flip, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
Good Ol’ Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown
by Charles M Schulz
Nobody’s Perfect, Charlie Brown
by Charles M Schulz
You’re the Greatest, Charlie
Brown by Charles M Schulz
Take It Easy, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
Good Ol’ Snoopy by Charles M
Schulz
You’re So Smart, Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz
It’s For You, Snoopy by Charles
M Schulz
Fun With Peanuts by Charles M
Schulz
Nice Shot, Snoopy by Charles M
Schulz
You’re Not For Real, Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz
It’s Chow Time, Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz
Who Was That Dog I Saw You With,
Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz )
Who Do You Think You Are,
Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz )
You Are Too Much, Charlie Brown
by Charles M Schulz )
You’re A Winner, Charlie Brown
by Charles M Schulz )
What Now, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
Good Grief, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
Charlie Brown and Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz )
Here Comes Snoopy by Charles M
Schulz
Snoopy Come Home by Charles M
Schulz
You’re In Love, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz
2019: The Punisher, chapter 1; plus We’re All In This Together; You’ll Flip,
Charlie Brown; Nice Shot, Snoopy; Who Do You Think You Are, Charlie Brown?;
It’s Chow Time, Snoopy; Charlie Brown and Snoopy; Think About it Tomorrow,
Snoopy; and other Charlie Brown rereads from previous years, all by Charles M.
Schulz
2018: Here Comes Snoopy by Charles Schultz (reread), Come Home, Snoopy by
Charles Schultz (reread), You’re In Love, Charlie Brown! by Charles Schultz
(reread), The Hobbit graphic novel by Chuck Dixon, The
Caliph’s Vacation by Goscinny (reread), and The Far Side Gallery 1 by Gary
Larson
2017: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson sample pages on the Kindle app
and The Herman Treasury 1 by Jim Unger (reread).
2016: None! (not counting Peanuts not written by Schulz)
2015: None!
2014: The F*%#ing books, plus Tintin and Asterix and the Caliph
2013: Some more Andy Capp, the Far Side, and Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, the
Music edition
2012: 2 issues of MAD
2011: Andy Capp, MAD, and an Archie; fewer than the past 3 years
Books/Authors I’d Recommend: Besides all the children’s authors and comics and
murder mysteries, here they are, without division into categories, and
featuring a handful of children’s authors: I’d recommend all fellow Forumites
and bloggers, all the poetry, and Tolkien and Scalzi and Kait Nolan and Agatha
Christie and Linwood Barclay and Val McDermid and Monica Byrne and Robert Munsch
and Schulz and Mo Willems, plus:
Bulut Mu Olsam by Nazim Hikmet (poem; Should I Be A Cloud? beautiful!)
Where My Books Go by WB Yeats (poem;
teary)
Three Tang Dynasty Poets
(Penguin Classics)
A Voyage to Arcturus by David
Lindsay (reread)
The Magpie Lord: The Charm of
Magpies series by KJ Charles
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Jack and Della by Marilynne
Robinson (short story)
Troubled Blood by Robert
Galbraith
The Moonflower Murders by
Anthony Horowitz
All The Devils Are Here by
Louise Penny
The Daughter of Time by
Josephine Tey (last reread was August 2013)
A Silent Death by Peter May
That Hideous Strength by CS
Lewis (reread)
Circe by Madeline Miller (loved
it!)
Ten Little Words by Leah Mercer
Every Man For Himself by Beryl
Bainbridge
White Nights by Dostoevsky
(reread)
Notes From Underground by
Dostoevsky (reread)
Stiff by Mary Roach
Let Your Mind Alone! And Other
More or Less Inspirational Pieces by James Thurber
The Points of My Compass by EB
White
There Will Be Some Introspection
— On The Road with Amanda Palmer by Jack Nicholls and Gabrielle Motola
Unriddling by Alvin Schwartz
(reread)
The Yorkshire Shepherdess by
Amanda Owen
The Body by Bill Bryson
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by
Anonymous
Outlander Kitchen 2 by Theresa
Carle-Sanders
Once There Was A War by John
Steinbeck
The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien:
The Places That Inspired Middle-Earth by John Garth
Dreyer's English: An Utterly
Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer (the UK edition)
Captain Scott's Biscuit by Thomas
Keneally (essay)
I Give You My Body... How I
Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon
A Recipe for Marketing Indie
Books by SK Quinn
Wishful Drinking by Carrie
Fisher
A Short History of England by GK
Chesterton
A Plain Cookery Book by Charles
Elme Francatelli
Telling Stories by Tim Burgess
The Name of God is Mercy by Pope
Francis
The sinking of the S.S. Titanic
by John B. Thayer
Titanic: A Survivor's Story by
Archibald Gracie
The Man in the Red Coat by
Julian Barnes
Before Galileo by John Freely
I Remember Nothing by Nora
Ephron
St Francis' Canticle of the
Creatures by John Watts
John Howe artbook (Ulule
crowdfunded)
Knitting Season by Kate Davies
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth
Grahame (reread)
The Best/Worst Christmas Present
Ever by Budge Wilson (reread)
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
(reread)
The BFG by Roald Dahl (reread)
