Once again, GoodReads has done a fine job of summarizing my reading (I wish they hadn’t been bought out by Amazon).
This year comes up with 336 books or 82,982 pages.
(How do I do it? I mercilessly exploit my commutes and read as often as I can, including while standing in lines and even on street corners while waiting for the light to change.)
The numbers alone might seem impressive until one glances at my TBR shelf there, which sits at 8,384 books. (Last year there were 8.116 – of course, I’ve added a few.)
And this year I was choosy about the books I added. And I tried to read from my TBR more often. (Even so, 2018 publications comprised nearly 20% of my reading).
What to do, when the list of books I want to read than the list of books I am actually reading.
Never mind, for just a few more moments, let’s enjoy 2018’s reading.
(The widgets will only work if you’re reading on the page proper, not via a reader.)
2017 = 282 books
2016 = 310 books
Beginning with The Building of Jalna (1926) and ending with Centenary at Jalna (1958), I read all 16 of Mazo de la Roche’s Jalna novels.
Beginning with Mavis Gallant’s earliest short stories, I read 31 throughout 2017 and another 30 in 2018 (of 123 in total).
Shortest = 12
Longest = 866
Challenges
*Reading Africa Hosted by Kinna: Some favourites
*Reading Ireland Hosted by Cathy: Exploring
*#1944Club Hosted by Kaggsy and Simon: Gwethalyn Graham’s Earth and High Heaven
*#1977Club Hosted by Kaggsy and Simon: Carol Shields’ The Box Garden
*Non-Fiction November Hosted by Katie, Julie, Kim, Rennie and Sarah: Summary
Busiest reading months: November and February
Quietest reading months: May and March
Female Writers 63%
Nonfiction 22%
Writers of Colour 34%
Literary Novels 36%
Reading serially 25%
27 countries visited
29 indigenous authors
71 off my own shelves
47 illustrated volumes
31 works in translation
14 story collections
The highlight of my reading year was Elizabeth Arthur’s 1994 novel Antarctic Navigation.
Readers meet Morgan Lamont when she is a young girl, when her passion for the South Pole adventurer, Robert Falcon Scott, takes hold.
Her obsession with travelling to Antarctica develops over many years and readers come to share it, after having spent so much time in the fissures of Morgan’s mind and heart: the journey becomes a shared pursuit.
As intensely as Morgan wants to recreate the tragic historical expedition, readers want her to find a cure for her wanting.
But although the book is most definitely about Antarctica, it is also about ambition and devotion.
For “in this portrayal of a place, a simple place, I seemed to see the heartbreak of all endeavor. As long as we asked questions, we would always do this, ask ones that could not be answered, go to places that could not be reached, start journeys we could never finish.” On this front, the densely detailed story is simultaneously an arching and expansive story of a woman who follows an unusual and unwavering path.
At just over 800 pages long, readers have plenty of time to tire of Morgan. She makes mistakes. She repeats mistakes. She over-analyzes some risks and she neglects to anticipate others. There is arguably too much detail about her love of the library and about relationships which do not last, but these are the kind of details which make us who we are. So, really, they belong as much as all the rest. Which might annoy some readers. But it only left me wanting more.
“So how do I end this tale? Where do I decide to stop it? There is no ending to be reached, and that is the truth of it. The whole point of everything that I have learned is that the great stories never really end, there just comes a time when you yourself can no longer take part in them.”
Morgan’s story is one of the great ones in my reading life. It’s one that I plucked from the shelves of a women’s bookshop in 1996 on a whim. When I read it this year, I expected I would be happy to pass it along afterwards. Part of me still wants to do that – because I know readers who would love this novel as much as I did – but, first, I would like to reread it myself, to travel along with Morgan one more time, as she makes tracks through treacherous territory and stumbles and falls and, then, rights herself and carries on.
Shared reads with bookfriends
Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke with Stefanie
Andrea Levy’s Small Island with Debbie, Naomi and Rebecca
Andrew Bloomfield’s Call of the Cats with Stefanie and Danielle
Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy with Carra
Elizabeth Taylor’s The Soul of Kindness with Jane
Louise Erdrich’s The Round House with Shivanee
Muriel Spark’s Curriculum Vitae with Ali
Omar El Akkad’s American War with Naomi
and some Iris Murdochs with Liz (this one most recently)
Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly, inspired by Laila
Elisabeth Sanxay-Holding’s The Blank Wall, inspired by Jesse
Kim Thúy’s Vi, inspired by Biblibio
Sadaat Hasan Manto’s Bombay Stories and Clarice Lispector’s short stories, inspired by Mel
Sarah Andersen’s comic collections – all of them, inspired by Alley
Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, inspired by All Virago All August
I’m so behind in commenting but better late than never.
First up, I am BLOWN AWAY by your reading volume. Well done, well done
How come Feb & Nov were so productive for you? Especially Feb, cos it’s already a shorter month. So basically, my level of impressed with you just keeps going up
Hooray Sarah Andersen and yay that I was able to help recommend something that was a success
Heheh Always better late, but you will have guessed that, from my own many late comments. Her comics are so perfect. I kept choosing specific panels to share with other people too, so I think it’s spreading, in the best kind of way.
