What I Was Reading 10 Years Ago, and Katherine Applegate

hat I was reading 10 years ago...

AnnaBookBel had a fun post the other day, What I was reading 10 years ago, and now I have two new books on my wihslist because of it!

Back in 2016, I still had lots of time (ha ha) and wrote up my annual books read statistics at the end of each year.

Let's see what was going on 10 years ago...

Books Read: 268, including the following (roughly):
118 novels
45 board books (which involve ongoing rereads, including the board books from last year)
30 essays and non-fiction and comics
28 short stories
25 poems
15 YA/MG books
4 anthologies
1 play
over 30 books in the Folio Society collected works of Beatrix Potter (counted as one in total count)
Journal of Inklings Studies and Tolkien Society’s Amon Hen and Mallorn issues (also counted as one)

Apparently, this was slightly higher than average, and I accounted for it by the fact that I was reading more on my commute, instead of writing (or knitting).

Authors Read: 130, but 103 without board books.

At the time, I wrote, "It seems surprising when looked at this way -- 100 different authors! I always feel as though I’m rereading too many favourites, but it seems I do read widely for all that."

Most Books by One Author: Louise Penny (14 titles!), Agatha Christie (16 titles!) and J.R.R. Tolkien (17 titles!)

Oldest Book: 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. The oldest physical copy was this impressive collection of Byron’s works from 1835.

Youngest book was a board book about Things That Go.

In the original post, I listed all the books I read in 2016 that were published in that year. Lots of stories by Monica Byrne--I just took her writing class at the Irish Writers Centre!

I also noted books written by Forumites and blogging buddies.

Stories/Authors I Didn’t Like: This is the category under which I used to hide some honesty. In 2016, I had two books on the list: “The Bog Girl” by Karen Russell (short story) and Peanuts Volumes I to VI -- these volumes were part of a Humble Bundle of Peanuts comics that I bought. The main collection was original comics, but these volumes were new strips written by random new authors. How is that even allowed? They were very disappointing.

Books That Made Me Cry: I always tried to keept track of this and always forgot. I wrote, "I’m sure there was a Louise Penny or two, a Kait Nolan story, and probably The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain."

There were a few other categories in my statistics (comics, shortest book, longest book, books sorted by century, beta reads, surprising books), plus a long list of recommendations, of classics, new books, and more, including this one for writers: The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff

I also noted the nationalities of authors for the first time in my annual statistics. In 2016, I read books whose authors were from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Norway, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I wrote, "No Turkish authors! I’ve fallen behind in reading books in Turkish... And I’ll reiterate my goal from last year -- I’d like to read more poetry."

This is still valid! Actually, most of it is still valid -- I have the same book-devouring reading habits, and still read a book (or story or poem) every chance I get.

I also have a stack three-deep on my bedside table of books to read that have piled up because lately I've been avidly reading the Animorphs books. Such a great series, and I'm a huge fan of Katherine Applegate's writing. Her most recent books, Crenshaw, Wishtree, Willodeen, Odder, and Pocket Bear are beautiful.

"Thimble-born from tip to toe, Pocket Bear remembers every moment of his becoming: the glimmering needle, the silken thread, the tender hands as each careful stitch brought him closer to himself. Born during the throes of WWI, he was designed to fit into the pocket of a soldier’s jacket, eyes sewn a bit higher than normal so that he always gazed upward. That way, glancing at his pocket, a soldier would see an endearing token of love from someone back home, and, hopefully, a good luck charm.
Now, over a century later, Pocket serves as unofficial mayor of Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured, where stuffed toy animals are refurbished and given a fresh opportunity to be loved. He and his best feline friend Zephyrina, known far and wide as “The Cat Burglar,” have seen it all, and then some."

But what happens when someone wants to buy and sell Bear and his friends?

Now this was a book that made me cry! In a good way (I mean, so have a few of the Animorphs, so far).

What were you reading 10 years ago?