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
(reread)
Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing
by Judy Blume (reread)
Lost and Found by Jean Little
Ramona the Pest by Beverly
Cleary (reread)
Graceful by Wendy Mass
Bunnies' ABC by Garth Williams
(Little Golden Books)
I’m going to stop
repeating these lists every year as the blog post gets over long. Here’s a
random list of authors I’d recommend from each year:
2019: Cecelia Ahern, Margaret
Craven, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, Kate Davies, Aldo Leopold, Rachel
Carson, Paul Brickhill, AA Milne, Astrid Lindgren, Nick Bland, Wendy Mass, Crosby
Newell Bonsall, Sandra Boynton, E Nesbit, Mary Norton, Margaret Buffie, Julia
Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
2018: Elie Wiesel, Hugh MacLennan, Siegfried Sassoon, Marilynne Robinson, Jack
London, Henrik Ibsen, Dostoyevsky, Julian Barnes, Lynne Reid Banks, Pat Barker,
Lilian Jackson Braun, Charles Bukowski
2017: Canadian YA authors: Kit Pearson, Terry Lynn Johnson, Tim Wynne-Jones,
and Brian Doyle; Ross Collins, Stephen Kellogg, Luke McCallin, John Steinbeck,
W. P. Kinsella, Marina Lewycka, Dorothy Dunnett, John Watts, Beverly Cleary,
Vera Brittain, Kate Raworth
2016: Helene Hanff, Margery Allingham, Mary Shelley, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Thomas
Hardy, Mary Westmacott, Owen Barfield, Gertrude Bell, Meja Mwangi, Roch Carrier,
Betsy Byars, Cecilia Ahern, Rose Tremain, Binyavanga Wainaina, Emily St John
Mandel, Leah Mercer, Claire Legrand, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Susan Bischoff
2015: All Forumites and blogger buddies, plus Catherine McKenzie, John Scalzi,
Louise Penny, Agatha Christie, Robert Galbraith, Joel Dicker, Eleanor Farjeon,
Evelyn Eaton, Komako Sakai, Timothy Findley, Paul Gallico, P.L. Travers, Allan
Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg, Michael Bond, Sandra Boynton
2014: Amanda Palmer (non-fiction)
2013: Besides all Forumites and blogging buddies, all of Josephine
Tey and E. L. Konigsburg, plus Bill Bryson, Robert Graves, Iain Banks,
Roald Dahl, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2012: The books that made me cry
2011: Forumites and old favourites, Tolkien et al.
Shortest Book: Not counting novellas or short stories or board
books or YA/MG or poetry or plays or screenplays or essays, this leaves La tresse by Laetitia Colombani, Esther's Inheritance
by Sandor Marai, and The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.
2019: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.
R. Martin, I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven, The Sun
Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and Don Fernando by Somerset Maugham
2018: The Only Story by Julian Barnes
2017: A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha
Christie)
2016: Black and White Ogre Country by Hilary Tolkien
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by
Tolkien; A Christmas Story by Richard Burton; and Aunt
Sass by PL Travers
2014: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, same as in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Also the two lovely meet cutes by Kait Nolan, Once Upon an Heirloom and Once
Upon a Snow Day
2013: I read a lot more essays and short stories in general, so it was hard to
single out just one
2012: The Space Between, a long novella by Diana Gabaldon
2011: The Object Lesson by Edward Gorey (besides short stories, the youngest
books, Andy Capp, Archie, and MAD)
Longest Book: Most of the novels I read were all of roughly the
same length. Except for the obvious standouts:
The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales
by JRR Tolkien; Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith; The Luminaries
by Eleanor Catton; L'Enigme de la chambre 622 by Joel Dicker; and Wolf
Hall by Hilary Mantel
2019: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R.
Tolkien, and A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.
2018: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, the Regeneration trilogy
by Pat Barker, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
and La disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker
2017: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, as well as Laura
Bradbury’s Grape series if counted as one, The Silmarillion and The
Lord of the Rings, if counted as one, Moby Dick by Herman
Melville, and our two gargantuan writers’ houseparties on the Forum, which
together ran close to 500,000 words
2016: Besides Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia, and the entire Inspector Gamache
series by Louise Penny, this would be English People by Owen
Barfield, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, and Arthur
and George by Julian Barnes
2015: Lots of Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings and books 8 and 9 in
the History of Middle Earth series) and Joel Dicker. I suppose The
Grapes of Wrath is longer than usual too
2014: Every year there’s a Tolkien or Gabaldon in there, and 2014 was no
exception
2013: Series: Anne of Green Gables series; all of Josephine Tey’s books; and
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series. Also some long Stephen King: Under
the Dome; the uncut The Stand; and 11/22/63.