As for February and November, I have a feeling it actually had more to do with January and October, that I began reading so many more books in those months and, then, finished a lot of them the following month instead. With New Year’s resolutions and Canlit prizelist reading, January and October have more unwieldy stacks than usual.
Your stats are awe inspiring.
I do like list-making, and stats naturally unfold from that!
OMG these stats are incredible! I think you win the ‘reader who reads the most’, I don’t see many people crack the 200 mark, but 300! That’s incredible, congratulations. But do make sure you raise your head from your book to cross the street in downtown t.o. -yikes! haha
And I’ve got a chorus of dust-bunnies to confirm that the figures are accurate! Ironically, this is the first city in which I’ve lived, in which I’ve met other people reading and walking. The drivers must be used to us! (Of course audiobooks are much safer.)
You just beat me — I finished off at 332 🙂 (though I don’t count children’s picture books in my total, so we’re probably about even!). I love that you’re able to boil it down to one top read. I’ve added Antarctic Navigation to my TBR.
Last year I think it was the other way around, which makes sense, given how obsessive we both are about reading, generally. (Mostly I count only the children’s books that I really don’t want to forget – like your Miss Rumphius – or books that I’ve written about or researched in some detail – but there are some in there for sure.) This is the first time I’ve chosen just one book to represent my reading year, but it’s also the first time, in ages, that I’ve felt so consumed by a single read for such a long period of time: seemed fitting.
Wonderful! Love the look of this post and all your various categories. I’m glad I inspired reading Daring Greatly! Bravo on reading 71 books from your own shelf. I was most definitely pleased with 2018’s reading and I’m already pleased with 2019’s! Making progress on my goals already.
Thanks, Laila. I really enjoyed Daring Greatly, enough to read another one of her books at some point. It’s quite inspiring, really, but also down-to-earth: an unbeatable combo! May you find lots of new favourite books and authors in this coming reading year!
That is a fabulous reading year! Not just the impressive amount of books but all the variety. Way to go! I hope you have another fabulous year!
Thanks, Iliana! I’m really looking forward to 2019. Although I have a feeling that this year might have been the perfect “Reading Storm”.
You’ve made me want to read Antarctic Navigation even more.
71 of your own books – I’m jealous!
27 countries, 29 indigenous, and 31 in translation is also amazing.
It’s painful to think about all the ones we haven’t read.
I especially like your “beautiful and painful” list.
Just added “Packing my Library” to the list! (I don’t think I remember you reading that one…)
Do you think you will read another Thomas Raddall? 🙂
Of course I will read another Raddall: that was so good. Thank you so much for recommending him. And I came across one in the library catalogue the other day while looking up something else (short stories).
Packing My Library is one that I read over a period of time, one essay at a time (with pictures, of course: the best part!), alongside longer works. (It might have even been near the end of Giller reading, which I was itching for other books but not quite finished.) It also introduced me to the art of Carrie Mae Weems and inspired me to watch a documentary about her recently. Often the people’s bookshelves are a little too specific to be of passionate interest to me, but I still enjoy reading about why they are passionate about different subjects/forms. You’ll like them too, I believe. (And there are others in the series, too.)
I’m downright stunned by your total.
There are many children’s books and some graphic novels in there too. But I was still surprised myself.
Wow, those numbers are impressive! I’m left wondering just how long your commute is 🙂 I’m like you with the TBR pile – it just gets longer each year. Maybe I’ll finally try to tackle it this year… but there are always so many good books to discover…
Maybe this year I’ll track my miles/kilometres as well. 🙂 For nearly two decades, I just added and added to the list, without really giving it a thought. About five years ago, I resolved to be more discerning about the titles I added, but I’ve only been focusing on backlisted titles for three years, so perhaps it’s too soon to see the numbers sway towards the “slightly less unreasonable” side of things. frowns at self
A very varied and busy reading year. Love the Elizabeth Taylor! 😀
After one more novel, I have only short stories to read. Which is fine, I know: rereading will be a delight.
I can’t believe you read 336 works! That’s beyond imagining for me, though I was saying to Mr Gums the other day when talking about people’s end of year reports that commuting would help me. Unfortunately, mine is a car-city so even when I went to work I drove, so couldn’t read.
I read 70% female authors, which is a bit higher than I think is good, but I’m not overly bothered because I like female authors. However, I really would like to up the non-anglo country reading this year. I’m not formally challenging myself but I will be trying to read some of those books in particular from my TBR (which is the second tweak I’d like to do – read more from the TBR!)
That’s something I understand very well, WG: I lived in a car-city for more than a decade and it didn’t help at all with my capacity to turn pages in rush hour. Mind you, it’s not always possible to read on a subway, but usually it is. And it’s always possible at transfer points and in some legs of the journey if not all.
Surely that 70% is balanced out by many years in school where the ratio would have been much higher for the fellas? I’ll be interested to see how your year goes, with your vague intention of broadening your reading habits; I’ve found that I do not do well with a vague idea to increase a certain kind of reading, whereas if I force myself to count (although the idea puts me off initially), I am more likely to make a change. But sometimes even attaching a figure to a project doesn’t do the trick. Perhaps it’s more about timing than one is inclined to think.