This year I read 70 books (complete list here). I know that compared to some of you that is not much, but I am very pleased, because it is more than I’ve read in the past two or three years, and I’ve read some great books this year. (The links take you to my reviews.)
Sixteen of the books that I read this year were new ones, published in 2011. Most of the books I read (new and old) were fiction, but there were a few great non-fiction titles. Of the new non-fiction books, I particularly liked Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, a fascinating book about memory.
My other favourite titles from 2011 were all fiction. I absolutely loved Goliath, the conclusion of the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld, which was also my most anticipated book of the year. I also really enjoyed Blackout and All Clear, Connie Willis’ time travel diptych. I plan to read more time travel stories next year, because it is something I always find interesting. (Some sources put this as a 2010 book, but it was released here in 2011 so I’m including it.) Finally, I was recently utterly enthralled by Embassytown by China Mieville, a late entry to the list; I expect more books by Mieville will appear on my reading list next year.
Of the older non-fiction titles I read, I would highly rate two books about space travel that I read early in the year, A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin and Moondust by Andrew Smith. Both are really excellent, and provide two different perspectives on the Apollo programme. I really loved both of them.
I’d actually read them before, and in fact quite a lot of the books that I read this year (11 out of 70) were in fact re-reads (a big increase from 1 out of 60 last year). Back in the spring I embarked on a little project to re-read four classic SF novels, Gateway by Frederik Pohl, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Ringworld by Larry Niven (my favourite of the four) and Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. I really enjoyed revisiting these novels and may do something similar next year.
Later in the year I also re-read two of my all-time favourite novels, American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. They are both brilliant books, and that was one of my reading highlights for the year.
A few other noteworthy titles: I read A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan after it was recommend by a friend, and while it is not my usual thing I thought it was really inventive and I really enjoyed it. Similarly Skippy Dies by Paul Murray was another book which was a bit different for me, but which I loved.
I also really enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (well, the first book in particular was brilliant; the other two were okay but not as great). I am planning to read a few other YA series next year because it is something I enjoy.
I continued making my way through Haruki Murakami’s works, and in particular I loved A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance. I received IQ84 for Christmas, so I plan to read that soon and continue with the rest of his books too. On a similar note, I am still reading through the last few Iain Banks books – I read the last of his SF books, Surface Detail and Feersum Endjinn, and a few of his mainstream books, the highlight of which was The Steep Approach to Garbadale. I have three left to read and I’m rationing them now, I need them to last until his new book is released next year!
Finally, I read a few Agatha Christie novels for the first time, and I was totally surprised by how much I loved Murder on the Orient Express and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, so I plan to read more of her books next year.
I could go on and on listing books, because the majority of them that I read were ones that I liked and enjoyed. But I’ve tried to just mention the books that I thought were particularly great, or which especially stood out in my memory; I’m sure I’ve missed some and will kick myself right after I post this. There were a few books I read that I really hated, but I’d rather not dwell on the bad ones, and actually I usually gave up on books that I really hated, there were only a few that for some reason I felt compelled to continue despite my disliking for them.
My plan for next year is to read 75 books, which is a bit more than the past couple of years, but still less than I was reading for the first few years that I kept track. I think it is probably doable though, as reading is still my primary hobby and I already have a huge list of books that I plan to read over the coming months. Overall it has been a pretty good year of reading for me.