Plus The Count of Monte Cristo
2012: I had no long series that I could count as one book, so I decided to
mention Neil Gaiman
Research Books: I had more time for a bit of non-fiction research
this year plus, same as last year, a handful of novels I read for vocabulary
and setting research:
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Stiff by Mary Roach
Adventures of the Yorkshire
Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
a year of essays in The Dalesman
by Amanda Owen (https://www.yorkshireshepherdess.com/media/)
A Year in the Life of the
Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
The Yorkshire Shepherdess by
Amanda Owen
Once There Was A War by John
Steinbeck
Dreyer's English: An Utterly
Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer (the UK edition)
I Give You My Body... How I
Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon
A Recipe for Marketing Indie
Books by SK Quinn
Wishful Drinking by Carrie
Fisher
A Short History of England by GK
Chesterton
A Plain Cookery Book by Charles
Elme Francatelli
Sir Orfeo translated by JRR
Tolkien
The Book of the Sword by Richard
Francis Burton
The Weaker Vessel: Women's Lot
in Seventeenth-Century England by Antonia Fraser
Before Galileo by John Freely
Constantinople: Istanbul's
Historical Heritage by Stephane Yerasimos
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
2019: My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan, Running Water by A E
Mason, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and Don Fernando
by Somerset Maugham
2018: No non-fiction, except A Natural History of the Senses by
Diane Ackerman, but a handful of novels and poetry I read for vocabulary and
setting research (not counting the wartime books): Catalina by
Somerset Maugham, the Blackhouse trilogy by Peter May, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part
1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stane by
J. K Rowling, translated into Scots by Matthew Fitt
2017: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, plus a couple of novels that could count as
research.
2016: I enjoy learning about a specific time period, or exploring geography,
and reading about explorers of various times. The closest book to all of that
was A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude
Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell), which was partly for research, along with
the three writing craft books, particularly The Story Toolkit: Your
Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff
2015: Hardly any non-fiction. Some of the fiction (anything set in or during
the wars, along with writing from that time, especially Tolkien’s The Notion
Club Papers) could count as research
2014: No non-fiction. Counted L.M. Montgomery and A Rose for the ANZAC
Boys by Jackie French as research
2013: Some novels doubled as research. Loved Archaeology is Rubbish by Prof.
Mick Aston and Tony Robinson. Skimmed the following: Medieval Civilisation by
Jacques le Goff; The Great Explorers (Folio Society); Parragon’s Encyclopedia
of Animals: a Family Reference Guide; and Celtic Myths and Legends by Mike Dixon-Kennedy
2011–2012: Various, including books on English history, poetry, Mediterranean
flora, Ottoman history, and the Renaissance
Books From the 19th Century and Earlier: Not many. I used to read more older books.
Sailing beyond Seas by Jean Ingelow (1820–97; poem)
A Great Wagon by Rumi (poem)
Solitude by Baudelaire (poem;
read by Neil Finn https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio)
Three Tang Dynasty Poets
(Penguin Classics)
The Little Mermaid by Hans
Christian Andersen
Masque of the Red Death by Edgar
Allan Poe read by Neil Gaiman on Hallowe'en
White Nights by Dostoevsky
Notes From Underground by
Dostoevsky
A Plain Cookery Book by Charles
Elme Francatelli
The Book of the Sword by Richard
Francis Burton
Hansel and Gretel (Grimm's Fairy
Tales)
12 Days of Christmas
2019: All of them are poems, except for one: A Bush Christening by AH
Paterson, Tis a Fearful Thing by Yehuda Halevi (poem), Jabberwocky by Lewis
Carroll (poem; reread), In ancient days tradition shows (Old English poem), “My
Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth (poem), From this hour I ordain myself by
Walt Whitman (poem), In her maiden bliss: Edited version of a review by JRR
Tolkien of Hali Meidenhad: An alliterative prose homily of the thirteenth
century, edited by FJ Furnivall and O Cockayne, first published in the Times
Literary Supplement
2018: The Shoemaker and Elves by the brothers Grimm (reread), White
Fang by Jack London, Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, Sonnets to Orpheus,
Part 1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver
Goldsmith, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story), An
Eclogue: Willie and Sandy by Robert Fergusson (poem), Later Days by WH Davies
(skimmed), A Foreigner at Home by Robert Louis Stevenson (essay), Winter Evening
by Archibald Lampman (poem), various poems by Jock Tamsen, and Songs of
Innocence and Experience by William Blake (reread)
2017: Besides many of the poets, there was Melville, Tolstoy, the original
Beauty and the Beast, and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of
Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
2016: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; The Strange Case
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; A Child’s
Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson; Three Men In A
Boat by Jerome K Jerome; Frankenstein by Mary
Shelley; Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy; “A Tradition of
Eighteen Hundred and Four” by Thomas Hardy; “The Boy Who Set Out to Learn What
Fear Was” by the Brothers Grimm; “The Wedding Night” by Ida Craddock; extracts
from the diary of John Evelyn; extracts from Lord Byron’s letters about Villa
Diodati; plus poems: The Darkling Thrush and The Oxen by Thomas Hardy (may be
early 20th Century); Ode on Venice by Lord Byron; Bells by Edgar Allan Poe;
Sonnet LXVI by Shakespeare; Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son; Fair Jenny,
MacPherson’s Farewell, and Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robbie Burns;
Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley; England
and Switzerland, 1802, and extracts from Preludes by Wordsworth
2015: Only 1! The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang. Also
three poems, two of which were rereads: “The Fly” by William Blake; “Tyger,
Tyger” by William Blake; “January Brings the Snow” by Sara Coleridge
2014: Only 2! Byron’s Childe Harold and Andersen’s The
Snow Queen
2013: Only 1! Le Comte de Monte-Cristo par Alexandre Dumas.
Plus a few poems, and the Grimm brothers’ story “The Blue Light”
2012: Only 1! The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, plus poems
by Longfellow and Browning, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe
Books from 1900 to 1960 (mostly): Most of the Schulz and Christie and Tolkien,
plus the following:
Hic Jacet by TH Wilson
Vale “Crosscut” by Dryblower
(epitaph for Wilson by Edwin Greenslade Murphy)
Bulut Mu Olsam by Nazim Hikmet
(poem; Should I Be A Cloud? beautiful!)
Lullaby by WH Auden (poem)
The Two Trees by WB Yeats (poem;
reread)
Where My Books Go by WB Yeats
(poem; teary)
A Voyage to Arcturus by David
Lindsay (reread)
Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
Esther's Inheritance by Sandor
Marai (skimmed last few chapters)
The Daughter of Time by Josephine
Tey (last reread was August 2013)
To Love and Be Wise by Josephine
Tey (reread, but I had forgotten it!)
That Hideous Strength by CS
Lewis (reread)
Perelandra by CS Lewis (reread)
Out of the Silent Planet by CS
Lewis (reread)
Every Man For Himself by Beryl
Bainbridge
Look to the Lady by Margery
Allingham
The Machine Stops by EM Forster
(available here: http://www.visbox.com/prajlich/forster.html)
Let Your Mind Alone! And Other
More or Less Inspirational Pieces by James Thurber
The Points of My Compass by EB
White
Introduction by TS Eliot to
Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams
Once There Was A War by John
Steinbeck
A Short History of England by GK
Chesterton
Tintin and the Crab With the
Golden Claws (reread)
The sinking of the S.S. Titanic
by John B. Thayer
Titanic: A Survivor's Story by
Archibald Gracie
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth
Grahame (reread)
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
(reread)
Mary Poppins by PL Travers
(reread)
Mary Poppins Returns by PL
Travers (reread)
More About Paddington by Michael
Bond (reread)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by
Elizabeth George Speare
Little House in the Big Woods by
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Bunnies' ABC by Garth Williams
(Little Golden Books)
Curious George Rides a Bike by
H. A. Rey
Curious George by H. A. Rey
Madeline and the Bad Hat by
Ludwig Bemelmans
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
(Little Golden Book)
I’m going to stop
repeating these lists every year as the blog post gets over long. Here’s a
shortened list showing only authors’ names:
2019: Some of the Charles Schulz, many of the Dr
Seuss, and some of the Eric Hill books, plus The Velveteen Rabbit, various
Golden books, Miffy in the Snow, Curious George and Simple Stories, plus Rachel
Carson, Aldo Leopold, Anna Akhmatova, AA Milne, AE Mason, Mary Norton, Ernest
Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, JRR Tolkien, E Nesbit, Astrid Lindgren, Margaret
Craven, Crosby Bonsall, Ludwig Bemelmans, Crockett Johnson, Margaret Wise Brown,
Eric Carle, Graham Greene, Shel Silverstein, Edward Gorey, Eleanor Farjeon,
Orhan Veli
2018: Besides the poetry, board books and MG, comics, and non-fiction, there
was Elie Wiesel, Hugh MacLennan, Siegfried Sassoon, JRR Tolkien, Lynne Reid
Banks, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Patricia Highsmith, Maj Sjöwall and
Per Wahlöö, the Detection Club, Somerset Maugham, Paul Villiard, Lilian Jackson
Braun, Charles Bukowski, Henry James, Isaac Bashevis Singer
2017: Besides the poetry, board books, and non-fiction, there was Alistair
MacLean, J. R. R. Tolkien, the Rev. Awry, Beatrix Potter, Astrid Lindgren,
Madeleine l’Engle, Anya Seton, John Steinbeck, Mary Westmacott
2016: All the Agatha Christie, Beatrix Potter, Milne, Maugham, Waugh, G.K.
Chesterton, Little Golden Books, all of the Inklings (Tolkien, Owen Barfield,
C.S. Lewis, plus Dorothy Sayers), Margery Allingham, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Georges
Simenon, Robert Bloch, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Bell, Charles Schulz, James
Vance Marshall, Kenneth Grahame, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Yevtushenko, Anna
Akhmatova, Beverly Cleary, Roch Carrier, Lucy Ozone and John Hawkinson, Laurent
de Brunhoff, Wanda Gag, Garth Williams
2015: Lots of Christie, Dahl, de la Mare, Eaton, Farjeon, Milne, Steinbeck, and
Tolkien, plus Beatrix Potter, Watty Piper, Crockett Johnson, Janette Sebring
Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren, Munro Leaf, James Thurber and Louis Slobodkin,
Johanna Spyri, PG Wodehouse, Charles Schulz, MR James, CS Lewis, Ray Bradbury,
Paul Gallico, PL Travers, George Orwell, Peter McArthur, Nettie Palmer
2014: The Tintin books, L.M. Montgomery, Tolkien, Maugham, Sayers, Christie
(plus the Detection Club, including Christie, Sayers, Chesterton, etc.),
Wodehouse, Graves, Milne, Howard Carter
2013: Lots of Tolkien, Josephine Tey and L.M. Montgomery, plus Roald Dahl, Eric
Linklater, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dr Seuss, CS Lewis, James Thurber, Muriel Spark,
Alan Paton, James Edmond Casey, Robert Frost, Jacques le Goff, Emerson, Robert
Graves and Alan Hodge
2012: A lot (counting short stories), including all the Tolkien, plus Christie,
Sayers, Milne, Bradbury, Waugh, Chute, Maugham, Remarque, Chesterton, and Bodies
and Souls (1950s Dell Paperback of crime stories by Christie,
Chesterton, etc.)
2011: Only 12 novels and 2 short stories, plus The Life and Times of
the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
2010: 27
2009: 17
2008: c. 25
Beta Reads: 12, including Ohio by Monica Byrne
2019: 2
2018: 4
2017: 7
2016: 7
2015: 4
2014: 3
2013: 2
2012: 4
Forumites were NOT at it again this year! I don’t understand it. There were a couple of
poems I read by Forumites and some of the artists I support on Patreon, but
there were no major new releases. How upsetting!
Most Surprising Book: For different reasons: at just the right times:
That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis (a reread but surprisingly apt for
this year); Circe by Madeline Miller (loved it!); Stiff: The Curious
Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (I’d been meaning to read this book
for ages!); The Points of My Compass by EB White (also surprisingly apt;
and sad that 100 years on, humans haven’t learned); The Yorkshire
Shepherdess by Amanda Owen and the sequels (I would love to visit her
farm!); Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous (touching); The
Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien: The Places That Inspired Middle-Earth by John
Garth (new books about Tolkien that are actually good are so rare!); Dreyer's
English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
(the UK edition; smack dab in my wheelhouse); and Captain Scott's Biscuit by
Thomas Keneally (essay; I still long to visit Antarctica some day)
2019: Running Water by A E Mason – I had no idea this author existed. He’s
quite good!; The Witch Next Door and The Witch Grows Up by Norman Bridwell –
I’d forgotten these books! I loved them as a kid, and was very excited to find
them at the library book sale; Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown – I’ve
read lots of Brown; she’s hit or miss. But everyone makes fun of this one, and
it’s one of her better ones! I hadn’t read it before
2018: Two Is Lonely, The Backward Shadow, and The
L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks: so modern for their time; The Dream
of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story): beautiful; Handywoman by
Kate Davies: inspiring; Six Against the Yard by the Detection
Club; A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache Smith; 11 Birthdays by
Wendy Mass; The Worry Week by Anne Lindbergh; Reader’s Digest
June 1965 (reread); Time Twister by Ged Maybury
(reread); The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid; La
Disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker (also, Cosmos by
Carl Sagan: a surprise, because I expected to like it and didn’t)
2017: Honourable mentions go to A Priest in Gallipoli: The War Diary of
Fr Hugh Cameron by John Watts, and Doughnut Economics by
Kate Raworth, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, A
Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie), and Anna
Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
2016 (I’ve shortened this to mention only the authors; the full list is
available on the 2016 post): Agatha Christie, Owen Barfield,
Somerset Maugham, Rose Tremain, Julian Barnes, Emily St John Mandel, Kazuo
Ishiguro, Meja Mwangi, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Binyavanga
Wainaina, Henrik Ibsen, Mary Shelley, Helene Hanff, John Watts, Betsy Byars, Mo
Willems, Crosby Newell Bonsall;
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien, My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl, Absent in the
Spring by Mary Westmacott (Agatha
Christie), and Many Moons by
James Thurber, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin
2014: Louise Penny, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by
Chris Hadfield, and The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
2013: Poet’s Pub by Eric Linklater, The Wasp Factory by
Iain Banks, and Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.
Rowling
2012: World War Z by Max Brooks
Nationalities of Authors: Here are the nationalities of authors whose books
I read this year (I introduced this category in 2016); there a few new ones
this year!:
Argentina
Australia
Barbados
Belgium
Canada
China
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Hungary
Kenya
Iran/Persia
Ireland
New Zealand
Russian Federation
Scotland
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
2019: Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Russian
Federation, Scotland, Spain (Sephardim), Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Turkey, United
States
2018: Australia; Austria; Canada; England; France; Ireland; New Zealand;
Norway; Romania; Scotland; Sweden; Switzerland; United States; Wales
2017: Australia; Canada; England; France; Germany; Kenya; Russian Federation;
Scotland; Sweden (in translation); United States
2016: Australia; Canada; France; Germany; Ireland; Kenya; Norway; Russian
Federation; United Kingdom; United States
New category: My publications!
Yes, I have my own book to add to the list!
2017: Summer Fire by Deniz Bevan
Happy New Year!
And here's the unadulterated list:
1. Hic Jacet by TH Wilson
2. Vale “Crosscut” by Dryblower (epitaph for Wilson by Edwin Greenslade Murphy)
3. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
4. A Girl Called Honey (Collection of Classic Erotica Book 21) by Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake
5. The Sins of the Fathers (Matthew Scudder Book 1) by Lawrence Block
6. Letters from Father Christmas by JRR Tolkien
7. A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay (reread)
8. The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen (reread)
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (reread)
10. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (reread)
11. Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkien (reread)
12. A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson (reread)
13. Nicholas Was and Click Clack the RattleBag and the Masque of the Red Death read by Neil Gaiman on Hallowe'en (reread)
14. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (reread)
15. Last Orders by Graham Swift (skimmed)
16. Vive la pluie! (elephant and piggie/emile and lili)
17. RB beta novella
18. I Am Too Absolutely Small for School (Charlie and Lola)
19. Nenegle Sur La Montagne (board book)
20. La tresse by Laetitia Colombani
21. Stiff by Mary Roach
22. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
23. The Best Excuse I Ever Heard by John Birtwhistle (poem; https://twitter.com/IMcMillan/status/1320708018028367873)
24. Bunnies' ABC by Garth Williams (Little Golden Books)
25. The Little Book of Duggee Hugs
26. Petits comptines
27. Let Your Mind Alone! And Other More or Less Inspirational Pieces by James Thurber
28. The Points of My Compass by EB White
29. How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak
30. Stories We Tell Ourselves by Richard Holloway (sample)
31. short story by RB (beta read)
32. Mystery Lights at Blue Harbour by Budge Wilson (reread)
33. A House Far From Home by Budge Wilson (reread)
34. 10 Years in the Making by Kate Davies (essays)
35. There Will Be Some Introspection — On The Road with Amanda Palmer part 4: Safe Spaces by Jack Nicholls and Gabrielle Motola
36. Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh
37. My New Friend Is So Fun by Mo Willems
38. Everything Is Going to Be All Right by Derek Mahon (poem)
39. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
40. Calico Hearts by Roxie Clarke
41. The Magpie Lord: The Charm of Magpies series by KJ Charles
42. new preface to Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser
43. Bulut Mu Olsam by Nazim Hikmet (poem; Should I Be A Cloud? beautiful!)
44. The Big Picture by Ellen Bass (poem)
45. Sailing beyond Seas by Jean Ingelow (1820–97; poem)
46. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (reread)
47. Jack by Marilynne Robinson
48. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
49. The Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
50. All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
51. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie (reread)
52. The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (possibly a reread?)
53. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (reread)
54. What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw by Agatha Christie (reread)
55. Still Life by Val McDermid
56. The Best/Worst Christmas Present Ever by Budge Wilson (reread)
57. The Murder At the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (reread)
58. At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie (reread)
59. Nemesis by Agatha Christie (reread)
60. They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie (reread)
61. A Pocketful of Rye by Agatha Christie (reread)
62. A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie (reread)
63. Introduction by TS Eliot to Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams
64. Goodbye, Bobby McGee by Lee Ann Dalton (poem)
65. The BFG by Roald Dahl (reread)
66. Lullaby by WH Auden (poem)
67. Best Laid Plaids by Ella Stainton (sample)
68. Ha Ha Bonk Book by Allan and Janet Ahlberg
69. Unriddling by Alvin Schwartz (reread)
70. The Grey King by Susan Cooper (reread)
71. screenplay by BB (beta read)
72. short story by RM (beta read)
73. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (reread)
74. On the Occasion of Ray Bradbury’s 100th Birthday: “Meeting the Wizard” by John Scalzi (essay)
75. A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie (reread)
76. The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel
77. various memoir essays by Judith Holofernes
78. Esther's Inheritance by Sandor Marai (skimmed last few chapters)
79. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (last time was August 2013)
80. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (Kindle sample)
81. String of Hearts by Roxie Clarke
82. Mary Poppins Returns by PL Travers (reread)
83. More About Paddington by Michael Bond (reread)
84. A Silent Death by Peter May
85. Miss Marple and Mystery by Agatha Christie (all non-Poirot short stories; reread)
86. Sarah and Duck at the Library
87. Sarah and Duck Stay at the Duck Hotel
88. Peppa Goes to London
89. Garfield in Disguise by Jim Davis (reread)
90. I Dare You Not To Yawn by Helene Boudreau
91. That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis (reread)
92. Perelandra by CS Lewis (reread)
93. Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis (reread)
94. There Will Be No Intermission artbook by Amanda Palmer (second edition)
95. flash fiction by RB (beta read)
96. Jack and Della by Marilynne Robinson (short story)
97. introduction to the new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley (available at https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780374110031)
98. Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
99. The Body by Bill Bryson
100. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
101. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous
102. Circe by Madeline Miller (loved it!)
103. The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (reread)
104. short story by RB (beta read)
105. The Tolkien Family Album by John and Priscilla Tolkien
106. Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume
107. Superfudge by Judy Blume
108. Outlander Kitchen 2 by Theresa Carle-Sanders
109. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (annual reread (over 30 years!))
110. Make You Feel My Love by Kait Nolan
111. Ten Little Words by Leah Mercer
112. a year of essays in The Dalesman by Amanda Owen (https://www.yorkshireshepherdess.com/media/)
113. A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
114. The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
115. Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume
116. Clouded Vision by Linwood Barclay
117. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
118. Once There Was A War by John Steinbeck
119. The Gift by Casey Porter (poem)
120. Gedicht: Labradoodle (aus meinem Gedichtband "Du bellst vor dem falschen Baum") by Judith Holofernes (poem)
121. The Obituary by Clare O'Dea (short story)
122. Garfield Swallows His Pride by Jim Davis
123. Hey Duggee little library
124. Sarah and Duck little library
125. Usborne Peep Inside the Forest
126. Ramona Quimby Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
127. Encyclopedia Brown #10 by Donald J Sobol
128. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
129. short story by RB (beta read)
130. Clifford’s Happy Easter by Norman Bridwell
131. Charlie and Lola: My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out
132. Charlie and Lola: But Excuse Me That Is My Book
133. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
134. The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien: The Places That Inspired Middle-Earth by John Garth
135. White Nights by Dostoevsky (reread)
136. Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky (reread)
137. The Silmarillion: A Brief Account of the Book and Its Making by Christopher Tolkien (essay)
138. Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie (reread)
139. Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer (the UK edition)
140. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J Sobol (reread)
141. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Donald J Sobol (reread)
142. Captain Scott's Biscuit by Thomas Keneally (essay)
143. The Lovecraft Circle and the Inklings: The “Mythopoeic Gift” of H. P. Lovecraft by Dale Nelson (essay)
144. Muted: A short story in verse by Jessica Bell (poem, natch)
145. The Art of Asking About Abortion On the Road With Amanda Palmer — Part 3: Ireland; Words: Jack Nicholls, Photographs: Gabrielle Motola (https://medium.com/we-are-the-media/the-art-of-asking-about-abortion-7167d87c1a55)
146. As you get older by Alice Rebekah Fraser (poem)
147. Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (reread)
148. The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume (reread)
149. Globi at School
150. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
151. a bunch of sample chapters on Kindle...
152. Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark by George RR Martin
153. I Give You My Body... How I Write Sex Scenes by Diana Gabaldon
154. My Soul Rests by Taylor MacDowell (poem)
155. A Recipe for Marketing Indie Books by SK Quinn
156. The Machine Stops by EM Forster (available here: http://www.visbox.com/prajlich/forster.html)
157. WishFul Drinking by Carrie Fisher
158. The Ickabog by JK Rowling
159. On the Booker by Julian Barnes (essay in London Review of Books)
160. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
161. L'Enigme de la chambre 622 by Joel Dicker
162. Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
163. Lost and Found by Jean Little
164. chapter 1 of a new story by Kait Nolan!
165. Outlander season five episode 11 by Diana Gabaldon (script)
166. Where Is The Voice Coming From? by Eudora Welty (short story)
167. short story by RB (beta)
168. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints by Donald J Sobol
169. Tim Book Two by Tim Burgess
170. Amelia Bedelia Helps Out
171. Amelia Bedelia and the Baby
172. A Short History of England by GK Chesterton
173. A Plain Cookery Book by Charles Elme Francatelli
174. Telling Stories by Tim Burgess (reread)
175. All This and Snoopy Too by Charles Schulz (reread)
176. Henry and the Clubhouse by Beverly Cleary
177. The Little Golden Book of Jokes and Riddles
178. Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary
179. Dawn of Darkness by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (poem)
180. A Great Wagon by Rumi (poem)
181. The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
182. Fabrication by Kate Davies (poem)
183. Tintin and the Crab With the Golden Claws (reread)
184. Mary Poppins by PL Travers (reread)
185. A Very Wishful Wedding by Kait Nolan
186. short story by RB (beta read)
187. Redshirts by John Scalzi
188. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary (reread)
189. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (reread)
190. Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary (reread)
191. Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (reread)
192. Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary (reread)
193. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (reread)
194. Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary (reread)
195. Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary (reread)
196. Sir Orfeo translated by JRR Tolkien (reread)
197. Eat Up, Gemma
198. Hansel and Gretel (Grimm's Fairy Tales; reread)
199. Solitude by Baudelaire (poem; read by Neil Finn https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio)
200. I’ll save You Bobo read I Must Have Bobo by Rosenthal and Rosenthal
201. I Must Have Bobo by Rosenthal and Rosenthal
202. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
203. The Two Trees by WB Yeats (poem; reread)
204. Where My Books Go by WB Yeats (poem; teary)
205. The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
206. Garfield Plays It Again by Jim Davis (reread)
207. two short stories by RB (beta read)
208. No More Teasing by Emma C Clarke
209. The Book of the Sword by Richard Francis Burton (skimmed)
210. The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
211. The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis
212. But Excuse Me That Is My Book (Charlie and Lola)
213. Can I Play Too by Mo Willems
214. The Weaker Vessel: Women's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England by Antonia Fraser
215. Globi's Travels in Switzerland
216. Globi in the Heart of Switzerland
217. Peppa Loves Yoga
218. The Fifth Step by Stephen King (short story)
219. The sinking of the S.S. Titanic by John B. Thayer
220. Titanic: A Survivor's Story by Archibald Gracie
221. Curious George Rides a Bike by H. A. Rey
222. Curious George by H. A. Rey
223. Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley
224. Christmas at Heathrow by Anthony Horowitz (short story; reread)
225. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
226. The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes
227. Til There Was You by Kait Nolan
228. Postman Pat’s Sore Tooth
229. Before Galileo by John Freely
230. Stranded by Val McDermid (short stories)
231. Pourkoa les escargots?
232. Peppa Goes Swimming
233. The Skull Beneath the Skin by PD James
234. Sure and Certain Death Barbara Nadel
235. You Can’t Catch Me Catherine Mckenzie (ARC)
236. How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid
237. To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey (reread, but I had forgotten it!)
238. Bad Guys by Linwood Barclay
239. I Will Surprise My Friend by Mo Willems
240. Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
241. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron
242. Bad Move by Linwood Barclay
243. Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay
244. Listen to My Trumpet by Mo Willems
245. My Big Sandwich (reading practice book)
246. St Francis' Canticle of the Creatures by John Watts
247. Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham
248. The Saga of King Heidrik the Wise by Christopher Tolkien
249. Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina
250. Collected Poirot Short Stories by Agatha Christie (reread)
251. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
252. Roule Ma Poule by Edouard Manceau
253. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith
254. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
255. Folktales from Africa by Alexander McCall Smith
256. I Am Invited to a Party by Mo Willems
257. Death Clerk by Catherine Mckenzie (chapter 1 of a serial story)
258. Three Tang Dynasty Poets (Penguin Classics)
259. Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden (poem)
260. Poems (1973) and The Road of Dreams (1924) by Agatha Christie
261. Star Over Bethlehem by Agatha Christie
262. Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (reread)
263. Extraordinary People by Peter May
264. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
265. House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
266. That’s Not My Dinosaur (Usborne)
267. Ou Est Mon Dragon (Usborne)
268. But Not the Armadillo by Sandra Boynton
269. I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems
270. Nanette’s Baguette by Mo Willems
271. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
272. Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans
273. One Snowy Night
274. The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Christmas Eve by Eric Carle
275. Dear Europe: Letters from JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Mary Beard and more on The Guardian (cried)
276. We’re All In This Together by Charles M Schulz (reread)
277. Think About It Tomorrow, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
278. You’ll Flip, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
279. Good Ol’ Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
280. This Is Your Life, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
281. Nobody’s Perfect, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
282. You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
283. Take It Easy, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
284. Good Ol’ Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
285. You’re So Smart, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
286. It’s For You, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
287. Fun With Peanuts by Charles M Schulz (reread)
288. Nice Shot, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
289. You’re Not For Real, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
290. It’s Chow Time, Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
291. Who Was That Dog I Saw You With, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
292. Who Do You Think You Are, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
293. You Are Too Much, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
294. You’re A Winner, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
295. What Now, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
296. Good Grief, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
297. Charlie Brown and Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
298. Here Comes Snoopy by Charles M Schulz (reread)
299. Snoopy Come Home by Charles M Schulz (reread)
300. You’re In Love, Charlie Brown by Charles M Schulz (reread)
301. various issues of Knitty (http://knitty.com/ISSUEw19/index.php)
302. There Will Be Some Introspection by Jack Nicholls and Gabrielle Motola (https://medium.com/we-are-the-media/there-will-be-some-introspection-on-the-road-with-amanda-palmer-a32ff8dc0fbc)
303. Broken Ground by Val McDermid
304. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
305. Exile by Elif Safak (essay in Granta)
306. Peppa's Christmas
307. 12 Days of Christmas
308. Constantinople: Istanbul's Historical Heritage by Stephane Yerasimos (skimmed for research)
309. John Howe artbook (Ulule crowdfunded)
310. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Little Golden Book)
311. Goodnight Peppa
312. La Reine des Neiges (board book)
313. Wheesht by Kate Davies
314. Knitting Season by Kate Davies
315. What You Need To Be Warm by Neil Gaiman (poem)
316. Interior Decorating Tips for the Post-Apocalypse by Alice Rebekah Fraser (mini comedy article)
317. A Sad Story by Dorothy Una Ratcliffe (poem)
318. Iummona Gold Gadre Bewunden by JRR Tolkien (poem; reread)
319. by Sasha Dugdale (poem)
320. Graceful by Wendy Mass
321. Ohio by Monica Byrne (play)
322. thelitforum Writers’s Houseparty --Making Spirits Bright (Museum 2)
323. ongoing rereads of board books from previous years & rereads of all children's Christmas books
324. various poems by R. Wodaski
325. The Jerusalem Bible
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